There’s Christmas party food and there’s Christmas party food from Aldi. A great supermarket range can make all the difference when planning an event for family and friends and since Josh and I have been using produce from this store religiously over the past couple of years, I was very pleased to hear that they wanted to get involved and provide some wonderful nibbles, treats, and a variety of house snacks during our house party on 19th December. All I’ve been hearing for the past couple of days is ‘That was the best stew I’ve ever tasted‘ and ‘That Brie was sensational‘. I’m pleased to say it’s all thanks to this recent food collaboration.
I’m never let down by the range of choice, quality and value in our local Aldi (hence why I wrote my first Christmas blog collaboration with them back in 2015) and since its recent refurbishment on Edgbaston Road, Birmingham – it seems to be getting busier every week. Labelled as one of the best ‘Fresh Produce Retailers’ of the Year, I can honestly say that their Christmas seasonal food range is bigger, better and tastier than ever before. It’s a shame we aren’t cooking dinner at ours this year, because you certainly know where the roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and desserts would come from. LET’S TAKE A LOOK!
I could spend hours and hours writing up what we bought and the reasons why, but I don’t think you’d believe me in terms of value. Just trust me when I say that you can buy one of the best chunks of brie for just a couple of quid. The luxury Drunken Duck, Cherry & Amaretto pate bowl (£3.49) was also a winner and it’s delightful when spread onto a few crackers with salted butter and some more cheese to wash it down with. I feel as though the Boxing Day buffet has arrived super early this year and I’m not even complaining about it.
I was most impressed with Aldi’s Speciality Cheese Box (£1.79) available in various flavours. I had to double take at the price when I picked up the box as it didn’t seem real. The portions are rather small but for just under £2 for a variety, who is to say no? The showstopper was the Sharing Bread with Camembert (£3.99) and it’s enough to feed at least 4 people, if not 2 ravenous Christmas savages. Simply pop the whole thing into the oven for 15 minutes and expect a seriously delicious feast with lots of gooeyness as a reward.
With a variety of Christmas-style crisps, stollen bites, mince pies, snack boxes, crackers, houmous dips and some moorish chocolate and strawberry popcorn to munch on (you must try this!) – the table looked like a scattered map of savoury delights. On the side I baked some banana bread in case anybody wanted an extra kick of sugar whilst drinking wine. Not forgetting the stunning Chocolate Yule Log (£3.29) which is yet to be eaten and I’ll no doubt be taking this to the in-laws on Christmas day.
Once the snacky bits were laid out, we started to bring out some of the hot stuff. A bag of 50 sausage rolls were bought so that we could throw them into the oven easily, alongside several packs of the Pork Belly Bites (£2.79) which were sticky sweet and were demolished in minutes. Pigs in blankets were put out alongside a few veggie spring rolls. Not only is this selection perfect for Christmas canapés, but it’s great to have a mixture of hot and cold party snacks to ensure all guests leave will full bellies.
The finale of the night was our Irish Stew which consisted of shoulders of lamb, onions, carrots, lamb stock, salt, pepper, potatoes and some fresh herbs. We slow cooked two big pots for 6 hours and fed to our guests around 8PM on the night before playing some party games. It went down a treat and some of my friends have asked for the recipe – it’s that delicious!
I would like to thank Aldi for working with me on this foodie Christmas collaboration. To feed 10+ guests it cost us no more than £40 for this entire spread and we’re still eating the buffet food days later as we couldn’t even get through it all. You really get your money’s worth at Aldi so if you’re planning on doing a small between now and Christmas and want to save oodles of cash, you know where to go! To check out their gift selection, wine and spirits and some fantastic Christmas recipes – head over to their website.
This post is in collaboration with Aldi that provided me spending vouchers.