Aldi Christmas food was well rubbish.

[AlphaBravoHenryFoxtons]

The roasted parsnips with honey and mustard dressing (Aldi) were roasted for a good 20 minutes more than the time stated and they were STILL rock hard and revolting (I checked my oven temp using a separate thermometer and the temperature was correct). The Aldi goose fat roast potatoes were not nearly as good as Aunt Bessie's goose fat roasts (I know because I roasted a packed of Aunt B's and a tray of true Aldi g/f roasties and served them in a dish together, the Aldi ones were a horrible grey colour and the aunt bessie's ones were lovely and golden, no surprises for guessing which remained leftover).

I bought a few things at Aldi and many were very disappointing.

Anyone else?

Yep the parsnips were shit, the pork and sage stuffing was gristly, and the turkey crown extremely dry despite regular basting. Oh and the banoffee cheese cake was disgusting. I never realised that bananas could be tough. However the goose fat made delicious roast spuds and the beef dripping yorkshires were sublime. The Maris pipers were only 29p a bag and were spot on. The sprouts were shoite. My mum saved them with chestnuts and bacon in the wok. They eventually lost their bitterness.

I normally buy Christmas food at a mix of places but made it my mission to get everything from Aldi this year. Won't bother next year.

You are proclaiming that people that shop at Aldi don't give a fig for taste or quality yet you serve up aunt bessies roasties and frozen veg?
Maybe other people who shop there buy fresh ingredients and cook themselves and therefore care far more than you about taste and quality.

Eurgh all this ready made junk all tastes crap. Aunt Bessie's are rank so I can't imagine how bad these were to taste worst. But veg is veg if it's fresh.

Armi I don't think anyone is throwing up their hands in horror or having palpitations at the thought of using pre prepared veg - simply stating that genetally they are rubbish compared to doing your own roast parsnips and potatoes.

I got all my veg from Aldi, some on the Saturday before Christmas and it was all fine on Chr Day and beyond in some cases.

Agree with others tho, never used pre-prepped veg so can't comment on that. Prepping parsnips for Chr day took about 10 mins.

Priced up prepared veg at M&S when a friend told me their family bought it every year and made this face at the cost. Assume Aldi is a bit cheaper tho

Was tempted by the Chr tree brioche but resisted so interesting to hear it was good oooh see it is reduced now

The lebkuchen were lovely eaten ong before Christmas though

I got the fresh three bird roast, cooked it for longer than said on the packet and it was delicious, also a very large ham joint was really lean and tender after cooking. I do Aunt Bessies roast pots and parsnips for convenience as they are predictably good for xmas day.

Actually Aunt Bessie's goose fat roasties are very good (they aren't coated in semolina). And many ready to roast parsnips are excellent, the Waitrose frozen maple syrup ones are excellent. There is no excuse for Aldi's special parsnips being as hard as rock and actually inedible after way over their stated cooking time.

I really don't understand why anyone would bother to buy ready prepared parsnips, as to me they are one of the easiest veges. We just peel and then roast ours. Prep was minimal, and they were as always absolutely yummy.

Using prepacked foods is hardly preparing..

You could of spent half the amount of money and impressed your guest simply by making you own..

I bought as much of my Xmas food as I could from Aldi this year and I have not been disappointed with any of it. Meats and cheese selection great, veg (all fresh) good quality apart from a couple of discarded sprouts, goose fat and chestnuts much cheaper than other supermarkets. Cooked ham joint just broken into and was excellent. My turkey was the biggest, best quality they had and cost me £37 compared with £57 for similar in Tesco - brined as per Nigella recipe as I normally do and was delicious, no lack of quality at all. Gammon joint in fridge to be cooked for New Year.
I am a reformed Aldi shopper - local supermarket is Tesco and I have been amazed at the price increases over the last year. I now do the 10 mile trip to Aldi every fortnight and think I save in the region of £50, spend £120 rather than £170 at Tesco.

MIL got preprepared parsnips from M&S and they weren't all that. I think parsnips are just one of those things you need to do from scratch

[stands on soapbox] I didn't use the parsnips or roast potatoes for Christmas day. I used them for a meal yesterday. I'm all cooked out and didn't want to be a slave to the kitchen for yet another day. I wasn't expecting it to be superb or comparable with homemade. But it isn't unreasonable to expect Aldi pre-prepared veg to be edible.

Salmon en croute wasn't very nice and the temperatures and timings given were way out. The pastry burned on top but the salmon was still frozen

I bought all my Christmas food from Aldi this year as we don't have any money. It is not my preferred shop. I don't much like their chocolate but could not complain about the rest. We had the turkey crown, goose fat roast potatoes, roast parsnips, steam veg and Yorkshire puddings. We also had their very cheap bread sauce. It was all lovely.

They were selling their turkeys for £5 and Turkey crowns for £3 in my local Aldi on Christmas eve. I didn't buy one but they had plenty there.

Well actually I didn't want for anyone to do any peeling, parboiling and rolling veg around in fat yesterday. I wanted us to be able to spend the day with our friends. I hope that's OK with you.

Frozen ready-to-roast parsnips are actually almost always superb and indistinguishable from home peeled, parboiled, coated in fat and roasted. Ready to roast potatoes are never a patch on home made but they are edible.

We have had lots of lovely Aldi food this year, especially the Specially Selected nibbles. However, the Xmas pud flavoured Wensleydale we tried today was one of the most vile things I have ever tasted. DH and I are totally non fussy and eat pretty much anything but even we could not eat it and threw it away. I should have known better than to buy it tbh but was intrigued!

That's fine with us all alpha. I agree that the veg, cooked as stated on packet, should be edible.

I was just saying that I have never bought them so don't know what they are like. And that the things I did buy at Aldi were all fine, as per usual.

I also like the Aldi "shopping experience". I find the staff courteous and knowledgeable and the tills quicker than dilatory old Sainsbo's.

We bought almost all our Christmas food from Aldi and it was all good. The Maris piper spuds were superb. We've just eaten their frozen whole stuffed duck and it was delicious.

Catwith I find Aldi times to be way off. The macaroni cheese takes about 10 minutes rather than the stated 7 and the broccoli version from the same range takes about 5 minutes rather than 7. The quiches and pies also need cooking longer at a lower temperature.

Everything I bought from Aldi was delicious. The sPineapple soft cheese with almonds was particularly amazing.

I also really like my store and the staff are gorgeous. Went shopping 9am Xmas Eve and it was fine - they even found a chair for my dd(8) who has recently had surgery and was finding it tiring - they popped her by the Xmas tree behind the tills and she chatted to a checkout lady whilst I shopped.

When people say Aldi won taste tests for their mince pies and Christmas pudding, is that actually true? Whose taste tests did they win and can someone link to those taste tests?

Did anyone try Aldi's frozen 5 bird roast? I've picked one up to have New Years day.

Yes Aldi mince pies came out top in a test by Which.