Bloody love Aldi! Another gorgeous tea tonight with clean plates!

[jimijack]

Pasta bake with bacon chucked in & garlic bread. Total cost less than £1 per head.
Plates scraped clean.

Last night it was hunters chicken with rice.

I haven't found anything we haven't liked since I started shopping there.

Saved loads of money and we eat really well.

flossie- yes!! its by where my grandparents live so convenient for me when I visit them!

I tend to go to the one in Lichfield mainly as that seems to be nicer, car park right outside (hate having to drag stuff through the town) and also right next to a tescos in case you cant get certain items.

For meat I always go for free range or the Aberdeen Angus beef and mince.

Artandco, you cannot shop at Aldi with your usual shopping list, I found. You can only get what's there, iykwim! That's why meal planning or deciding on packed lunch contents have to be done in store :)

You are right. They don't have a wide variety of things. I buy the bulk of our groceries there and then other things I am particular about, I get from another shop.

Nooooo-
MEAL PLANNER HERE!

You can plan before you go.

www.aldi.co.uk/en/recipes/recipes-by-category/

Tried the tomato and mascarpone stir in pasta sauce last night with sweet corn and chicken breast (just 1 large one between 4 of us) stirred in. Over £1.20 cheaper than Tescos own sauce and no difference in taste - ds asked for seconds which is unheard of! Did another weeks shop yesterday which came to £31

Is it just the washing tablets that are good, I bought the powder. Normally use Lidl's but fancied a change - bought the colour powder

Tiredemma- ours is the same, cant park in car park.. Went this week after running club at 7ish and loads of spaces and no queuing at the tills

aw I miss aldi, Im living in NZ again but we always used to shop there 5-6 yrs ago to sniffs of disapproval from our peers
the black forest ham was brill and so cheap, the cheese, the specialty ranges they did occasionally like the greek food or the spanish, particularly the frittata. Now I have to make do making my mother take me when I visit her in Australia to get my fix.

I converted to Aldi last year and love their fruit and veg. Their Norpak butter is much the same as Lurpak (but obviously cheaper). I was buying the washing tabs but I can't find them now - have they stopped making them? I bought a box of the washing powder instead and saw it has a Which best buy sticker on it . The peanut butter is lovely but very sweet, and I buy their breakfast cereals as the kids prefer them to the branded ones now.

The only thing I'm not having success with is loo roll and the tomato sauce. I don't eat tomato sauce but DH and the kids say it's rank.

Update on Aldi products new to us that we have tried so far this week:

Fresh free range chicken: success, tasty, tender, and just made a chasseur with the leftovers. Will definitely buy again.

Broccoli and cheese tarts: really good, great flavour and good value, will also buy again.

Large frankfurters; DH disliked, slimy and 'strangely soapy', will not be buying again.

Garlic bread slices; wolfed down by all, a hit.

Summer fruit drink: apparently 'nicer than Sainsburys', also a hit.
Looking positive so far!

Ooooh the fresh packed soup mix, leeks & potato,carrots turnip, think it was 90p.
I chucked some celery and half a bag of lentils in it. Was bloody lovely. (Slow cooker)

We've just eaten the breaded garlic mushrooms for dinner and they were really good, much better than from other supermarkets - not wet and slimy in the middle.

Other hits this week have been the individual rice puddings which dd is having for breakfast and the smoothie 1litre bottles from the fresh counter.

The Italian rectangular sliced salami is lovely, I eat it in the car on the way home.

Laurie what is this fresh counter if which you speak? My store does not have one of those damn it! This week we have tried the cheese curls which are a rip off for Quavers - dh had not clocked this and wolfed them down said they were exactly the same (99p for 10), kids love the raspberry and apple juice, fresh bags of salad for 79p which have lasted for ages compared to Tesco. I'm honestly thrilled with the changes and could kick myself for giving Tesco my money for all these years.

Sorry, didn't mean fresh counter - I meant the fridge

As opposed to some cheapie smoothie from pasteurised type juice hanging about in the aisles.

Dancergirl our Aldi stocks branded goods, Bisto gravy granules, andrex ect.

We had the goose fat roast potatoes last night and ds1 (fussiest of all) said they were lovely. I usually go during the week and it is fairly quiet however went yesterday and it was really busy.

Jinty- were they frozen potatoes?

Yes, frozen roasties.

We've recently swopped from tesco to aldi and wow, our bank balance is feeling the benefit! Our successes have been breakfast cereals, the hoops and crunchy nut cornflakes in particular, ground roasted coffee, the steak (we find the sirloin is a big enough piece for two to share!) at £3.29 is great value.

I like their own brand diet coke (never liked any other than the real thing in the past!) and their not from concentrate juices are great! The apple and mango is much loved by my Ds's! The white wines are very nice too, the Soave at £3.79 is fab value, tastes much pricier than it is.

Only thing we've had a fail on is the cat food which our fussy moggy has refused to even consider eating!

I am a recent Aldi convert! they do really excellent bags of mixed nuts (brazils) with dried fruit for a very good price. The same items would be three times as much in waitrose, or twice as much in sainsbo's. Their lasagne and hummus/tuna mix for sandwiches is also great.

I don't seem to be able to find much organic produce though.....I won't buy any non organic milk as it's chocka with hormones and other shite

Aldi Strachans Ice Cream is lovely, as is their mini magnum type ice lollies. Any of the Moser Roth chocolate is lovely too.
Thanks for posting the recipe link Tired

Aldi do organic milk. Lidl do too in fairness.

No organic milk in the two Aldis I frequent.

No quinoa either. Dh is wheat intolerant so it limits my choices. Grr.

Might drop them a line about it.

We just had a lovely aldi dinner.

Honey glazed chef at home gammon £2.99
Potato gratin 0.89
Peas 0.20
Chantenay carrots 0.49
Sweetcorn 0.36

Absolutely delicious as well! Plus have got stocked up for packed lunches with the yummy muller corner imitations at half the price and the good quality fruit.

Love aldi!

Forgot to post that I tried Aldi on Friday! I am officially a convert!

Only thing I couldn't buy was spaghetti hoops (has to be hoops lol) and chilled pastry. Everything we have eaten so far has been really good. Got the nappies and wipes and cleaning stuff and they are all good. Also tried their imitation Bulmers pear cider and was pleasantly surprised! and only 99p!
I put all of it into Sainsburys groceries (where I usually buy) and worked out I saved 31 quid! I didn't even go for the cheapest things either! Very pleased