Before Easter when all the supermarkets were doing their special vegetable Easter bargains I went into town via Lidl for a change as they were the only place doing the cheap green beans for 15p and much to my surprise they had a Lidl cheap fruit/veg box which I'd never seen before and people I know who shop there regularly had also never seen one. It had a dozen apples, small green cabbage, small broccoli and a pomegranate for £1.50. I also got their special offer parsnips.
From Aldi I got the special offer carrots 8p. Cucumbers were on offer reduced to 59p ,mini plum tomatoes 62p and a bag of salad for 69p (normal price for toms and leaves). I'd intended to get the 8p broccoli but it looked very old and yellow so didn't bother.
A pomegranate is something that has never featured in my food buying and when I sorted out the seed bits and found they were rock hard and un-edible I just squeezed out the juice for a small drink.
The green beans were only edible for one meal as by the next day they'd gone spotty brown. The apples are OK but not the tastiest or crispest I've eaten.
The parsnips were cut, blanched and frozen and as usual I removed things from their plastic bags and put in the salad drawer in between tea towels or in a dish/ tub with a piece of kitchen roll underneath. Salad bits were eaten over the weekend when family were here and everything else is keeping well for this week.
So although some things were a good bargain others didn't live up to expectations. Plus to make up for the cheap veg Aldi had put milk up to £1.55 for 4 pints - that's 10p more than last week and I bet it doesn't go down again.
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Sadly I think everywhere has put milk up 10p wonder if it’s to compensate for the rise in employer NIC?
ReplyDeleteWe got lost of the Asda 8p veg including Potatoes, parsnips,broccoli and carrots and with a family leg of lamb and a left over day…. There wasn’t much left! That was lucky as I did notice it wasn’t the freshest sadly
Probably is NIC or other costs putting up milk prices - I expect the farmers are still getting a pittance
DeleteMy nearest supermarket finished up by giving away a lot of the cheap vegetables, to avoid waste. Xx
ReplyDeleteSome people were buying up all they were allowed - wonder how much was wasted in the homes
DeleteSupermarkets here don’t have special really low priced ‘loss leaders’ to that extreme like that here but I’ve still fallen for low prices at markets and regretted it when the fruit/veg weren’t worth the money I paid
ReplyDeleteNow I’ve accepted that small amounts of top quality (which won’t end up in the compost bin) work for me. Having ‘been there done that’ from necessity I realise that for some families the low price option is their only way to survive
They seem to do this very cheap veg thing every Christmas and Easter - not sure it's a good idea really
DeleteThat is the problem. I've often looked at the delivery boxes of fruit and vegetables but come to the conclusion that I wouldn't like not having control over quantities and choice.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean - a veg/fruit box delivery sounds a wonderful idea but lack of choice would be a problem for me.
DeleteI picked up two bags of the 8p potatoes from Aldi yesterday, but decided much of the other stuff hadn't got much life left (eg the beans) I agree with Cathy about buying a smaller amount of quality produce which will all get used. But if larger families on a tight budget can benefit, that is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI still had potatoes in the house so didn't need them. I hope too much wasn't wasted
DeleteWhy do they pack them in plastic bags? Even organic ones come in plastic. We often buy the 49 Cents vegetables especially now during the hunger gap before our vegetables are ready to pick. I don't buy big carrots. They are like rubber bullets.
ReplyDeletePlastic bag thing is worse since covid - it's annoying
DeleteWe popped to our local Lidl for the cheap veg, we did not get any, it all looked poor quality and would need to be used quickly, so not a bargain.
ReplyDeleteThe broccoli in Aldi was disgustingly old and yellow
DeleteYour ' don't waste it ' box sounds a bit meagre. A couple of our local Lidls do them and they're a real bargain and usually full of produce.. Often there will be several lined up so you can look at the contents of each one and pick the one that suits you best. I then get the staff to put it to one side for me until I come back to the tills( they must love me!). I've seen people pick over them and take what they like from other boxes to add to theirs which I think is bad form but that's just me.
ReplyDeletePenny
Maybe someone had taken things out of this box - but i wanted apples anyway so they were my main reason for bringing it home
DeleteI think we were very lucky with our 'cheap Easter veg' the broccoli in our Aldi was beautiful, as was everything else really. I'm still eating my way through my little stash.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if I'd gone a day earlier it would have looked better - but it was disappointing
DeleteI have given up on the “fresh” green beans and buy Aldi frozen. Frozen blueberries too, saving a lot of money and packaging.
ReplyDeleteI rarely buy green beans - they have travelled too far for my liking - and wish I'd not bothered this time
DeleteI've never seen a low-cost vegetable offer anywhere. US stores should do the same.
ReplyDeleteOnly for Easter and Christmas. I expect people went into several shops to pick up the different cheap veg
DeleteI'm buying more frozen these days too, reasonable prices and easy to portion.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I must admit a frozen sprout is not a lovely thing!
Alison in Wales x
I always have frozen peas, sweetcorn and in the freezer plus spinach for when I batch make curry. Sometimes green beans although they always seem to end up being a bit squeaky!
DeleteI wouldn't be able to eat up all of that before it spoiled. I just pick up frozen veggies when they are on sale and that works for me.
ReplyDeleteCarrots keep well in the fridge if kept nice a dry and cabbage when wrapped well.
DeleteSometimes a bargain isn't a bargain, but I don't think you're often caught out.
ReplyDeleteSo right, sometimes what one thinks is a bargain isn't.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I'm sorry some of it wasn't great. They don't do anything like that at all here. Don't think I can buy much for that price. Fresh vegetables here are ridiculously prices. It's no wonder everyone eats so much junk food.
ReplyDeleteGot loads of carrots and parsnips from Asda 8p a bag froze alot for the freezer saved me alot of money
ReplyDeleteGot alot of carrots and parsnips from Asda 8p a bag froze them saved me alot of money
ReplyDelete