Today I’m reviewing an app called JamDoughnut which can help you save money on your shopping.
What is JamDoughnut?
JamDoughnut is an instant cashback app that allows users to earn cashback when they spend money with over 150 leading supermarkets, restaurants and shops (see sample screenshot below).
Rather than cashback on specific purchases (as with sites like Quidco), you get cashback of up to 20% when you purchase gift cards from retailers on the app. These gift cards can then be used just like money, both online and in-store (in most cases).
How Does It Work?
The first step is to download the JamDoughnut app to your mobile phone from Google Play for Android or the Apple iStore. Open the app and follow the instructions to create an account (don’t forget to enter my referral code GBGN to get a 200 points [£2] bonus – see below). This should only take a couple of minutes.
Then check the list of retailers on the app and find one you shop with regularly. Most of the big supermarkets (with the exception of Waitrose) are included, for example.
You can even get cashback on Amazon gift cards, though admittedly only at a rate of 1% at the time of writing.
Once you have found a suitable retailer, buy a gift card for that retailer using the app. This is straightforward and you can get cards of up to £100 in value.
Once your gift card purchase has gone through, cashback will be credited to your account in the form of points (100 points = £1). In my experience this normally happens instantly. Once you have earned 1000 points, representing £10 cashback, you can withdraw the money to your bank account.
Note that there is a standard 30p transaction fee when making a withdrawal via bank transfer, and more than that if you use Apple Pay or Google Pay (so I don’t recommend doing that). So it may be best to let cashback build up a bit before withdrawing, to reduce the impact of the transaction fee. Alternatively you can withdraw in the form of a gift voucher (e.g. an Amazon voucher). In that case no charges are payable and you also get bonus points added to your account 🙂
In most cases, as mentioned, you can use gift cards either online or in-store. In the latter case, you can show/scan the code on your mobile phone at the checkout, or you can take a printed version with you and use that.
You can use gift cards for full or part payment. If you don’t use the whole amount on the gift card in one go, you can use what remains towards another purchase at a later date.
Other Benefits
Another attraction of JamDoughnut is that you can use the app in addition to your existing cards and loyalty programme points, allowing you to earn and/or save even more.
In addition, JamDoughnut offers a range of other benefits. These include a daily £100 (10 x £10) giveaway, free competitions, ‘Jammy Deals’, double discounts, and more. These are all listed on the ‘Daily Doughnut’ page of the app (see below).
Finally, if you’re so inclined, you can invite friends and relatives to join JamDoughnut using the ‘refer-a-friend’ scheme. If someone signs up using your referral code (see below), not only will they get an extra 200 points (worth £2) when they buy their first gift card, you will receive a bonus as well when they cash out for the first time (400 points, equivalent to £4).
Special Bonus Offer
Speaking of which, if you download the JamDoughnut app via this blog post and enter my referral code GBGN when requested, then (as mentioned above) you will get an extra 200 points (£2) when you use the app to buy a gift card for the first time – bringing.you that much closer to receiving your first £10+ cashback payment!
Closing Thoughts
In summary, I think JamDoughnut is a great little app and I have been pleased to add it to my armoury of money-saving tools and resources.
I do most of my grocery shopping at my local Morrisons, which is currently offering 4% cashback on JD gift card purchases – so in effect I am getting a 4% discount on all my shopping there.
And I am still getting all the benefits of my Morrisons Card too, including special discounts and regular £5 vouchers. In these challenging times, this really does help my money go a little bit further 🙂
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this JamDoughnut review, please do leave them below.
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Hot chocolate must be the ultimate cold weather comfort drink – and what with everything in the news just now, we all need a bit of that at the moment!
So I have joined forces with some of my fellow UK bloggers to bring you the chance of winning a fantastic Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser, worth around £100.
When you need a morning boost or a flavanol-rich post-gym pick me up, you’re just 2.5 minutes away from barista-grade hot chocolate. Or curl up on the couch with a velvety and indulgent cup in the evening. Whatever your lifestyle, the Velvetiser delivers.
Just choose your flavour. Add our flakes of real chocolate to your choice of dairy, plant milk or water. Then press the button and let the patented velvetising process deliver luxurious cloud-like chocolate velvet.
Your Velvetiser takes up the same space as a kettle and adjusts easily for a left and right hand pour. It might not be suitable for dishwashers but as it’s so quick and easy to clean, why wait? Just pop out the whisk and rinse the non-stick coating with water and you’re ready for the next cup.
The classic copper clad Velvetiser is chic, stylish and on-trend, with looks good enough to grace any kitchen countertop. And we even supply a pair of podcups that just fit into the palm of your hand. So you can cradle that chocolate goodness as you savour every sip. Rich, creamy and decadent, why not indulge yourself with the ultimate in hot chocolate?
In these challenging times we all need and deserve a treat, so here’s your chance to win one of these amazing machines just in time for Christmas!
This giveaway has been organized by my blogging colleague Emma Drew (with a small amount of help from myself), so I should like to thank her very much for this. More details provided by Emma herself, along with instructions on how to enter, can be found below.
