Lidl Full Shop - The Coughlan Family - Week 4

Great excitement in Lidl this week – I discovered an Italian range called “Italiamo” which I hadn’t noticed before and it’s absolutely gorgeous!  I got a little carried away... I couldn’t resist.  They do everything from black olive tapenade and sundried tomatoes to antipasti, amaretti biscuits and Italian coffee.  It all looked very luxurious.  I picked up some pasta: fettuccine, lasagne sheets and tricolour spiral pasta (in honour of the Irish soccer team!).  They also had fabulous giant fusilli and the longest spaghetti I have ever seen.  I got some extra virgin olive oil, a jar of large green olives, chilli paste and some breadsticks with onion.  I can honestly say this range is lovely.  The fettuccine tastes like fresh pasta (even though it’s dried), the breadsticks are divine and the olives are huge. The prices are very good too. 

 

 

As a bit of a treat I bought Italian short cake biscuits (€1.49 for a 400g bag) and dark chocolate shortcake biscuits (€1.99) which are gorgeous with a coffee!  With all this lovely Italian fare in the bag, I made chicken parmesan this week which is one of my favourite Italian meals.  I also indulged in a bottle of Italian red wine to accompany it and couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised.  This Valpolicella was €9.99 and is my new favourite summer red.  It is light, really fruity and easy on the pocket.  And to finish it all off, Italy went on to beat Belgium 2-0 in the Euros this week!

 

I was surprised to discover that Lidl stocks a large number of well known brands that you would be familiar with - brands such as Hellman’s mayonnaise, Fairy washing up liquid, Bold washing powder, Cushelle loo roll, Bachelors beans, Oxo, and more.  Though I wanted to try the cheaper alternatives and test them out to see if they stood up to what I was used to.  My secret confession this week is that, after a lifetime of drinking Barry’s Gold Blend, I am a fan of Fallons tea!  And it’s a third of the price at just €1.25.

 

This week I decided to try out the cosmetics range.  I was initially looking for baby wipes but couldn’t find any on the day.  Then I got brave and picked up a night cream called “Q10 anti wrinkle night cream” which is part of the Cien range.  I’m very picky about moisturisers, but this was recommended to me by a friend in work and it is actually really nice.  But the best part is that it cost just €1.99 – yes seriously! 

 

 

I also got a pomegranate and ginger hand wash for €1.49 which smells gorgeous, 2 kiddies toothbrushes for €0.99 and shaving foam for my better half for €1.39.  I also have to mention the Cien mint and tea tree shower gel (you know, the tingly one!) which was €1.19.  I have saved a fortune on this part of my shopping bill and I’ll be trying new things next time. 

 

My bargains of the week were:

I got a full trolley this week for €112.64 which I was really happy with.  I have enjoyed trying out Lidl over the last 4 weeks and won’t be going back to my previous shop in a hurry – I would find it sickening to pay the prices I had been.