Cheap & Healthy (or not) Eats! Share?

[backspin]

I LOVE Aldi's!! the quality & selection has steadily improved over the years & I buy pretty much everything I can there now. The total is consistently HALF what I would spend for the same stuff at the regular store.

Currently my favorite cheap cheap cheap meal is chicken ramen noodles w/ a whole lot of frozen stir fry veggies thrown in with it. Very filling, not too bad health-wise, and delicious!! (at least, to me.)

[dbell1]

What is the consensus of Aldi's? I buy olive oil, salt and pepper grinders and name brand Chicago deep dish pizza (when they have it) there. Yes, I am one of the few paying cash and not with a Bridge card but their prices really are good. They also have Buffalo Mozzerella for $2.99 same brand as my grocer for $6.00. Is is just a midwest thing?

What's a Bridge Card?

For pet owners - I found American rawhides at Trader Joe's. $7.50 for a bag. I'm happy to pay more to get them something not imported. And I love their Bench and Field holistic dog food prices - $10 a bag, 1/2 the price of other sites.

[vesperholly]

I love the steam-in bags of frozen veggies like green beans or mixed veg (green beans, corn, peas, carrots). My grocery store sells them for $1 apiece, and I can usually get 3 servings from one bag. I prefer them "plain", which works out because not only are they cheaper, they usually have far less calories and fat than the "seasoned" frozen veggies.

My biggest struggle is proper planning. I developed a habit of eating a la carte, so I tend to graze on snack-sized meals, instead of sitting down for a meal. I can easily spend north of $50 and then have "nothing" to eat, or run out in 3 days, because I didn't buy the right items for recipes. I really need to inventory my cupboards and make comprehensive lists before I go grocery shopping.

ETA: I also love freezing things. As a single person living alone, I need food in far fewer quantities than your average couple/family. Bread freezes well, it's mushy when thawed but toasted it's fine. Frozen pre-cut things are the best — my sister informed me of frozen diced white onion, and cooking has never been the same. I buy Better than Bouillion, which is 10,000 times more delicious than Oxo cubes, and more economical than buying stock (I can make any quanitity without waste).

I'm almost embarrassed that it took me this long to figure all this stuff out!

[skatemommy]

^ the Bridge card is Food Stamps here is Michigan. You can slide it now like a debit card which is much better for fraud prevention. Aldi's parent company is German which I notice has NO recalls unlike US companies like Kelloggs et al. I've never seen Aldi's stuff recalled anywhere, anytime.

[Buzz]

Anyone ever thought about eating green bananas? They are very healthy and taste great curried or in soup or used instead of potato in potato salad. It was a favourite dish from childhood but the right type of "green bananas" is extremely hard to find here. Regular bananas I believe have to been boiled first before being used in any recipe. My childhood memories are quite fuzzy so here are a couple of recipes to follow if you all are brave enough to try it.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_bad_..._green_bananas

http://www.simplytrinicooking.com/20...n-fig-pie.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uitEOhoP4