Making a hamper up from Lidl - what's good?

ncmc

I was thinking of making up a hamper for my in-laws as a Christmas gift. I would normally hit M&S but as the budget is a bit tight this year, I was thinking of picking up a few things in Lidl instead. Their new deluxe range looks really good. Is that a bit stingy though? The in-laws wouldn’t be massive foodies.

What’s good in Lidl? I am thinking along the lines of cheeses, chutneys, biscuits, smoked meats, sweets etc, anything in particular that I should get or avoid? Thanks in advance!

Selfheal

If you can still get it, I'd include some of their Dark Chocolate Marzipan bars/logs. In the red wrappers. Delicious!

Frank Black

They seemed to have loads of fancy olive oils and balsamic vinegars when I was there the last time - haven't tried them but they look fancy. The normal Olive oil from there is very good anyway.
You can't go wrong with their cheeses and the parma ham is nice too.

the beer revolu

The tins of roasted almonds are really nice, the apple balsamic is very good and the stem ginger cookies are great too.

ncmc

Great, thanks for the replies. That all sounds lovely. Will have to test the merchandise myself So you don't think a Lidl hamper is stingy?

draiochtanois

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livinsane

The chedder with chive from Deluxe range is divine. I made hampers of homemade relishes the last few years and included that cheese. The fudge is lovely too.

fussyonion

May I recommend the Deluxe Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream crisps?
Tried them tonight and was impressed; they're in a nice red bag that even looks posh.
They're cooked with their skins on making them really crunchy and they were only €1.49 (I think).

Boyfriend bought the Mature Cheddar and Red Onion flavour and I saw they were also selling other flavours too.

Side-note: Lidl are selling Thornton's Premium Collection for €6.99

Jezek

Try one of the fancy vinegars if they have them - my mum loves the fig one, good for savoury and sweet uses! Pear one is also good!

http://deluxe.lidl.ie/products.html#producttype= this website might be helpful!

afatbollix

If your worried about the word Aldi/Lidl on the wrapper get out a black pen and mark out the word on the back.

Yes people are snobbish about this sort of thing but wouldn't have a clue if you gave them two bowls of crisps one from M&S and the other from Lidl.

The Pate is really good two. You get 6 jars for 5er. Split it across a couple of Hampers.

ncmc

Fussyonion, don't talk to me about those crisps, bought both flavours and ended up eating both packets myself! The chilli & sour cream are exceptional for the price. They're not much more expensive than a regular sized pack of Hunky Dory/Walkers etc.

I ended up getting loads of stuff for about €45 - would have got about a third of the stuff in M&S for that money. Will post a pic when I've it made up (if I don't polish the rest of it off first!)

Ciara GaGa

I love Lidl chcolate, its surprisingly nice, especially the white with chopped hazelnuts. Great idea by the way!

homeOwner

Great idea! Can I ask where you get the hamper baskets to put them into?

ghogie91

Aldi would be good enough like.

My company ordered really expensive hampers, which I think can be made up wayyy cheaper

whats in it:
Champagne,
2 x toffee sweets (different types)
Christmas Cracker
Cranberry Sauce
Breakfast Tea Bags
Chocolates x 2 (belgian and swiss)
Selections Box
Bottle of Baileys
Biscuits (Foxs or something like that)
Short Bread (Think the one in it is some sort of scottish bread)
O'Donnels Crisps (The hand made ones)
Weaved Basket

Think they buy this ready made in for €90. In my opinion it would be a good self made christmas present and I mean the basket can be anything that looks good. Some ribbon or something around it would make it look good, and with the effort you put in to put it together makes it look good

You could probably do it for about 35 quid with a mixture of lidl and aldi and I would say the drink part is the most expensive bit so maybe with the Wine offers in tesco you could get a nice red and white wine at €8 a bottle, I wouldnt be too worried about aldi/lidl vs m&s, its genuinely the thought that counts

fussyonion

Just to let you know also..Tesco do this really nice wine for €5. It's called El Chucaro and both the red and the white are delicious.
I gave some to my Mum a few weeks ago and she was raving about it too.

ncmc

homeOwner wrote: »

Great idea! Can I ask where you get the hamper baskets to put them into?

I had a hamper in the house as my husband works in a grocery store that makes hampers and we ended up with a couple at some stage . He is able to get the straw and cellophane too. But all that stuff can be got quite cheaply from Ebay or a home wear place might sell cheap baskets. Another nice idea I saw recently was a wooden crate (the sort you used to get fruit in) filled with goodies and it looked really good. Or a bog standard box, wrapped in festive paper! With a bit of imagination, you could use anything as a base, wouldn't necessarily have to be a basket. Google image 'hamper ideas' and you might get some inspiration.

rubadub

afatbollix wrote: »

If your worried about the word Aldi/Lidl on the wrapper get out a black pen and mark out the word on the back.

I wouldn't bother doing that, as it could easily be found and then its blatantly clear you were trying to hide the fact its lidl.

Lots of people will examine the packets, with genuine interest about the product, and to show they appreciate it and have an interest. It could be embarrassing if they were saying "hmm I wonder who makes this, or what brand it is, whats this crossed out stuff I see on the back here" -with them not realising.

Tesco do cheese baskets and the baskets can be oversized so can possibly be opened and have more stuff added.

Obliq

Go back to Lidl quick and get their deluxe Italian salami with fennel. Seriously good:cool:

PigeonPie

homeOwner wrote: »

Great idea! Can I ask where you get the hamper baskets to put them into?

Making hampers as Christmas presents and bought hamper baskets in my local discount shop. They were about 2 euro for small ones and 4 euro for bigger ones. Saw some in Heatons that had the ribbon and cellophane with them to make up the hamper, think they were around a tenner.