Not all rosy in the Tesco flower garden....

Flowers have kind of became a staple present for Mother’s Day and I guess, in a way, it’s almost a fail safe option to go for. Well, I admit that I fell into purchasing this this year, but in a way, I wriggled out of it by having my mum pick her own flowers.

With it having been coming up to Mother’s Day, store up and down the country will have been flourishing in flowers and my local Tesco Extra was no exception. With prices starting (from what I could see) £3 for a wee bunch of colourful tulips to £20 for a Tesco Finest bouquet, there was, generally speaking, something for everyone’s pocket.

As I said, I wriggled out of the decision over what flowers to get for my mum by cheating; she picked them & I bought them. At least then, she’d get something that she liked although I’m pretty sure that she would have been happy with whatever she had gotten. She settled on a lovely £15 (later £10 thanks to a cheeky wee voucher from Tesco’s Orchard programme) bouquet named Strawberry Shortcake. I have to say that it was a very nice bouquet, nicer than what was in the Finest bouquet that I had spotted at £20. In fact, I did find myself asking myself whether or not what was being asked for in terms of price truly reflected what was being offered. I know that not all bunches of flowers are going to be exactly the same but even looking at the same named bouquets, some felt better presented & had better contents than others, yet, priced the same.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve bought flowers from Tesco of course. Normally, we only splash out on the cheap wee bunches at a couple of pounds each. But these seemed hidden by the number of larger bouquets that were being offered for Mother’s day. Or for a special occasion, head to an independent florist where you don’t mind spending a wee bit more. But like all commercial holidays (and to be honest, it’s what Mother’s Day is becoming along with everything else) prices always go up in places like Tesco for their flowers.

Was buying the flowers from Tesco worth it? Well, past experience has shown that normally we can get about a week out of them before they start dying off, but the bouquet that I purchased for Mothers Day started dying 4 days in.


In normal circumstances, there’s usually something for everyone’s pocket in Tesco’s flower range, and I guess in some instances, you get what you pay for.

Taste Test: Jacob’s Cracker Crisps Thai Sweet Chilli Flavour

Let’s get one thing straight here: I’m not a cracker fan unless they’re prawn crackers (but think they’re a completely different thing) so why would I be trying the latest offering from Jacobs? Well there’s two reasons:

1. Curiosity (it’s not killed me yet!)
2. I was get £1.00 back from the Shopitize app on my phone (I may get around to doing a post on this app at some point….maybe a video…no that might scare people!) so worth the risk

So first job is to work out where they would be kept with a name like cracker crisp. Are they a cracker or a crisp? Well according to one of my local supermarkets, they’re filed under crackers. Which is probably the right decision here as personally they do feel more like crackers than a crisp. I found the taste to be a tad strong meaning that I couldn’t have too many in one setting (normally I’m a fan of sweet chilli flavour but it took me two weeks on my own dipping in and out as no one else in the house fancied them).

They’re probably not something that I would buy all the time. For me they are more a wee nibble that you would have out at a party rather than something you’d buy and eat as you would a pack of crisps.

Taste Testing: Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Chicken Flavour Noodles

I’ll try anything once. Look under the food tag for that one. And this is one of those moments. While shopping in one of the local supermarkets (don’t want to show favouritism after all :p) at the weekend, this just happened to be shouting at me (it of course had nothing to do with the fact that it was on offer at only £1)

 

I’m not going to lie. I may be a little very partial to the sweet chilli sauce produced by Blue Dragon so of course I wasn’t going to have any issue with trying this. After all, in my mind it was just a Pot Noodle produced by someone else, right?

Well, on opening you’re presented with 3 little packages:

From left to right we have dried vegetables, the flavouring and of course the noodles. Now it all very simple to make. Open the dried veg and flavourings and pour into the pot you’ve just taken them out of then add the noodles. Fill to the line shown on the packaging (apparently it’s about 200ml), pop lid back on for approx. 2.5 mins, stir separating the noodles, pop the lid back on and wait another 2.5 mins and then,  voila! Ready to eat.

Taste wise they were alright. It was just a nice balance that I think anyone would appreciate. And the portion size was just right too despite what you might think on initially opening the package. My only concern was that they did seem a little watery so probably the next time I’d fill it just below the line. Think getting the water level right, for me, is going to be like adding water to the tomato soup paste by heinz…but that’s another story. Might see what other flavours are available and give them a go.

Taste Testing: BirdsEye Lightly dusted Cod Fillets – Lemon & Black Pepper

Battered fish. Fish in batter. However you want to describe it, it seems that the UK may be having a little love affair with fish in it's various forms. But now it seems that there's a call for lighter options. And it's here that we find BirdsEye latest offering: Lightly Dusted Cod Fillets. They are currently available in three flavours: Lemon & black pepper, rosemary & sea salt and garlic & herb. If you haven't guessed by the title, this review focuses on the lemon & black pepper version.

