Shoppers were super excited to see the brand new Aldi meal plans in the latest discount supermarket catalogue.

The double-sided spread features five weekday dinner recipes for a family of four people, plus an extensive shopping list of ingredients and staples, that can, of course, all be bought from Aldi.

The cost of all the ingredients (not including the pantry staples) is $67,05, which makes for really affordable weekday dining.

And we’re not talking basic meals either. The recipes are simple, yet have a touch of the gourmet. This week’s weekly dishes include:

Monday: Lemon Chicken with Corn Salsa and Wedges

Tuesday: Beetroot and Lentil Salad with Quiche and Parmesan Crispbreads

Wednesday: Pea and Roasted Pumpkin Gnocchi

Thursday: Home-made Meatballs with Cumin-scented Onions and Grilled Flatbread

Friday: Teriyaki Pork Stir Fry with Pickled Cucumber and Carrot

Too Sophisticated For Kids?

The meals are designed to feed two adults and two kids. My young fusspot kids would barely touch this food but I gather there are children out there who may have more sophisticated palates? I’m still keen to give this a try for hubby and I and then have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Fine-ish Dining

Aldi is calling their new menu planners, “Fine-ish Dining” and they boast that the Aldi meal plans “lets you cook 5 value-packed dinners for a family of 4 without breaking the bank.”

The recipes are printed in the catalogue and are also available on their website under the Fine-ish Dining category. The online version also features the shopping list but does not include the price total, as it does in the catalogue.

Thumbs Up

Fans of the discount shop were fawning all over the new Aldi Meal Plans.

“This is such an amazing idea! Thank you! So much work has gone into this! Will definitely be adapting this to suit my family,” one shopper gushed on the Aldi facebook page.

One fan gave a recipe a big thumbs up:
“We had the home made meatballs with cumin scented onion and grilled flatbread last. night and our grandson was with us and very yummy . Trying lemon chicken with corn salsa and wedges tonight . Thank you Aldi.”

Another happy customer said:
“Love, love, love the weekly recipes and shopping list. Trying to work out what to cook each week is the worst. Good recipes which won’t break the budget. Also not too many ingredients needed for each recipe. I’m happy to do the shop as having a box with them ready to go is going to cost me more. It was pretty quick to do. So a big thanks!”

Competing With Coles

The Aldi meal plans are going head to head with rival supermarket Coles’ meal-planning service: What’s For Dinner.

Coles offers five weekday meals with five ingredients or less and prepared in under 30 minutes.

The pricing of the meals is super competitive with Mince-it Monday Mexican Taco’s coming in at around $4.40 per portion.

The major difference with Coles is that you can shop the recipe online, which is certainly an advantage over Aldi in my opinion.

The Aldi recipes though do look more sophisticated and more flavoursome than the Coles ones but my kids are much more likely to eat the Coles recipes (hello Pizza!)  so perhaps it would be good to mix them up a bit.

Would you use the new Aldi menu plans or do you do your own meal planning or not at all? Tell us in the comments below.