Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 10/4/20 – 10/10/20

October? OK, let’s roll with it, because this week’s meal planning brings us ever more solidly into fall. I’m looking out my window, watching the wind whip around the trees and the leaves start to let loose as I type this, and am kind of wondering where summer went… as endless as it all seemed at the time.

As always, use this menu plan as a starting point, modifying as necessary according to what is in stock in your area, what you have on hand in your pantry, and your own family’s dietary needs and preferences.

Free ALDI meal plan week of 10/4/20 – 10/10/20

As our strange times keep on keeping on, I do hope you can use these meal plans to help restore some rhythm to your weeks.

*** Subscribe to the weekly ALDI meal plans here ***

But, what’s new this week?

Halloween Cheese and Family Feuds…

This week’s ALDI Finds range from Halloween cheese to Day of the Dead succulents, from garlic cheese flatbread to pumpkin spice cookie thins, and so much more. See all of my favorite Finds from this week’s ALDI ad here!

And just for your ALDI celebrity gossip distraction this week: The ongoing ALDI family feud has escalated, with a new German lawsuit claiming embezzlement of funds from a company trust!

ALDI Meal Planning week of 10/4/20 – 10/10/20

But without further ado, here’s your easy weekly ALDI meal plan for the week of 10/4/20. Pick up everything on the shopping list below, and start cooking on Sunday: As always, six complete dinners for four, $60 out the door.

I’m assuming that you have on hand some pantry basics like cooking oil, common condiments, and spices. *** Read through the recipes before you shop, to make sure you have the necessary pantry staples on hand for this week’s ALDI menu plan; see a summary in the printable grocery list below.

Print your meal plan summary + grocery shopping list below this week’s detailed plan.

Six easy dinners from ALDI for $60

ALDI Meal Plan — start cooking 10/4/20

*** Note: With some wiggle room in the budget (!), we’re restocking. This week’s shopping list includes butter, minced garlic, and olive oil. If you’re already well-stocked on these pantry staples, pop these items out of your grocery list and save even more this week. 🙂

Sunday

• Skillet pork chops with apples & onions
• Side salad, made with the Caesar salad kit topped with halved grape tomatoes
• Slice up the pineapple

Monday

• Slow cooker very vegetable soup (use canned green beans and corn; crushed tomatoes instead of whole; yellow potatoes instead of red)
• Sourdough toast
• Half of the grapes, and any remaining grape tomatoes

Tuesday

• Sheet pan Parmesan chicken thighs & green beans
• Serve with oven roasted potatoes: Dice up 1.5 lbs yellow potatoes, toss with olive oil, seasoned salt, black pepper, & Italian seasoning to taste, and roast on a rimmed baking sheet at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender, stirring half way through. Get these in the oven 10-15 minutes before the chicken and green beans so everything comes out around the same time.

Wednesday

• Caprese chicken & zucchini skillet
• Serve with cups of leftover vegetable soup from Monday, and
• The rest of the grapes

Thursday

• Paprika roasted chicken and potatoes (use yellow potatoes; reserve 1.5 cups cooked shredded chicken for tomorrow)
• Carrots need butter and thyme (put in for the last 25-30 minutes of the chicken cooking time)

Friday

• Easy leftover chicken soup
• Slice up the rest of the apples
• Sourdough toast

ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 10/3/20

Dairy & refrigerated

Priano shredded Parmesan, $1.99
Emporium Selection fresh 8 oz mozzarella ball, $2.49
Countryside Creamery butter quarters, $2.99

Grocery

Specially Selected sliced sourdough round, $2.99
32 oz box Simply Nature organic vegetable broth, $1.89
32 oz box Simply Nature organic chicken broth, $1.89
Can Happy Harvest cut green beans, $.49
Can Happy Harvest corn, $.49
28 oz can Happy Harvest crushed tomatoes, $.89
Can Dakota’s Pride Cannellini beans, $.49
Carlini extra virgin olive oil 16.9 oz, $2.99
Stonemill 8 oz minced garlic in water, $1.89

