Saving Money as a Morrisons Mum

I was recently invited by Britmums to be a #MorrisonsMum. I was gifted with £80 of vouchers so I could do my Bank Holiday grocery shopping.  Morrisons is my regular place to shop, as we are lucky enough to have a reasonable sized store in our little town, but with their new permanent price cuts on over a thousand of their most popular products, I was interested to see if I would be able to cut the cost of my weekly bill.

Armed with my vouchers, my trolley and my trusty shopping sidekick Ian, we hit the store on Saturday morning, our usual shopping day.

You enter the store and walk straight into the Fruit and Vegetable aisles.  Being on a bit of a health kick, I went a bit mad stocking up on the 3 for £1.50 and 2 for £3.00 fruit and veg offers.  With carrots, melons, sweet potatoes, bananas, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, apples, mushrooms, peppers, grapes, cauliflowers, avocado, spinach, pears, salad, dates, cucumber and a coconut in our trolley we had made sure we'll be getting our five a day for days to come.

I am always impressed with the quality of the fresh produce in Morrisons.  I also really like the 'Stores Seconds' section, selling the odd loose bits and bobs for cheap.  I found a huge punnet of raspberries and one of strawberries for just 85p each.  They obviously needed eating on the same day, but that was fine for me and my berry loving brood.

Looking out for the new yellow stickered 'I'm Cheaper' products, which are clearly identified in store, meant I was able to save on a few everyday essentials.

I was really pleased to find Shredded Wheat permanently reduced by 40p and wholemeal bread down to 59p a loaf. Both things we buy regularly, so this will represent a genuine saving week to week.  Frozen Quorn mince, sausages and pieces have also had their prices cut, along with Heinz tomato ketchup, own brand ready meals, fresh soups, washing up liquid, Marmite, baby products, cereals, fresh produce, frozen goods, pasta, rice and toiletry products.  On average, prices have been slashed by 17%.

In addition to these permanently lowered prices across the store, there are also a host of special offers including half price Quorn sausages and burgers.  I love it when vegetarian food is on special and I tend to stock up. The BOGOF and half price offers are always a  big attraction, and I work my weekly menus around what is on offer each week.  My multisave offers saved me £4.26 off my bill on this shop. 

We had a trolley filled up with lots of healthy fruit and vegetables, vegetarian staples (such as Quorn and Tofu), wholefoods (such as Quinoa), tinned foods and frozen items.  We also bought Cushelle loo rolls and some toiletries.

I was delighted with all the shopping we bought, which is enough for a whole week of healthy eating, with some extras for the store cupboard and freezer.

The first meal that we enjoyed over the Bank Holiday weekend was an indoor barbecue (Ian had unknowingly used up all last year's coals)!  For the kids, we did Quorn burgers in a bun with salad and fried potatoes. The price was:

Quorn Burgers £1.12 for 2
Large Bread Rolls £1.00 for 6
Salad 99p for 2 bags
Potatoes 50p (part of the 3 for £1.50 deal)
Heinz Tomato Ketcup 700g £1.99

So each plate would cost just over £1.  Much cheaper than a fast food restaurant - and much better too!

For me, I had a grilled Portabello Mushroom (£1.69 for 4) topped with Halloumi (£2.35 a pack) served with sweet potatoes (£1.39 for a bag of six) and salad.

I also made some fabulous smoothies using half of both of the punnets of berries (85p) I bought in the seconds section of the fruit aisle, along with an organic banana (30p) and a cup of almond milk (£1.49 a litre) plus a handful of frozen fruit I had in the freezer.

The cost per glass of delicious Banana Berry Smoothie was just 40 p and it was delicious!

Morrisons money saving offers and own brand and big brand price cuts are definitely competing with the discount supermarkets when it comes to lowering the cost of grocery shopping.  And for me, the shopping experience, the cafe, the helpful staff (the lady who overheard me talking about not being able to find Tofu, then leaped in to assist us without having to be asked, was an absolute gem) and the other promotions (we got a voucher for 6p off a litre of fuel for spending over £40) means that I intend to remain a loyal Morrisons Mum!

