Vlog : Approved Food

I've posted a video on my YouTube channel with my unboxing of my Approved Food order!

Please check it out, hit like and subscribe! 

https://youtu.be/lu_lUly4gss

Let me know if you want me to keep on this, or if you think it's a pile of crap!

Tom's First Birthday Party

Tom's first birthday party was on Sunday and we had a Cowboys and Indians theme. Initially we didn't have great weather (read : rain, thanks Britain) but it soon brightened up and turned into a great day for a BBQ!

I'd been working on making decorations for a bit over a month, I wanted a home made feel which lent itself well to the Cowboys and Indians natural look. I reused a lot of the Approved Food boxes I had collected, as well as lots of their foods, it was basically an Approved Food party!

I will start with the cake (you know, the important bit!). I had the cake made in the shape of a cowboy hat with an Indian headdress underneath. The hat was chocolate flavour and the headdress was a vanilla sponge. It was epic! It was really heavy but tasted great. This was the most expensive part of the party but also got the most attention, so I figure it was worth it. I am really pleased with the cake and for a first birthday I guess you can go a bit OTT! 

Next up, party bags! I bought a load of plain brown paper bags on eBay and wrote each child's name in a rope style, I then stuck on a little teepee (do I have too luck time in my hands?). Inside I put some lollies (Approved Food!), a pack of bubbles (4/£1 : Poundland), a ty plushy toy or Star Wars Angry bird plushy (Poundworld), some of the older children also had a activity packs, and of course everyone was given cake! I was really pleased how these turned out, they looked great and I made a conscious effort not to fill them with tooty crap (which I think I achieved!)

For decorations I made some big cardboard cut outs and put them around my garden, these included a cactus, totum pole, teepee and saloon doors for my front door. The impact was good although I think it always could be better! But more than anything I was happy that the rain didn't ruin them!

I also added some tissue paper Pom Poms, marble balloons (Poundland), Indian arrow bunting (homemade), and a few other touches.

The thing I am most pleased with is a cut out wanted poster! It was great seeing everyone take their photo inside it and the pictures will be a lovely momento from the party!

Lastly, as you may have seen on my Instagram, I made a birthday sign like the chalkboard style but a bit more highledy piggledy. I just wanted a momento of Tom at this point in time and it made a good centre piece. It also served as a shout out to all the people in Tom's life, which was nice as they as at the party. 

  

I did make the gold number 1, and it took about half an hour before my mother in law spotted that it was back to front! At least someone noticed! 

The party was a massive success, my house was heaving but everyone seemed to have a good time! I don't think I will be holding another big party next year but never say never! Better get stashing those boxes!

Thrifting : Approved Foods (part deux)

So my new Approved Food order arrived in time for Tom's birthday party! Hip hip Horray! I thought I'd share my wares with y'all as it seemed to go down well last time! There are some repeat buys from last time and a few things bought specifically for Tom's party. So let's take a look see, I tried to separate them into boxes of similar items ... 

This is the crisp type box, I got some more popcorn as its really nice alternative to crisps in a lunch box and only contains 101 calories (5/£1)! I got Crinkles (14/£1) and Frisps (5/£1) as a throwback classic lunchbox item! And I bought the bacon streaks(3/£1.20) for Tom's party. There is also tortilla chips (2/£1.20) which I had to crop out, they are the hint of lemon flavour which I thought would make good nachos!

This is a kinda Tom box? I have more of the Organix squeezy sachets (6/£1.99)  as Tom liked them and they don't have strawberry in (woohoo!) in the summer I might try and part freeze one to make slush? I bought more tortillas (2/£1.50) for fajitas etc and they make a good snack for Tom. I also bought more sourdough bread (2/£1.50) as its a great way of keeping bread in the house that won't go off, as we don't always get through a loaf. The other thing are these wee Gullon biscuity things, like little ritz crackers? (£1.49) I thought they would be good for the party as a snack for the kids. I also quite like the plastic tub it comes in, I'm sure that can be reused for something..?

This is the packet box, although I've plonked my Fanta zero (5/£1) in there too! I have lots of jelly and custard (6/£1.50) as we used our last dry custard up and I like having some just in case (in case of what I don't know? Custard emergencies?). I bought the jelly (5/£1.20) thinking it was regular jelly but I think it's a glaze? I will have a crack with it but I think it might be a #fail. I have some dill (6/£1), it was cheap and I'm sure my dad used to use it in a sauce? Must try and find out! I bought the flavour of Simply Casserole (3/£1) that get didn't have last time, which is a sausage casserole, I have tried the ones I bought previously and it was really nice! And lastly I have the mini samosa snacks (39p), I thought I might out these out at the party as an adult snack. 

