Aldi Roast Dinner
My Aldi food post this week is a classic. Aldi roast dinner – Sunday roast dinner with the family. Most Sundays we will knock up a roast dinner. It’s such a lovely family thing to do to sit down with a plate of healthy food and have a chat (read that as convincing the children to eat their vegetables;-))
The great thing about an Aldi roast dinner is that it’s not going to break the bank. I shopped for the meat and vegetables on Sat 22nd April and here is what I bought. This will serve 5 of us, the boys love a roast dinner and eat a lot!
- Specially selected Outdoor British Bred Pork Crackling Joint. 1.038kg for £4.87
- 5kg of Maris Piper of which I have used ½ the packet £1.49 = £0.75
- 500g carrots again used ½ the packet £0.31= £0.16
- Roasted pre-trimmed sprouts – £0.99
- Butternut squash, I got it in the special 6 offer a couple of weeks back (still looks fine!) £0.45
- Tender Stem Broccoli – £1.35
- 3 eggs for Yorkshire puddings (£1.75 for 12) – £0.44
- Plain Flour same quantity as eggs – £0.10
- Semi skimmed milk same quantity as eggs – £0.05
- Gravy granules – £0.20
This lots comes to £9.36 or £1.88 per person. Plus, I know there will be leftovers for maybe a vegetable soup for tomorrow lunch. It just goes to show when you break it down like this how little an Aldi roast dinner can cost for a meal that is good for the body and the soul.
I am really surprised by the price of the pork. It was more than enough to serve the 5 of us and it was super tasty. Hubby was ever so surprised when I told him it was British outdoor bred. And he looked at me in shock when I told him the whole dinner cost less than a tenner.
I wanted to talk through the timings and methods that will maybe give you some ideas on doing things a bit differently. And I must share hubby’s Yorkshire pudding method as he makes the best Yorkshire puddings I have ever tasted, even better than my mum used to cook.
The meat
2pm The meat goes into the oven, simple sprinkle of salt over the skin to make the crackling extra crispy. It’s in for 1 hr 35 mins at 190 in the fan oven.
Prepare the vegetables and potatoes
Next it’s time to prepare the potatoes, peel them and then cut them into similar sized chunks, not too big and not too small. Carrots are peeled and cut into battons, butternut squashed peeled and cut into chunks, broccoli into the steamer, brussel sprouts halved.
Yorkshire puddings
I have taken some pictures here to show the method as hubby wouldn’t let me record a video! Firstly, decide how many to make. We went for 12. Get a smallish cup to measure out all the ingredients. Hubby always likes to use this small tea cup.
Crack 3 eggs into the cup and measure where the eggs came to in the cup. Hubby always measures it with a bit of paper hanging over the edge. Put into mixing bowl. Wash and dry the cup.
Next plain flour up to the same measure line. Add flour to eggs and whisk together. Next semi-skimmed milk, again up to the measure line. Add half to the mixture, whisk together, then add the other half and whisk again. Transfer to a Pyrex jug and leave for 15 mins or so to get up to room temperature.
Timings for everything else
2:15pm Parboil the potatoes for 12 minutes. When done drain and leave to air dry on a cooling rack.
2:45pm Preheat the oil for the roast potatoes
2:50pm Add potatoes to oil, coat in oil and pop in same oven as meat.
3:05pm Yorkshire tray goes into oven to heat the oil
3:08pm Yorkshire pudding mix into tray and start cooking in the same oven as potatoes and meat.
3:15pm Turn the roast potatoes
3:15pm Coat butternut squash in oil and put into oven for roasting. I like to use rapeseed oil for roasting vegetables. We put these into our top oven as had run out of space in bottom oven!
3:25pm Add the brussel sprouts to butternut squash for roasting, add a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
3:30pm Broccoli and carrots into steamer
3:35pm Meat out and leave to rest for 10 mins
3:35pm Start making gravy with juices from meat (not the fat) and a couple of tablespoons of gravy granules
3:40pm Carrots and broccoli ready serve up
at 3:45pm Potatoes and Yorkshire puddings ready serve up
3:45pm Butter nut squash and brussels ready onto the table
3:45pm Gravy into gravy boat. Done
Bon appetite!
There you have it dinner served to 5 hungry people and 5 plates cleared. No meat, potatoes or Yorkshires were left at the end. But there were as predicted a few vegetables which I know will make a yummy lunch tomorrow.
This is a collaborative post where I received vouchers to cover my shopping.