The Bloggers Taking Part
This giveaway couldn’t happen without the bloggers below taking part and contributing towards the prize. Please take a moment to visit them and show your support.
This prize is a copper Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser with 2 x Everything + Milky Pouch + Classic Pouch + 500ml Chocolate Cream Liqueur.
Terms and Conditions
1. There is one top prize of the Hotel Chocolat velvetiser and 2 x Everything + Milky Pouch + Classic Pouch + 500ml Chocolate Cream Liqueur.
2. There are no runner up prizes.
3. Open to UK residents aged 18 and over, excluding all bloggers involved with running the giveaway
4. Closing date for entries is midnight on 12.12.2021
5. The same Rafflecopter widget appears on all the blogs involved, but you only need to enter on one blog
6. Entrants must log in to the Rafflecopter widget, and complete one or more of the tasks – each completed task earns one entry in the prize draw
7. Tweeting about the giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget will earn five bonus entries into the prize draw.
8. One winner will be chosen at random.
9. The winner will be informed by email within 7 days of the closing date and will need to respond within 28 days with their delivery address, or a replacement winner will be chosen.
10. The winners’ names will be published in the Rafflecopter widget (unless the winner objects to this).
11. The prizes will be dispatched within 14 days of the winner confirming their details.
12. The promoter is Drew Media LTD t/a www.MakeMoneyWithoutAJob.com
13. By participating in this prize draw, entrants confirm they have read, understood and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions
ENTER NOW
Simply complete any or all of the Rafflecopter entry widget options below to be entered. You can also tweet about the giveaway daily to earn bonus entries. a Rafflecopter giveaway
One final small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, the organizer (Emma Drew) will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.
Good luck, and here’s hoping we can all look forward to better and brighter times soon 🙂
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Today I have a sponsored guest post for you on behalf of Top Subscription Boxes. On their website they advertise a huge range of subscription box services.
With these services, you receive a new and exciting product (or selection of products) every month. You can subscribe for as long or as short as you want (subject to minimum subscriptions). And as you will see, there is something to suit every taste and budget!
Whether you want to send someone special a gift they will really enjoy or just treat yourself (you deserve it!), the subscription box services listed below could provide the perfect solution. We tried all of these ourselves before bringing the very best together in one place.
So without further ado, let’s get started!
Glossybox
Whenever it comes to beauty and make-up subscription boxes. Glossybox always takes the top spot. Glossybox allows you to treat yourself with a perfect combination of deluxe and full-sized beauty product samples from top brands.
Each month they send you a great-value box loaded with the latest make-up products, tools and beauty creams – and it will only cost you £13.25 per month.
In their previous boxes they have featured well-known brands like La Mer, Nars, pedigree French brands such as La Roche Posay, and impressive budget make-up from the likes of Rimmel.
Beer Bods
Beer Bods is known as the UK’s #1 craft beer subscription service. They send you a box of 8 beers every two months. So basically you receive one beer a week, along with the story behind that beer. All subscribers receive the same beer at one time, and you can join in a live online tasting every Thursday at 9 pm. So you can enjoy a new beer with new friends every week and compare notes with them. The bi-monthly subscription will cost you £24.
Arena Flowers
Nothing can be better than seeing fresh flowers in the morning. They make you feel calm and give your day the perfect start.
Arena Flowers is a leading ethical floristry service. They deliver exciting bouquets through their monthly subscription service.
They’ve been sending out their beautiful bouquets for the last 14 years and have achieved the milestone of 10 million deliveries. Every bouquet you receive is hand-tied and arranged by one of their expert florists to create a unique bouquet just for you. You can subscribe by paying just £17 a week.
Gadget Discovery Club
The Gadget Discovery Club allows you to treat yourself or your loved ones by sending them subscription boxes containing 4 innovative gadgets they didn’t know they needed!
They say that every gadget they’ll deliver to your doorstep will help you to upgrade your home, entertainment or lifestyle. The subscription box contains everything from tech wearables to smart home devices, including Samsung/Philips kits and Google home speakers.
You just need to sign up and select your preferences so they can send you the latest exciting gadgets based on your profile. They offer a monthly subscription or you can also choose a yearly plan. The monthly option will cost you £33 per month.
BakedIn Baking Club
The BakedIn Baking Club is a baking subscription service that delivers a different recipe each month straight to your door. Once you’ve subscribed to this service, you will receive a beautiful baking box with a step-by-step recipe guide, along with all the dry ingredients you need and some extras too.
BakedIn allows you to make your favourite muffins, biscuits, cakes and cookies, to share with your family and friends. If you are one of those people who loves baking, then this is the subscription box service for you. The price is £7.50 a month.
Good luck, and we hope you find the perfect subscription box service for you or your loved ones!
Thank you to my friends at Top Subscription Boxes for some eye-opening suggestions. I would definitely like to try some of these services myself! They would also, of course, make excellent Christmas or birthday presents. Please do click through to their website and check out the other subscription box services as well!
As always, if you have any comments or questions, please do post them below.
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Many of us today do most of our shopping in supermarkets. Although of course it’s important to support local/specialist shops, supermarkets typically offer a much wider range of products at prices small stores find hard to match.
