M&S Christmas 2016 Party Food- 3 for 2 Savoury Goodies For a Tree Decorating Family Feast

It seems the older I get, the more it is that my favourite part of Christmas is the eating. Christmas dinner is one of my top three favourite meals ever, and the Boxing Day buffet is legendary in the Spence household.  

Another great part is the fancy party food that goes on sale in Marks & Spencer in mid-November. There are the yearly classics like smoked salmon bites and mozzarella cheese sticks, but there are always some new party food additions, so I chose a selection to try out before the season really kicks off.

For this post I stuck to the savoury selection, so watch for a sweet party food follow up in the next couple of weeks. 

First off, M&S have realised the great untapped market of BREAKFAST party food. Christmas Day breakfast is one portion of the day not set with tradition, apart from the universal fact that we all will have eaten chocolate pre-10am. Since I've had my own household, and even now when it's just myself & Smix, Christmas breakfast for us is a plate of thick American pancakes, bacon & maple syrup. Smix inevitably has to be told a thousand times to eat, as he's distracted by Santa's delights, so I'm thinking of changing things up a little this year and going with M&S's mini breakfast bacon cups. 

They come in their own tray to pop in the oven and when ready you have a bite size crispy bacon cup filled with scrambled egg, baby tomato & flecks of mushroom. They. Are. Amazing. I'm not even ashamed to say I ate the whole tray of them the morning I cooked them to test. They would be so much easier to get a kid to eat than sitting down with a knife and fork to eat pancakes and bacon. 

Also​ above are the new mushroom baubles. If you are cooking a whole fry, these would be a cool treat on the side.

The Brie and cranberry tartlets would also be good to be served any time of day. If you've never tried that combo, you don't know what you are missing. ​

All the savoury and sweet party food is 3 for 2 right now, and I'm thinking a little spread of goodies would be a nice tradition to kick off for tree decoration night. It's another one of those times the whole family gets together to decorate the tree and home, so why not mark the occasion with a little party too?

Some of the party food is more for an adult palate, but everyone will love the Christmas cracker shaped sausage rolls, and bacon & cheese rolls.  Cheese & bacon potato skins are another crowd pleaser, but my absolute favourite party food for the kids is the mini buckets of southern fried chicken pops with fries. There's also a fish and chips variety with the same novelty buckets. I love the buckets. I would buy these all year round, they are so cute. Mini posh dogs are another option for all ages to share.

Moving on to some of the more adult options there are lots of great Asian influenced foods. The sticky Asian chicken lollipops go really well with the oriental prawn selection. It's worth noting that all the party food oven cooks around 190-200, so I was able to cook everything together just by scheduling the times. 

New this year is the hog roast on mini crackling plates. These are really tasty & I've not seen anything like them anywhere else.

The mini scallops en croutes with champagne sauce are most definitely a more adult taste, and serving them in a shell is just plain fancy pants. They taste great too.

So that's the savoury party food we tried out, all 3 for 2 right now. I will feature the sweet selection soon, but in the meantime I want to share with you the  Christmas cake I ordered this week for Christmas Day. M&S actually sold this same cake last Christmas & I spotted it in store & decided to buy it closer to the day. Then my local store sold out of them! Luckily I phoned round nearby stores & managed to drive and buy one on Christmas Eve in east Belfast. So this year I've been smart and ordered and paid for it already, to pick up Christmas week at my local store. I can't wait!

Sneak a Little Slice of Christmas into Everyday. Xmas 2016 Launches at M&S.

31st October, Halloween, 1st November, its Christmas. The population always seems split this month. There are those who think it's far too soon to think about Christmas, then there is festive loving folks like myself who are ready to dive straight in to turkey and cranberry everything.

Marks & Spencer's food hall is starting to turn holly berry red, with their Christmas party food and festive flavours appearing in every department. So I visited the Sprucefiled store to choose from the little items you can start adding to your day now, without having a full on turkey dinner. There are dozens of products you can pick for lunch and dinner to get you in the Christmas mood. 

