Bring a Quarter for the Carts

I'm an Aldi shopper. I've shopped at Aldi off and on my whole life. Even though I've been dozens of times since I was a kid, Aldi still conjures up images of these cookies.




And flats and flats of generic soda cans stacked taller than I. The purple Grape and green Lemon-Lime and my favorite, the pink Strawberry. (These are things that also remind me of my Grandpa.)

But, slowly this image and other like it are creeping into my mental picture of Aldi.




I decided I would fully commit to Aldi when we decided to only buy necessities. We haven't gotten completely accustomed to the "buy only what we need" bit but we're still trying. Likewise, going to Aldi takes some getting used to.

Here are my Aldi tips:

1. Get creative with substitutions and feel free to eliminate ingredients. Recipes are just guidelines (except when baking unless you know what you're doing). I love recipes and I usually stick to them. But Aldi doesn't always have everything I need, exactly when I need it. This week, I want to make a sweet potato and pepita stuffing recipe. I knew finding pepitas at Aldi might be tricky so I decided to look for pepitas and sunflower kernels. No luck on either. I'll just have to eliminate the pepitas and have sweet potato stuffing instead. (Maybe with some walnuts???)

2. Find another way. Last week, I couldn't find pizza dough mix at Aldi. Pizza dough mix, gravy mix, jarred alfredo sauce--all of these are convenience foods. If I really really want them and I can't find them at Aldi, I can figure out a way to make them at home. Even though it may take more time, the results will probably turn out better than I could buy at the fanciest of grocery stores.

3. Be patient and keep my eyes open. If I'm looking for a kitchen staple or want to try something they don't have on one trip, I'll leave it on my list and try again next week. This week, I bought a jar of roasted red peppers for a green bean recipe. I don't think roasted red peppers are a regularly stocked item but last week, I noticed they were an "item of the week." I went home, found the recipe and put them on my list. There were some jars left so I snagged one. This doesn't always work so that leaves tip #4.

4. Occasionally go to another store. I decided that if something I need is on my list for more than a month and I haven't found it at Aldi. I should buy it at a different story. For example, this week I ran out of ground ginger and pumpkin pie spice. I'm not replacing the pumpkin pie spice because I have every spice it is made of except ground ginger. I may get lucky over the next month and it will turn up at Aldi. (It certainly is the right time of year to stock ginger.) But if not, I'll make a stop at Hy-Vee for ginger and maybe splurge on some Pumpkin Spice Eggnog while I'm there. I know, I know. It's not a necessity. Maybe I can consider it a Christmas present for Husband! Like I said, we're still working on the whole "buy only what we need" bit.

5. Almost forgot. Keep a quarter in my car for the cart!

What I spent today: $25.97
Total since Monday:  $1104.01

Pick & Pull

A week ago, I went with Husband to the local Pick & Pull. In case you're not familiar with the concept, a Pick & Pull is a car junkyard where you can go in and tear parts off old wrecked-up cars that you need to work on your car and then you pay for what you pulled when you leave. Recycling!

At our local Pick & Pull, you pay $2 a person to get in. There are rows and rows and rows of wrecked-up cars and they are sorted by make. I had to go along with Husband because the cars are propped up on old stacked wheels and they look like they will fall over if you lean on them. Husband is afraid that a car will fall on him if he goes by himself. I kept thinking that it would be a great place to film a scene of a slasher movie. Or even a really tense chase scene where they bad guy wrecks his car on the highway overpass and then jumps off the overpass bridge and lands on a wrecked-up car and takes off running. The hero follows, of course, and eventually apprehends the bad guy but not after dodging bullets by ducking between cars.Or a scene from the sequel to "Winter's Bone."

While he picked and pulled 2 door handles, a window/lock control panel, something, and another something, I sifted through gravel, broken windshields, bolts, and assorted car parts with the toe of my tennis shoe. We spent about $60 for parts for the '98 Explorer plus $4 to get in. I made eight cents in pennies I found and collected from the debris. I'm convinced I can find more change when we go back for a hatch latch. I used to be bored to tears when I had to go to the Pick & Pull but now I'm sure I will hit a jackpot of old forgotten quarters someone stashed in their car to feed the parking meter. Forget the casino, I'll be at the Pick & Pull.

 What I spent today: $0
Total since Monday:  $1078.04

Use It Up...or Do Without

 I often read a blog called The Nonconsumer Advocate. While I'm not at all committed to "The Compact," I think it is an admirable idea and I enjoy reading about Katie's journey. And while we are trying to cut back and buy only necessities this month, I ran into a challenge that Katie's motto, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." led me to a solution. These little jams make me question exactly what is a "necessity." I'm sure there will be many more similar situations as the month (or two?) wears on.

Our favorite pizza crust mix is Jiffy brand. It's the little blue and white box that I most closely associate with cornbread mix. Step-Daughter believes it to be the best homemade pizza crust. I like it because its cheap and easy. We are out and I had it on my grocery list the week before we decided to only buy necessities*. However, I couldn't find any kind of pizza crust mix anywhere in Aldi.

So on to plan B, pizza crust is mostly just flour, water, and yeast, right? I've made it from those ingredients before and can do it again, no problem. Except, the only yeast I have is for the bread machine. I'm sure there are recipes for pizza dough made in the bread machine but my bread machine is at my mother-in-law's house.

So on to plan C. I asked the almighty Google about the yeast question. The website www.thefreshloaf.com says that bread machine yeast is exactly the same as instant yeast and I found a recipe for instant yeast pizza dough on that website.

Instant Yeast Pizza Dough
Makes 4 10-inch pizza crusts
5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.50)
1 tablespoon sugar ($0.02)
2 teaspoons salt ($0.01)
1 teaspoon yeast ($0.06)
2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon oil ($0.06)
1 3/4 to 2 cups room temperature water


Mix all the ingredients except for the 1 tablespoon oil. Set dough to rise for 5 minutes. Stir again 3-5 minutes. Add more flour/water if needed. Divide into 4 balls. Oil 4 freezer bags with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Put one dough in each bag and freeze.

To make the crust, thaw a dough in the refrigerator the evening before. Remove from the refrigerator one hour prior to using. Preheat oven to 450. Spread out pizza dough and top. Bake until done, 8-10 minutes.

Price: I can usually find a Jiffy pizza dough mix for about 50 cents. The total for all the ingredients is 65 cents. Divide that by 4 and the cost of dough for one crust is about 16 cents. As far as time to mix up the ingredients, it is about the same. The only difference is that you have to plan ahead enough to take the dough out of the freezer to thaw and bring it to room temperature.

What I spent today: $35.32 for tolls and gas
Total since Monday:  $1078.04

Halloween Decor

We have tons of Halloween tchotchkes. Proof:

These are mostly Husband's doing. He loves to purchase Halloween and Christmas decorations. And although no surface of our house is safe, he also delays decorating until just days before. He decorated for Halloween this year on Sunday.

Out of all that junk, this decoration is my favorite, by far:

Eyes, eyebrows and nostrils of computer and construction paper and teeth of leftover crepe paper. Literally pennies.

This decoration gets bonus points because no matter how old you are, walking through a crepe paper monster mouth is an easy way to brighten up any day.

Today's spending so far: $1005.12 for tolls, fragrance free shampoo, orthodontist, car insurance, credit card bills, candles, a Christmas gift, and canned air. (Yep, candles, canned air and Christmas gifts=non-necessities.)

Total since 10/29: $1042.72