But there are still lots of ways savvy shoppers can save money on their supermarket shopping. Here are ten top tips to shave a few pounds (or more) off your shopping bills…
Make the Most of Loyalty Cards
All the big name supermarkets have these, though some (e.g. Morrisons) are switching from plastic to app-based cards. The benefits on offer vary, but typically you get points which can be exchanged for discounts and gifts. I shop mainly at Morrisons and Waitrose, as they have branches closest to me.
With Morrisons, their (now virtual) More card gives you special offers based on things you normally buy anyway. I have had some great discounts on my groceries with these offers, but you do of course need to remember to ‘swipe’ the app barcode at the checkout.
I also have a myWaitrose card. With this you can get a free newspaper with your shopping (subject to a £10 minimum spend). You can also get a free hot drink. You get vouchers sent in the post as well, such as the ones pictured below. It surprises me a bit when someone in the queue in front of me says they don’t have a myWaitrose card, but perhaps if they shop regularly at Waitrose they don’t have to worry too much about saving money 😉
Shop Late in the Day
Late in the day – ideally the hour before the store closes – is the best time to look for bargains. The shops will have stock they want to get rid of, probably because it is coming up to its ‘best before’ date. These items will often be marked down substantially, as the stores want to get at least some money for them rather than have to throw them away. Bear in mind that you can always freeze many foods if you can’t use them immediately – and in any event ‘best before’ dates aren’t set in stone.
Use Cashback Sites
I’ve talked about cashback sites like Quidco and Top Cashback on this blog before (e.g. in this post). If you shop online, you can get money back by clicking through to the retailer from the link on the cashback site. The most generous offers are generally reserved for new customers, e.g. on Top Cashback right now new Sainsbury’s online customers can get 16.5% cashback on Click and Collect orders of over £40. But even existing customers can get 5.5% cashback on Click and Collect orders of over £40 (all details correct at time of writing).
Plan Your Meals Ahead
We all lead busy lives these days. But it’s still good to devote some time to planning ahead where meals are concerned. Try to incorporate things you have in stock already, especially perishables which may not last more than a day or two. And rather than buying unusual/expensive ingredients for one dish only, see if you can find other recipes to use them up.
Batch cooking, where you make enough of a dish to last two days or more, is another great way to cut the cost of shopping. Of course, most dishes can be frozen if you can’t face having curry three days in a row!
Shop Online
Aside from the convenience of having goods delivered to your door, a big advantage of online shopping is that you will be less likely to succumb to impulse buys. Just make a list of what you need, visit the website, and add the items on your shopping list to your basket.
Admittedly you may have to pay a delivery fee, but many supermarkets now offer this free for new customers or for orders above a certain value. There are also in many cases ‘free delivery’ codes online if you search for them. And don’t forget to use cashback sites where possible as well (see above).
Search for Money Off Coupons and Vouchers
This is an old school method but it can still produce big savings. Look out for money-off vouchers in newspapers, magazines and the stores themselves. You can also search online if there are particular products you want to buy. This method can work particularly well with larger items such as dishwashers and tumble dryers [sponsored link], but it’s also worth searching for money-off vouchers for smaller/cheaper items, especially if they are things you buy regularly.
Try Own-Brand Products
All supermarkets have their own-brand products, and usually they cost less than heavily promoted consumer brands.
Many stores also have rock-bottom priced ‘Saver’ ranges. Sometimes these are not as good as more expensive branded or own-brand products. Other times, though, they are indistinguishable. For example, I now always buy Morrisons’ lowest-priced butter from their Savers range. I find it tastes just as good as the more expensive alternatives.
Use Discount Supermarkets and Stores
It’s easy to get in the habit of a weekly trip to Tesco or Sainsbury’s, but if you haven’t yet done so it’s well worth trying out discount supermarkets such as Iceland, Aldi and Lidl. They aren’t always the most attractive places to shop, but they make up for this with some amazingly low prices. Admittedly you won’t always recognize the brand names, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t high quality. Staples like bread, fruit and vegetables are often cheaper as well.
There are various apps and companies that will reward you for scanning and submitting your shopping receipts to them. One I’ve belonged to for some years now is ShopandScan. You can read more about this opportunity here.
ShopandScan pays in vouchers rather than cash, but the options include Amazon vouchers, which are of course nearly as good. I have received several thousand pounds worth of vouchers from ShopandScan since I started with them. As I say in my review, acceptance isn’t automatic, but if you apply there is every chance you will be sent an invitation within a few weeks.
Grow Your Own Food!
You can save significant sums of money by doing this. This summer I didn’t buy any tomatoes from July till mid-October, as I was eating ones I had grown myself. I highly recommend tomatoes, incidentally, not least as they are easy to grow in the garden, in a tub or hanging basket, or even on your window sill. They taste a lot better than most shop-bought varieties as well!
There are, of course, plenty of other things you can grow to save money, even if space is at a premium. Fresh herbs are one possibility, as are many types of berry (strawberries grow like weeds in my garden). I’ve also had some success with runner beans, courgettes and garlic, and salad vegetables such as chard, radishes and spring onions.
