The read
Stop Eating Out. One Aldi Cart, Four Meals
What $115.72 actually buys — two weeks of food, four meals, a shake on every one of them, and the same basket priced at four stores.
Download the PDF“Stop eating out. Discount groceries only.”
Everybody nods at that line. Almost nobody runs the numbers on it.
So here they are: one $115 Aldi cart that runs two full weeks — four meals, 28 plates, and a shake on top of every one of them. Two meals a day, about 2,060 calories and 211g of protein. Built for people who lift and people who own something — usually the same person.
- Every two weeks
- $115.72Every two weeks
- Per day, all in
- $8.27Per day, all in
- Meals + shakes
- 28 + 14Meals + shakes
- Protein per day
- 211gProtein per day
Prices from Aldi, August 2026 · Regional and subject to change.
1. The number behind the advice
Hormozi's rule only means something once you put a dollar figure on it. This is that figure — the same thirteen staples, priced at four stores, same quantities, no package-size tricks.
- Aldi$115.72—
Wins 8 of 13 items
- Costco$128.49+$12.77
Before the $65/yr membership
- Walmart$140.82+$25.10
Wins on sauces and bread
- Target$170.99+$55.27
Most expensive on 11 of 13
The eating-out comparison. This cart is 14 days of food — 28 plates at two meals a day, plus a shake on each of those days, about $8.27 a day all in. A fast-casual chicken bowl runs about $14 after tax and tip, which means the entire two weeks costs less than nine takeout meals. Swap ten restaurant meals a week for these and you're keeping roughly $99 a week — about $5,100 a year. That's the sentence, converted into money.
2. What $115.72 buys
Thirteen items, two weeks of food, nothing that goes unused. The numbers on the right are which meals each item feeds — 1 wraps, 2 BBQ sandwiches, 3 teriyaki and rice, 4 salads, 5 the shake.
- Kirkwood boneless skinless chicken breast$36.79
~16 lbMeals 1 · 2 · 3 · 4
- Friendly Farms lactose-free 2% ultra-filtered milk$23.94
6 × 52 ozMeals 5
- Elevation vanilla protein powder$18.49
2 lbMeals 5
- Little Salad Bar garden salad$8.36
4 bagsMeals 1 · 4
- Earthly Grains long grain white rice$7.95
3 × 5 lbMeals 3
- Specially Selected Italian loaf$3.79
1Meals 2
- Happy Farms deli sliced provolone$2.98
2 packsMeals 1 · 2
- Burman's Gold BBQ sauce$2.99
1Meals 2
- Burman's teriyaki stir fry sauce$2.29
1Meals 3
- Strawberries$2.29
1 lbMeals 4 · 5
- Tuscan Garden ranch dressing$1.99
1Meals 1 · 4
- Pueblo Lindo flour tortillas$1.95
20 ctMeals 1
- Seedless cucumber$1.90
2Meals 1 · 2 · 3 · 4
- Total$115.72
3. Four meals, one cart
Four meals, plus the shake — which is an add-on, not one of the two. Every one is built only from the list above, at two-meals-a-day portions. Macros are per serving, chicken weighed raw.
A note on the prices. These are ingredient cost per plate, sized for two meals a day — 9 oz of chicken each. Chicken is what sets that number: 16 lb divided across 28 plates is 9.1 oz, so the cart runs out of chicken and calendar at the same time. Two weeks of meals plus 14 shakes comes to about $110 of the $115.72. There is almost no slack in this version.
Chicken wraps
Fastest to eat one-handed · best for taking to work
From the cart
- 9 oz chicken breast
- 3 flour tortillas
- 1 slice provolone
- 1 tbsp ranch dressing
- 1½ cups garden salad
- Cucumber, sliced thin
Method
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Sear 6–7 minutes a side in a hot dry pan until it hits 165°F, then rest 5 minutes before slicing — cutting early is why chicken goes dry.
Warm all three tortillas 20 seconds a side in the same pan. Overlap two and use the third as a patch — 9 oz of chicken will split a single wrap.
Layer provolone first (it acts as a moisture barrier), then salad, cucumber, chicken, ranch last.
Roll tight, tuck the sides, hold it seam-side down for ten seconds so it seals itself.
Prep note. Ranch goes on right before eating. Dress a wrap the night before and you'll open a soggy tortilla at lunch.
BBQ chicken sandwiches
Highest satisfaction-per-dollar · the one that kills takeout cravings
From the cart
- 9 oz chicken breast
- 2 thick slices Italian loaf
- 3 tbsp Gold BBQ sauce
- 1 slice provolone
- Cucumber, sliced
Method
Butterfly the chicken so it's an even thickness — at 9 oz this matters more, not less; a thick end will still be raw when the thin end is chalk.
Sear 5 minutes a side. Brush the BBQ on only in the last two minutes. The gold sauce is mustard and sugar; add it early and it burns black.
Lay the provolone on top, cover the pan for 60 seconds, kill the heat. Residual steam melts it.
Toast both slices in the pan drippings. Build it open-faced — a 9 oz sandwich does not close, and the loaf only stretches to eight sandwiches at two slices each.
