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This is where you can leave your feedback for the Aldi Swap January Challenge - we can't wait to hear how you got on.

Made some great swaps this week! Tried Aldi range of soups the Sri Lankan chicken soup was amazing! Got more this week and bought the carrot and coriander also to try. Also tried the alcafe range of coffee! Really impressed! And the price difference to what I normally buy is really significant.

I cooked the beef fillet from the restaurant menu and it was a big hit. The beef fillets I bought at Aldi were just heaven! They cut with such ease with a butter knife. Gorgeous!

Lynch's granary bread was back in the shopping trolley! I think that's a permanent feature now. Such lovely bread. Finally got to catch the final Hobbit movie with son! Christmas had been so busy! I think Annie will be on the cards with the kids this week!

This week is the €50 challenge so it was certainly a challenge with 4 children, 2 adults and a dog to feed but we did it! I will confess I had to stock up on milk and bread during the week but otherwise we kept within our target! I found that planning meals certainly helped with this and also made my life easier during the week as I didn’t have the dreaded question “What’s for dinner?” I also stuck rigidly to my shopping list and used the Aldi leaflet from last week to help decide what to cook using as much of the specials buys and meat and the super six veg in all of the meals. My son loved helping find everything which since he now knows where everything is great.

 

Continuing to notice the savings from swapping over to Aldi. I am still amazed at the difference in the cost of full trolley load of shopping.

I'm finding I am planning the weekly dinners and snacks around the Super-6 Fruit & Veg offers which is great for getting me to broaden my cooking repertoire. This week the super six are carrot and parsnip tray (roasted veg accompaniment for the roast housekeepers cut we enjoyed on Sunday), courgettes (part of the stir fry along with mushrooms, peppers and onions we had with the left over beef on Monday night for dinner), leeks (potato and leek soup for my warm and hearty lunches this week), sweet peppers (I love roasted red sweet peppers served with homemade chips and the yummy strip loin steaks for Friday's treat), grapefruit and green apples all for 39c.

For other meat I picked up 800g of minced beef (made a tasty chilli which lasted two evenings and was packed full of healthy veg topped with grated cheese, sour cream, chopped tomatoes and red onion and served with whole grain rice) and the medium Irish chicken is such a bargain for €4. Ideal for one roast dinner and the leftovers are delicious the day after in a spiced chicken salad.

I was laden down with children this week, so it was 'Operation Get It Done'. I'm obviously more familiar with the flow of the store now, so it's already easier to get the regular items and I know what I'm looking for.
I stared at the leeks on offer in the Super Six, trying to decide if I'd ever get round to figuring out how to cook them and with what. Great intentions of making home made soup have long being abolished, but I picked them up none the less. I also availed of the apples, grapefruit, carrot/parsnip tray and sweet peppers. Great value.

I'd looked up the Super Six meat deals in advance to plan meals for the week. So I made a beeline for the whole chicken, the beef medallions (it's stew weather), the mince and the bacon loin. I got two packs of the medallions to make enough for two days...it's always nicer the second day.

In terms of lunches, we have a variation of sandwiches, soup, sausage/egg..so I purchased all those items as weekly staples.

I knew I was going to be under pressure with having the three kids with me, so again I'd done my research on the Aldi website to see what special buys were on offer. We've recently done up the girls room, so the shoe boxes (€7.99) jumped out as perfect for fitting under their bed/cot, so I can store some shoes and other essentials in there. It's easy pull them out and see what's there, because we all know how they just get thrown into a cupboard and become a mess. I also picked up the Batchelors beans x 4 that were on offer for €2.99.
I also picked up nappy bags and wipes...can never have enough wipes in this house!!

Really impressed with the meat offers this week, and they probably stood out as the value winner. Quality to date has been great, so I've no doubt these will be the same.

Into week three of January and also week three of my Aldi swap challenge... It's going better than fantastic!!!

I'm feeling healthy and wealthy (well wealthier than I would have been had I not swapped) and even a little smug at my findings ;-)

My family are loving the smoothies I'm blitzing up every morning... Getting more than our five a day before 8am is success!!!