This year I also grew a pot of cut-and-come-again lettuce and was amazed by how much I got from this. It’s perfect for people who live alone like me, as you can just pick a few leaves when you want them, rather than buy a bag of salad leaves and have most of them go to waste.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and it has given you a few ideas for saving money on your supermarket shopping. If you have any other tips or comments, please do post them below!
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As you may know, this is a best-selling book by Claire Parker and Sir Muir Gray, published by Bloomsbury. I bought a hardback copy from Amazon. A slightly cheaper ebook version for Kindle is also available.
Sir Muir Gray is also the author of Sod 70!, a similar healthy living guide aimed at the over-70s.
Review
Sod 60! is 232 pages long. The text – which is very readable – is broken up by lots of sub-headings, diagrams and cartoon-style illustrations (by David Mostyn). There are nine main chapters, each covering an aspect of how to live well in your sixties. The chapter titles are as follows:
Getting Older Doesn’t Matter – Getting Active and Getting Attitude Does
Keeping Active is Fitness Friendly
Your Attitude and Its Soulmates: Mind and Mood
Keeping Your Metabolism Healthy
Take Care of Your…Bits
Rhythm and Blues
Stuff Happens
Decisions, Decisions
Health Care: Choosing and Using It Wisely
Some of those chapter titles are self-explanatory, others less so. For example, Chapter 5 ‘Take Care of Your…Bits’ isn’t about what you might think. It actually covers looking after different parts of your body, from your brain to your feet. Sexual health is then covered in Chapter 6, ‘Rhythm and Blues’. Those both seem pretty odd choices of chapter title to me, but I suppose the aim was to help give the book a ‘quirky’ personality.
That small criticism aside, the style of the book is friendly and relatable. It’s also down to earth and practical, and I like the way that the text is interspersed with exercises, resolutions, and so on. It is very much a hands-on, practical guide.
Sod 60! concerns the importance of looking after your body and mind as you grow older. The authors stress the need to stay as active as you can, both physically and mentally.
Chapter 2 includes a range of physical exercises to try, and also sets out some general principles for exercising healthily as you get older. I thought this was one of the most useful chapters in the book.
Chapter 3, which focuses on attitude, mind and mood, is also very good. It looks at the importance of keeping a positive attitude, and staying connected with friends and family, your neighbours, local community, and so on. It also discusses maintaining a good relationship with your partner (assuming you have one). Getting enough sleep and dealing with stress are covered as well, though not in great detail.
Chapter 4 ‘Keeping your Metabolism Healthy’ focuses on diet and weight. The authors advocate following a balanced and varied Mediterranean-style diet, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. That seems eminently sensible to me. I wouldn’t say there was much in this chapter I hadn’t heard before, and some of the advice such as avoiding sugary drinks struck me as stating the obvious. But this is of course very important to long-term health, so I guess it had to be said.
Chapter 5, as I’ve already mentioned, focuses on different organs/parts of the body. It discusses how to keep each one healthy, and warning signs to look out for as you get older. It also covers age-related changes and what you may be able to do to help prevent problems. Having a good diet, staying active, giving up smoking and reducing alcohol intake all crop up quite frequently. Again, there were no huge surprises for me here.
Chapter 6 is about sexual health and related matters such as bladder and (for men) prostate problems. On the sexual side, the advice could be broadly summed up in five words: Use it or lose it! The advice on matters such as urinary incontinence is – to be honest – a bit depressing, but nonetheless important to be aware of.
Chapter 7 ‘Stuff Happens’ is also a bit depressing, though again it covers some important topics. These include how to deal with the problems later life can throw at you, including depression, isolation, bereavement, serious illness, and so on. There is some excellent advice here, especially on the importance of cultivating and maintaining a support network of friends, relatives, health professionals, and so on.
Finally, Chapters 8 and 9 are both about healthcare and could easily have been combined in my opinion. They look at such matters as how to navigate healthcare decisions, self-care to prevent (or at least mitigate) serious health problems, drugs and vaccinations, and so forth.
In Conclusion
Overall I thought Sod 60! was a useful guide for sixty-somethings though maybe not an earth-shattering one. The book covers a range of issues that anyone in their sixties will need to think about and prepare for. It was first published in 2016, so there is no reference to the Coronavirus pandemic. The advice in the book still applies and in some ways is even more cogent now. With the UK still in lockdown at the time of writing, for example, we all need our support networks more than ever at the moment…
Sod 60! is really a ‘mind and body’ book. It doesn’t cover financial issues such as pensions and benefits (and indeed doesn’t claim to). And it doesn’t have much to say about the challenges and opportunities retirement can bring, or the pros and cons of carrying on working. For advice on these and similar matters, something like the annual Good Retirement Guide (which I hope to review soon) would be good. And keep on reading Pounds and Sense, of course!
If you want a readable and entertaining guide to making the most of your sixties and preserving your physical and mental health, though, Sod 60! would certainly fit the bill. It would also make a great (and relatively inexpensive) birthday or Christmas gift for anyone in this age category.
As ever, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.