Why gold sauce. Mustard-based BBQ runs about half the sugar of a sweet red sauce, so you get the flavor for roughly 60 calories instead of 120.
Teriyaki chicken with rice
Cheapest plate on the list · best pre-training meal
From the cart
- 9 oz chicken breast, cubed
- 1 cup dry white rice
- 2 tbsp teriyaki stir fry sauce
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Cucumber, sliced
Method
Rice first: 1 cup dry to 2 cups water, lid on, low, 18 minutes. Don't lift the lid. Rest 5 minutes off heat.
Cube the chicken small and cook it in two batches with the teaspoon of oil. Nine ounces in one pan is exactly the crowding that steams it grey instead of browning it.
Kill the heat, then add the teriyaki and toss for 60 seconds. It's sugar-heavy and scorches fast.
Spoon over the rice. Cold cucumber on the side cuts the salt.
Two things to know. This is the carb-heaviest plate at 157g — eat it before training, not on a rest day. And stick to two tablespoons of teriyaki: it is roughly 490mg of sodium each, and the bottle only covers ten of these plates at that rate.
Chicken salads
Lowest calorie, highest volume · the cutting meal
From the cart
- 9 oz chicken breast
- 4 cups garden salad
- Cucumber
- 2 tbsp ranch dressing
- ½ cup strawberries, halved
Method
Cook the chicken however you did on Sunday — this one is built for leftovers, warm or cold.
Bed of salad, then cucumber, then strawberries, then sliced chicken across the top.
Dress at the table, not in the container.
The light one. At 485 calories this is the smallest plate — pair it with a BBQ sandwich and keep it to twice a week, because four cups of greens each burns through the salad bags faster than anything else in the cart. The ranch alone is 130 of those calories.
The add-on: protein shake
Not one of the two meals · one on top of every day
From the cart
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
- 2 cups lactose-free 2% milk
- Ice
Method
Milk in first, both scoops second. Powder on the bottom cakes onto the blade and you'll be scraping it out.
Ice on top. Blend 30 seconds. Leave the strawberries out — the pound in the cart is spoken for by the salads.
If you do have berries spare, freeze them first — thicker shake, zero waste.
Why this is an add-on, not a meal. 480 calories will not hold you for half a day, but 74g of protein on top of two chicken plates is what takes the day from about 140g to 211g. The tub holds 29 scoops — exactly 14 shakes at two scoops each, which is exactly the length of the cart.
4. Running it for two weeks
Two meals a day plus a shake, one seven-day rotation, run twice. The shake is constant — it is the two plates that rotate, and the pairings are set so the salad days land beside a heavier plate.
- Mon$7.49
Chicken wrap + Teriyaki + rice
2,350 cal · 218g protein
- Tue$8.87
BBQ sandwich + Chicken salad
1,575 cal · 202g protein
- Wed$7.39
Teriyaki + rice + BBQ sandwich
2,100 cal · 211g protein
- Thu$7.49
Chicken wrap + Teriyaki + rice
2,350 cal · 218g protein
- Fri$8.87
BBQ sandwich + Chicken salad
1,575 cal · 202g protein
- Sat$7.49
Teriyaki + rice + Chicken wrap
2,350 cal · 218g protein
- Sun$7.39
BBQ sandwich + Teriyaki + rice
2,100 cal · 211g protein
- Week — 14 meals + 7 shakes$54.99
Average per day: 2,057 cal · 211g protein
Every line above includes the daily shake. Two plates land you around 140g of protein; the shake is what takes the day to 211g. Skip it and the whole thing stops working.
What runs out first. Chicken and calendar end together — 16 lb across 28 plates is 9.1 oz each, with nothing spare. The Italian loaf covers exactly eight sandwiches at two slices. The protein tub holds 29 scoops, or 14 shakes. Rice, milk and ranch are the only real surplus. If you want slack, the cheapest place to buy it is a second chicken pack.
The Sunday session — 70 minutes, twice. Once at the start of each week, so nothing sits cooked for more than seven days. Cook 8 lb of chicken in three batches (crowding one pan is what makes it grey and rubbery). Cook 5 cups of dry rice. Portion the chicken into 9 oz containers — weigh it, because eyeballing 9 oz runs long and you will be short by Friday. Leave salad bagged and undressed, sauces unmixed. Shakes get made fresh; everything else is assembly.
5. When eating out is the right call
Hormozi has also made the opposite argument, and it's the one business owners should hear: past a certain hourly rate, buying back the hour you'd spend shopping, cooking, and cleaning is worth more than the twelve dollars you saved on lunch.
So the rule isn't be cheap forever. It's know the number well enough to decide on purpose. The number is at the top of this page. What you do with it is a business decision, not a moral one — and it changes as your rate changes.
Get the full spreadsheet
Every price above lives in an editable workbook — all thirteen items at all four stores, per-serving nutrition for the whole basket, and the assumptions and sources behind each number. Change one cell and everything recalculates for your area.
Grocery-Price-Nutrition-Comparison.xlsx — 3 tabs, no email required.