Valentine’s Day can be an expensive time. Even if you are careful, you could spend £60 plus on a meal out with a glass of fizz, another £30 on flowers, £60 on some aftershave… whatever takes your fancy. Of course, you could just choose to ignore it altogether and save your money! We tend to go for the mid ground and eat a treat meal at home. So, if you want a Valentine’s meal on a budget, what could you go for?
I don’t want to have to do a lot of fancy cooking for a meal in. It’s not a treat if I have to spend ages preparing and clearing up. So I will be looking at easy options at the discount supermarkets, Aldi and Lidl. We will have two courses with some nice olives and nibbles to start with and, of course, some fizz.
Nibbles/starter
Aldi do a nice pot of Greek olives with feta or some stuffed cherry peppers with ricotta, both for a mere £1.49. We have eaten these before and they are lovely. Alternatively we might chop up some cantaloupe melon from Lidl for 99p.
Main course
Lidl do a delicious looking Cheese and dill salmon wellington at £3.99. Fish would be a good choice for us, as I eat fish but not meat. Mr S eats pretty much anything!
Another Lidl choice might be two Deluxe salmon fillets for £3.75.
If you prefer a steak, as Mr S would, Lidl have two rump steaks with mustard butter for £4.99.
All of the above could be teamed with Aldi’s steak cut chips for 99p, or some baby potatoes from Lidl for 72p. Lidl also do a nice speciality broccoli for £1.15.
Dessert
Lidl Deluxe continental apple tart for £1.99 or maybe a Deluxe Belgian chocolate cheesecake for 2.99.
Aldi offers a heavenly chocolate fudge cake for a mere £1.29 or a double chocolate gateau for £1.69.
Belgian chocolate luxury mousses are only 49p each at Aldi.
Bubbles
Aldi’s cheapest Prosecco is pretty good – we had some at Christmas. Castellore Prosecco Frizzante DOC comes in at just £5.49 a bottle. If you prefer your bubbles to be pink, Lidl do a very good Cava Rosado Brut at just £4.99.
Our Valentine’s meal on a budget
This is what we have chosen for our Valentine’s meal on a budget this year.
Starter
Greek olives with feta £1.49
Main course
Salmon fillets (Lidl) £3.75
Baby potatoes (Lidl) 72p
Hollandaise sauce (Lidl) 65p
Speciality broccoli £1.15
Dessert
Aldi heavenly chocolate cake £1.29
Drinks
Castellore Prosecco Frizzante DOC £5.49
Our pretty luxurious three course meal with fizz comes in at £14.54. OK, we have to do the washing up ourselves, but it should be pretty minimal! A meal like this would cost a lot more in a restaurant, so I am happy with our Valentine’s meal on a budget.
As reader Laura points out, Tesco also does a mean meal deal of a main, a side, a pud and a drink for a tenner so it’s worth seeing if you fancy the choice there. We have tried both the Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer’s meal deals in the past and they are pretty good and excellent value.
Alternatively, you could go super cheap and have pizza and cola for £1.92, as suggested by Skint Dad in this post! Don’t think Mr S would be too impressed, but in the end if you were with your one true love…
Do you aim to save money on Valentine’s day, ignore it all together, or push the boat out on a restaurant meal?
Laura says
Or Tesco meal deal main, side, dessert and a bottle of wine for £10…
Julia says
After almost 26 years of marriage, we’re in the “ignore it altogether” camp now!! 😀
But I do like the thought of minimum prep, fancy meals, so might have to take a closer look when I’m next in Aldi! I tend to rush round supermarkets as quickly as possible, focusing only on what is on my list, so really have no idea of what else they might have on offer! The only time I browse is when trying to find items for buffets over Christmas.
Part of the problem is I still need to cook for the family, so tend to ignore the “meals for 2” deals going round.
When the kids were little the local pizza place used to do heart-shaped pizzas on Valentines Day, which is a huge thing in American schools! As they were basically regular pizza with a “V” cut out out of the top, and the bottom trimmed to more of a point, I just used cheap supermarket ones to make my own for them!
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
meals for two often don’t work for us either, as we tend to want different things! They are good value though
Eloise (thisissixty.blog) says
Sounds like a lovely meal, Jane. It’s definitely possible to have a special meal at home without too much work.
Have a lovely time.
We pretty much ignore Valentine’s Day as it was my previous wedding anniversary.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Oh – you need to reclaim it! Awkward though