Disclosure: As with many posts on Pounds and Sense, this post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a modest commission for introducing you. This will not affect in any way the price you pay or the product or service you receive.
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These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. The full contents are as follows:
Christmas afternoon treats
Swiss chocolate extra smooth milk chocolate truffles (205g)
Pure origin Assam teabags (125g/50 bags)
Classic recipe top iced bar Christmas cake (450g)
The Collection Berry medley soft set jam (42g)
The Collection Bitter Seville orange marmalade (42g)
All butter shortbread fingers (28g) x 3
A beautiful bouquet of flowers
In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. Full information about the hamper and its contents can be found on the M&S website.
Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂
Meet the Bloggers Taking Part
The bloggers taking part in this festive giveaway are:
If the hamper is no longer available when the winners are drawn then the winners will be offered an alternative hamper from M&S worth £50 each.
Enter to Win
To enter simply complete any or all of the Rafflecopter entry widget options below.
The competition closes at midnight on 14th December 2019. If the hamper selected is sold out then we will offer an alternative M&S hamper worth £50. You can see the widget for the full terms and conditions of this giveaway.
There are plenty of ways to enter this giveaway.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
One small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, Emma will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.
Once again, good luck, and I really do hope you win a hamper!
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Today I have something a bit different for you. I’ve been asking around my fellow UK bloggers for their favourite kitchen tools, apps and websites.
I was genuinely curious about this myself, but hope it will also be of interest and value for PAS readers who enjoy cooking (or possibly don’t but still have to!). And if you are looking for a gift for the cook (or cooks) in your life, hopefully you may find a few ideas here.
Where possible I have provided links to the resources in question. In some cases these are affiliate links, so if you click through and make a purchase I will receive a commission from the store concerned (Amazon). This will not affect the product or service you receive, or the price that you pay.
Note also that with kitchen tools and devices, multiple brands and versions are often available. I have tried to link to popular models, but they may or may not be the same as the one the blogger in question uses.
Okay, let’s get started then. 🙂
Blogger Recommendations
Tanya Barrow from Mummy Barrow says: ‘It isn’t cheap, but my favourite device is my Thermomix. It does the job of 12 other kitchen appliances and helps me cook healthy meals for my family without using a load of other kit or pans, and quickly. I couldn’t live without it now.’
Ruth Gray from Slimming Violet says: ‘My favourite kitchen device is definitely my Actifry. I thought for ages about whether I should buy one as they’re a bit on the pricey side, but I’m so pleased that I did. It makes it really easy to cook so many different healthy meals, though I must admit that Actifry chips have to be my favourite. With just a drizzle of oil, they’re so much better than their oven chip counterparts!’
Fiona Elizabeth Hawkes from The Somerset Foodie writes: ‘One of my favourite cooking resources is the Yummly app. It’s full of recipes and you can search by ingredient or meal type, exclude recipes with ingredients you don’t like and then save recipes you like the look of. You can even photograph ingredients and it’ll suggest dishes you could try to use them up. It’s great for times I’m struggling with ideas for dinner!’
Keiran Potter, who blogs at Keiran Crying, says, ‘My favourite device is my spiraliser. It’s such an easy and fast way to get vegetables into things like pasta and pies. But also it makes things like potato cook a lot faster because it makes it so thin. I love experimenting with it, it helps me keep meals interesting.‘
Jupiter Hadley, who blogs at JupiterHadley.com, writes: ‘My favorite cooking website is Allrecipes.com – everyone submits recipes and pictures, so all of the recipes are made previously and they have a good selection of simple recipes. When searching for something there, you can easily read the comments from people who have tried to make the dish (and they have a big community, so it’s normally a lot of comments with the best ones on the first page) sometimes these comments let you know the recipe isn’t sweet enough or it needs a different ingredient, while others tell you little twists you can make. It’s a great community and is really full of great recipes and feedback.’
Petra at Be Healthy Now says: ‘There are so many good websites that I use for cooking inspiration, and one of my favourites is The Flexitarian. I love this website so much because the recipes on there are simply amazing: really healthy, with interesting flavours and a little bit different to what you commonly find online. They are all vegetarian or vegan, so perfect for those who are looking to reduce their meat intake. Annabelle also shares food news and reviews, which all come in really useful.’
Rachelle Strauss of The Health and Wellness Grid writes: ‘My favourite kitchen gadget is my Nutribullet. It’s a reasonable price and is excellent for my morning smoothie (it works well on frozen fruit) and I also use it to grind seeds which I then sprinkle into most meals. So it saves me money on buying smoothies (and helps me reduce food waste by using up fruits that are coming up to being past their best) and I can buy a big bag of seeds which I blitz and hide in foods! I’ve needed to replace the blade once in a few years, but the motor remains strong despite daily use, so it’s excellent value for money overall. I also use it for soup, after the ingredients have cooled – again saving money on shop-bought products and using up old veggies.’