I’m now back at work after maternity leave, so my shopping trips will be for the main part, cosigned to the weekends. It’s now also more of a military operation to fit in with the 101 other chores that have been banished to the weekend, so it is just aswell that I know I can get everything I need in one place.

After picking up the usual items from the first aisle, I see the Super Six offers for the Fruit & Veg. We are still doing our best to eat more fresh fruit and veg, so I pick up one of each of the Super Six. Blueberries for 59c, I’ll have three punnets please! Pancake Tuesday might be a couple of weeks away, but they have a regular weekend slot in our house, and it’s nice to have a variety of fruits for the kids to try.

I would sometimes order duck on the rare occasion we get out, but it’s not something I would feel comfortable trying at home. The Crispy Duck on offer however, looks too good to walk past, so I get it along with favorites of Chicken Fillets, Pork Chops, Sirloin Steaks and Salmon Fillets…that’s sure to keep us fed for a large portion of the week.

Jigsaw’s in our house are like socks…there’s about a dozen singleton’s waiting for their sole mate to appear from the depths of the laundry bin…nearly every jigsaw has at least one piece missing from it. So, I pick up a new Jigsaw puzzle for the kids (€4.99). It will keep them entertained while I unpack the shopping. I also pick up the Wok Set (€9.99), because our previous one got used for mixing paint..the handle had fallen off, so it was deemed scrappage!

I was able to stock up on pantry essentials for when I am back at work, tuna, eggs, bread, soups, sandwich fillers…items that be used to make a quick snack in the evening.

With such good value in the essentials, and a great variety in other items, Aldi really is a one stop shop for a growing family.

Final week was a real testament that we are fully converted Aldi shoppers now. Bought from the special fruit and veg offers and the Sri Lankan soup has now spread through my staff room as I have raved so much about it at work. Needless to say my colleagues have seen and smelt the lovely aromas!! The problem now is having to label our soups in the fridge so we don't get mixed up!! I also tried the carrot and coriander which was lovely too!

Dry January came to a slightly premature end!! But boy was it worth it! Gave the Rioja a try!! It was delicious!!!! And the price was a lot to smile about too! Great value for money and great taste too. I'll be recommending that one to friends!!!

I feel my final weeks shop was very much a shop of a converted Aldi shopper. Although the January challenge has ended we have continued to shop there and did our weekly shop there this week. It's going to be a part if our weekly routine and I don't see us changing back. The quality of the products has been fantastic!! And the price even better so it doesn't make sense to change back. January special offers have been fab!! We are about to move house and made some great savings on household goods that we are really looking forward to using.

Overall a happier January with some great savings!!!

We are now in week 4 which is the final week of my happy January challenge and this month we have saved a total of €297 on our weekly shopping bills just by switching to Aldi! I have been delighted with the savings and have found the produce to have been of fantastic quality or really, really yummy according to the kids!

The kids absolutely love the orange and yogurt covered mini rice cakes and there were tears last week when our local store had run out! Mark decided we needed to get four bags just to make sure this didn’t happen again! He also somehow snuck lollipops into my trolley but I pretended not to notice as they are so reasonable at just over €1 and they last at least two weeks before they are all eaten!

This week was my restaurant challenge, my other half loves steak so I made the main course from Andrew Timble’s menu (Episode 3) https://www.alditherestaurant.com/Episode3. Beef fillet with Peppercorn sauce was dinner on Saturday night once the kids were in bed! It was gorgeous and so easy to make! I also made spiced potato cubes, mushrooms and broccoli to accompany them. I actually always buy my beef fillets from Aldi as I find the quality of the meat to be excellent. I really wish I had a picture of the dinner but himself wolfed it down so I didn’t get a chance! I do however have a photo of him after dinner! One happy hubbie!

I also finished my blanket not bad for a first attempt and cost a grand total of €4.99 to make!

Overall I have found the Aldi Happy January Challenge to be a great experience. I could believe the amount we saved and with those savings I have booked a little Easter trip away for the six of us, we can’t wait! I will definitely continue to do my weekly shopping Aldi, it’s a no brainer!

Right well that’s me done, but as I bid you all adieu here was the kids reaction when I told them about our holiday.