Italian Bean Casserole

I made an Italian bean casserole for lunch yesterday and served it with a (not very authentic) homemade focaccia.  So it was three sorts of beans (fresh and dried), three sorts of tomato, onions, peppers, fresh herbs and macaroni, served with liberal amounts of shaved Parmesan.   I reckon the whole thing cost about £2 a portion.

The reason that I mention this is that we did our weekly shop at Lidl (I think the food is better quality than Tesco so I shop there when I have time to go out rather than get a delivery) and ours for 3 people was £86 (including a 10% on everything courtesy of the Lidl Plus App).  There was a couple in the queue in front of us who spent over £150, and glancing a professional eye over it as it passed through the till, it looked as though it was a weekly shop for two people.  Frankly, not only was it very expensive – but its contents were not to my taste, and were incredibly unhealthy.  Basically it was almost entirely made up of ready meals, chocolate biscuits, ice cream and alcohol.  Apart from the alcohol it looked as though it had been chosen by a pair of ten year olds.  Maybe I misjudge them and in fact they were buying for a kids’ party – but I don’t think so.

So not only is ultra-processed food nasty and bad for you, but it is expensive as well.  J did not enjoy my healthy casserole though – I thought it was tasty enough.