Barissimo K-Cups

There’s a new K-Cup in town. It looks like Aldi no longer carries the Beaumont brand of K-Cups. But no worries, I can assure you that the Barissimo brand is very good as well. Both my husband and I tried the Hazelnut flavor and honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference. I actually thought that maybe Beaumont was just re-named to Barissimo, that’s how similar it was to me.

We are pleased that they are just as good, they are our go-to K-Cup, they’re still under $5 for a box of 12. Which is really the cheapest around. Unless you have a great coupon on a sale item at a regular grocery store, but those are few and far between. Aldi is the constant in my book.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

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Here's a great Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bar recipe by Pillsbury that I made today. It's a little heavy on the butter, but oh. my. goodness. It is good.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

Base and Topping

2 1/4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

Filling

1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 (6-oz.) pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts (I didn't use these)

Steps

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2 In large bowl, combine all base and topping ingredients; mix at low speed until crumbly. Reserve 2 cups of crumb mixture for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of sprayed pan to form base.

3 In small bowl, combine condensed milk, peanut butter and vanilla; mix until well blended. Pour mixture evenly over base. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and peanuts. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top; press down gently.

4 Bake at 350°F. for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Center will not be set. Cool 1 hour 15 minutes or until completely cooled. Cut into bars.

Fit & Active Bars

The Fit & Active brand at Aldi is excellent. Here are a couple of samples of Fit & Active brand bars that we enjoy. They are comparable to the Special K bars. Except in price of course, they're much cheaper at Aldi!

The Vitality Cereal Bars were $1.79 at Aldi, the Special K bar equivalent is $2.50 at Wegmans. The Protein Meal bars are $3.99 at Aldi and the Special K version is $5.49 at Wegmans. Buying these two items at Aldi will save you $2.21! That's enough to get another box of Cereal bars and still have change leftover. 

Comparison Shopping

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I took my weekly Aldi receipt and did a direct comparison of prices at our local Wegmans. It was very eye-opening for me. There was not one single item that was cheaper at Wegmans. There was only one item that was the same price. (Spaghetti sauce was 99 cents at both stores.) All the rest of the items were cheaper (and some by a lot) at Aldi. And I'd have to say, the comparison for taste and quality are at least equal. There is not a single item that I bought at Aldi that I would prefer to buy at Wegmans. Granted, I do still shop weekly at Wegmans for things that Aldi just doesn't sell, but the majority of our food each week comes from Aldi.

The total I spent at Aldi that week was $45.20. For the same food at Wegmans, it would have cost me $58.66. That's almost a $14 savings. Add that up over a year and that's a $700 savings. Who wouldn't want to save $700 a year?

* This shopping trip was actually a smaller trip than I usually do, I normally spend about $60-65/week at Aldi. So I would imagine my savings would really be more than $700/year!

Beaumont Coffee K-Cups

* * * Update: ShopAldi has moved to a new home! Come visit us!  * * *

Happy New Year! We're starting the new year off on the right foot in my house. Coffee is first thing on the agenda for New Year's Day. We received a Keurig for Christmas this year. (I know, we're late to the Keurig game, but better late than never I guess!)

Since then, we've been experimenting with various brands and flavors of K-Cups. And let's face it, they're not cheap. A friend gave us the Aldi Breakfast Blend K-Cups as a gift and we picked up the Hazelnut flavored K-Cups during our last Aldi trip. In my opinion, they are terrific. We've now had several flavors and several brands, and the Aldi K-Cups are just as good as the others. But of course, they're a lot less expensive. A comparable flavor and the store brand at Wegmans is priced at $7.49 for a 12-pack. At Aldi, they are $5.79. That's a $1.70 difference. That's a big savings!

* * * Update on Beaumont K-Cups - check my latest blog post about the new K-Cups! * * *

Fresh Flowers

I love fresh flowers in my kitchen. It brightens the room and always makes me smile when I see them. Aldi has very affordable flowers, and they're always fresh and last several weeks if taken care of properly. (I change the water daily.) 

Aren't they gorgeous? These particular fresh flowers from Aldi only cost $3.99. Such a small price to pay for a few weeks of smiles! 

Little Salad Bar All Natural Salsa

I came across this salsa in the refrigerated foods section last weekend. It was fabulous! And it goes really well with the Clancy Multi Grain Tortilla chips. It's great for a snack or as a side dish on Taco night.