Pigs in Blankets £1.75 : Scotch Egg £2 : Mince pies £1.20 : Turkey wrap £3

Every year M&S bring out a Christmas lunch menu for their takeaway food. That includes sandwiches, salads, sausage rolls, wraps, juice and mini desserts for one. This is the 11th year that they have partnered with the charity Shelter, donating 5% of every sale to the homeless charity.

Soup £2.50 : Turkey feast sandwich £3.25 : Sausage roll £1.75

Club sandwich £4.50 : Juice £1.50 : Rolls £3.25

Profiteroles £2 : Cheesecake £2 : Macaroons £1.75

Moving on to the rest of the Food Hall, we see the traditional M&S crazy crisp varieties.  Prosecco or Bucks Fizz handcooked crisps are pretty unusual, as well as turkey & maple syrup, but the flavour I'm most excited about is Blackstick's Blue cheese. I already love the blue cheese itself, and the spreadable cheese you can get too, so these are right up my street.

Crisps all 2 for £3

Christmas flavours are also reaching the shelves of the confectionary and biscuit aisles. Even Percy has had a Christmas makeover. 

Jaffacakes £1 : Marzipan £1

One last deal I have to mention. It's just arrived in store & I anticipate it selling quickly, so if you think it's a suitable gift you should think about buying it while there is a good choice available. 

You get a lovely, thick felt stocking, which you can fill with three items of your choice for £10. There are sacks of minty sweets, chocolate skittle games, chocolate gingerbread men, snowball sweeties, winter caramels and various Christmas themed games. 

All 3 for £10 plus free stocking

I choose the decorate your own lolly kit, decorate your own biscuits, and the crazy chocolate cracker. For £10 you could divide the items as three separate presents, or use the stocking as a gift bag to give the selection of your choice to someone. Or, like me, you could pick them for yourself! 

What's your favourite M&S Christmas product?  Check out what else is in store on the M&S website.

Halloween 2016 at Marks and Spencer- Spooky Treat Time In Store Now!

3 for 2 on all the Halloween goodies, so you'll have bucket loads of sweetie swag for the inevitable trick or treat brigades heading to your doorstep soon

It's one of my favourite blog posts of the year to do, and one I know you guys are waiting for- because I've lots of daily hits on my M&S Halloween blog posts of years' before right now.

Marks & Spencer has pretty much their whole Halloween range in stores right now. There are costumes, baby clothing, sweets and snacks. There is sometimes a Halloween cake design, but if there is one this year it'll not be in store until closer to the October 31st date. Ditto with pumpkins, they will be available in a couple of weeks.

Should you have a Halloween party before then, there's a very cute, autumn, Harry hedgehog chocolate cake, which serves 14 people, for £10. Alternatively M&S's food editor Emma Sleight suggested buying one of their ready-to-serve desserts, like the chocolate orange tarte, printing a Halloween stencil and dusting with icing sugar. The spiderweb design looks very cool.

You could also make pumpkin seed granola with one of the easy-make mixes, for £1.50

Harry hedgehog £10 : granola mix £2.50 : witches' fingers £1.50

For your Halloween party snacks there are some unusual savoury offerings. Fizzy orange popcorn, pumpkin corn bites and salted bat & ghost shapes. 

For nostalgia you cannot beat the jelly sweets with the peel off back. All these items are 3 for 2 mix and match. 

Orange popcorn £1.50 : Pumpkin snacks £2 : Ghosts & Bats £2

The Haunted House party box for six is just £5 and comes with gummies, popcorn, chocolate balls & fruit tubes. 

Inside the haunted house box, which makes a cool stand alone decoration too by the way, are masks you can pop out. The elastic for fastening them comes in the box too. 

There weren't any specific Halloween drinks, but from parties past I know fizzy red lemonade can be 'blood', and fizzy green lemonade is 'slime'. For the adults, how about the Bloody Mary mix? This concoction looks extra spicy and costs £4.50, just add spirits. The glass & other Halloween props are from some of the poundshops. 

