Deluxe Chicken and Chorizo Pies

Price: £2.49

Score (out of 5): 4

Review: well, this blog became the talking point of Christmas parties and at most of these I discovered I am not alone in being a middle class lover of Lidl. The Deluxe frozen range came widely recommended, so I've invested in all the meals that were mentioned by various friends. First up, the chicken and chorizo pie.

When I looked at the box for this and noticed that the chicken was from either Brazil or Thailand I was not hopeful. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The chicken did not have a bizarre texture or taste, but the least I know about its journey from a farm to my plate, the better, I suspect. The chorizo was a bit of a lurid red colour. But the creamy sauce that blended them all together was very tasty indeed.

The pastry was an absolute revelation - very crispy and short, not a soggy bottom in sight, and very easy to slip the pies out of their foil trays for nice presentation. My only comment on how they could be made better would be if they just had a bit more chicken in them. Otherwise, definitely get these in your freezer. With mash and veg, you've a very good meal on your plate in 40 minutes. 

Deluxe Three Fish Roast

Apologies folks, this blog's been a little dormant in the New Year. Let's just say the return to work has been a bit of a shock to the system. But, everyone wants a treat for a dark, cold January, especially with all the storms and snow we've been having. So for the next few weeks we'll be reviewing the Lidl Deluxe range.

First off, we have my old friend from school and uni, Joelle McNichol reviewing the Three Fish Roast. I'm very impressed it has it's own Facebook page!

Price: £5.99

Score (out of 5): 4.5

Review: I've been on the look out for completely effort free meals, so this frozen ready meal seemed worth a punt. Stick it in the oven and forget about it for an hour or so, steam a bit of frozen veg, et voila, dinner.

I was not optimistic as ready made fish pies are often just fishy slop. But the packet reassured me with a list of ingredients I might actually find in my kitchen, and three types of MSC certified fish giving details of where each was caught. In googling to check the price for the review, I find this pie has its very own Facebook community, sharing information about when and where it is available and urging Lidl to keep it in stock. Apparently some people feel very strongly about it. http://www.facebook.com/lidlfishroast

Could this be as good as my home made and frozen fish pie?

The USP is that the fish comes in a rectangular block made of layers of cod, salmon and smoked haddock, like a fishy neopolitan ice cream. This is surrounded by a creamy cheesy sauce, and topped with a crunchy breadcrumb, cheese and fried onion topping. It doesn't claim to be a pie, but it so is.

On serving, it did lose some points for presentation, especially as I hadn't anticipated the central fishy block so my first serving was a confusingly fish free sauce slop. But in fact the layered up fish has a real advantage over the more usual chunks of fish in sauce as it gives structure and substance to the dish. Instead of a pie slop, you have a nice fish fillet with a crispy top and a cheesy sauce on the side.

Taste wise I thought it was very tasty. Creamy and comforting as fish pie should be, but with the distinct flavours of the different fish coming through, and the crunchy topping was really good.

Would I buy this again? Yes indeed, but not with people round.

Fragrance Free Baby Wipes

A New Year and a new set of Lidl reviews. And what a better way to start the New Year than with a rather fantastically well-written review of baby wipes by Emma Bolger - thanks Emma! These baby wipes sound like the perfect thing for your spring clean, even if you don't have a baby. Guest reviews always welcome here on A Lidl Bit of Middle Class Pleasure just get in touch.

Price: £0.79 for 80 wipes

Score (out of five): 4.5

Review: The problem with baby wipes is that there is no consistency between retailers and because you buy the things every time you go shopping they all merge into one ineffectual wipe. At entry level there is the barely-resealable, barely-damp wipe. Mid-range offers a few more square inches but no guarantee of packet-long moistness and the most expensive are something akin to a Chanel-doused Egyptian cotton flannel and likely take 2,000,000 years to biodegrade in landfill. You pay extra for a bit of plastic around the opening and it invariably falls off after three wipes have been removed. But a good baby wipe can clean anything: babies, wellies, cars, soft furnishings, doorknobs–the list is endless.

A critical nappy incident when our home was inexplicably wipe-less led to a desperate scramble to the nearest open shop. It was then that a discovery was made: Lidl baby wipes do what they are supposed to do!

Not only do they cope with a poop explosion, one–just one!–wipe is enough to clean a baby’s face, hands and the remnants of dinner off a highchair tray. The surface area is generous. The wipes are damp to start with and stay sufficiently damp for the duration of the job. The sticky seal is large enough to cover the opening thus resealing the packet adequately. They feel nice.

Also, given my son’s fondness for pulling out as many as he can from the packet when my back is turned and chewing on them, these seem to be one of the tastier varieties of baby wipe on the market.

Guest post by @bolger_emma - www.emmabolger.co.uk

/edit by Peter - I can also recommend these baby wipes for wiping down your bike after a ride.

Twelfth day of Christmas - champagne!

So, we've made it to 12! The 12 days of Lidl middle class Christmas, with many thanks to Sara Dorman.

