No loyalty, just value

Week Six: The Aldi Experiment

Following on from last week’s budget theme, this week we’re taking it a step further and not being loyal to one supermarket. I usually shop exclusively at Coles, but this week I wanted to see if shopping across both Coles and Aldi would save money — buying each item from whichever store is cheaper. That will mean trying different brands to what I’m used to, since I’m working purely on price.

There will be some things that don’t change, of course. The cat is far too fussy to participate in such an experiment, so the pet food stays where it is.

This week I shopped across both Coles and Aldi, buying each item from whichever store was cheaper. The result? A saving of $50–$55 on the weekly shop. That’s over $2,500 a year if you keep it up — well worth the extra stop.

This Week’s Menu

	Dinner	Source	Notes for Parkinson’s Observation
🍜	Red Curry Soup with Chicken	aldi.com.au	Soup nights tend to be kind to the tablets. Curry spices are new territory — interesting to observe.
🧀	Beef & Veggie One-pan Mac & Cheese	aldi.com.au	Higher dairy content — worth watching given what we observed with the rice bake. Comfort food though.
🌯	Chicken Chippy Burrito with Miso Rice and Sesame Slaw	aldi.com.au	An adventurous one! Higher carb with the rice and wrap. Miso is new — worth noting any reaction.
🍝	Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef and Pasta Stew	aldi.com.au	Slow cooker again — beef and pasta together. Moderate protein, worth watching timing.
🌮	Tacos	Family recipe	Taco Tuesday — a known quantity. Good baseline comparison against the new meals this week.

About the Aldi Recipes

All five Aldi recipes this week are available free on the Aldi Australia website at aldi.com.au. They are designed around Aldi’s own products, which means the ingredients should be straightforward to find in store. Links to each recipe are below.

Red Curry Soup with Chicken — aldi.com.au/recipes/main-recipes/red-curry-soup
Beef & Veggie One-pan Mac & Cheese — aldi.com.au/recipes/kids-recipes/beef-and-veggie-one-pan-mac-and-cheese
Chicken Chippy Burrito with Miso Rice and Sesame Slaw — aldi.com.au/recipes/main-recipes/chicken-chippy-burrito-with-miso-rice-and-sesame-slaw
Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef and Pasta Stew — aldi.com.au/recipes/main-recipes/slow-cooker-cheesy-beef-and-pasta-stew

Our Own Recipes This Week

🌮 Tacos

Taco Tuesday. It’s not optional. J has made this very clear. 😄

Ingredients

500g beef mince
1 onion, diced
Taco shells or soft tortillas
Salsa
Sour cream and cheese to serve

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp chilli powder or chilli flakes
½ tsp salt

Method

Brown mince and onion with a little salt.
Add taco seasoning and 2–3 teaspoons of salsa. Cook through.
Heat taco shells and serve with toppings of your choice.

Tip: Alternative serving idea: bowl with mince, salsa and cheese, with quartered tortilla pieces as edible cutlery.

Observations — Shop Smart Week

As you can probably tell I only have 5 meals this week mentioned. We had leftovers from a meal a week before and also grabbed takeaway for hubby’s birthday another. Don’t worry though — we should be back to our scheduled 7 meals next week, but as we all know life can get busy so we need to adapt our plans.

The standout observation this week was the Beef & Veggie Mac & Cheese. It prevented the tablets from working for an extended period — the dairy load was clearly too much. The meal itself was nice, but it is very much a been there, done that situation, particularly given what the dairy does to the medication. We won’t be making that one again. This is now the second time we have seen dairy in larger amounts cause an extended off period, which is becoming a clear pattern worth noting.

The Red Curry Soup with Chicken was a surprise hit — popular with everyone, including hubby who doesn’t normally do spice. A good one to keep in the rotation.

The Chicken Chippy Burrito with Miso Rice and Sesame Slaw was also a win. I didn’t have miso so substituted, but it still worked out really well.

The Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef and Pasta Stew sadly had no flavour at all. That one won’t be made again.

Tacos, as always, were a hit. Some things never change.

Part of an ongoing series tracking diet and Parkinson’s medication response.