The chocolate skeletons come with a free keyring. Look out for the Creepy Coated Chocolate Beans, £2. They come in a long line and are the perfect size for handing out to trick or treaters.

Bloody Mary mix £4.50 : Chocolate skeletons with keyring £2 : 6 packs of chocolate beans £2

There are more trick or treat sized sweets in the form of chocolate eyeballs & pumpkins, and popping candy spider coins, both £1 a pack and all included in the 3 for 2 offer. 

Lastly, help yourself to a bumper pack of 50 Zombie Jelly Brains for £3 or a chocolate lolly for £1.50

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Tiny turnips, what we carved rather than pumpkins in the 80s! £2

What's New For Autumn and In M&S Right Now

I don't know about you, but I find in summer time I am more reluctant to fire up the oven to cook, and instead go with quick and easy food. Now the season is changing I'm craving more homely dishes, Sunday roast style. 

So I went along to M&S, Sprucefield this time, to pick up some new, easy to cook products, and something for our family Sunday lunch yesterday. 

There was an interesting selection of meats, with duck, rabbit and wood pigeon to choose from. I went for the rabbit, which is perfect for slow cooker recipes. M&S also has a wide selection of potato and other vegetable sides. I love the ease of these, no chopping or peeling. 

Some of the new sides available

For Sunday lunch for four I picked this hearty rack of pork. These are priced by weight, so you can choose a piece that is the right size for your family. The tangy apple sauce accompaniment really made the meal delicious. My parents said it was the nicest pork they've had in a long time. 

Potato tots were fab

Now here's what I'm talking about. The Cook Menu is a range of meals you simply put in the oven without preparation that  'elevate the everyday' dinner time offering. There are salmon, pork and chicken varieties, pre-seasoned and with their own sauces and vegetables included. 

Look at how colourful they are even before going in the oven. They are meant for one person per pack and are on offer right now, I think it was 25% off. 

The piri piri chicken cooked

Finally I had a look at what's new in the lunch department. Lots of avocado choices which made me happy. If you want to check out what else is new, visit the Marks & Spencer website.

My next M&S blog post will be the Halloween 2016 run down, which I know you are all looking forward to as I'm getting lots of hits this week on last year's post. Hang in there, soon!

Say Sayonara to the Spirit of Summer, One Last Feast of a Fling in M&S

Why is it so hot?! I almost feel personally offended when the weather doesn't immediately switch to autumny as soon as September the first rolls around. I've been wearing t-shirts this week! I want to be wearing my leather jacket with the fake fur collar, not short sleeves! However the sweatfest of this week has allowed for one good thing- the extension of the ice cream & lollies season. 

Before we see selection boxes in the shops (& yes I've seen the Quality Street in supermarkets already), I went along to my bestest shop which I love so much, Marks & Spencer, to pick out my favourites from the whole Spirit of Summer season, which you can catch too before they leave stores in a few weeks. 

Ice creams £3 each

The two Spirit of Summer ice creams are fab, and this was actually my first time trying them. The quality is great, very creamy, and both have biscuit throughout, so if you like Ben & Jerry's loaded style ice cream, you'll love these.

Now below we have something really special. I first bought a M&S BBQ pulled pork Mac n cheese in June, and I fell in love. I had a three pack a week habit at one point. This stuff is like cheesy crack. The thought of it not being in store soon gives me the sweats. Luckily, I can bulk buy and freeze them, and I will be doing that. The £3 pack serves one person & can be whizzed in the microwave in a couple of minutes. It's true love. 

I know you can find mozzarella sticks all year round, but these are particularly good, and one of Smix's favourites. Also £3. 

Now I sort of sunk myself casually picking up these reduced £1.25 Alfajore biscuits, because when I tried them I was like, "oh okay now there's something else I have to bulk buy before Spirit of Summer ends!" 😂 There are only maybe 8 biscuits in a pack, but they are really super sweet & you would feel sick if you ate more than two (yeah, I ate three). But they are so good! M&S why do you have to torture me with these seasonal deliciousnesses? 

