I don’t buy frozen veg much and in particular dislike frozen broccoli, which always seems to have a weird and vaguely plasticy texture.

However, having seen these on the stranger’s shopping list I posted last week (of which more below), and because the pack looked kind of inviting, I thought I’d give these a whirl in the interests of research.

They are part of a Lidl range of microwavable vegetable products, some of which include pasta and none of which I’ve previously tried.

We had them for dinner last night, along with home made beefburgers in mushroom sauce, and they were really pretty good.

The broccoli had a good bite to it and none of the texture I so dislike, the sugar snap peas were crisp and the peas were small and sweet, petit pois like. Everything tasted really fresh and there was plenty in the pack for two decent portions.

My one quibble, and it’s a major one, is with the glaze.

Not with the flavour, in fact you’d hardly know it was there and since I took the veg out with a slotted spoon most of it remained in the dish anyway. It’s the ingredient list that bothers me. Aside from the Broccoli, peas and sugar snaps we get:

Palm Oil, Butter, Parsley, water, salt, seasoning (hydolised soya protein, salt, palm oil, sunflower oil), sugar, pea flour, pea flour, mustard flour, spices, carrots, celery, yeast powder.

This lot actually makes up 6% of the package content.

These sort of microwavable veg products are marketed as being healthy and this range in particular is heavily promoted in the Health Eating leaflet that Lidl produced recently. I’m sorry but not only does this contain fats, which most people would not expect, but the trend towards putting sugar in anything and everything is one that in particular drives me mad. Is all that stuff really nessesary?

I suppose it’s a case of buyer beware and remembering always to read the small print.

So would I buy this again? Oddly enough, in spite of my misgivings, I might. While 99% of the time I prefer to use fresh veg, it is handy to have a backup in the freezer and they were very tasty.

Now, a change of topic.

Last week I posted a shopping list I found discarded in a trolley and asked you to guess the price.

Here’s the list again, with prices.

The total cost was €103.02.

Everyone guessed too low except Wendy who was a bit too high.

So it seems that while in some cases Lidl give us more then we expect, in other cases they give us less.

Tags: Frozen Food, Shopping Basket, Vegetables
Posted in Shopping Baskets, Taste Test | 4 Comments »

Fascinating isn’t it? My own shopping is boring as it changes so little so I can never resist a peek at someone else’s trolley.

Today the trolley I picked at Lidl had someone’s till receipt in it, a very long one, so obviously someone shopping for more people than I do. In fact it looks like a fairly typical family shopping basket.

I’m giving you the chance to be nosy too and have reproduced it below, organised into categories to make it easier to visualise.

I’m not telling you the the total price though - have a guess, how much do you think this lot cost? I’m not sure of the weight of some items so you’ll have to guess wildly now and then, but if you shop elsewhere this is a chance to do a quick comparative tot.

The last item gives you an idea of the volume of this shop, they are pretty roomy carrier bags.

I’ll repost the list on Monday, with prices.

Tags: Prices, Shopping Basket
Posted in Shopping Baskets | 9 Comments »

My shopping list, like everyone’s I suspect, is pretty repetitive.

Mostly what I buy this week is much the same as I bought last week, last month and last year.  Now and again something new claims a place or we go off something and I stop buying it. But not often - it takes quite a lot to change grocery buying habits.

When I started shopping in Lidl I did maybe 40% of my shop there, now it’s closer to 80%.

It took time to become accustomed to different brands and to make changes based on new options. And there were quite a few changes - mascapone, walnuts, prawns, good dark chocolate, Parma and Prosciutto, various continental sausages and muffins, among other things, became regular rather than an occasional purchases.

But there are still some things I buy regularly and can’t get in Lidl and that I just know would be a lot cheaper if they were stocked there.

So here is my wish list - feel free to add your suggestions!

Ground Almonds

When you eat low carb - and an increasing number of people do, either all the time or occasionally - then this is your flour. I use it to bake cakes, make tarts and even make wholegrain bread. It’s horribly expensive but I buy it anyway.

I’d buy big, big bags of it, I’m not all that interested in the tiny 100g ones that are mostly all you can find and that can cost over €2 (though the ones in Dunnes are the best value at €2.59 for 200g ). Give it to me in kilos.

Full Fat Natural Yoghurt

I can never quite believe they don’t have this and keep looking. The only natural yoghurt is low fat, I want the fat please, every delicious bit of it.

A decent range of spices

What’s available in Lidl is quite limited and frankly not always up to scratch - you’d have to put a whole bottle of their ground chili into something to give it any kick, though their mixed peppercorns are good. I even have the perfect range for them to stock, Natco, which are about half the price of the Schwartz ones and in my opinion considerably better.

Cocoa Powder

They have such great chocolate, why can’t the same source provide good quality cocoa? I’d like it dark and unsweetened please.

