Thrifty mum who shops at Aldi to cut her bills publishes cookbook using only ingredients from the budget chain
After giving up work to raise her kids, Amy Sheppard started whipping up delicious meals on a shoestring
A BARGAIN-HUNTING mum who turned to Aldi to slash her shopping bills has published her own cookbook – using only ingredients from the budget chain.
Amy Sheppard was forced to cut back on the household bills after quitting her job to become a full time mum.
But after falling in love with Aldi goods, she began coming up with delicious family meals with the cut-price cuisine to feed the family.
The 36-year-old then started a blog to showcase her recipes, including Fiery Peanut and Honey Chicken Noodle Salad and Baked Camembert with Garlic & Rosemary Fougasse.
The Mum-of-two built up such a loyal following she has now published a digital cookbook - The Aldi Lover's Guide to Cooking.
The book has been produced completely independently of the German supermarket, which she says has totally changed her shopping habits.
She said: "It's just a different kind of shopping - it has streamlined products and smaller shops.
"It might take a bit of getting used to at first but you soon realise that having less choice is actually quite liberating.
"You just don't need 10 types of pickles - it makes decision-making a lot easier."
Amy revealed that she switched the the budget chain to cut back on the weekly spend.
She said: "We had to live a more frugal lifestyle so we tried Aldi and saved a huge amount on our shopping.
"I used to shop at Tesco and Sainsbury's. When we first switched to Aldi, I would have to end up getting a few things from the other supermarkets as I couldn't get everything I needed."
But instead of using multiple stores, the mum-of-two began challenging herself to create dinners made just with products from Aldi.
RELATED STORIES
Starting in October last year, Amy experimented with recipes while being a full-time mum to her two sons Elliot, eight, and Sam, six.
She said: "Most people who write cookbooks have the benefit of a test kitchen - I obviously didn't! So I had to do it all in the family kitchen.
"My children had to be very patient - most kids don't have to wait for their mum to photograph all their food before they eat it.
"There was a lot of microwaving meals if they got a bit cold while I was trying to get the perfect shot!"
Meals didn't always go according to plan, but while there were a couple of disasters, most were "works in progress".
Amy, of Chesham, Bucks., added: "A couple have just gone straight onto the rubbish heap, but most of them I just view as a work in progress and decide how to tweak it for next time."
Fortunately for Amy, her family embraced her experiments with gusto.
"I'm really lucky because both of my boys are really adventurous eaters, real foodies.
"Their favourite meal I make is a stonebaked goat's cheese pizza - it's a healthier version.
"I was also trying out recipes for an Aldi BBQ at the weekend - which they absolutely love."
It’s not just her family who enjoy her meals - Amy has a devoted social media following and has received many positive reviews from blog readers.
My children had to be very patient - most kids don't have to wait for their mum to photograph all their food before they eat it.
Amy Sheppard
"When I started this, I found out that Aldi is a really loved brand. I only started up my Instagram last month but I've already got 800 followers.
"People comment saying how much they enjoy the recipes. I also get asked for a lot of advice - for Father's Day for example, Aldi were doing a budget version of the world's most expensive steak and were asking for tips on what to do with it!"
Her favourite Aldi product is a pesto rosso, which she says she puts in everything from the kid's sandwiches to pasta.
Amy's cookbook is completely independent from Aldi but she'd like to work with them one day.
"They keep liking my posts on Instagram, so I hope they'll notice me one day! It would be great to work together.
"The next step is getting the cookbook into print!"
Amy's recipes can be found at , where you can also buy her cookbook.
Here is one of Amy's Aldi recipes:
Slow Cooked Chunky Chilli Beef
Feeds 4
- 2 onions
- olive oil for frying
- 700g diced beef
- 2 tbls flour
- 2tsp paprika
- 2tsp cumin
- 2tsp cocoa powder
- 1tsp sugar
- 1tsp dried oregano
- 2tsp chilli powder
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 1 beef stock cube
- 2 cloves garlic (finely sliced
- 3 red chilli (de-seeded and finely sliced)
- 50ml cold water
- 2 x 400g tins kidney beans
- 2 x 500g tubs of passata
- Finely slice the onions. Put them in a large frying pan with a little olive oil and fry on a low heat for 5 minutes, moving them around the pan occasionally.
- Cut each of the diced beef chunks in half. This is a little time consuming but well worth it to get the beef tender in a shorter amount of time.
- Heat the oven to 160C or Gas 3
- In a small bowl mix together; the flour, paprika, cumin, cocoa powder, sugar, dried oregano, chilli powder, crumbled beef stock cube and cinnamon.
- Add the diced beef, spiced flour, finely sliced chilli and garlic to the onions and stir until the beef is thoroughly coated in the flour. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring regularly until the beef is browned and sealed.
- Add both boxes of passata and 100ml of cold water to the pan and stir well, mixing in any spices that might be stuck to the bottom.
- Pour the contents of the pan into an oven proof casserole dish and put in the middle of the oven, uncovered. Cook for 1.5 hours.
- Remove the chilli from the oven and add the drained and rinsed kidney beans. Stir well before returning to the oven with tin foil over the casserole dish for a further 1.5 hours.
- Take the chilli out of the oven, leave to rest for a few minutes before serving.