What's New? A Round Up.

Things are definitely changing.  The weather for one!  Summer is but a distant memory and we are now in the grips of cold, wet and windy Britain.  It's time to dig out our jumpers and coats and wrap up warm, but at least we've got Halloween and Christmas to look forward to, so it isn't all bad!

Here is a round up of some the products and services I have recently experienced and what I think!

The Toby Carvery

As a family consisting mainly of vegetarians with one vegan in our midst, eating out can be tricky.  This weekend we visited our eldest son Joe, his fiancee Jade and our grandchild baby Ted.  We went to the Toby Carvery in Northampton, as Joe likes his meaty roast dinners.  We anticipated vegan Megan having to eat a plate of vegetables while her brother tucked into his turkey.  How wrong we were!  For a carvery, which prides itself on its meat, the Toby is the most veggie and vegan friendly restaurant chain we have been to. It offered five vegetarian options to go with the carvery vegetables, two of which were vegan.  The menu was clearly labelled and the dishes cooked to order.  We had vegan Nut Roast Wellington, a puff pastry case filled with a sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, nut and butter bean filling.  It was delicious.  They also have a vegetarian gravy, clearly labelled which was also gluten free.  Hats off to Toby Carvery for not overlooking your guests with different dietary requirements and for providing something delicious that can be enjoyed with all the roast dinner trimmings. All too often veggies have to settle for a disappointing bowl of risotto while the carnivores get a full dinner.  We like roast spuds and yorkies too!  Thank you Toby for realising this.  I wish other restaurant chains would take note!

Morrisons Big Christmas Bonus

I have started collecting my vouchers to claim a huge £40 off my Christmas shop! Simply collect 9 out of the 10 weekly coupons received when you spend over £40 and redeem them between the 16th and 31st December to get £40 off any transaction.  I really love all the special offers that appear at this time of year.  Don't miss out on this one!!

Swizzels Matlow Halloween Range

With Halloween approaching bringing the annual Trick or Treaters we are stocking up with sweets that we can dish out to the little witches, vampires and ghosts that come knocking.  I like Swizzels Matlow bags of individually wrapped sweets and lollies. Perfect for handing out on Halloween.  They include everyone's favourites such as Love Hearts, Drumsticks and Refreshers.

The Country Candle Company from QVC

These premium homemade candles from Wiltshire use quality wax and exceptional fragrances to produce hours of candlenight and scent to your home.  The little Sparkling Spice candle that we received smells absolutely gorgeous - a real Christmassy fragrance to get us in the mood for the upcoming festive season.  

Keep an eye on the QVC shopping channel and QVC website  for gifts for the home, fashion and beauty products, electronics and jewellery.  

Matey

Over a third of parents agree that bathtime is the best part of the day and a great time to bond with your child.  Yet, a further 23% of parents admit to finding it stressful as their children got upset by getting wet.  To help make bath time more fun and enjoyable for all parents, Matey has produced a limited edition bath time book written by a mum of two whose story was chosen by the judges to be published. The story featuring the Matey characters helps create an adventure around bath time.  I received a copy and it is a nice little bath book with rhyming text encouraging child interaction as they make things using the bubbles in their bath tub such as a beard or a shell.

Matey bubble bath is something I tend to buy every year as a stocking filler for Freddy.  He has a thing for Molly Matey and her long hair!  RRP £2.37

Snowflake The White Gorilla DVD

This film from Lionsgate features Snowflake, an albino gorilla who embarks on an adventure with her friend, a red panda called Jenga, to find a witch who could help her get what she wants more than anything - to be normal.

The film is a mixture of live action and animation, starting with Snowflake's capture from her homeland to her becoming an attraction in Barcelona Zoo to her big perilous adventure.  A rather odd bad guy plans to kidnap Snowflake to use her heart in an evil spell to get eternal life which adds to the drama.  Meanwhile Snowflake's first owner Wendy attempts to track her down and save her.

The film is dubbed using the vocal talents of Jeanette McCurdy, Christopher Lloyd and Nathan Kress.  Sadly, the lip sync of the live action parts of the film isn't great and if you can't get over that you will struggle to watch the film (Ian couldn't cope with it at all)!

