Audra from Ohio updates us on her pantry challenge today…
Hi there! My name is Audra, I’m from Ohio and am doing an Aldi challenge this month to restock my pantry, save money, and check out Aldi’s products. I’m still using up the last bits of produce from my garden, but all of my grocery shopping for our family of 3 will be done at Aldi’s this month!
This week I visited Aldi to restock my pantry after having to throw out lots of items due to a pantry moth invasion. I don’t normally spend this much money at the grocery in one go, but I feel like I brought home a lot of food for the money I spent!
Here’s what I bought:
Fruits and Veggies, $17.79
Pantry Staples, $35.74
Dairy and Cold Food (frozen spinach not pictured), $32.74
Dried Fruit, Nuts, Canned Goods, and Bread, $29.58
Alcohol, Snacks, and Other, $32.91
Total Spent (with tax) $146.22
One thing I’m happy to see at Aldi are the fair trade and organic items. For example, this trip I was able to buy organic quinoa, brown rice, shredded coconut, yogurt, almond milk, bread, canned tomatoes, tortilla chips, bananas, baby spinach, multi-colored baby carrots, and pears! I also bought brown and regular sugar that are both organic and free trade. According to this website, 80% of the sugar we eat is produced here in America, but for imported sugar it’s much better for the farmers and the environment to buy fair trade.
Most of the snacks and alcohol were for a party we hosted. I made warm spinach dip with tortilla chips, cheese and crackers (I love the Kerrygold Dubliner cheese!), and a cookie plate with the milk-chocolate butter cookies and pumpkin spice pretzels (which were both delicious). Friends and family brought the rest of the food to share and we didn’t even end up opening the wine or beer because they also brought some beer from our local brewery!
Here’s my upper pantry all stocked up! I put the flour and powdered sugar in canisters right away, and the rest of the sealed items I’ll be putting into jars or canisters as soon as I open them. I never want to have to go through the pantry moth extermination process again!
I’m curious, what items do you feel are worth buying organic and which ones aren’t worth the extra money? I like the taste of organic bananas much better than regular, but I never buy organic avocados.
~ Audra from Ohio
A big THANK YOU to everyone who sent in their photos for the $20/$20 Challenge in 2015. I hope by sharing those pantry pictures and organization stories, you were able to gain a little useful information. The challenge might be over, but I’d love to still see those pantries! If you’re willing to share, I’m willing to share, so keep ’em coming. If I end up using your submission, you score a $20 Amazon gift card!
If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop, pantry or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:
- Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
- Your Pantry Pics – Pictures of your pantry/fridge/cabinets, as well as a short blurb {at the very least} about you and your food habits.
- Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
- Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
- Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
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You’ll need to send in a Minimum of 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures and the stories to go along with those pictures. Do not send in a couple of grainy photos and a sentence about them. I can’t post that. It doesn’t make for an interesting or informative story.
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Cathy says
Dirty dozen items for me on organic, others if the price is right.
Audra says
I keep the dirty dozen in mind too. I hardly ever buy red peppers since the organic ones are SO expensive. This year I tried to concentrate on growing the food that I can rarely afford to buy since I only want to buy it if it’s organic. Raspberries and bell peppers topped my list!
erin in ia says
Warning on the organic brown rice, while cooking this there will be a strange grayish film, I’m not sure what it’s from. Also, this rice takes much longer than any other rice I’ve cooked with. I’m going back to my other brown rice after I use it up.
Audra says
Huh, that’s weird about the film! I haven’t noticed it, but we use a rice cooker so maybe that’s why? I do agree, it says it cooks in 15 minutes but it takes longer. I just use the regular brown rice setting on the cooker and it turns out well.
Jamie says
We were not big banana eaters at my house until we went to Vietnam three years ago. They would harvest bananas and coconut right from the trees and bring them into eat. They were so good. Since then we eat a lot more bananas, but only organic ones. My kids can actually taste the difference. A couple times Costco has been out of the organic bananas so I grabbed the regular ones. My kids have been able to tell every time.
