What/What Not to Buy at Lidl/Aldi

danika05 said:
I don't buy a single processed item, all our meals are made from absolute scratch. And pretty much everything we buy is gone by the end of the week. (Its not always the most exciting eating, but no one has overly complained yet!)

We don't buy busicuits, crisp etc. And we stick to chicken and mince - the least expensive end of the meat range.

I'm always amazed myself when the check out person tells me the total, and its gotten to the stage that on the odd occassion when I am quoted a bit over 80 euros, I get quite annoyed :)
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Yes, very well done! I suppose even though I do buy stuff to make from scratch the stuff I buy is more 'exotic' than strictly necessary. Every weekly shop includes a freerange chicken, angus striploin steaks, jumbo prawns, wild salmon, cod ( and not very earth friendly that either), yoghurts, loads of different kinds of cold meats and cheeses, will usually be seduced by the fruit counter too. When you look at it like that actually my bill isn't all that bad!
 
Slaphead said:
Do you not buy milk in cartons, tins of tomatoes, breakfast cereals, bread etc?
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For myself :

Bread comes from the breadmaking machine. Yes, I do buy flour in packets and it is processed from grain ( wheat, rye etc ).

Breakfast cereals - No thanks ! - I'm happy with bread & homemade jam

I'm OK with primary processing its just down stream processing that I dont care for.

My attitude to all of this was formed from my day job which frequently brought me into food processing factories and commercial kitchens ( Hotels and the like )............
 
Have you tried using the bacon offcuts that Aldi & Lidl sell for 1.99/kg ? Some of the packs are full of rashers others can be used for lardons or in pea and ham soup
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I keep forgetting to look for them, thanks for the reminder!


Of course if you need the demon drink then this mindset falls apart as a decent glass of wine will cost more than the food for an entire weekend !
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I suspect it's when we indulge in more than one bottle of vino that it heads north of 80 euro. But its helps that we're not connoisseurs and will drink any old plonk :)
 
Slaphead said:
Do you not buy milk in cartons, tins of tomatoes, breakfast cereals, bread etc?
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I may have been a little sweeping in that statement - I do not buy pizzas, sauces, burgers etc that sort of processed item.

Don't own a cannery, so purchase the 35c tinned tomatoes. Garden's too small for cows.

But if I can produce it myself, I try too :)
 
cappuccinos just awful,soup has no taste,really bad and the blueberry muffins often have furry green jackets on them when ever i go in. the fruit and veg are very good,cheaper than tesco and dunnes.
 
Indeed, their 69c fresh pineapple is just fantastic. Tesco's is €2.99 and is tasteless compared to the Aldi one!
 
We normally get pineapples in Lidl's - we got the 69c one in Aldi just the once it was extremely bitter - just horrible.
 
ninsaga said:
We normally get pineapples in Lidl's - we got the 69c one in Aldi just the once it was extremely bitter - just horrible.
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Was it ripe? I bought one a few weeks ago and it was very green on the outside and was very bitter, left ir a week and tried it again, skin was a good bit browner and the fruit itself was lovely and ripe
 
RonanC said:
Was it ripe? I bought one a few weeks ago and it was very green on the outside and was very bitter, left ir a week and tried it again, skin was a good bit browner and the fruit itself was lovely and ripe
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I have an Aldi pineapple ripening at the moment. Did you know that if you put fruit in a bowl with bananas, the bananas will speed up the ripening process? The following is from an article I found on the web:-

Bananas are great for getting other fruit to ripen. If you have some summer fruit that isn't ripe enough to eat yet, leave it in a bowl or bag with a banana. As the banana ripens it gives off a gas called ethylene, which acts as a signal to other fruit that it's time to ripen too- you'll soon have a ripe fruit bowl. This also explains why you can go away for a weekend and find that all your fruit has gone off by the time you get back- once the ripening process starts, and ethylene levels rise, most fruit will follow suit in response.
 
I've just been in & spent €50 and came home laden with Aldi goodies. Sausages, rashers, white pudding, tikka chicken pieces, broccoli, cucumber, onions, salad, mozzarella, angus burgers, pistachios, mushrooms, haddock, teriyaki sauce, soya milk, tuna, egg mayo sandwich filler, courgettes, hot-smoked salmon, paper sandwich bags & a terracotta planter pot.

All of this would have easily been double the price in my local Tesco... and this is a shop I do weekly. I certainly wouldn't get everything there, but it's now a massive chunk of my weekly shop
 
Just had the Pheasant from Aldi's new frozen food range - surprisingly delicious as are the lamb shanks.
 
Aldi's Carlos stone baked pizza twin pack is superb value at €3.99. (2 x 450g). Hard to beat for taste also. Available in BBQ chicken and pepperoni.
 
And Aldi's Tikka Masala curry sauce is by far the best I've found in any supermarket. I think it's much better than all the big name ones.
 
Lex Foutish said:
And Aldi's Tikka Masala curry sauce is by far the best I've found in any supermarket. I think it's much better than all the big name ones.
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Might give it a try then. Kind of assumed it wouldn't be great as most jars of sauces aren't IMO with the exception of Patak's and maybe Sharwoods.

Why don't Lidl or Aldi do curry paste though? It would be very handy. I know they do tiny jars of Thai red/green curry paste but it's not great IMO. I don't think they do any Indian versions.
 
Those angus burgers are devine.... thank you for the post mentioning them.

ALDI have just gone for planning permission in the town where I live otherwise the nearest store if over 15miles away from us.
 
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