Ok, this one is jars and stuff. More tomato and garlic sauce (2/£1) #standard, always but it as its handy to have and is generally nice. Bought some Discovery Sour Cream (39p), handy for Mexican which we have really regularly. Bought some tubs of custard (3/99p) for those pesky custard emergencies! I bought a bottle of teriyaki sauce for 39p! Amazing! I would have bought the 3 for £1 but just don't have the space. Either way I'm chuffed! I also bought these Blue Dragon sauces (2/£1) in lemon chicken and sweet and sour. They are two step jars and I mainly bought them as Mr B loves lemon chicken so I thought it would definitely be worth a try. 

And the jewel in the crown of this order... PEANUT FREE PEANUT BUTTER !?! £1.49! Tom has a peanut allergy which I discovered by giving him peanut butter, funnily enough. I'm so freekin excited to be able do some of the cute Pinterest peanut butter recipes as well as just letting Tom have a PB & J!

Lastly we have the sweets and treats. I got some packs of Chuppa Chups lollies for Tom's party bags as they was 3/£3!

The Snickers was in a flash deal so I got 6/78p, the Crunch was 4/£1, Mars 4/£1. I bought the Hershey's shell ice cream topping (£1) as Mr B harps on about having it as a kid so I thought it would be good for a bit of nostalgia. I got some little pastry puff things (2/£1) in a bit of a whim, not sure why but they look nice enough. 

As always I am really pleased with my order. Approved Food continue to offer great value and the shipping seemed really quick this time. A tip I have when ordering is to monitor the 'Feed your family for around £20 a week' page on Facebook as they often get discount rates for Approved Food, using this I got 10% off my order AND 10% off shipping! Get in!

Have you tried Approved Food yet? What's your best buy?

On a totally unrelated note I have put my first video on YouTube! I cocked it up by filming the wrong way but if you fancy a gander https://youtu.be/ZPkrh6U3bEw

Thrifting : Approved Foods

Here's for something a little different, ordering food online. I have placed 6 orders from Approved Food and intend to continue doing so as I think the service is great!

 Approved Foods is an online food ordering service with a difference, it is crazy cheap! They have appeared on several different TV shows and publications in which they explain that some of the items have gone past the best before but not use by date (this means that the food is legal to sell and tastes just fine). They also sell stock that some supermarkets haven't been able to shift, which means I have had items from Waitrose and Marks & Spencers. 

Ok, so you place your order by cruising the website and adding things to your basket, they have loads of different deals including deals of the day and some really great multi buys, any BB Dates are clearly labelled. The delivery charge is £5.99 although you can sometimes find discount codes for this. My only bug bear with Approved Food is that you aren't able to book a delivery slot, this is a bit of a pain but I've had deliveries when I'm  not home and they just left it with my neighbour. 

Onto the food ... 

This was today's order and I'm super happy with it. The order totalled at £40, the value of the order was £130, that's a whopping £90 saved! Approved Food sells a variety of items and has just got its licence to sell alcohol. I use the service for my cupboard foods and an order like this will last around two months. 

An example of the types of deals to be had is the naan breads, 12 packs of 2xSharwoods Naans for £1(saving £23) this was a flash deal, which they run deals of this type pretty much daily. We used a pack tonight and it tasted perfectly normal, and tasty!

My next fabulous deal was this Belvoir Cranberry and Raspberry Presse, two for £1.50 instead of £5. I have seen these in the supermarket and always thought they looked really upmarket so I am excited to get this out when we next have a BBQ as it looks perfect for drinking in the sun especially as I'm breastfeeding and can't have wine! 

Next up is the Ambrosia Custard and Rhubarb Compote, six for £1.49 rather than £4. I think these will be great for a quick pudding or to take as part of a lunch for work. I think the price is great and it is always reassuring to see a brand you know!

Ok, now we have Mexican! Me and Mr B love Mexican and it was one of my cravings when pregnant so we pretty much expected Tom to come out with a sombrero on! My loot of 4 packs of wraps (two different types) and 4 fajita stir in sauces came to £5, this is so cheap when you consider how many dinners this can make in comparison to the fajita kits. The wraps are also great for lunches and are less than half of the price in the supermarket. 

My last exceptional deal is these Organix Goodies kiwi, pear and banana pouches, these were six for £1.99. I was especially pleased with these as they don't contain strawberry which really aggrevates Tom's eczema, and they seem to put strawberry in bloody everything! It was a saving of £4 which I wouldn't turn my nose up at. 

Overall, I continue to be really happy with the service and will keep ordering from Approved Food. I would really recommend using the service if you are looking at saving money and want to have good food available to you and your family! And look at the cute bottom of the box!