Hayley Muncey, who blogs as Miss Manypennies, writes: ‘My favourite gadget is my pancake/crepe maker (hot plate). Obviously totally unnecessary, but it means we can pop on the table and no one has to be the one standing cooking, it’s quick and the pancakes always end up the right shape! It’s easier to experiment with toppings too ‘
Kim John of Life Can Be Toff says, ‘My favourite kitchen gadget is my soup maker. It is a simple way for me to create quick and tasty soups, particularly at this time of year. The fact it is so quick (around 30 minutes total including prep) also means I can be quite adventurous and try different things. It is great for making in bulk and with little washing up!
Nick adds: ‘I have an electric soup-maker as well and get a lot of use from it, in the cold winter months especially. I wrote this blog post about it not long after I bought it.’
Melissa Williams, who blogs at The Diary of a Jewellery Lover, writes: ‘My favourite kitchen gadget is my slow cooker. I like putting all the ingredients in at the beginning of the day and having a delicious meal ready for me in the evening. It makes the meat so tender and delicious. I would definitely recommend getting one if you don’t own one. It will change your life!’
Afshan Nasim of Afshanesque writes: ‘My favourite kitchen utensil is my Hinari Genie blender. It is great for making smoothies and milkshakes. It also helps me chop my onions and puree my tomato for use with my curries. It’s like the Nutribullet, but cheaper.’
Nicole Shroff from The End of the Fork writes: ‘I love my cast iron skillet, it is what I reach for the most in my kitchen. Nicely weighted, it distributes heat evenly retaining it well, so food cooks faster and you do not need to move it around the pan as much. The more seasoned it becomes with use, the better it’s non-stick qualities. It is extremely hard-wearing and easy to care for as long as it is dried well before storing. A good cast iron skillet improves with age and will last generations!’
Jo Jackson, who blogs at Tea and Cake for the Soul, says: ‘ I have an ancient Moulinex Masterchef and love it. I can grate and slice vegetables in it, make cakes, pastry, blend and chop with it. I have a much newer all singing all dancing device but I can’t bear to part with old faithful.’
Jo Jackson also says: ‘I do like the BBC Good Food website. It has photos with clear instructions and sometimes videos. I like a lot of the features including ratings by others who’ve tried the recipe, timings, levels of skill, nutritional values etc. I especially like the print option. I’m a bit old school and if I find a recipe I like, I will print it off, laminate it and keep it in my cook book file.’
Melanie Edjourian, who blogs at Melanie’s Fab Finds, says: ‘I love my Russell Hobbs mixer. It’s great for making all sorts of cakes as well as pizza bases and bread. I also love my Lurch Spiralo Spiraliser as it helps me make all sorts of healthy recipes using veg, like courgetti carbonara.’
Cath Bambi Drews, who blogs at th3secretlifeofme, writes: ‘We have a Gourmetmaxx tower airfryer, which is a bit different to an Actifry. We are a family of six so this means we can actually cook sides or fries/wedges/home-made chips in one go. It cooks crispy chips/wedges. Amazing bacon. Little pizzas. We have even cooked a chicken in there.’
Paulina Borowik from UK Everyday says: ‘One of my favourite kitchen devices is my Morphy Richards Stand Mixer. It ensures that all ingredients are mixed perfectly and my kitchen stays clean. This mixer is very powerful and looks stylish. I would highly recommend it to anyone.’
Finally, Sally Allsop from Life Loving says: ‘I know it sounds very insignificant but my favourite kitchen gadget is my olive spoon/pickle picker. It’s perfect for getting pickled veg/olives out of the jar and draining them as you are doing it. Normal spoons make such a mess when you are dealing with pickling liquid or brine.’
Thanks again to all my UK blogging colleagues for an inspiring selection of ideas. I shall definitely be adding some of the items above to my Amazon Wish List!
Please do check out also the blogs of everyone above who contributed suggestions. They are an amazing group of talented writers and bloggers!
No bowl is provided with these scales, but because of the way they work you don’t need one. You can place any container you like on the scales and press the button to zero the display (so the scales disregard the container’s weight). You can then add your ingredient and the weight (or liquid volume if you prefer) will be shown. If you want to add further ingredients, you can zero the display again before doing so. Once you get the hang of this, it’s amazingly quick and simple. I use it all the time now, and even weighed a parcel on it recently 😀 I also like the way it hardly takes up any space at all in my kitchen when stored on its side.
As always, if you have any comments or queries about this article, please do post them below. And if you have any other favourite kitchen device, website or app, please do share it in the comments!
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Today I have another great giveaway to share with you.
I’ve joined forces with some of my fellow UK Money Bloggers to put together a giveaway of FIVE Marks & Spencer ‘Afternoon Tea with Flowers’ Hampers.
These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. The full contents are as follows:
Pure origin Assam teabags (125g/50 bags)
British raspberry soft set jam (113g)
British strawberry soft set jam (113g)
All butter shortbread fingers (28g/pack of 2) x 3
Cherry and sultana bar cake (520g)
Swiss chocolate extra smooth milk chocolate truffles (62g/pack of 5)
19 x Mixed pink roses
Two Reusable gift boxes
In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. If you need to know about any possible allergens in the contents, full information can be found on the M&S website.
Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂
This summer, some of the UK Money Bloggers have come together to offer you the chance to win one of six great prizes from Marks and Spencer. We have five hampers worth £50 each plus one £20 gift bag to give away. Keep reading to find out how you can enter.
Who are the bloggers behind this giveaway?
The UK Money Bloggers are a group of bloggers, podcasters, and influencers in the UK who are passionate about helping you to improve your finances. Whether you want to make more money, spend less, understand investing or pay off debts, we all contribute something unique to the community. Here’s who we are:
You can win one of five M&S ‘Afternoon Tea with Flowers’ hampers worth £50 each, or the runner-up prize of a £20 M&S ‘You’re the Bees Knees’ gift bag.
The rules
The giveaway is open until midnight on 31st August 2019, when the winners will be chosen.
The giveaway is open to UK residents only.
Winners will be contacted by email from hello@emmadrew.info
How to enter
You can enter by completing as many of the Rafflecopter widget entry options below as you would like. You can also enter daily by tweeting from the Rafflecopter widget.
One small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, Emma will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.
Once again, good luck, and I really do hope you win a hamper!
I recently spent a weekend at Lake Vyrnwy, a few miles over the border from Shropshire into Wales. I had wanted to visit the area since watching a TV programme a few months ago about the history of the lake.
Lake Vyrnwy is actually a man-made lake (or reservoir if you prefer). It was created to provide a water supply for Liverpool in the 19th century. It’s about 25 miles from Oswestry. I’ve embedded a Google Map below showing the area.
My Hotel
I stayed at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa (pictured below), which is near the dam at the western end of the lake. I booked on the Booking.com website.
The hotel dates back to 1890 – it was originally built to accommodate senior managers and engineers on the construction project. Since then it has been extended several times, although as recently as the 1970s it was still owned by the water company (it’s now in private hands). The hotel doesn’t make as much of its interesting history as it could, in my opinion.
Anyway, I pushed the metaphorical boat out and booked a Premier Lake View Room via Booking.com. The view certainly didn’t disappoint, as the cover photo (taken from my balcony) indicates.
My room was on the top floor, up various flights of stairs. One thing to bear in mind if you plan to stay here is that there is no lift in the main hotel, though I was told there is one in the spa (which I didn’t go in, partly because you have to pay extra – see below).
My room was spacious and comfortable, with all the features you might expect from a four-star hotel, including tea and coffee-making equipment, flat-screen TV, refrigerator, walk-in shower, and so forth. There was also good free wifi in the room, and in the public areas of the hotel too (just as well, as there was no mobile phone signal!).
I had my breakfast and evening meals in the hotel. Breakfast was included in the fee I paid. Evening meals were extra, though to be honest there isn’t really anywhere else to eat in the vicinity (apart from a couple of cafes that aren’t open in the evening anyway).
A lot of people rave about the food at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel. Personally I thought it was good but not exceptional. It was let down by little things, e.g. at breakfast on the first day the muffin with my Eggs Benedict was burnt. I went for the full Welsh breakfast the next day, and on my final day decided to chance the Eggs Benedict again. This time the muffin wasn’t burnt but dense and tasteless – I’m guessing it had come straight out of the freezer. I’ve had much better Eggs Benedicts at my local Wetherspoons. For the money I was paying I’d have expected better really.
You have two dining options at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel: the restaurant and ‘less formal’ brasserie. My top tip would be to stick to the restaurant and give the brasserie a miss. On my second night I tried it and found it crowded (it’s in a small room and the tables are pushed close together) and noisy. There were also young children running around apparently unsupervised. Okay, the brasserie might be a bit cheaper, but the main restaurant offers a much more relaxed, civilised dining experience, and much better views across the lake as well.
Financials
As Pounds and Sense is primarily a money blog, I should say a few words about this.
For my Premier Lake View Room (with single occupancy) I was charged £589 including VAT for three nights. Obviously I could have booked a cheaper room without the lake view, but in my opinion it would be a shame to stay at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and not have this.
Evening meals in the restaurant were charged at £27 for two courses or £35 for three (there were supplements for certain dishes such as sirloin steak). You do also get a complimentary ‘taster’ of fresh soup with home-made focaccia bread, which I enjoyed and recommend.
At the brasserie you order from an A La Carte menu, so the price depends on what you choose.
As mentioned earlier, the hotel also has a spa, for which you have to pay an extra £10 a day admission charge. The spa has a thermal suite, including a sauna, steam room, ice fountain, whirlpool, and tepidarium (no swimming pool though). It offers various treatments at extra cost, including massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and so on..
Activities
One thing I should mention before describing what I did is that when I visited – the weekend before Easter – it was bitterly cold. The temperatures typically didn’t rise above 4 or 5 degrees, and when you factor in the wind chill as well, it was probably around freezing. I was very glad I remembered to take my quilted winter coat, gloves, scarf and woolly hat!
First Day
On my first day I walked to the dam down the precipitous bridle path from the hotel (I asked the receptionists how many guests they lost on this – they laughed but didn’t reply).
The dam is undoubtedly impressive and leads to a small tourist area with a visitor centre; this is a good place to start your exploration. A short film plays constantly inside with alternating English and Welsh narration. It tells you about the history of the lake, and the various plants and animals that live around (and on) it today. Nature conservation is quite a major theme around the lake.
