Good and Bad Buys from Aldi & Lidl *Do NOT Expire Please*

andygb wrote: »

Well, Jamie Oliver and quite a lot of other top chefs - plus myself of course, would politely disagree with you.;)

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/how-to-cook-the-perfect-steak/

I have been cooking steak for over thirty years, and in the past have ordered steak in many restaurants and been underwhelmed, with chewy, underseasoned, dry meat.
It has got to the point, that we never eat out any more, because very often the food is overpriced and lacks quality.

I went out for a meal on Saturday, i had a rib eye steak. It was fantastic, melted in my mouth, tasted amazing, was incredibly tender. There are still restaurants who serve excellent food, yes it's not cheap, and would probably be a quarter of the price to buy from Aldi and cook myself but sometimes, it's nice to treat yourself ! We also regularly visit a local pub for Sunday lunch, excellent value for money for their carvery, it's a shame you choose to not eat out anymore, there are still good places around.

quoia wrote: »

SNAP !

I can tell the difference and actually prefer Cauli leaves to most if not all cabbages.

so do my chickens :rotfl: I think cauli is sweeter than other cabbages and a shame to just chuck into the bin. I also eat radish leaves if I can get hold of a big white one without them been chopped off...

andygb wrote: »

Well, Jamie Oliver and quite a lot of other top chefs - plus myself of course, would politely disagree with you.;)

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/how-to-cook-the-perfect-steak/

I have been cooking steak for over thirty years, and in the past have ordered steak in many restaurants and been underwhelmed, with chewy, underseasoned, dry meat.
It has got to the point, that we never eat out any more, because very often the food is overpriced and lacks quality.

I completely agree! For the limited amount of time a steak will ever be on my grill pan, I don't need to worry about salt absorbing any moisture from the meat!

It's very rare I even order steak in restaurants these days as I can produce a far superior meal at home for a fraction of the price - £3.79 vs £23 - ermmm hello! lol

Feral_Moon wrote: »

But why would you go out and spend 4/5x the cost of a meal that you can produce to a higher standard yourself? It's not as if cooking a Sunday roast or steak dinner is arduous.

Eating out is still a treat for many people: I could understand this in the era of meat-and-two veg, but these days what's available in the supermarket is far more interesting.

When you've had as many sub-standard meals out as I have, you just don't bother! Veggie food seems a puzzle to many "chefs" and is not that expensive to DIY with good results.

I've just come back from France and almost every type and aspect of food there is more expensive than here. Ironically, it IS the small, independent restaurants there that offer the best VFM compared to here, where so much of that price level is dominated by chains, now.

But the UK does cheap food much better than France (maybe because the French are not interested cheap food?) As the French have taken more and more to takeaway/fast food, it has not resulted in a price reduction due to economies of scale. As an example, a BigMac meal costs 7.50 Euros, about £6.30, compared to £4.20-30 across most of the UK. Bizarrely, a McFlurry costs over 3 Euros, compared to IIRC £1.09, here.