Audra says
I got hooked on bananas when I studied in Costa Rica, they were so good and so many varieties were available! Incidentally, I used to think I didn’t like papaya, but I tried it there and loved it. It really made a difference having it fresh and really ripe!
Sue says
I try to buy organic all the way. If I can’t find the items in a store that I usual shop, I just substitute something else and go to a manager to kindly ask please keep these things in stock. I use Trader Joe’s, FResh Market and my local grocery store. One day I need to go check out an Aldi store. We have several in a larger town near us. Hope I never get those bugs in my pantry. Yours looks really neat.
Audra says
Thanks Sue! And I love Trader Joe’s, if I had one close by I’d shop there all the time. I’ve heard that they are owned by the same parent company and some of the products at Aldi’s look very familiar (right now they have maple cookies at Aldi that look just like the ones at TJ’s!)
OregonGueat says
Dirty Dozen gets my vote too, as well as things that are GMO or have GMO ingredients or heavy metals or other weird and nasty things (so, while wheat and corn and sugar are obviously not on the Dirty Dozen list, they’re GMO, so I buy organic flour, organic bread, organic corn and flour tortillas, organic chocolate chips, organic mango; organic rice from the US because of arsenic, etc. — yeah, it’s exhausting living in my house with my husband, the Food Nazi!). If the price on non-Dirty Dozen foods is similar to organic, I buy organic (sometimes it is on certain items, curiously). If you can afford to go organic on at least the Dirty Dozen items and GMO items (again, largely because of the pesticide), do it.
Deborah says
I agree, dirty dozen on produce and anything else priced close. Trying to keep organic on anything grown as a commodity, wheat, soy, corn, canola for the same reason GMO’s and loaded with pesticide. Also dairy if it’s for the grandkids.
Sharon says
We just got an Aldi’s in my town, so I’ve only been there a couple of time. But does anyone else hate their butter? I swear that it was weird — didn’t melt right and tasted odd. I finally finished it and never plan to buy it again. I didn’t know I could dislike a brand of butter, but Aldi’s is definitely on my do-not-buy list.
Linda says
Was butter salt free? Butter tastes odd without salt but the salt free is for cooking and baking
Melanie says
I haven’t noticed anything odd and we use Aldi butter frequently.
Audra says
My MIL buys their butter regularly and I’ve never noticed a weird taste. Maybe it was an off batch? Right now they have Kerrygold butter, which is really good but pricey (even at Aldi’s ;))
Julie says
My DH says the same thing about Aldi butter, so it’s the only thing on my do not buy list.
Paige says
I’m not a fan of their sliced cheese (cheddar and colby jack). Has a plasticky feel to it and tastes off.
Linda says
I’ve had ants invade my container like the ones you’re using for flour. Ended up tossing almost two pounds of walnuts!
Audra says
Ugh! What a bummer. Ants aren’t much of a problem around here, crossing my fingers it stays that way!
Melanie Shores says
I wanted to mention chocolate. Much of Aldi’s delicious chocolate store brand chocolate (the Choceur brand) is UTZ certified. This isn’t the same as ‘organic’ but it is a Dutch certification with high standards which follows the product from its source to the consumer. Chocolate farming in much of the world involves child labor and trafficked workers. All the big U.S. candy companies know this and don’t take the steps to change these horrific practices. So instead of buying the Mars/Hershey/etc. brands of chocolate, I get mine at Aldi. Just look on the back of the package for the UTZ designation.
Audra says
Oh, wow! That’s great to know! Thanks so much for the info, I’m really excited that they are a more ethical source than mainstream brands (which I pretty much never buy). Plus, you’re right, it is really delicious!
Annabel says
Moth larvae can eat through the plastic packets so they need to be kept in sturdier containers. I had to throw out two unopened bags of ground almonds last week because larvae had eaten into the packet.
Wendi says
Thanks for highlighting free trade vs. fair trade. Fair trade means that the producers are required to pay their workers a fair wage for services rendered. Free trade means anything goes and often our low prices are at the detriment of the workers, often women and children.