#MorrisonsMum Challenge: Bank Holiday Family Cooking

A lot of mummy bloggers (including moi!) were given a challenge by Morrisons to cook a simple, low-priced and tasty meal for our family during the bank holiday weekend.I usually shop at Asda, so I was intrigued to see what Morrisons had to offer, especially as they have just cut prices on THOUSANDS of their products, and not just temporarily!

I took advantage of a morning when Chunk was at nursery, and went shopping by myself; It’s amazing how much quicker shopping is when you are alone, and how much easier it is to remember everything you went in there to buy!

Part of the #MorrisonsMum challenge was to buy the food I usually buy in my weekly shop to compare how much cheaper it is now their prices have dropped.

Bargain Avocados

I was impressed by the fruit and veg prices, especially the avocados, as I rarely get to buy them as they are usually about £1 for two, so when I saw 4 for £1 they went straight in the trolley (I have a huge love for avocado on toast… it really is lush!).

 I picked up some sweet potatoes as they have such a great taste and are far healthier than your standard potatoes. They are great to use as mash, homemade wedges and even homemade chips! They add a nice colour to the plate which can really appeal to my toddler too.

After loading up on fruit and veg, I came across the humous section…YUM. I’m a big fan of humous, especially flavours such as caramalised onion and Moroccan, so was excited to see they have a great range of flavours, and you can get two for £1.80 (20p cheaper than Asda).

Humous Heaven!

I opted for the lower fat plain humous, caramalised onion, sweet chilli and a slow roasted tomato one. These are great for ‘picnic’ style lunches with my little boy; I use lots of bright coloured little bowls and chop up carrots, celery, cucumber, tomatoes and peppers to put in the pots.

I then have some breadsticks and crackers on the side, and some cheeses and cold meat, and we sit on the floor and have a little picnic spread. It’s a great way to help him learn how to pick foods that he wants and to decide when he is full, and he is loading up on all the gorgeous fruit and veg he needs.

My £80 Shop

Loved their Dairy Section!

They did a ‘3 for £10’ on selected meats, so I got some burgers, lamb and apricot kebabs and some mince, and also got some veggie burgers as I am not a fan of giving my boy too much red meat, and at the moment he really loves the word ‘burger’ and thinking he is eating just that!

In terms of what the supermarket had to offer, I liked a lot of their fresh produce, but I was disappointed with their baby and toddler section. I was hoping to get some nappies (size 6) but they only went up to a size 4 and only had the small packs rather than the large box packs I get in Asda.

For that reason alone I wouldn’t be able to shop there regularly, but I imagine it doesn’t cater for parents hugely because it’s in the city centre of Brighton and is aimed more at the young adults and students that live there. They need to open a larger one in another part of the city and I wouldn’t hesitate to be a convert!

Our Indoor Barbie featuring some Homemade Cous Cous

Bank Holiday weekend had some lovely weather, so from the huge trolley load of food I managed to buy, I decided to make an indoor barbeque-style lunch for the family (I don’t like the toddlers sitting out in the hot sun when eating).

I used the beef burgers and veggie quarter pounders, and the very yummy lamb and apricot kebabs.

My Homemade Cous Cous

I teamed this with bowls of salad (cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, avocado) and some homemade cous cous.

To make the cous cous I used: cous cous, broccoli, sweet potato, cauliflower, boiled water, tomatoes.

I just added some water to the cous cous, stirred it and let it sit whilst I steamed the vegetables and the sweet potato. These were then added to the cous cous and voile! You can add sauces to it, but I knew it would be mixed in with the salad and any sauces we were having with our burgers so it wasn’t needed.

Our Indoor BBQ Lunch

I love cous cous because you can do so many things with it, and it is so quick to make! I use it as an alternative to rice and pasta for some dishes when I’m in a rush, and my favourite is to chop up fruit and add some low fat yoghurt to it and have it as a breakfast or pudding.



Burger Must-Have

I laid out some humous to add to the salad and burgers, and my favourite thing to put in burgers is of course Reggae Reggae Sauce. I’m half Jamaican, so adore any Caribbean food I can get my hands on!

When I totted up how much I spent for the lunch and compared this with Asda’s prices, there was only 3p in it! The meal cost £3.50 per person, whilst Asda would have cost £3.53 (when comparing prices on the bank holiday weekend only). It’s great to see that Morrisons is now competing with a supermarket that has been seen as one of the lowest priced ones out there at the moment.

Our Evening Roast

I ended the day by cooking the family a roast (also with ingredients from my Morrisons shop) and the plates were almost licked clean! We even had apple crumble and custard for dessert, which is why I am now on a diet!

If you’re heading to Morrisons, look out for the little yellow markers around the shop, you can’t miss them as there are so many! These highlight the items that have gone down in price, so you can see how much money you’re saving (more to spend on chocolate in my case!).

What did you get up to over the bank holiday?