Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 5/1/22

Welcome back to your free ALDI meal plan for the week of 5/1/22! This week we’re cooking up everything from a comforting cheesy sausage & rice skillet to open face Caprese sandwiches — and, so much more.

Welcome back to ALDI Meal Planning, as we rush headlong into May 2022. As always: Six complete dinners for four, $70 out the door. Use these recipes to help take the stress out of your week of dinnertime decisions — and save both time & money in the process.

Be sure to sign up to receive a weekly email alert about each new plan, too.

This menu plan can also be used as a starting point: Modify 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 5/1/22 – 5/7/22

Come cook along with us, and you may no longer dread the never-ending question: What’s for dinner?

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

But first, what’s new this week?

Is ALDI or Walmart Cheaper? Plus, Mother’s Day Cheese!

Which is cheaper: ALDI, or Walmart? Let’s take a look at current pricing and see if ALDI is still more affordable in 2022, with plenty of price comparison charts, analysis, and a look at where prices have gone up the most.

mother's day heart shaped cheese from aldi

Then, ALDI Finds for the week of 4/27/22 include Mother’s Day cheese, Cinco de Mayo foods, gardening products, and more. Check out all of my favorite Finds of the week here, and let me know what you’re planning to pick up.

Lastly, over on the Amazon:

Last week’s fun & weird Amazon finds ranged from Bob Ross energy drinks to race car razors — and more!
This HUGE list of subscribe & save filler items is updated each Thursday.

But now that we’re caught up with all of that, here’s your simple ALDI meal plan for the week of 5/1/22.

ALDI Meal Planning week of 5/1/22 – 5/7/22

Pick up everything on the shopping list below, and start cooking on Sunday: As always, six complete dinners for four, $70 out the door.

Print your meal plan summary + grocery shopping list below this week’s detailed plan, in Word, .rtf, or PDF format.
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 that you have the necessary pantry staples on hand for this week’s ALDI menu plan; a list is included in the printable shopping list below.

Six easy dinners from ALDI for $70

place of cheesy salsa rice with smoked sausage

ALDI Meal Plan — start cooking 5/1/22

Sunday

Fajita inspired sheet pan chicken thighs & peppers (use only TWO of the bell peppers and add extra onion, reserving the red pepper for Friday)
Carrots need butter & thyme (use regular carrots, sliced, and cook at 425 with the chicken for the last 25 minutes or so)

Monday

Toasted open face Caprese sandwiches
Slice up the mangoes

Tuesday

Wednesday

30 minute chicken broccoli mushroom stir fry (cut up chicken tenderloin, instead of using b/s breast)
Carrot stir fry with green onions
Serve over cooked white rice

Thursday

Chopped tomato mozzarella salad w/ chicken sausage
Cut up the pineapple

Friday

Cheesy smoked sausage & rice skillet, topped with chopped green onion
Make a side salad with the rest of the romaine, topped with chopped green onion, chopped tomato, and chopped carrot (use dressing you have on hand, or make more balsamic vinaigrette, using yesterday’s recipe)

Saturday

Leftovers, family pizza night (ALDI sells nice big take-and-bake deli pizzas), or order in.

ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 4/30/22

Dairy & refrigerated

8 oz block Happy Farms cheddar, $1.85
8 oz Emporium Selection fresh mozzarella in marinade, $3.49
8 oz Emporium Selection fresh mozzarella in water, $3.49

Grocery

Specially Selected ciabatta rolls, $2.99
16 oz jar Simply Nature organic medium salsa, $1.89
3 lbs Earthly Grains long grain white rice, $2.19
Priano balsamic vinegar, $2.19
32 oz box Chef’s Cupboard chicken broth, $1.29
8 oz Stonemill minced garlic in water, $2.19
1 can Happy Harvest whole kernel corn, $.54

Meat

* 14 oz cheddar jalapeño smoked sausage, $3.29
12 oz Never Any apple chicken sausage, $3.69
3.5 lbs chicken tenderloin, $9.42
3.5 lbs bone-in chicken thighs, $6.62

* substitute regular smoked sausage for cheddar jalapeño, if you are sensitive to spice

Produce

2 mangoes, $1.58
Pineapple, $1.89
3 lbs yellow onions, $2.29
3 pack multi-colored bell peppers, $2.89
2 packs 8 oz white mushrooms, $1.98
3 hearts romaine, $2.99
2 lbs carrots, $1.39
Bunch green onions, $.89
1.5 lbs broccoli crowns, $3.74
2 avocados, $1.78
Pint grape tomatoes, $1.89
6 Roma tomatoes, $1.20

That comes to: $69.64

Or, maybe less…! These meals can run 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 fruit market.

Printable ALDI meal plan & grocery list

Print this week’s meal plan:

*** Download this week’s printable ALDI shopping list and meal plan in Word format.
- Download in .rtf format
- Download in PDF format
If you don’t have Word, you can 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

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.
If one or more of these recipes isn’t to your taste, or if you have other ingredients to use up, 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 4/24-4/30 in Sunday ad markets, and 4/27-5/3 in Wednesday ad markets). Non-advertised prices are from my local store in the Chicago suburbs, and 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 5/1/22.

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