Aldi Stretch the Budget Challenge Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
We’ve spent the last couple of months eating really well, courtesy of switching our weekly grocery shop to Aldi. Not only have we cut our weekly spend dramatically, after having a chat with my husband about our new grocery budget, we agreed that we were actually eating better than we ever have before.
Let me explain: our shopping budget has always been quite limited in comparison with some, and even with buying budget lines and trying to be careful in meal planning, before we started shopping in Aldi, we were spending a fortune, and it still felt like we were eating ‘frugally’. We were choosing our meals around special offers, bulking meals up with beans and pulses, and trying to stretch and reuse joints of meat and chickens two or three times. We haven’t HAD to do that since we started shopping at Aldi, and it’s been a real treat. We’ve been spending under £10 a day (£70 a week) to feed 2 adults and 2 kids really very generously.
For my challenge this month, I thought I’d take my £70, but see how far I could make it last, whilst still eating full, wholesome family meals and jot compromising on quality or flavour.
I decided to try to get away with spending £35 for the first week. Overall, I built the list around staples (milk, bread, butter, eggs) meat and veg, before adding in any luxury or snack type items.
I spend a pretty steady £15 a week on breakfast and lunch type foods, we don’t really vary what we eat a great deal for these meals, so I’m going to focus this piece solely on evening meals.
I decided I could probably make five evening meals with two pieces of meat and a combination of the Super 6 veggies and some tinned pulses. I bought a joint of pork shoulder (£4) and a medium chicken (£3.59). To this, I added carrots, broccoli, baby potatoes, Savoy cabbage and onions from the Super 6 range (£1.95) a tin of chickpeas (33p), a tine of butter beans (33p) and four cartons of passata (£1.40), and a few basic pantry items from home. A total of £11.60 for five days. We also had our usual toast and cereal, as well as packed lunch items for lunchtime.
I cut the joint of meat into three pieces, and was instantly worried I was trying to stretch it just that little bit too far, the amount of meat did look rather meagre. But I persevered and popped two of the portions into the freezer.
On day one, I made a simple paprika pork meals with the first chunk of meat. I actually threw it all into the slow cooker in the morning, so there was minimal effort required. It was made up of pork, onions and carrots from the veg, one of the cartons of passata and a tin of butter beans (total cost so far £2.31). To this, I added paprika, oregano and garlic from the pantry, and some rice. I was really pleased how well the meal went down, a lovely, warming meal for a rainy day. The kids loved it, and there was enough food, without us having wastage or eating too much out of greed.
On day two, I roasted the chicken and we had a lovely simple mid-week mini roast, with the baby Maris piper potatoes, the rest of the carrots, half of the Savoy cabbage and a half of the broccoli. We would normally buy a small chicken to roast, but as we’d gone for a medium, there was plenty of meat left on the carcass after we’d finished, as well as plenty of veggies, so I put them in the fridge to make another meal. Already, I could tell we were eating just as well as previously, but we weren’t wasting food, or taking second helpings out of greed, and in my opinion this is a real benefit of eating this way.
On day three, the weather outside was absolutely grim, and I decided a warming winter soup would go down really well. I stripped the meat from the chicken carcass and threw it into the soup maker along with the leftover veggies from the previous day, some milk, a pint of chicken stock and some tarragon. The resulting soup was truly delicious, it knocked the socks off anything that you could buy in a tin, and has the benefit of being packed full of only good and wholesome ingredients. I always find homemade soup, especially soup with potatoes, to be really filling and substantial. My husband and the kids had theirs with crusty bread and butter, I had mine without, but everyone was satisfied and full at the end of the meal. It actually shocked me just how wasteful we can be with our leftovers; the contents of this substantial and healthy meal would normally have made their way into the bin but instead we were able to use and enjoy them. Brilliant.
Before I left for work on day four I took the second piece of pork from the freezer and left it in the fridge to defrost. My husband said he really fancied a casserole type meal, so I made a pork in cider recipe that he really likes. This just used the meat, an apple, a couple of onions, a chicken stock cube and a can of cider that has been languishing in our cellar since last Christmas. We served it with rice, Savoy cabbage and broccoli. As is the case with all of our Aldi meals, it was absolutely delicious, and we really didn’t feel the portion sizes were too small. It’s amazing how good of a meal it is possible to make on such a limited budget, we are really impressed.
For day five, we decided to have a bit of a break from meat. The kids had been invited to a friend’s house for tea, and we were in the mood for something spicy. So I made an aubergine and sweet potato curry for my husband and me.
I do have an extensive spice collection, and can make homemade curries really cheaply and easily from scratch, although I know that Aldi do stock some really nice curry sauces, which at about £1 don’t add a great deal to the cost and can make a midweek tea much easier.
On day six, I defrosted the final chunk of meat, and we had a really lazy tea; one of my real Aldi discoveries is their jars of sweet and sour sauce. They’re absolutely delicious, and every bit as good as the well-known brands’ versions. I just made this with the pork, onions and a single capsicum pepper, and we served it with boiled rice.
The kids really enjoyed it, and it was a fraction of the cost of ordering a takeaway.
As I was ending the week, didn’t have a great deal of my shop left, but had managed to stick to my budget pretty comfortably, we decided we’d have a very simple meal for the last night. We’d actually eaten so well over the past few days, none of us minded having something lighter for the last day, so we had a really simple tea of scrambled eggs on toast, with some of the ham and tomatoes that were left over from the packed lunches that week.
I think that spending the week being really conscious of exactly what we were eating, and trying to make sure we didn’t waste food unnecessarily has been a real revelation for us.
It is possible to feed a family of four on £35 for the week, and eat well, although we were starting to tire of having so much pork by the end of it! If we did this again, I’d spend the full £70, and make use of my freezer, so we could mix up our meat options a little bit.
It is getting to the time of year for many families where budget becomes increasingly important, either because of saving for Christmas or because the heating is having to be used and money has to be allocated to keeping the kids warm.
I’m not sure I’d want to survive on a £35 shop every week, but it really is doable when funds are tight and needs must. The prices and quality at Aldi make it pretty easy, and with good planning, quite enjoyable.
I really enjoyed this week. It has genuinely reminded me that it is so easy to eat for the sake of it, when we really don’t need to, and that we waste far too much good food when other people are really struggling to eat anything at all. Brilliant, thanks again, Aldi.
Rating: 5/5
To find your nearest Aldi store and delicious recipes visit www.aldi.co.uk.