Splenda

Before anyone starts to tell me how unhealthy this stuff is, I know, I know, I’ve read it all. But believe me sugar was killing me far quicker before I gave it up and I still want sweet things.

Frozen Pastry

Making puff pastry from scratch is quite therapeutic but it’s horribly time consuming. With a pack of the frozen stuff to hand there are pretty much instant goodies, savoury and sweet, available at any time. Yes, I know it isn’t low carb, but I do bake for other people now and then!

Macadamia Nuts

They had them once for a while. To die for. Bring them back. Brazil nuts and pecans would be nice too while you’re at it.

Anyone listening I wonder?

Tags: Shopping Basket, Shopping Habits, Wish List
Posted in Shopping Baskets, Staples | 17 Comments »

I can’t help popping into shops this week, both online and off, and comparing prices.

I decided to run my basket for the week though the two main retailers who are online, Tesco and Superquinn. I haven’t the energy to trudge around shops that are not online doing the same.

When I did my shop for this challenge I’d no thought in my mind of making a direct comparison with anywhere else - I just bought the things I like to eat and which seemed good value. It’s all too easy for retailers to cherry pick a shopping basket that shows them in a good light and this definitely isn’t that sort of basket. But on the other hand this is just my basket - your’s could give a completely different result.

How I Shopped

When shopping in different stores, it isn’t always possible to match items exactly on either brand or pack size, so this was the strategy I adopted:

• I chose the cheapest available option I could find for every item on my list.
• Where pack sizes differed, as they do, I chose the nearest size or bought multiple packs in some cases to make up the right weight.
• I weighed my Lidl purchases in cases where comparable products were sold only by weight and not per pack.
• I left out the bread that I bought in Lidl - I just couldn’t find a similar one.

So, here is how it went.

A few notes are appropriate here on each of the online shops.

Tesco Online

The total came to €3.13 more than Lidl, although there were quite a few things where the pack size was smaller (which I have detailed in the list). Tesco have been advertising their new value ranges and it was really interesting how closely they now match Lidl’s prices on a lot of common items - they were often precisely the same.

The two things that bumped them up were the melon and the Chorizo, if you exclude them and allow for differences in pack size, Tesco probably came in around the same price as Lidl or at least with a very marginal difference.

The best buy in Tesco?

The salted peanuts at 29c for 200g, which is about half the price of peanuts in Lidl where I already thought them a great bargain.

Superquinn Online

The total came to a whopping €27.27 more than Lidl, and again there were items where the pack size was smaller.

A proviso I must add though is that the Superquinn online store is a real pig to shop in - if I did shop online I’d go with Tesco every time. It was not easy to either find products, to locate the cheapest products or to compute pack sizes/weights, in fact it was very difficult. I truly did my utmost to make valid comparisons and to choose the cheapest options, but it may well be that I could have shaved a few euro off if I was shopping in an actual store.

I do actually shop in Superquinn quite often, I like shopping there plus they have a great reduced shelf where you can often get items at up to 60% off, so again being in store could have saved me money.

But nothing like €27.27.

The best buy in Superquinn?

There wasn’t one - everything was more expensive.

Be back later with the menus for day three of the €50 challenge!

Tags: Prices, Shopping Basket, €50 Challenge
Posted in Shopping Baskets, €50 Challenge | 5 Comments »

Before I get into the shopping there are a couple of things I should mention:

1. We eat low-carb

Which means filling up on rice, potato, pasta and bread, often the key to making a low food budget work, isn’t an option. I’m not getting into a discussion about low-carb eating now, though I may at another time, but for this week it’ll be more moderate than really low.

2. How bare is the cupboard?

Eating low-carb means that the general truth, mentioned by Grannymar, that there is usually enough in any cupboard to live on for a week without spending anything at all does not really apply. Apart from seasonings and a few jars of things like pesto and mayo, pretty much everything we eat is perishable, there is no stockpile.

But I am assuming that ordinary stuff is in the cupboard - salt, olive and/or other oils, sugar or an alternative, various flavorings and seasonings. The sort of stuff most people have. I won’t buy any of these things this week, but will rely on what’s there already.

Now, the shopping basket. Sorry it’s a day late, but Saturday sort of got away on me, so we’ll start the seven days tomorrow, Monday.

I spent €36.65 of my €50 budget, and this is what I got.

I’m pretty happy with that. I know I’ll need to top up on a few things later in the week, but I have €13.35 in the kitty still, which seems like enough.

I’m having minor guilt over the eggs - I do usually buy free-range and these definitely aren’t - but the budget is key this week so it seemed the right way to go. Six free range eggs in Lidl would have cost €1.69.

Tags: How to Shop, Prices, Shopping Basket, €50 Challenge
Posted in Shopping Baskets, €50 Challenge | 11 Comments »