November Grocery Shopping Haul

My big grocery shopping day landed on October 30 this month. I shopped at Aldi's and Walmart, but on Thursday I went to Costco and picked up a few things to have on hand for Thanksgiving. I also picked up some sundry items.

I like getting light bulbs from Costco because they have the best deals. I bought another couple of boxes of LED Christmas lights too. I'm really hoping these last longer than 1-2 years like the standard bulbs. Half my tree was dark last year and I wasn't happy about it.

On to the grocery haul.

The end of the month is when I buy all the meats for the following month, except this haul doesn't include the Thanksgiving turkey. I wait till we're closer to the holiday and get mine from Publix. They always have the best turkeys and hams. I've tried others. Publix, in my opinion, can't be beat. Aldi's had spiral fries and of course I had to get those too. The only item here that's for Thanksgiving is the Italian bulk sausage that I add to my stuffing. It's so delicious!

I got a lot of stuff to make salads: butter lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers. I often add some mixed veggies too. I've found that if I eat a heavy meal at night (and by heavy I mean carb heavy) I have trouble sleeping. It's like my digestive system slows down and the food will sit in my stomach for hours, causing major discomfort. A salad hits the spot, and it's helped me drop 6 pounds - bonus!

The other Thanksgiving menu item I bought is the stuffing. I buy the Stove Top knock-off from Aldi's which is not as good as Stove Top but once I jazz it up it's way better. The secret is to add fresh onion, celery, rosemary, thyme and sage, along with the ground sausage. It tastes like it was made from scratch.

At Walmart I get whatever I can't find at Aldi's, or items like potatoes because I can only get large bulk quantities at Aldi's, and for two people I don't need 10 lbs. of potatoes. I'll probably end up buying more potatoes for Thanksgiving; after all, what's turkey gravy without mashed potatoes?! I also like to get the Marketside prepared salads whenever they're on clearance. I eat them that same day and they're always fresh tasting.

I got the Blue Ribbon ice cream bars for E (since I can't eat chocolate) because at $4.99 for 20 bars it sounded like a good deal. Sadly, he says the taste is mediocre at best. No wonder they're so cheap. I bought Pillsbury Grands biscuits because last month I got the Great Value brand thinking they were the same thing and found out They. Are. Not. Not by a long shot. Pillsbury Grands taste like homemade biscuits. Great Value brand taste like something out of a box, and not in a nice way. Their Hawaiian Slider buns are really good, though. 

Aldi's has spaghetti noodles but they never have fettuccine noodles. I remembered to buy the fettuccine but not the alfredo sauce. Oops. I tried the Priano brand at Aldi's but I didn't like it much. It tasted bland. I'll have to pick up a jar of Bertolli next time I go to Walmart. Yes, I could make it from scratch, but the Bertolli sauce is actually really good and it saves me some time. I like saving time.

The only non-grocery item I bought was some nail polish remover. I do my own manicures so this is another way I save money. 

And that's it for this month's big shopping trip. So far this week I made the meatball sliders and bourbon chicken. Today it's spaghetti carbonara, one of E's and my favorites. The joy of menu planning is knowing you have everything you need whenever you need it.