[Destiny]

I have a really fussy eating family and tend to buy a lot of my meals ready made from Marks and Spencer. Just wondered if there is anything at all like M & S in New Zealand yet? Might sound crazy but I think that this will be one of the things which I will miss most about the UK.

I would love to hear from anyone who went out to NZ with similar worries.

[Mels]

Can't answer that I'm afraid as I'm not there yet but I have to say the absence of an M&S in NZ gives me more of a crisis in the - ummm underware dept. I'm afraid. :exit

[Destiny]

Yes I must admit that I think all 5 of us will have a few packs of new M & S undies in our suitcases when we leave.

[Carol]

the absence of an M&S in NZ gives me more of a crisis in the - ummm underware dept. I'm afraid. :exit


Yeah.....I STILL miss their undies.
I stock up now when I go back.



Supermarkets have ready made meals - but to be honest.....yuk.
Perhaps, with your new lifestyle - you could seize the opportunity to get your kids making stuff instead?
They might lose some of their "fussiness" too......
My youngest son (16) is hopeless! Very fussy! ("Just plain pasta please" type of boy!)
But he has just started doing his NCEA in Food and Nutrition and low and behold - he is eating all SORTS of things he never did before.
I had almost given up on him !!!
lol

[Mels]

My Mother is so grumpy at me for going to NZ that I doubt she would post any essential supplies out either. :(

Sorry Destiny I got sidetracked on your thread

[Destiny]

Thanks Carol. Great to hear that your 16 year old has changed his eating habits. My eldest son (15) will also eat pasta until it is coming out of his ears. I think I might just have to dig out good old Delia Smith's cookery book.

[Carol]

My Mother is so grumpy at me for going to NZ that I doubt she would post any essential supplies out either. :(


Yeah - had that TOO!

They come round eventually.... I get allsorts now.
:raebanana

[Carol]

Thanks Carol. Great to hear that your 16 year old has changed his eating habits. My eldest son (15) will also eat pasta until it is coming out of his ears. I think I might just have to dig out good old Delia Smith's cookery book.


Try Nigella.
She's got better.....um....assets
lol

[steviec]

I did miss m&s at first esp the meals and school uniforms for the girls but you do change after a while,we haven't eaten any ready meals over here,haven't even tried any,i make food from scratch now.

All of us eat more healthy and there are lots of new food to try,my girls are not fussy and love all veg and salad,they would eat buckets of pasta and rice dishes and i bake my own bread which is yummy,

My mother in law had a right shock when she came over and saw all the baking we do now,its a complete change for the better for us and it will be for you too.

Good bye ready meals ,hello Delia!:yes

[peebles16]

Same here although have only been here a month lol
My eldest son was a really fussy eater in the UK but has improved dramatically here cos we all eat together and eat the same stuff. Ready made meals in the supermarket are limited in choice and in my opinion very expensive. So yep get the Delia out and wean yourself off M&S :D

Karen

[Tia Maria]

I have a really fussy eating family and tend to buy a lot of my meals ready made from Marks and Spencer. Just wondered if there is anything at all like M & S in New Zealand yet? .

Not even close unfortunately. I must admit one of the first things we did when we stepped off the plane on a visit back to the UK was to pop into M&S at the airport.

They have cunningly situated it right by where you come out. People must be torn as to whether to fly into the arms of their family waiting to meet them, or run straight past and by a big tub of M&S Chinese chicken and a box of chocolate bite things (can't remember their exact name but they were yummy!).

I too have fussy children, but it is a blessing in disguise as they will have to get use to new tastes. Its a bit like if all your child will eat is Nutella or Peanut butter sandwiches and then they go to school and can't have it anymore due to nut allergies - so they discover Jam sandwiches. OK so its not a tuna salad roll but at least its a new food. :)

Personally I'm fond of the Pooh Cookbook:

www.amazon.com/Pooh-Cook-Book-Milne/dp/0525374043

Cheers

Tia

[benandclare]

I must admit one of the first things we did when we stepped off the plane on a visit back to the UK was to pop into M&S at the airport.

They have cunningly situated it right by where you come out. People must be torn as to whether to fly into the arms of their family waiting to meet them, or run straight past and by a big tub of M&S Chinese chicken and a box of chocolate bite things (can't remember their exact name but they were yummy!).

