Category Archives: Food & Drink

Buying Fritos in the UK

Food & Drink, , , ,

So I spend a fair bit of time abroad and as a crisp-o-holic I like to try the various crisps (or chips if you are American) in other countries that are different to the ones you can find in the UK.

One of my favourite crips varieties is Fritos. I always have to buy a big bag of fritos when I am overseas and was always a bit disappointed that I couldn’t find Fritos in the UK.

Ok so there are plenty of other great crisps that you can get but sometimes you just have a craving for something particular!

So I was amazed and happy to find that you can actually buy Fritos in the UK! It has taken me some time to discover this so I am excited to be sharing this info with anyone who is as obsessed about crisps as I am.

Not only that, but you can buy loads of different American chips in the UK. OK so you have to buy them online and you have to search about a bit as some of them can be a bit expensive but if you buy multi-packs you usually get better value.

Here are a couple of my favourites – the Fritos of course and Bugles too 🙂 The link for the Fritos below takes you to a large pack which costs almost as much for delivery 🙁 – however, it will also show you some other packs starting from 69p (plus delivery) so you should be able to get some that work out at hopefully a not too extortionate price. Obviously the more you buy the more economical it works out with postage!

If you order some of the packs that are 69p then the delivery costs only increase by a few pence if you order 20 packs for example.

  

The good thing that I only realised about Fritos recently – well a couple of good things really – is that firstly they have no trans fat in them and secondly they are gluten free. In addition they are Kosher and MSG free so they seem to have a lot going for them. Am I trying to convince myself that crisps are good for me really? Hmm, maybe!

So as well as being able to buy the Fritos originals you can also get a few different flavours of Fritos ribbons, for example barbeque flavour and tomato flavour, so I will share these links below as well. These are sold by a South African company so likely they are branded as ‘ribbons’ there.

Another of my favourites in the Fritos range is the scoops – these must make the best snacks for dipping that I can think of as they have a ready made hole for all the dip! However at nearly £20 for one packet I think these are going to stay on my shopping list for a while longer or else I need to pick up some extra packets next time I see them abroad…

 

How To Make the Best Pork Crackling

Food & Drink,

If you are a fan of pork crackling but struggle to get it as crispy as you might like it then, having tried various experiments, we have come up with a couple of key ways to get your pork crackling well, crackling rather than breaking your teeth with a dull crunch or worse still a chew.

The key to getting the skin to crackle is to have it as dry as possible before putting it in the own. This can be done in a number of ways but one way to give it a head start is to take the pork joint out of it’s wrapping the night before roasting  and leaving it open in the fridge overnight.

The next day pat the skin down with a paper towel to take any extra moisture off, score the skin with a very sharp knife (but don’t cut down into the flesh) and rub with sea salt. Then the joint is ready to go in the oven.

When first cooking, put the oven on to a high setting (240 degrees or so) and cook for 20 minutes at that setting before turning the oven down to 160 degrees. Whilst the oven is cooling take the joint out and rub with fat (we used left over chicken fat) and more salt. Return to the oven for cooking slowly (35 minutes per 500g). Leave the joint to rest for 15 minutes after cooking.

Cheap Bottled Water

Food & Drink, Health, Shopping, ,

It is important for people to drink enough water but unfortunately some people can be against drinking tap water – whether that be from the taste or the fact that we may not know exactly what chemicals go into our tap water which can be slightly worrying. Although all tap water in the US and UK must meet certain standards, there are some people who, for their own reasons, prefer to drink bottled water. Whether or not bottled water is better for us can be disputed but it looks like bottled water is here to stay for the time being at least.

Personally I have different preferences depending on which country I am in at the time, as tap water tastes different in each country. I would prefer to drink tap water wherever it tastes OK, but maybe in some countries where I am not aware of what is being added to the water I feel like it is advisable to be a bit cautious on this.

However, there is a solution which means that you can drink tap water and filter it while you drink it, so that it tastes and is as ‘clean’ as bottled water, but without the waste of throwing away the empty bottle, and I will give details of this below.

Bottled Water – Too Much Waste

However, I do have an issue with bottled water in that it just produces far too much waste. Bottled water is amongst the highest rising beverage in terms of sales over the last few decades. Although the bottles are recyclable, the incidence of people recycling water bottles is quite low in the USA in particular, but also in other countries. This means that the build up of plastic waste is excessive. Over 50 billion bottles of water are consumed in the US every year and this figure is rising and not enough of these bottles are being recycled. So it is important that we find a way either to recycle more water bottles or to use less of them.

Drinking Filtered Tap Water

So here is a revolutionary new way to effectively drink bottled water, but to drink it out of your tap, and not have the problem of having to keep recycling the bottles, or producing lots of plastic waste.

This new product is called the Bobble and it is an FDA approved, BPA free, refillable, reusable and recyclable bottle that you can use as much as you like.

To use the Bobble, you just fill it up with tap water – it is like a sports water bottle and whenever you drink out of it, it automatically filters the water as you drink it. The filtered water meets all of the FDA standards for drinking water and the filter eliminates toxins and chemicals such as chlorine as well as other organic contaminants.

Each filter lasts for around 2 months or 300 fills of the bottle and is fully recyclable itself. The Bobble comes in 3 sizes, and for around $10 or under you can get the equivalent of 300 bottles of water – so effectively a price of under 4c a bottle, so this also makes financial sense if you are used to buying bottled water.

Check out the links for the Bobble in the UK and the US below:

          

Calorie Free Sugar

Food & Drink, , ,

If you are struggling to reduce the amount of sugar that you eat – whether that be in tea and coffee, on cereal etc – then there is an alternative available that is both free from calories and also does not contain any artificial sweeteners.

This also benefits those who are trying to get pregnant, or who are pregnant (or in fact anyone), who are not happy with the possible side effects of manufactured sweeteners like aspartame or saccharin. Although there have been no proven links to artificial sweeteners causing cancer or problems in pregnancy, rumours still abound and some feel it is better to be safe than sorry and not to use artificial products in excess.

The new sweeteners are made from the stevia leaf and  so are a completely natural product. Products such as Truvia are now available and they taste very much like sugar, but without the calories, albeit at a much higher price.

The stevia leaves are steeped in water, like when you make tea, which brings out the sweet flavour. The resultant granules are actually much sweeter than sugar in terms of how much you need to use. Just adding a third of a teaspoon of Truvia is like adding a full teaspoon of sugar into your daily brew.

 

Making Easter Eggs

Food & Drink, Fun Stuff,

if you are thinking of making your own Easter eggs then now if the time to make sure that you have everything that you need. There are loads of molds/moulds available either in just the usual egg shape or else you can go for something else and make say, a chocolate Easter bunny.

Ordering your moulds from somewhere like Amazon means that you can get the molds at the best prices and in time for you to start making your chocolate eggs before Easter is upon us.

Making Easter eggs with the kids can be great fun whether you make a whole host of small eggs maybe for a treasure hunt or if you make big Easter eggs for friends and family.

Check out more info about How to Make Your Own Easter Eggs or check out a couple of ideas below for chocolate moulds that are maybe a bit different from your standard Easter egg mold.