I haven't tried the cashews yet, but the heat of the jalapeño with the coconut was something I couldn't pass up. The bag was a pricy £3.50, but that's typical for cashews really.

Now the Blacksticks velvet seems to be a new product, at least to my local store. I love the darker coloured variety, so I'm keen to see what this is like.

Hold your horses, I'm about to tell you something from M&S that I DIDN'T like. I know, it feels like I'm cheating on a boyfriend. I had forgotten my previous purchase of the snacking chorizo, but after eating it I remembered. It may just be me but I can taste a slight fishiness to the mini-sausages and I just can't get past it. I chose them because I wanted to feature snacking items, so let's move on to those.

These little £2.50 picnic boxes are great even leading into autumn, as you could as easily heat the dinky bites as enjoy them cold. The pork and apple bites are particularly good. Like mini-scotch eggs but with an apple sauce filling. If you've a suddenly starving growing boy like I have, you could even throw something like these in for break time with some fruit.

A sad goodbye to the 3 for £7 Spirit of Summer meats. So many BBQ and spicy goodies that have been protein-snacking ideal all summer. The Diablo chilli beef is a favourite. It actually looks like ham, and it's a medium to hot heat- if you can handle a Nandos you can handle this beef. 

And so long microwaveable £3 subs! These are so easy to whizz for lunch, but I have a feeling there will be a version of them still on shelves after the Spirit of Summer departs. If you are dieting, keep an eye on the calories of these, but it's a warm, hearty snack without any fuss, and I love that.

Finally there's always time for crisps and dips. The Spirit of Summer flavours play through from the deli products and dishes with crisps in BBQ and spice flavours that you'll want to eat all year round. Don't forget to stock up on all your favourite Spirit of Summer products before they phase out over the next two months. I'll fight you for the last Mac n cheese. 

Quick! The Sun Is Out! 10 Exotic Alternatives to Just Sausages & Burgers For Your Blazing BBQ This Weekend, from M&S

£4 or mix and match with other BBQ packs 3 for £10

I've been waiting all spring and summer for good weather to do an M&S BBQ themed blog post, but as every week passed, the drizzle and rain continued. Last night I was organising today's visit to my local Bangor, Bloomfields Marks and Spencer with my PR contact, the lovely Stephanie, and I suggested in lieu of the needed weather, how about I went ahead and shared the amazing BBQ range with you guys anyway? I could highlight that the meats & accompaniments are glazed and infused with great flavour already, so that grilling or oven cooking indoors will give you meals with that delicious BBQ flavour, without having to stand outside over the grill with a brolly up, for that smokehouse taste we love this season.

So that was the plan, but I woke this morning to blue skies! Now the food hasn't been BBQed yet, so maybe I'm jinxing it, but I'm going ahead with a post to show you whats in store on offer straight out of the bag, in case you want to rush to your local M&S right now to catch this rare sun with a BBQ of your own tonight. I will add cooked food photos in due time. (Now added!)

The good news is that all the meats, fish & veggie options are part of the 3 for £10 mix and match offer. Most packs on their own to buy are £4.00-£6.00, so you are saving a couple of pounds, especially if you like the exotic seafood options, like I do. 

Now my title says I've picked the interesting, non-burger and non-sausage BBQ foods, but I have taken pics of the burgers and sausages M&S have available too, as you need those for the less adventurous palettes. Of course as its Marks and Spencer's the burgers are the just plain burgers, but more later. 

First, some seafood. There was also a pair of sea bass that came wrapped in corn husking to cook on the grill that I liked the look of.

3 for £10 or : Shrimp Sliders £5 : Salmon Skewers £5 : Prawn Skewers £5

Vegetable Kebabs £3.50 : Mexican Coleslaw £1.80

Peri Peri Sauce £1.75 : Mexican Wedges with Nacho Cheese dip £4 : Beef Skewers £4

BBQ Tear & Share bread £2.60 : Mango Coconut Chicken Flatties £4.50 (or mix and match 3 for £10)

Now the hot dogs! M&S are known for their summer 'Posh Dogs', delicious, plump bangers with accompanying brioche style posh dog buns. 