Packaging

The fillets have more of a thin batter & lovely flaky cod. The fillet itself isn't too thick or too thin. Birdseye have found just the right fillet size for this 'lighter' option. The flavourings of lemon & black pepper complements the fish beautifully and aren't too overpowering.
Looking at this from a personal point of view, while enjoying it and it's lightness (I'm not a great fish lover to start with ), it's not something that I could have week in, week out. I think that it's more of a once in a while meal when you're wanting something a little different from the norm and definitely something for the warm summer months. Wonder if we could get a plain version of this for a try….

Fish with salad & mango. Yum!

Taste Testing: Tesco Finest Free From Triple Chocolate Cookies

There are benefits to be parts of schemes where you get to try products for less or even for free (and who doesn’t love a freebie, be honest). The Orchard from Tesco is one of these programmes. Not everyone is suited to all their programmes that they offer but if they think that you would be interested, then you’ll get an invite. The latest one that I was invited to came in the form of ‘Tesco Favourites’.
They offered you a selection of products, one of which you picked (as you might have guessed from the title of this blog, I took the cookies that were on offer). You receive a voucher allowing you to get this product free as well as another one to spend on other tesco branded products.
Now to be honest, when someone suggests Free From, automatically I’m thinking that it tastes a bit bland and cardboardy. Unfortunately, I can’t show you a picture of what the cookies looked like but you can have the box (in case you want to go look for them and try them yourselves).
 
Why can’t I show you the cookies? Because they didn’t last! They weren’t what I thought they were going to be. They actually reminded me of chocolate covered hobnobs and felt very more-ish (hence why they didn’t last!) Even my mum, who also had the preconception that they would be tasteless enjoyed them. We’re even considering trying other Free From products after this little experiment (and that’s something I didn’t think I would be saying).
As for the other voucher? Well, we’re quite happy buying Tesco branded products, even if it is to see how they are on par with what we would usually buy. Most of the time, there isn’t that much of a difference between branded and store-own (although I do draw the line at beans, tomato sauce & tomato soup: that always has to be Heinz!) apart from maybe price. The last product we switched was from Kellogg’s Raisin Wheats to Tesco’s own. The only different really is in the size but still the same great taste!
Check out the cookies from the testing here

Oh to scan as I shop…

I seem to recall a number of years ago a mention of something about being able so scan your shopping as you went but then all seemed to go quiet. Roll on and recently my local Tesco store have introduced it.

I've been using it for a number of weeks now and I have to ask...where have you been?

In case you're not familiar with it, it involves picking up a scanner (you require to be registered with their Clubcard programme) and then, as you go around you scan the items you want and can then just pack them. Simple! Anything that cannot be scanned you can set aside while loose fruit & veg is weighed at stations and then a label printed for you to scan. Once completed, you go to the specific checkout area, scan a barcode on the screen, answer a few questions (anything you couldn't scan?) after which it begins to transfer the scanned items to the checkout.

Just a wee sample of a shop

I've absolutely loved it! I can now just go in and back out. I love how it gives you a running total of how much you've spent as well as how much you've saved. Any offers are also shown & it reminds you to scan all items in offers like 3 for 2 etc.

We used it a few the day before Christmas Eve for our final shop/ It took us an hour to run round with the scanner and only minutes to get though paying at the checkout given the size of the checkouts and that was only at 10am!

Yes there's the occasional security check once at the checkout but I've only had them the first few times that I've used but other than that, I can’t complain…well, I can. It’s only open for 12 hours and the trolleys are needing a wee cradle for the scanner to sit in when not in use (though I’m told their coming…wish they’d come sooner!)

Quick & Simple: Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken By Blue Dragon

There’s always something that catches you eye when you’re out shopping that you think, ‘Hmmm, fancy that’. And that was the case with Blue Dragon Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken. This wasn’t the first time I’ve tried something similar. They also do a crispy chilli beef version that, when we tried it, went horribly wrong (though we now know why!)
So what do you get: the batter mixture & a sauce.

The batter is easy enough to make. Simply add water measured in the cap and mix until the consistency of double cream. The mixture is meant for 225g of chicken but we managed to cover 400g (just!) You’re suppose to cook the chicken in a pan but instead I used the deep fat fryer and it seemed to work. Cooked the chicken for a couple of minute before removing and drying the excess oil off.
The sauce is simply heated and served either separately or drizzled over the chicken. We served our with rice.
It’s the first time that they finished product actually looked like the the image on the front of the label

It’s relatively quick & simple to make with minimum effort and perfect is you want to try something a little different. Having had success with this one, I think we’ll be having another bash with the crispy chilli beef one!