What’s in My Aldi Cart, Covid Thanksgiving Edition. (Ad week 11/18-24/20)

As you can see, I had a big cart this week! It was really touch and go if something was going to land in the lot or not. I’ve been bagging at my car when the weather allows so I’m not bunched up with everyone at the bagging section. It’s a little awkward but I have a hatchback so it’s cart-height which makes it a little easier.

I haven’t done a big Aldi shop since my last post but I did go once to pick up food for my dad (and got milk for us) and once I had to go to the bathroom and it was the only place open and I ended up leaving with two Christmas cacti. I’m not sure if they count as visits in the grand scheme of things.

I’m still trying not to shop frequently. I’ve had to be out a lot starting in late August when my mom was sick, helping my dad and now dealing with her estate but that’s really slowed down now. My dad is all stocked up with groceries, I did some non-Aldi shopping for things I can’t get there so I’m hoping to get back to shopping once every 3-4 weeks again. The virus is getting worse every day and I can only imagine what it’s going to be to like after Thanksgiving.

We obviously are not getting together with anyone for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately this means my dad will be alone. My plan is to make traditional Thanksgiving food on Sunday and take him a plate on Monday for him to eat on Thursday. I can’t really figure out a better way. I don’t want to do all that cooking myself so it has to be a day my husband is off work. My dad eats dinner freakishly early and I can’t see making all that food actually on Thanksgiving and having time to get it to his house before his dinnertime, much less being able to eat it fresh and hot myself. Thursday is slightly pushing it for leftovers but it’s doable, I think! Or he can freeze it and heat it up if he’s leery. He freezes single portions of cooked couscous so his standards are more flexible than mine.

I already had some things from Costco I needed (cranberries, bread for stuffing) but this shop includes Thanksgiving shopping and regular shopping.

• Fresh turkey. They only had one in the fresh poultry section. I’m too tired to worry with a frozen one. They were on sale this week but honestly, I’m not 100% sure it rang up correctly. It must have been close though because it was a little over $18 for a almost 14 lb turkey. Last time they had fresh turkey they were in the frozen free standing bins at my location and sort of quasi frozen. This one seems actually “fresh”.
• 10 lbs russet potatoes for $2.49. Can’t beat that! Lots of staple produce was on sale. Celery was 49¢.
• Yukon Gold potatoes were not on sale ($4.49/5 lbs) but I like them better for mashed potatoes so I got them. And some baby potatoes for $2.99. Not sure if I am going to regret getting all these potatoes.
• Boneless lamb loin roast. This was pricy. I bought a pretty small one and it was still $14 and some change. It had a good date and we haven’t had lamb in long time so why not.
• Steelhead trout ($8.99/lb). I’m wondering if this is a regular thing now. I haven’t seen it in the ads but it keeps being in the fresh seafood section. It always has good expiration dates but that seems a little wrong to me. I guess it’s how it’s packaged?
• Ground chicken was back. $2.99/lb. I’ve gotten quite good at jazzing this up. The expiration date is early December so I bought two.
• Take and bake baguette ($1.29). I’ve had the Italian one before and it was pretty good so I thought I’d try it.
• Various long lasting produce like broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.
• Brioche hot dog and hamburger buns. I think these are a little pricy (I can’t read the receipt but I think around $3.99) but they are seasonal. You can get the hamburger ones in a four pack year round but this is a six pack for about the same price. They seem a little smaller though.
• Mini Italian sub rolls. Why not? They are are same brand as the rolls the good cheesesteak places use. $2.99.
• Grilled bread crisps ($2.49). I had them with a cheese ball I made a while back and they were really tasty. They are basically grilled, crunchy baguette slices. I really like the entertaining section they have this time of year. I saw on Instagram some Scandinavian style flat breads that looked good but I didn’t see them in my store.
• I think they discontinued the wild rice mix we had been getting. Now they had Uncle Ben’s instead and I don’t know how I feel about that. I liked the old stuff, it was the perfect sized box and it came out great even when we added vegetables to it while it was cooking.
• Canned pumpkin was back in the baking aisle for 89¢. Limit two. In the Aldi Finds aisle they also had cans (Libby brand, I think) for $1.49, no limit. I stuck with the cheaper one.
• 2 half gallons of milk ($2.49, organic). Doesn’t Aldi sell whole gallons of organic whole milk? We normally don’t use that much so I only buy a half gallon but it’s baking season.
• Jars of olives and artichoke hearts, all around $2.49.
• Frozen breaded shrimp ($3.99), frozen (raw) mixed seafood—surprisingly good ($5.99) and bay scallops (they are back! $4.99).
• Take and bake pizza ($5.99) we had never had one before because they don’t fit in our fridge but I shopped in the morning so I brought it home and made it right away for lunch.

I seem to have mostly bought bread and potatoes this week. Oh, well! It’s hard to think of every meal you are going to make in the future and I’m not making hot dog rolls so what else am I going to do? I find if you don’t open them, they keep well, even a few days after their expiration dates if it isn’t too warm or humid.

One thing I’ve been doing as I unpack my groceries is writing a list of the expiration dates of all the meat/seafood so I can plan the meals around what expires first and nothing gets lost.

I spent $285.39 on 101 items. Is that a record for most items? No wonder my cart was overflowing. Average of $2.82 an item. Not bad! I bought a good bit of meat and seafood and the bread is all a little pricy.