I found these mini posh dog skewers with pineapple & jalapeño and garlic & herb sausages to try, in the 3 for £10 mix, or £4.00. The posh dog mustard is £1.50

Cornish Cove (cheese) and bacon Posh Dogs next, £4.50 and Fried Onion rolls to stack them in for £1.80. The sunny yellow sauce is part of a range of refrigerated sauces I think you add to meat while you are cooking for an extra kick. They are £1 each.

So finally, burgers. M&S have a good range of different types, Aberdeen Angus, Steak & Cheese, Venison, Peppered Beef, and my choice, Chorizo burgers, all in the 3 for £10 offer. Watch out for the cheese toppers in several flavours for £2, and the Ultimate Burger Buns in the bakery and bread department.

So fingers crossed the weather holds the next few days, and we all get in a long awaited back garden BBQ! 

* Its just been dinner time, so here's how some of the goodies look once they are bbqed! *

Prawn skewer : Salmon skewer : Mexican coleslaw side

Garlic & herb sausage with Posh Dog mustard : Jalepeno & Pineapple sausage with Piri Piri mayo

Vegetable kebab : Beef Skewer (I have to be honest, none of us liked the taste of this, sorry M&S!) 

Smix getting his BBQ on, with his one, big, 'can-opener' tooth left after losing another this week! 

M&S Picnic Offer: 4 Food Items for £10 Plus a Free Picnic Bag, Cutlery Roll, or Bottle of Wine

New York Wings : Bourbon Wings : Sparkling Fizz : Wings 4 for £10 : Fizz free

It's holiday time in Northern Ireland tomorrow, and whether you are heading towards or away from the Twelfth Celebrations, a picnic could very well be on the cards. This current M&S deal isn't listed in the food offers on their website, but I can fill you in on how this one works so you can decide if it's a good deal for you.

Sadly the Bangor Bloomfields store was out of picnic bags, but when you buy the four mix and match items you can choose either the cutlery roll, or a bottle of red or white wine, or a fancy Spirit of Summer fizzy. I got two versions of the deal with one set of cutlery and one fizz. The drink to buy alone is £6 so it's a great freebie, you know how much I rave about the dine in for £10 deal. 

I chose quite a lot of meat and fish as my 'four items', and it's worth noting if you are on the Atkin's Diet, or eat a lot of protein for training, this deal is a great way of getting a lot of snacking meat at a good price. There are half a dozen flavours of cooked chicken including tubs of wings ready to eat.  

If someone took me on a picnic and instead of pulling out some sandwiches they whipped out a colourful bottle of bubbly and a tub of bourbon chicken wings just for me, I would fall in love with them on the spot. 

If you want something more carbsy for the whole family there are little wraps, quiches, that sort of thing to mix and match four for £10 too. 

Calamari : Salmon : King Prawn

LOOK AT THE COCONUT! There are two drinking coconuts, £3 and £3.25, and one has a ring pull! I don't like coconut water but it's so kitsch that I couldn't resist. I wonder would the browner looking one (further down this post) keep for a few days after use? They would be class for serving cocktails in, or even as decor in a home bar.

I buy the calamari rings in the picture above quite regularly. They make a tasty snack rather than a bag of crisps. These are the mix and match four for £10 cooked meats and fish I mentioned. Then you pick your wine, fizz, picnic bag or cutlery. 

The cutlery included is plastic, but of course you could use your own.  

I'm a fan of the 'Just Add' salad pots. They also do pots of hard boiled egg, tomatoes, red onion, crispy bacon, croutons. For £1.50 that little pot is a lot more handy than guessing when your whole avocado is ripe, then trying to get it cut up.

So here us my little plate of picnic lunch. As you can see I monopolised the calamari. I just love squid. The pulled pork wrap was my other favourite.

If you are reading this hungrily but only need to feed one person, the Spirit of Summer lunch deal can allow you to join in with the exotic tates during your lunch hour. You get a sandwich, pasta or salad main, a side or dessert and a drink for £4 or under. It's also mix and match with the all year round lunch items included in the deal (look for the price label or sticker on the product, because unlike Boots, some of the lunch items aren't included in this deal).

