Shopping in Aldi is something I do every single week. I buy all of our groceries there bar the odd item which isn’t stocked and I actually go out of my way in order to do so. It’s about a 20 minute drive for me but it’s so worth the journey because both the food quality and the price is exactly what I’m looking for.

The experience of shopping may be a little bit different to more expensive supermarkets but once you know the deal then you’re laughing because really, what would you rather pay for?

The way it works is that boxes of, let’s say squash, are all in one place together – every flavour they sell. You then have to root around to find the one you want as they’re not all set out just beautifully for you to see. Annoying? I don’t think so no! There’s a price to pay in the supermarkets who separate them, in Aldi that’s a saving made.

When you get to the till you will find that it all has to be done very quickly. You can’t dfaff around packing your bags as the shop assistant scans them through but instead chuck everything back in the trolley before making your way to the side and packing at your leisure. Sound odd? maybe a little but again, that’s a massive saving made and once you’re used to it you’re used to it.

So… They are the sacrifices when shopping at Aldi but the savings are surely worth it. Especially when the produce you are buying is also of such a high quality. Because it totally is! Even the packaging these days isn’t as minimal as it used to be and their ‘Specially Selected’ range looks just as grand as other more expensive shops finer ranges. I would actually say the food at Aldi can easily rival the quality you buy at Marks and Spencer or Waitrose… Go on, go and see and I’m sure that you will agree!

So, for my dinner party last weekend I naturally chose to shop in Aldi and because I know that there are a few items I can’t buy there (not many it has to be said) I adapted my recipes accordingly.

I made fried filled pasta with home made cashew nut pesto (Aldi don’t stock pine nuts) and a rocket, salami and mini mozzarella ball flower on the side to start!

I had fried pasta last week and it was delicious so I thought I would try and recreate it by buying the five cheeses filled pasta from Aldi (85p), boiling it for the specified amount of time and then frying it for a few seconds in a little olive oil. I served this with the salami and mini mozzarella ball flower alongside some rocket leaves which I drizzled with balsamic vinegar and some extra virgin oilive oil. I placed the pasta on a bed of cashew nut pesto which is super easy to make. Blitz some hard Italian cheese with garlic (I used 2 cloves but do this to taste), a big glug of extra virgin olive oil, a handful of fresh basil leaves and a handful of cashew nuts which I briefly rinsed to remove the salt.

And for my main course I cooked an old favourite, something perfect for Autumn and one which can be made well ahead of time to save time. For my beef casserole I used ingredients:

800g of diced beef, 750g of peeled and sliced celeriac (this is not sold in Aldi usually), 2 peeled and diced carrots, 250g of chestnut mushrooms, 800g of baby onions peeled and either placed in whole or halved depending on size, 1 tbsp of tomato puree, a pint of red wine, a pint of beef stock (made with one beef stock cube and boiling water, flour, and handful of fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper.

Method:

Season the beef with the flour, salt and pepper before searing in a big casserole pan for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and start to fry the vegetables. When soft add the tomato puree before pouring in the wine to de-glaze the bottom of the pan for a few minutes. Lastly, re-add the meat and the stock as well as the thyme and bay leaves then cook in a pre-heated oven (150 degrees in a fan assisted oven) for 2 and a half hours.

I then serve this dish with the baby potatoes which come in a herb butter from Aldi and are ready to pop straight in the microwave and also some asparagus which I steamed.

Last up obviously is pud and no dinner party would be complete without one. However, I couldn’t be othered to make anything truth be told and wanted a quick fix instead. Often shop bought deserts aren’t the same and I do find that I have to make the effort but one I turn to often is the melting in the middle chocolate deserts from Aldi which I serve with cream. This time however, I decided I’d give the other flavour they do and that’s a delicious salted caramel melting in the middle pudding. Naturally I served this with cream and it finished off the meal beautifully! YUM!

So that was my Autumnal dinner party created with ingredients from my fave Aldi. What are your favourite things to buy from Aldi?