Ain’t No Party Like an ALDI Party

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ALDI truth #36: If you think our fresh fruit is sweet, wait until you see our prices.

You guys know I loves me some ALDI, right? Ridiculously great prices for delicious food, lots of gluten-free options, and there is NO other store I can get in & out of so quickly when I have kids. You know what else I like? Good company! So when ALDI gave me some gift certificates and  asked me to throw a little Summer BBQ with some friends and family and their food, I said “LET’S PARTY!”

And we did. But first, I shopped. I took Jonah with me while the big kids were on a play date, and we cruised the aisles looking for cookout essentials like Sweet Baby’s Ray’s BBQ sauce and copious amounts of MEAT. I got everything I needed including plates, cups, drinks, sides, and cutlery for $68.01 – for a party of 10 guests! Woot woot! Take a peek inside my cart:

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And then, we grilled!! And sliced. And socialized.

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Mmm…all the grillable things are DELICIOUS!

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Jonah was a SUPERFAN of the delicious, juicy seedless watermelon.

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Which was only $2.99!!

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I myself was partial to the creamy coleslaw:

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And the burgers with colby-jack cheese. And the grilled chicken. They were both DELICIOUS!

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Together with delicious lemonade and raspberry lemonade, this made for a fun, festive, and scrumptious end-of-summer party! Doesn’t this look delectable? It totally was.

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Joshua especially loved the bacon-and-cheese bratwurst. He’s a meatatarian!

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We had a wonderful summer soiree on an amazing budget thanks to ALDI! We fed 10 people and still had 4 hamburgers we didn’t even cook, plus some leftover BBQ chicken for the next day’s lunch. I love it!

Thanks ALDI, for making the end of our summer break great!

What’s YOUR favorite thing to buy at ALDI?

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In Which I Eat ALL THE THINGS

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I participated in this program on behalf of Udi’s and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

As you may know, I’ve been eating gluten free since November of 2012, when I developed an allergy to wheat. I don’t have celiac disease, so it’s not specifically gluten that causes me a problem, but wheat – and where there’s wheat, there’s gluten, so I avoid wheat by eating gluten free (wheat makes me itch and feel like I have THINGS crawling all over me. It’s terrible!) It’s been a fantastic lifestyle change for me, and we’ve had Jonah off gluten since January 2013 because he has an intolerance that manifested itself in anger – fits and tantrums that ceased almost immediately after we took him off gluten and have never returned.

Going gluten free has it’s challenges, and there were definitely certain foods I missed a LOT. But happily, now that more and more people are going gluten free for health reasons (whether medically diagnosed or not), there are now a lot of food options to help us feel “NORMAL” – which is very important! One of the first gluten free brands I ever tried was Udi’s – when craving a cheeseburger, I was finally able to have one again at a cookout thank to an Udi’s bun! And over the past 14 months I’ve also become fans of their breads and cookies, too! Jonah eats a piece of their cinnamon raisin bread every day – he loves it. And I love their Ancient Grain Millet-Chia bread. It makes  a terrific grilled cheese sandwich!

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Recently I got to participate in a webinar with Udi’s and some other great bloggers and learned a lot more about Udi’s and their mission to help gluten free folk like me and Jonah feel normal. It was great to hear about their history and their dedication to making new products for us g-free peeps to love! And lucky, lucky me, I also got not one but TWO boxes of some fabulous Udi’s products to try!

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The granola bars, vanilla crunch muffins, and salted caramel cashew cookies are amaaaaazing!! But the piece de resistance, my friends, are these:

{cue angels singing!}

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These things are so amazingly good, that after I stuffed half a bag into my face in one sitting, I checked the label to make sure they did not contain something highly addictive like say um…crack cocaine. JUST KIDDING Udi’s, I know you don’t put illegal addictive drugs in your chips, but OH MY GOSH they are ridiculously delicious! And the “Sea Salt Crisps” flavor is also outstanding!! You have gotsta get yourself some of these, gluten free or not. My gluten-eating husband also LOVED them. And may I say, it truly shows my love for him that I shared these with him. Because I’m probably not going to share them with you if I’m not legally bound for better or for worse.

One of the other things I learned about Udi’s is that they have a great commitment to being a part of the gluten free community. They have 250 brand ambassadors in North America, attend 500+ celiac disease events every year, and are actively conducting consumer research and product testing to make their products better and better for those of us who cannot eat gluten.

I’m awfully thankful for these products for me and for my little guy and I’ve loved having the chance to expand my Udi’s knowledge.

Have you ever tried any Udi’s products? What are your favorites?

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