#MorrisonsMum ... 'I'm cheaper'

I was chosen to be one of the #MorrisonsMum's with Morrisons & Brit Mums which meant I was sent £80 in vouchers to spend in store on my bank holiday shop, they have just launched the new 'I'm cheaper' prices - claiming to be cheaper on products not just for a limited time but those products with the I'm cheaper sign are at that price to stay, brilliant if it includes items you buy regularly and I couldn't wait to see if it actually was any cheaper. I was asked to head into store to buy the items I'd usually buy and then blog about how I got on, how much I saved and what it was actually like.

So on 2nd May after dropping Oliver to school, Elizabeth (or as Isabelle will call her, Grandma) took me and Isabelle to our local Morrisons store, I'm brand new to Morrisons having only popped in their once before. Isabelle was asleep in her car seat which was handy as we could concentrate on shopping. I was armed with a list and Elizabeth gave me the very good idea of using the calculator on my phone, putting 80 into it and then every time I added a product to the trolley minus it from 80! Clever hey? So I knew exactly how much I had left in vouchers to spend. A great idea if you as a family are on a weekly shopping budget!

First we headed to the chilled section and picked up some fresh pasta by Giovanni as it was on offer for £1.50 - Oliver loves it now and dairylee dunkers were on offer for £1.12 so I picked up a few, Oliver loves them in his packed lunch for school. Also got Oliver some yoghurts and as we all love strawberries we got some for £1.69 which I thought was great, I'm used to spending over £2 on the same amount of strawberries. Michael and Oliver both love grapes at the moment but sadly the morrisons ones were not liked as much as our usual sainsburys ones! 

Then we headed towards the cupboard section, you know the essentials such as chocolate, biscuits and heinz ketchup! I was pleased to see that the ketchup is included in the 'I'm cheaper' range as this is something we always buy... infact Oliver is actually know to have ketchup over gravy with a roast dinner.. I say yucky, he says yummy. Usually we pay £2.40 for the 700g ketchup but at morrisons we paid £2.29 for 910g so we got 210g more for 11p less!

I  also noticed that the Maggi so tender paper sheets that you cook chicken in were on offer for 66p - we love these as they're so easy and tasty at the same time. Since having Isabelle, we need quick meals and these are great because you just put the chicken inside the paper and 10 minutes on each side in a frying pan - no need for oil so its also easier when washing up. Usually we pay 99p for them but sometimes they are on offer 2 for £1 so although at 66p it's not the cheapest we've seen, it is still 30p cheaper than usual. We love having these chicken bits with pasta pesto and we got some pasta at Morrisons, they have 2 for £1.50 on the 500g packets usually we pay 95p for one so at Morrisons the dried pasta does actually work out cheaper.

I also noticed that the coco pops were on offer, Michael loves coco pops and Oliver's pretty keen too. Usually for 550g it costs me £2.79 but at Morrisons they're 79p cheaper at £2. 

 There was lots of 'I'm cheaper' signs everywhere, it will be very hard to miss.

I didn't just do a 'bank holiday' shop, I literally done a weekly shop including some little treats like the magnum infinity which were £1.49 usually for these it would cost £3 however I'd only ever buy these if they were actually half price.

It was great to see lots of 'I'm cheaper' signs in the baby section however, unfortunately Morrisons prices for pampers new baby nappies and wipes were not better than Asda baby and toddler event prices where I can get 74 pampers nappies for £9 so I didn't buy any baby items at morrisons.

We did however have a quick look at the 'Nutmeg' clothing range they have to offer for children and actually they do have some really cute, great priced items. Isabelle was having a tough time deciding what colour cardigan to go for. They were £5! But then little miss Isabelle woke up, screaming the sort of 'feed me now' scream, so we quickly put our frozen items back in the freezer so we could asked a member of staff if we were able to leave our trolley somewhere while we went to the cafe so I could feed Isabelle. They very kindly helped us to put the trolley in a clever locker which allowed us to relax and have a cup of tea. Then while Elizabeth was getting the tea (and a very lovely brownie - actually might of been better than Sainsburys brownies), this little cutie was smiling and it's the first smile I've got on camera! Maybe she was pleased with herself interupting the shop.