Meat

2.5 lbs assorted bone-in pork chops, $4.48
2.75 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, $4.65
6 lb whole chicken, $5.70

Produce

2 lbs honeycrisp apples, $1.89
2 lbs green grapes, $1.98
Pineapple, $1.49
2 lbs carrots, $1.29
16 oz baby carrots, $.95
8 oz spinach, $1.35
Little Salad Bar Caesar salad kit, $2.35
16 oz green beans, $1.69
3 lbs yellow onions, $1.89
5 lbs yellow potatoes, $1.99
Celery, $1.29
16 oz zucchini, $1.49
7 Roma tomatoes, $1.75
Pint grape tomatoes, $1.49

That comes to: $59.20

Or, maybe less…! These meals will likely run you even less if you supplement this week’s ALDI purchases with clearance meat you already have in your freezer, pantry staples you picked up on sale, produce you already have on hand, and/or sale produce from your local produce market. Let me know if you give it a try.

Printable ALDI meal plan & grocery list

*** Download this week’s printable ALDI shopping list and meal plan in Word format. (If you don’t have Word, open this in Google Docs or in Wordpad.)

Edit and add in your own meal ideas, remove items you already have on hand, change regional pricing to match your own store, etc. *** The day(s) next to each item show which meals use each ingredient, so that you can easily see what to delete from the shopping list if you’re skipping a night.

Things to know about these meal plans

A couple of notes

1. I try not to repeat main dish recipes more often than once a month, but you will see favorite easy recipes again in these weekly ALDI meal plans as the same meats and produce items come up again on sale. Part of the fun of meal planning lies in mixing old stand-bys with something new each week.
2. If one or more of these recipes isn’t to your taste, or if you have other ingredients to use, adapt the recipes in this ALDI meal plan to your family’s preferences. Or, just use the ideas here to supplement your own meal planning! See: Pantry staples to stock up on and how to modify a meal plan for your family.

** ad markets & dates

This week’s ALDI meal plan reflects prices from the current week’s ad (running 9/27-10/3 in Sunday ad markets, and 9/30-10/6 in Wednesday ad markets). Non-advertised prices are from my local store in the Chicago suburbs, but non-advertised prices and produce deals *may vary* by location & region. In either ad market, shop any time through Saturday and start cooking on Sunday 10/4/20.

Stay in the meal planning loop

More ways to stay connected:

• Subscribe here to receive weekly email messages about new ALDI meal plans — no spam, just get email notifications about new plans.
• Browse all of the weekly ALDI meal plans here *** Note: prices may have changed since originally posted.
• Come over and join us on Facebook in the Almost All ALDI group, as well as in the Hot Deals group.

Happy ALDI shopping & cooking this week! If you find this meal plan useful, why not share it with your friends on Facebook so they can save money with ALDI meal planning as well?

Resources for meal planning & ALDI shopping

Let’s close things out with just a few resources to help you with your meal planning & ALDI shopping:

• Almost All ALDI — for more ALDI goodness, ALDI finds, reviews, and more.
• Master list of meal planning resources
• Come join us in the Almost All ALDI Facebook group for recipes, meal planning ideas, ALDI food finds, and more.
• Get cash back for ALDI shopping with cash back offers on the Ibotta app (search “ALDI” at the top of the app, if you can’t find it in the store list) and through the Fetch Rewards app.
• Pick up a pack of meal prep containers, & pack up any dinner leftovers for easy weekday lunches!
• Cute & handy ALDI quarter keepers.
• Check out my Amazon shop for some of my favorite useful items for your own meal planning. Also useful: Two pack insulated grab bag totes, or two pack clip to cart bags.
• Almost All ALDI, the eBook.
• How fun are these ALDI themed t-shirts I have for you guys?!

Lastly: You can always access your current regional ALDI ad here.