Price: £11.99

Score (out of five): 3

Review: So, every year either Aldi or Lidl come out top on a pre-Christmas blind champagne tasting. I can't remember who voted Lidl top this year, but someone did, someone alerted me and a bottle was bought. Adoring blog fans, the things I do for you...

We were invited to a very middle class pre-Christmas dinner by the rector of our church, so I figured that'd be the perfect place to road-test it. Look at those glasses! I was impressed.

Not that impressed by the champagne, though. I like my champagne dry and crisp. If you like your champagne sweeter, then you'll really like this Lidl champagne. Alas it didn't float my boat, however I can imagine you could easily swig back loads of it at a party without really noticing.

Oh, and over dinner I got a top-tip on Lidl cava. It seems what to buy from Lidl is the middle class dinner party conversation this season.

Eleventh day of Christmas - Candy Canes

So far, Lidl have been doing a brilliant Christmas for us. And because Sara reviewed the mini-stollen, I've not got room in the 12 days of Lidl Christmas to do a review of the full-size stollen. But suffice to say, it's much better than Tesco's Finest stollen.

But, as we know to our cost, not everything is brilliant in Lidl, so our 11th day of Lidl Christmas, courtesy of guest-blogger Sara Dorman, is a bum note.

Price: 99p

Score (out of 5): 1 

Review: If you're just looking for canes to decorate your tree then by all means choose these, but if you are actually thinking of consuming them, stay well away.

These candy canes lack all but the tiniest hint of minty-ness.  Candy canes are meant to be sweet, but intensely flavoured. These are sweet and bland. It's not even that they have - heretically - been flavoured cherry or strawberry. There is a hint of mint, but only a hint.


And look out tomorrow for the twelth day of Lidl Christmas!

Tenth day of Christmas - Favorina Marzipan Log

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ten lords a leaping. Well, if my partner were a lord he'd be leaping with joy that the Favorina Marzipan Logs have turned up in our local Lidl.

Price: 99p

Score (out of five): 4

Review: my partner likes Lidl Christmas because it's when they start selling their Favorina Marzipan Log. 

Now, I've tried to get him to write a post, but he's having none of it. I'm not a fan of marzipan, so I'm not best-placed to review this product. I have tried a little bit of one in the past, and it's not as sweet as most marzipan, so if I had to eat it I'd like it.

I've managed to get the above score out of my partner. Questioning him some more (no one expects the Lidl inquisition) I managed to get "they're ok", "nice marzipan, nice chocolate". Inspirational prose, I'm sure you'll all agree. Anyway, on the basis of his words, if you like marzipan, I can recommend the Favorina Marzipan Log. And if you don't like marzipan, and want to put a smile on the face of that marzipan-lover in your life, then this is the one for you.

Ninth day of Christmas - A Lidl Christmas Party

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, nine ladies dancing. Well, no, he didn't. I had a bunch of choristers singing Nine Lessons and Carols. As I've talked about in my other blog, I attending evensong almost every Sunday at the Church of St John's, Princes Street, Edinburgh. On the last Sunday before Christmas they do a service of Nine Lessons and Carols, followed by mulled wine to go with the choir Secret Santa present opening. As top hanger-on of the choir, this year I agreed to do the mulled wine and nibbles, and I thought what better way to cater than a Lidl party.

Price: c £45

Score (out of 5): 3 1/2

Review: so, my shopping list consisted of:

• Favorina gingerbread assortment (lebkuchen)
• Favorina mini spekulatius
• Favorina cherry and marzipan chocolates
• Deluxe sea salt and crushed black peppercorn crisps
• Deluxe mature cheddar and red onion crisps
• Deluxe gravadlax salmon with dried tomatoes
• Multiseed bloomer bread
• Oatlands oranges
• Oatlands lemons
• Favorina mini spekulatius
• Favorina gingerbread assortment
• 8 mini Christmas crackers
• Bourdeaux Supérieur
• Crabbies Ginger Wine (doesn't really count as I can buy it anywhere)
• Snowy lodge sugared almonds

The wines, lemons and oranges went into mulled wine using the Guardian’s perfect mulled wine recipe and the food was served as was. It was just an experiment really to see if I could cater for a wee Christmas party from Lidl. First off, I should’ve heeded Sara Dorman’s advice on the seventh day of Christmas to make sure you get to Lidl as soon as the Christmas stuff starts appearing; because once it’s gone it’s gone. So, if you’re looking at my shopping list above and thinking “that’s a bit random”, well it is. That’s what was left on the shelves, pretty much. No mince pies; no more stollen; and I’m glad I had bought the lebkuchen a month ago to bulk it out.

But, what I had was very nice indeed. Particular highlights were the marzipan, cherry, chocolate bites. As I will describe in one of tomorrow’s two posts, I’m not a marzipan fan, but these were really very nice indeed. The gravadlax was very nice as well, with half-decent farmed salmon. The cheese and onion crisps were good too – I like odd flavour combinations, so I thought these went well with the lebkuchen. The sea salt and pepper crisps were a bit too peppery for my tastes. Overall though, I would strongly recommend Lidl for catering for your Christmas party.

And as a Christmas treat, you can enjoy this phone recording of the choir singing The Holly and the Ivy (or the last two verses anyway):