I chose a pulled pork and apple brioche bap, a fruit salad and a pineapple juice. There's also a gorgeous watermelon juice in the deal to try. 

Carrying on the snacking, Spirit of Summer migrates to the savoury snack aisle too. There are packs of nuts, sweet potato crisps, and these hearty corn chips for around £2 a pack. Pick up the Spirit of Summer salsas for a really authentic taste. I love the heavy-on-the-sweetcorn dip in the £2.50 Three Salsa Selection, it reminds me of the corn salsa from Boojum.

Fruit is always summery and melon is my favourite fruit. The shaker and platter are both £2 each. This is the coconut with the ring pull!

Now I featured a lot of the Spirit of Summer dessert range last week, but not all of it is suitable to travel to a picnic. These 85p yoghurt are, and you've little spoons in the free cutlery roll, so you are ready to go. 

A little heads up- M&S fudge is terribly good. They've a lemon meringue variety right now in these £2 sized packs, it's not Spirit of Summer, so I didn't pick it up, but if you see it, I highly recommend it. 

Enjoy your holiday week! Follow me on Snapchat to see what we get up to. I post there daily. Username Rudedoodle, or scan the image on the left with your Snapchat app.

I will try to follow everyone back to nosy at your holidays too. 

Also tell me what you like from the M&S Spirit of Summer range, on there or on Twitter, also @rudedoodle

And if you want to follow our vlog channel, that's over at Smix Brix YouTube. Thanks!

Pizza & Prosecco £10 Deal & a Summer of Sweets at M&S

I LOVE a good ​Marks & Spencer Dine In offer. It's like buying a bottle of wine & getting a free meal with it. This week they have another amazing £10 meal deal but this time you can choose a bottle of Prosecco with a scrumptious, deli style, wood fired pizza.

Even a cheap bottle of Prosecco is hard to find for a tenner, but getting some grub too is an offer not to be missed. You could even stock up, dare I say it, for Christmas, by buying several of the deal, and the pizzas can be frozen so it's win win.

Whilst the deal is being advertised as Pizza & Prosecco, you can choose from sparkling Rosé, two beers, white or red wine, and the non-alcoholic alternative is a box of Swiss chocolates! 

Napoletana

Salami

If you don't fancy that deal, there are also mini versions of the wood fired pizzas for one person. 

Plus it's not the only pizza deal in store right now. If you purchase any two pizzas, either from the wood fired range or regular selection, you get a free pizza cutter. It's really good quality & evey home should have one. The classic pizzas are £4 each.

I chose two of the Spirit of Summer variety pizzas, Bbq Pulled Pork and Tinga Chicken & Chorizo. 

The Spirit of Summer range is spread throughout the entire Food Hall in all departments, and I decided for this blog post to hone in on the dessert selection. Spirit of Summer is inspired by classic dishes and ingredients from the Americas. 

Get Wimbledon ready! 

As you can see I went a little sugar crazy! 

There are so many tempting treats to choose from, super for throwing an afternoon tea or summer's day picnic. 

Dulce de Leche tea cakes are only £1. The £2.50 summer tartlet selection has cute little Mississippi mud pie, coconut & lime and dulce de Leche & pecan treats, and there is dulce de Leche on offer again in a mini cheesecake for £3.

There are more mini desserts in the carnival cupcake selection, with rocky road, key lime and coconut buns for £3.50 . There is a sharing size Key Lime Pie for £3, and individual lemon & ricotta cheesecake slices for £2.60. The latter falls into a mix and match dessert offer where you can buy two sweets for £4. 

The American taste influence continues in the biscuit & snack department. The cookies are mix and match, 2 packs for £3.50. The dark chocolate & mango Jaffa cakes are only £1. If you really want to spoil yourself then try the summer macaroon selection which has 12 bite size delights for £6.

So why not treat yourself to pizza, bubbly and something sweet this week at M&S.