If you can see past the lip sync issues, the animated characters are quite cute. It is quite an odd film though, set in a strange time and location!  The moral of accepting the differences in each other and recognising who you are inside is the message of this quirky film.

Certificate U
81 minutes
Available now at Amazon £8.00
(We received a check disc to watch the film).

Morrison's Saver Summer and Easy Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

Enjoy Summer On A Budget

We are half way through the summer holidays and if you are feeling the financial pinch from spending cash on days out and buying things to keep the kids entertained, then Morrisons is here to help.  They have come up with lots of yummy recipes and handy hints to make sure that little ones have a fabulous time without breaking the bank.  They have put together a selection of M Savers recipes and have teamed up with Play England and money saving expert Sarah Willingham to provide great tips to make the most of your summer.  You can find out more by visiting the Saver Summer website where there are details on ways to find low-cost ways of entertaining the family this summer:

• Easy to cook, low cost, nutritious M Savers summer-themed recipes, perfect for picnics, barbecues and kids’ summer snacks starting from as little as 16p per portion
• Free or low cost family activities developed with Play England
• An interactive map of the UK to locate free play spaces
• An M Savers Summer ‘Pop-Up’ Play Park which will tour the country in August which will have cooking demonstrations as well as low and free play workshops hosted by Play England to teach all sorts of game ideas including arts and crafts and den building

Morrison's have challenged me to cook up one of their M Savers summer recipes and I have made a Cheat's  Lemon Drizzle Cake which will be the perfect post picnic pud!  Best of all it is super easy to make and costs just 90p for a 10 portion loaf.  The children can help with the baking and the family will be enjoying a tasty, Summer loaf cake in no time!

• 2 x packets of M Savers Sponge Mix
• 2 x eggs from store cupboard
• Water
• 4 x tablespoons of M Savers Lemon Curd
• Juice and zest of 1 M Savers Lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C Line a one litre loaf tin with grease proof paper. Mix up the cake mix as instructed on the packet using the eggs and water. Stir two tablespoons of lemon curd into the cake batter.
2. Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the centre of the sponge springs back when pressed with your fingertips.
3. Remove from the oven and repeatedly pierce the top with a kebab skewer.
4. In a bowl, mix together the leftover lemon curd and lemon juice and zest. Pour over the cake and allow to cool in the tin.

Easy To Make Lemon Drizzle Cake

Feeding the Hordes this Christmas

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Morrison's Tester to host a Christmas Party!  Receiving a box of goodies, vouchers and a shopping list (adapted as the majority of us are vegetarian), we set about preparing a little soiree for my parents to attend, in order to test a selection of buffet food, cakes, wine, decorations, crackers, party poppers and gifts.

Morrisons have a huge range of Christmas goodies instore and available to pre-order.  My parents were impressed by the Mini Fish and Chips which are little potato slices, topped with minty, mushy peas and finished with a piece of battered fish.  They were good quality and quite impressive to look at!  But at a pack of 8 for £4 or two packs for £7, they aren't cheap as chips!  The cheesy bites, fingers and mini pizzas were good for us vegetarians and the kids really liked them. They made a nice change to the stock veggie buffet offering of Indian snacks.  Morrisons have quite a few veggie bits this year which is nice! We sampled The Best Chocolate Cluster Cake which was a rich fruit cake topped with chocolate pieces and chocolate covered dried fruit and nuts.  It was a great alternative to the usual marzipan and icing topped seasonal cake and everyone who ate it said it was moist, packed with fruit and delicious.  It costs £8 but it went a long way as it was so rich.

Morrisons also have cards, gift wrap, decorations, crackers, party poppers and tableware for all your festive needs.  They also stock a great range of toiletry gifts for him, her and the kids which are a bargain at 3 for a tenner.  Definitely worth popping a few under the tree for any unexpected guests!

We enjoyed having an early taste test of the Morrisons festive party foods.  Definitely a few items in the range that will be purchased for our Christmas and New Year parties this year.  Take a look in store or check out the website for more details of their festive food.