It's yellow, it must be Custard

I know, I keep harping on about Morrisons, the irony is my partner works for Tesco's. Anyway, custard. Again I'm looking at one of their 'Saver' ranges, and custard at 17p a tin just has to be rubbish doesn't it?

It wasn't. OK, it was below the standard of Birds egg custard of course and if I recall eggs dried or otherwise didn't feature. But on the other hand it was cheap, reasonably tasty and the kids would know no better.

Would I buy it again, oh yes, plus some bananas to cut up into it.
Value for money, you bet.

 

Well, custard by itself just isn't right, right?

Sweet Pickle - Morrisons

We're all familiar with good old Branston Pickle, it always graced the table on Boxing day with the cold meats (leftovers) but rarely used afterwards. trouble was, it was always a little too strong for me, it went hand in hand with that jar of Pickle Onions from last year.

Well now Morrisons have released a slightly milder version under the 'Saver' range. As I say, it's not quite as strong as the usual brand and its also a little runnier too, but I find this an advantage, it now means it will be used more often . . . . cheese sandwich here I come.

Sweet & Sour Morrisons Saver Range

Let’s face it, at 27p for a jar of sauce, expectations were low.

Having already slated Morrison’s Chicken and vegetable Curry ‘Saver’ and knowing a half decent sauce should set me back nearer the £2 mark, I was prepared to be disappointed again . . .

 . . . How wrong was I? It was lovely.

Being used to the take-away culture in the past, this jarred concoction was every bit as good as dare I say, the real thing.

To this end I made a meal of it, literally. Price £4.28 for four people, total, not each.

Morrison’s ‘Saver’ Chicken legs (6) for £2.51.

Morrison’s Sweet & Sour Sauce £0.27p’

Egg Fried Rice from Iceland (the supermarket, not the country) £1.50.

Now the chicken alone is good value but it is bone-in and can be fiddly to cut the meat off although I will admit to cheating, I skinned and boiled the chicken for an hour in a large saucepan, when cool the meat just pulls off the bone.

Using the same but rinsed pan and a drop of oil, I browned off the chicken a little before adding the sauce, it saves on washing up, But I did have to use another pan for the rice, pity.

The boiled chicken in my opinion retains moisture and has a better taste that just pan fried, plus it stays soft to the bite. The end result was very pleasing indeed and I shall stock up on this sauce as a regular weekly meal. The jars have just over a year shelf life.

The opinions expressed are mine alone . . . Morrison’s don’t pay me but product donations are acceptable (hint Morrisons)

Casserole Sauce - Morrisons saver

Yet another of Morrison’s cheap ‘Saver’ range. This jar of casserole sauce was a massive 68p and the recipe on the back suggested a sausage casserole and so we did.

Not to insult the fine price of the sauce I searched out the cheapest sausages in the store and found a pack of eight for 56p.

The sausages had to be cooked first and so they were duly confined to a fry pan until mostly brown with a subtle hint of black and chucked in some chopped onions. Despite only being just over 40% pork, they weren’t bad, I think we have been a little spoilt with such a wide range of flavors available.

Anyway, having to feed four I needed more content and so some small potatoes were diced and boiled. I put the cooked stuff all together in a sauce pan, poured on the sauce and simmered for five minutes as recommended and served up.

The result was pleasing, not fantastic but enjoyable, however much to my surprise, two teenage daughters loved it and so we shall be going down this avenue again.

By adding potatoes and an onion which I had on hand, the would still work out at less than £3.00 for four of us.

 Cooked Sausages and onion prepped

The end result was pleasing.

Chicken & Veg Curry - Morrison Saver Range

Just noticed that Morrisons have started a 'saver' range of cheap items spanning many products so I thought I'd try a few. Chicken and Vegetable Curry for 54p, can't loose.

I expected a cheap product to accompany a cheap price and in the case of this curry I wasn't disappointed. Cooking is simply warming up in a pan, I planned to eat this with just buttered bread as a lunchtime snack . . .

 . . . The curry itself is mild although that information is tiny and lost in the front information panel. The contents are sloppy bordering on runny, and the taste was sad to say, bland. Out of interest I rinsed off the sauce and examined the solids, yes, there was chicken.

Naked and exposed . .

Would I buy this again = No
Would I use as a base or with something else = No
The opinion expressed is mine and mine alone, so there.

Gammon Shank

As a rule I would normal walk past the reduced meat section in a supermarket, in my eyes these pieces are either just about to go out of date, are the last of the stock, or just plain ugly.

Today was different, a gammon shank, was £1.99 and now reduced to £1.19 and I picked it up, it was heavy. As an ex butcher I knew half of this was bone, a shank is of course the tapering end of a leg. I bought it.

The instructions were simple, simmer in water for an hour plus twenty minutes. Today was a hot day and so I cooked it at lunch time for a salad based tea tonight.

When cooked and cooled I set about it with a sharp knife, it was expectantly fiddly but I managed to get just under a kilo of meat from a two kilo joint, and as it was gammon it had a good strong flavor.

I'll stop more often at the reduced section now.

Supermarket: Morrisons

BBQ Onions

I really enjoy a small family BBQ but onions just aren't designed to fit. The solution is simple. Use a recently opened and washed can like a baked bean tin, remove the lable (important if you don't want it to catch fire), pour on a drop of oil and add some raw cut onions.

Put at the cooler edge of the BBQ and stir occasionally. Best served using tongs.