On a grad stipend, groceries are one of the few line items you actually control week to week — unlike rent or tuition. Aldi is usually among the cheapest grocery chains for staples, which makes it the anchor store for this guide. Everything below assumes a single person cooking for themselves, with leftovers built in for lunches.
The weekly baseline
A workable grocery list for one person, at roughly $35–40 a week, looks like this (prices are our rough estimates and vary by region):
- 1 dozen eggs — ~$2.50
- 1 lb chicken thighs — ~$4.50
- 1 lb ground turkey or beef — ~$5
- Dry pasta (2 boxes) — ~$2
- Rice (2 lb bag) — ~$2
- Canned beans (3 cans) — ~$2
- Canned tomatoes (2 cans) — ~$2
- Frozen mixed vegetables (2 bags) — ~$4
- Onions, garlic, carrots — ~$3
- Bread — ~$1.50
- Peanut butter — ~$2
- Milk or a plant-based alternative — ~$3
- Seasonal fruit — ~$4
That's a full week of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for one person, with room to spare for coffee or a treat.
Five meals that rotate well
1. Sheet-pan chicken thighs with roasted vegetables. Toss chicken thighs with whatever vegetables are cheapest that week (carrots, onions, frozen broccoli works too), olive oil, salt, and pepper. One pan, 35 minutes, four servings.
2. Turkey and bean chili. Ground turkey, canned tomatoes, canned beans, onion, and whatever spices you have. Makes 5–6 servings and freezes well — a good Sunday batch-cook.
3. Egg fried rice. Day-old rice, scrambled eggs, frozen peas and carrots, a splash of soy sauce if you have it. Uses up rice from the chili night and takes under 15 minutes.
4. Pasta with tomato and white bean sauce. Canned tomatoes, canned white beans, garlic, and pasta. Blend or mash half the beans into the sauce for body and protein without meat.
5. PB toast and fruit, egg and toast, or oatmeal. Rotate these for breakfast — all under $1 per serving.
A few habits that matter more than any recipe
- Cook in batches on one day. Most grad students who eat well on a budget cook 2–3 times a week, not 7. Chili, a grain, and a roasted vegetable tray usually cover 10+ meals combined.
- Buy what's on sale in the weekly ad, but don't build your whole plan around it — treat it as a bonus, not a dependency.
- Frozen vegetables are not a downgrade. They're picked and frozen at peak ripeness and often retain more nutrients than the "fresh" produce that's been in transit for a week.
- Track one month, not every week. Grocery spending naturally swings ±$10–15 week to week. What matters is the monthly average, and whether it's trending toward your stipend's food budget line, not away from it.
When Aldi doesn't have it
Aldi doesn't consistently carry every spice or specialty ingredient. For those, a monthly supplement trip to a larger grocery store or an ethnic grocer (often cheaper than either) for spices, specific produce, or bulk grains can round things out without blowing the weekly budget.
None of this requires giving up flavor or variety — it requires having 5–6 base recipes you can make without a recipe card, and letting the weekly sale prices decide the details.