Also in the village is an RSPB shop and a bird hide that is well worth a visit (see picture below). There is also a friendly cafe called The Old Barn, and Artisans, a cafe and shop where you can also hire bicycles. I had planned to do this myself, but the very cold weather dissuaded me. I did see quite a few – admittedly much younger – people cycling around the lake, though.
A short distance away is a sculpture park, and I recommend this if you fancy an enjoyable walk that isn’t too taxing. The sculptures are all made of wood, and some are quite striking. This one is called Mother Earth, for example.
In the afternoon I walked the opposite way from the hotel to the Victorian Straining Tower (picture below). This Gothic-style building filters the lake water through mesh before it starts its journey to Liverpool. Unfortunately it’s not open to the public, but you can admire it from the road. It’s a pity there isn’t an explanation board, just a forbidding ‘Keep Out’ notice.
Second Day
On my second day I decided to drive around the lake, stopping at points of interest along the way. There is a good (if narrow) road all round the lake, about 12 miles in total.
I had picked up a leaflet from the hotel reception about walks in the area, and decided to do the two-mile round trip to Rhiwargor Falls. This walk starts near the east end of the lake at a convenient car park. Despite the cold I enjoyed this. I didn’t see another soul on foot the whole time, although I did come eye to eye with a few sheep…
The waterfall is pretty impressive, and I imagine if it has rained recently it is even more so. Here is a video I recorded.
On the way back I stopped at another bird hide on the side of the lake, but there wasn’t a lot to see. I spotted a Canada goose and three mandarin ducks and duly logged them on the whiteboard. I erased the previous recorded sighting of six pterodactyls, as I suspected this wasn’t entirely genuine.
In the afternoon I took a short walk from the hotel to visit a church I had noticed before. This turned out to be St Wddyn’s (pictured below).
St Wddyn’s was built in 1880 to replace the original church of that name that was flooded (along with the rest of the old village of Llanwddyn) when the lake was filled. It is a quiet, peaceful place with some beautiful stained glass windows. It is well worth a visit if you are staying at the hotel, as it’s barely 10 minutes’ walk away. Again, I didn’t see another living soul while I was there.
Closing Thoughts
So that was my visit to Lake Vyrnwy. I didn’t hang about on my last day, as it was still very cold, and the wind was getting up as well.
I thought the area was beautiful and unspoiled (if you can say that about a man-made reservoir) and the hotel itself very good despite my minor reservations.
It’s probably not a place to take young children as there wouldn’t be a great deal to occupy them. But if you enjoy beautiful scenery and (especially) if you like walking, running or cycling, it would make a great short break destination. The Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa is also a popular venue for people celebrating their honeymoon or anniversary, or wanting some serious pampering in the Spa. In view of the many steps and lack of lifts it’s probably not ideal if you’re physically infirm, though.
If you like the idea of visiting the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa, if you follow any of the links in this article you can get a £15 discount via the Booking.com website. This is credited to your card once you have completed your break. I will also receive £15 as a reward for introducing you 🙂
As always, if you have any comments or questions about Lake Vyrnwy or the hotel, please do post them below.
Note: You can get the £15 discount on Booking.com wherever you go on your next visit, be it Lake Vyrnwy or elsewhere. Just click on my link and follow the instructions!
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In this post last week I set out a contest/giveaway to win a packet of the brand new Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits. To enter, you simply had to add a comment on the post in question. I then proposed to pick a winner at random.
Unfortunately I made a bit of a hash of this. I temporarily forgot that the deadline was at midnight on Tuesday 4 December, and to compound this I was out most of the day yesterday. So I didn’t put an announcement of the contest ending or switch off comments on the post (which I have now done).
What’s more, there was a rush of people entering yesterday – I assume details may have been shared on a high-traffic competitions site or some such. Even though they were technically too late to enter, I felt bad about disqualifying them all, especially as I hadn’t made clear on the blog that the contest was closed (although the Tuesday midnight deadline was clearly stated in the post).
So to try to be fair to everyone, I decided that rather than have a single prize, I would have two. The first was just for the 9 people who entered before the original deadline, and the second was for everyone who entered until comments were closed yesterday (including the original nine, who thus got two chances to win). I hope that will seem fair to everyone.
I used the random number generator at Random.org to pick the winners of both draws, so here they are:
First 9 draw – Mrs Elizabeth Sumner
Whole 26 draw – Helen B.
Please could the winners contact me privately via my Contact Me page and let me know their full postal name and address and also whether they would prefer the mint or hazelnut flavour. I will then arrange for their biscuits to be sent to them.
Thank you to everyone who entered, and commiserations to everyone who didn’t win this time. You can, of course, buy delicious Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits via all good grocers and supermarkets and online stores such as Amazon.
Apologies again also for the confusion over the deadline. In my defence, this is the first giveaway of this type I have conducted on Pounds and Sense, and I will learn from it and try to do better next time!
And finally, thanks again to Bahlsen Biscuits for sponsoring this contest.
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