You think you know a store, and then it waves a magic wand, and there's something very different about it.
Morrisons is our local supermarket, convenient for Mr J as it's around the corner from the leisure centre, we use it for our main shop, and we might use any of the local 'express' stores for top-ups (Sainsbury's, Tesco, Co-operative).
So when BritMums weaved their magic and sent me £80 of vouchers to become a #MorrisonsMum I was intrigued.
And then I found out Morrisons were weaving their magic. Morrisons have cut the prices on over a thousand products. Not temporary reductions or supermarket smoke and mirrors, these are new every day low prices.
I was promised I'd be able to tell the difference.
Truth was someone else spotted the difference before me.
I put my vouchers away, ready to spoil the family on Bank Holiday Monday.
By the time I got back from a weekend in Manchester, and began telling Mr J my news, he told me the difference was already being felt on the top up shop he had done whilst I was away.
I had put together some recipes I wanted to try out. Written a shopping list, and compared online with Asda prices- I was impressed, yes- some were more, some were less, some were the same- overall my shop would be less in Morrisons by at least a fiver, this pleased me.
I added to my list a treat of a barbecue for the Bank Holiday. And other bits and pieces we'd need over the course of the week.
Market Street had been transformed. Fruit and vegetables take pride of place in the store- all reasonable priced, all looking fresh, and somewhat awesome under a mist spray.
The aisles were looking brighter for the yellow markers showing all the items staying cheaper.
We did save on our items, and so I did decide to invest in Signature burgers for our barbecue. Beefburgers still make me wary, so I was happy to pay the extra with what we had saved. And these, these were delicious.
I even had a complete 'mum moment' where as I served them to the children thought they'd have been better if I had sliced them in two they were that thick.
I did spend over my £80 budget though.
With very good reason.
Not only did I include alcohol in my shop- which always pushes up the price of any shop, but I couldn't help but be drawn to 'Nutmeg'- Morrison's clothing range. This is why Mr J does our grocery shop. Items just magic themselves into my trolley.
For those who read my blog, you'll appreciate this magic Morrisons had conjured was amazing. My fairy godmother obviously knew how much I've been stressing about the boys at school, and trying to distinguish them in these early days for their teachers. So much so, they had in stock these fab summer jackets- in two different prints. £8 each. It was a sign. Look how different the boys look in them!
And so to how Morrisons solved our next dilemma- desserts.
My children love to eat. And love to be rewarded for eating all of their dinner with a great dessert.
Yoghurt, cake, fruit, ice-cream. It gets a bit boring.
A good insight into 'us' is that our wedding day included Pimms and Fruit Kebabs, Tea and scones.
We continue to love great desserts.
And so, here are three which we tried, thanks to Morrisons.
Fruit Pizza
All Seren's idea. She doesn't like Pizza so much, and when I asked how I could make it better, I was told with fruit.
This was our approach:
Ingredients
1 packet of Betty Crockers cookie mix (which in turn requires 1 egg and oil)
2 bananas
A handful of grapes
Approx 20 raspberries
Approx 10 strawberries
2 tbs strawberry jam
Some squirty dairy cream
What we did:
We made the cookies following the instructions on the packet.
Rather than just freeform them I used the biggest of my cookie cutters, and pressed the mix in. The cookie mix made five cookies.
All fruit was chopped to make it easier to eat on the pizza.
The children then did their own thing.
Seb decided he didn't like the cookie, so made his pizza without the cookie or jam on his plate (ie he ate lots of fruit!).
Seren and Tom had lots of fun, and rather than have the cream over the top, they dipped the cookie crusts in it (clever children).
Whilst the amount of fresh fruit, and the use of a cookie mix does push the price up of this (probably close to a £1 per pizza), the amount of fun and time consumed in making their treat definitely makes it worthwhile.
Scones for children
I wanted to make something the children would know was just for them.
Making scones on a smaller scale was a hit, so much so Seren has been delighted to find them in her packed lunch and becuase of their 'bitesize' everyone is content to eat without the cream and jam.
I can't even begin to cost these, definitely less than 10p per scone!
Ingredients
225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
40g softened butter
25g caster sugar
25g glace cherries, chopped
2 medium eggs
100mls milk
Strawberry jam
Double cream (clotted preferably)
What we did
The oven was preheated to 220C
Mixed the flour, baking powder and butter in a bowl and rubbed it into breadcrumb consistency.
Mixed in the sugar. Chopped the cherries and add them in.
Gently beat the eggs together, and put aside a quarter of the mix.
Add the milk to the eggs and gradually pour into the flour mix.
Once all the liquid has been added to the flour mix, you should have a soft dough.
Flour your work surface and rolling pin and press out the dough.
We used a 5cm cutter to make our scones.
Add the scones to a non-stick baking tray, use the egg mix to glaze the scones.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until risen and golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack.
Serve with cream and jam
Eton Mess- child style
Ingredients
Neapolitan ice-cream
Meringue nests
200ml double cream
Strawberries
Raspberries
Squirty cream
Sprinkles
What we did:
These were made perfect by the sundae glasses and spoons we discovered in the barbecue section.
In a bowl we whisked the double cream until stiff peaks formed.
We added crushed meringue and chopped strawberries and raspberries.
We then layered the glasses with ice cream and the fruit mix.
The sundae was topped with squirty cream, sprinkles and a strawberry.
I would estimate a sundae would be about 50p in cost, if you can make use of the excess from purchasing.
I'm pleased to say that all of these were a hit with the children.
All easy to achieve on a weekly basis.
I think the fruit pizza will definitely be for treats- the children loved it and will appreciate it as such.
Disclosure: We received £80 in vouchers thanks to Britmums and Morrisons. All views and opinions contained are our own.