I am still new to breastfeeding while out and do get a bit worried I will be asked to stop but everyone at Morrisons was fine with it (as they should be).

Once Isabelle was fed and happy we went to have a look at the meat. I very rarely buy our meat from supermarkets now as I find it much more expensive than our local butchers but I was surprised to find the Morrisons prices were actually very good but did they taste as good? We got massive prime rump steak for £6.66 last time I brought a similar amount in the butchers it was over £11 so that was a good price and actually when we had it, it was actually really good. We also brought pork chops, 2 for £1.98 which I thought was a really good price. Michael doesnt like pork chops though - oopsy? So I've been told not to get them again! I wasn't impressed at the milk. I usually pay £1 now for a 4pint however morrisons had it for £1.39 or 3 for £3 making it to be £1 each but I only wanted 2 so buying 3 to get the cheaper price would just result in me wasting the milk? 

Trolley was full

 

Oliver absolutely loves this tortelloni and at Morrisons it's on offer. It's perfect for when you need quick dinners, it takes 1 minute on the hob. Fast food that isn't terrible! Oliver will have it on its own or with sausages (even though it's bolognese... he is the boy who has tomatoe ketchup with roast dinner remember?)

 I'm a bourbon biscuit addict, there you go, I've admitted it. I've even got a cup with a bourbon on. sad? Anyway Morrisons bourbon biscuits passed the test, they're lovely but price wise? Well in sainsburys for 200g I'd pay 55p and in morrisons for 100g more you'll pay 65p.

 Isabelle, while asleep, picked the pale pink cardigan and it cost £5!

We brought the ingredients to make millionaire shortbread however we havent had time to yet and will be making it one day after school this week. Isabelle is only 8 weeks old (8 weeks tomorrow!!) so we are still busy getting our new baby into a little routine and theres not much time for anything.

Plain flour - 40p 

Caster sugar - 99p

Vanilla pod - had already. 

Unsalted butter - £2 for 2

Light muscovado - £1.78

Light condensed milk - £2.50 for 2 

Dark chocolate - £2.04 for 2

Total cost: £9.71

Sainsburys comparison prices

Plain flour - 60p 

Caster sugar -£1.05

Vanilla pod - had already. 

Unsalted butter - £2 for 2

Light muscovado - £1.50

Light condensed milk - £2.88

Dark chocolate - £2.70 for 2

Total cost: £10.73

Making Morrisons £1.02 cheaper for these items.

The total of my shopping came to £90.74 which included 65 items!

What I liked about Morrisons 

• The layout of the store, I liked the different areas such as the butchers and their was a big selection of fruit and veg. 
• I was impressed by the meat.
• The staff seemed very friendly, a manager even stopped to talk to us about vanish offers even though we didn't ask for his help! 
• The 'I'm cheaper' signs are very handy, letting you know that item will always be that price as well as offering ocassional offers too.
• Offers were everywhere, some great and some just average what you'd occasionally see elsewhere but as I've said before it's nice to know when offers aren't just one off.

What I didn't like about Morrisons

• I brought a Ginsters slice for Michael as it was priced as £1, looking at my reciept now it was actually £1.69! 
• They don't offer boxes of 74 nappies by pampers making it not somewhere suitable for my weekly shop at the moment. 
• Didn't like the grapes as much as other stores. 
• I would prefer the milk was £1 instead of 3 for £3. 
• They don't deliver to my address yet, with a new baby it's much better to shop online.
• The apple juice isn't as nice as tesco/sainsburys but it does cost the same price.

Thank you to Brit Mums and Morrisons for chosing us to take part in this challenge, I will be returning to Morrisons again but I'd much prefer it if they could deliver.
I will be blogging about recipes we made from our Morrisons shop this week including the Millionaire shortbread, which the receipe I found on Morrisons website itself and I'll also include ideas for 'new mums' as being one, I understand how quickly good food needs to be made, we need to still eat well but with less time to prepare and cook and Morrisons had some great offers to help you do this. But for now I'm off to have a quick shower before little lady wakes up!... pretty sure I can hear her starting to already. 

Mary-Kate, x  

please note that Morrisons sent me vouchers for free to be a Morrisons mum but all the views here are my own.