Yes, today I did something which is a fashion follow-on from the practice of a night out at the dogs or the bingo hall. I went to Aldi. Dum! Dum! DUUUUUUM!
Back in reality it’s not really that dramatic. I’ve been to Aldi before, several times. I started going in December last year when a friend I was driving wanted to drop in. My only real information had come from articles such as this one. I had heard people tell me how great it was, but as these were usually people who liked their fillet steak well done I discounted their opinion.
Bargain shopper and foodie that I am (bargoodie!) I wandered up and down the aisle uttering little delighted trills at Mozart chocolates, stollen and those little German iced biscuits that aren’t Lebkuchen but are similar. My husband was lodging with my father during the week over the winter and they would split a bottle of beer every evening (by “beer” I mean “real ale”). I had shopped Waitrose, Morrisons, Tesco, Majestic Wine and Aldi and Aldi had a very good price on bottles of ale without any “offer”. I also had fun with the “bargain bins” in the middle of the shop. These are piled high with random things. I bought a collapsible sieve for my in-laws. They said it was their favourite gift.I have only been in a Lidl once but it was a posh version of Aldi. I bought fancy things at good prices such as stuffed olives, and jars of cherries to make ice-cream with.
This time was different. Inspired by Superscrimpers I was shopping for groceries. Proper groceries we are going to eat. this was lucky because they were a bit short of luxury foods this week. There was an interesting USA section, but Poundland has one of those right now. The only thing catching my eye was the “pancake syrup”. I checked the label and yes, it was flavoured corn syrup. I can do without it! I bought more beer. I bought two jars of pitted olives, one green and one black for 33p each. I bought three peppers for £1.19 (Tesco is currently 65p a pepper and £1.27 for three). I bought Greek salad cheese for 80p. And I bought some Viennese biscuits. These are my husband’s compulsion.
I made my first comparison with the Viennese biscuits. We had just one left from the packet of Fox’s Viennese biscuits. I don’t know how my husband missed it. The Aldi brand are 80 calories each, the Fox’s biscuit are 79 calories each. The Fox’s have 29% milk chocolate, the Aldi’s have 28% milk chocolate. Another win for Fox’s, but it’s not really a huge difference so far. Here are the ingredients of both brands. I’ve laid them this way to make comparison easier.
|
Fox’s Viennese Fingers Ingredients:
|
Belmont Viennese Fingers Ingredients:
|
|
Milk chocolate contains:
|
Milk chocolate contains:
|
I’m not seeing much difference to complain about. The Fox’s biscuits use butteroil, but that’s allowed. Butteroil is simply milk fat. The cheaper brand uses more vegetable, which probably made it just that little bit less melting in the mouth. Honestly though, I couldn’t tell the difference. I feel slightly ill now, but that’s probably just because I’ve had three Viennese biscuits! At less than half the price I think the taste difference is sufferable.
I bought some other things at Aldi. My gladioli were £1.60 a bunch instead of £3 at Tesco, but there are only five small stems instead of seven large stems. The balsamic vinegar might be good on pasta. The parsley in a pot was 66p. At Tescos that will get you parsley without the pot. A pot will cost you £1.49. After all, how different can parsley be?
Parsley the lion. Now available at Aldi.
Live a poorgeois life 