Thrifty Christmas Countdown

Super Six

The super-six at Aldi this week are cucumber, broccoli (350g), onions (1kg), celery, courgettes (3) and tomatoes (6). They are all 49p this week. I wish I had bought celery now, that is great in a soup or stew. I did have a couple of lots of broccoli, I need the vitamin C. I had chicken drumsticks and thighs (1.26 Kg) for 2.99, those will be good for making chicken stew. That’ll keep the cold out…

Crisps

My really good find this week were the crisps. Do you remember years ago, before hydrogenated sunflower oil? The ones with the little blue bag in? I bought Snackrite ‘salt your own crisps’ and they are proper crisps with a little blue bag in! They were 79p for 6 bags, so not a bag price. They taste like crisps too. They aren’t perfect, not quite as many as I would like in the bag, a couple were  bit burnt and the salt wouldn’t come out of the little blue bag. The important thing is, they actually taste like crisps!

Tissues

They have Softly brand tissues in Aldi. There are the ones in the green box (ultra balm) with aloe vera and vitamin E or the ones in the blue box. They are 3 ply, I would avoid the 2 ply ones they aren’t strong enough. The blue box ones are softer, but the green box ones are stronger. They were both priced up at 95p yesterday. I’m not fussy, either will do me.

Turkey

I thought about buying a turkey this year. The frozen ones are in stock at £9.99 but I would prefer fresh. I think I might have a turkey thigh again, if I am only feeding myself. They will have fresh turkeys in Aldi, but they will be over £30. If you can afford that, you can make a frozen one taste better with the right stuffing and basting. Put streaky bacon over it to baste it.

Anyway, I bought some turkey mince for £1.75. I shall try that, stir fried. I suppose it could be cooked in other ways, but if you stir fry it, sprinkle a Bovril cube over it, add hot water and make gravy; it should be yummy. I could be having stir fried turkey and rice for Christmas dinner at this rate!

Champagne and Strawberries

Aldi are going up market with more luxury goods, so expect prices to increase. Lidl are having champagne and caviare in too. Are the discounters selling out? Aldi has a magnum of champagne on offer today for £34.99. If David Cameron and his chums start going there for their champagne and strawberries; I’m off to Asda…

I have looked at prices in Asda and some of the prices are as good or better than Aldi, the problem is they aren’t in stock at my local Asda and I don’t want to drive to a larger one and use precious petrol. They have gone up market too. I can never find the ‘smart price’ stuff. They do the old, we’re cheapest when we’re out of stock routine.

Minimum unit price for alcohol

The government has announced the minimum price for alcohol is likely to be fixed at 45p a unit. It won’t affect the price of that magnum of champagne, but if you’re into cheap cider; the price will likely double. My beer will be the same price. It contain 1.75 units and cost 99p. I suspect some cheap beers might be affected but it will mostly be cider. I wonder who will get all the extra money. I suspect someone is buying up cider companies right now or maybe selling if they think the market will crash. Cider could become a really up-market drink. Strongbow and strawberries? Old Boy?

Red label teabags

I have tested the ‘red label’ tea bags from Aldi this week. They aren’t as strong as the Asda ones, but they’re good enough. The tea is decent quality, just slightly less of it, I think. The Asda ones went up last week and the Aldi ones are much cheaper now at £1.99 for 160.

Anyway we need to buy a few extras every week to stock up for Christmas and so I bought a bottle of beer (99p) and a bag of chocolate money (79p). It’s the thought that counts, I’ll put the fairy lights up at the weekend…   There are more amazing blogs on the home page. Found a bargain this week? Please use the comments box to share it…

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