Tia


That's a cracker :D :D :D

[LesleyS]

Although it was a bit of a luxury buying ready made meals and things in M&S when we lived in the UK, we did occasionally indulge (mainly at Xmas, when they had lots of lovely tempting things).

I have not yet bought anything ready made here - there are some varieties in the Supermarkets, but they don't look particularly appetising or nutritious! :(

At least if you cook from scratch, you know what you're getting, although it would be nice to have the odd M&S ready meal when mum's feeling too tired to cook :yes

[Derv]

There's nothing here in NZ to compare with M&S for ready meals or for reliable quality of food; that's one of the very few things we still miss about the UK. And - before anyone asks - M&S don't deliver outside the UK from any type of online shopping, even clothes. So stock up on undies before you leave!

[Destiny]

Thanks for all your replies everyone.

Looks like I'm going to have to get my apron on. To be honest I think its what we all need. It's just too easy to be lazy with your cooking when the easier option is so readily available here.

I know that losing M&S will be a pain but I'm sure that everything else which we gain from our move will be worth the sacrifice.

Thanks for the cookery book recommendation Tia. I shall be checking that one out. Delia Smith has a new book out called something like "Cheating" so perhaps I should check that one out.

Does anyone know of any cookery classes in Auckland?

Thanks again

Destiny

[talisker]

One of the great things about NZ is that ready meals as we know them in the UK don't really exist. The result is that your eating habits will probably change quite radically and you'll end up cooking more from scratch, using the great quality local ingredients that are available. Far healthier and nicer.

When we first went to NZ we were used to ready meals and initially missed UK supermarkets because of that. After a couple of years in NZ we went back and found the UK supermarkets awful. It's all ready meals! Where's all the fresh ingredients?! The quality of even the premium brand ready meals (M&S, Tesco Finest) seems really poor, especially the dubious meat they contain.

[talisker]

Delia Smith has a new book out called something like "Cheating" so perhaps I should check that one out.

I've seen that one and it may not be too useful in NZ. The recipes use some specific brand-name ready made products as ingredient, hence the "cheating" title. These might be things like McCain potato Rostis, or Tesco Finest Mixed Pepper Antipasto etc. Without access to the same branded products it might be difficult to do in NZ, although I'm sure you could adapt it.

[wilson182]

I've seen that one and it may not be too useful in NZ. The recipes use some specific brand-name ready made products as ingredient, hence the "cheating" title. These might be things like McCain potato Rostis, or Tesco Finest Mixed Pepper Antipasto etc. Without access to the same branded products it might be difficult to do in NZ, although I'm sure you could adapt it.



This might be of interest though, based around Heinz Watties products http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz

[Destiny]

Thanks Debs. I had a look at the "Watties" web site and it looks great. Just can't wait to get to NZ so I can try out a few of the recipes. Are the Watties products like our Heinz in the UK? Do they do baked beans as my kids love their beans?

[JandM]

Yes, Watties are Heinz, in general terms, but the product range isn't exactly the same, and even for the ones that look as if they ought to be, they sometimes don't have just the same recipe/taste. I THINK I remember rightly that their baked beans are one of these. But there are quite a few different makes of baked beans on sale, and we found one that tasted like we like.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Does anyone know of any cookery classes in Auckland?



Alot of the tertiary colleges run both daytime and evening cookery courses. When we lived in Waitakere we used to get leaflets every few weeks about new short courses starting. They had everything from healthy eating, baking, cake decorating, Indian, Asian, chinese, Vegetarian etc...
I really fancy doing a vegetarian curry course I saw advertised, but at the moment it only runs during the day :(

[Carol]

Does anyone know of any cookery classes in Auckland?

Thanks again

Destiny


There is a really good magazine in NZ called the Healthy Food Guide.
They run these classes in Auckland.... one during the day - one at night.
http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=88

[Smiler]

There is a really good magazine in NZ called the Healthy Food Guide.
They run these classes in Auckland.... one during the day - one at night.
http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=88



That's a brilliant little magazine! :nice1

Taste also run courses in Auckland www.taste.co.nz and they're around $70.00 to experience a day's cooking. :cheers

[Destiny]

Thanks for all the cookery class tips. I might just look into those after we have got settled. I expect I will have so much to do that this may take a while but look forward to it anyway.

[DMcG]

One of the things I love about Auckland is that it's so easy to get hold of "real" ingredients when I'm making Indian, Thai, Chinese etc - I have two Indian "supermarkets" within 5 minutes walk of me :D

If you want to experiment with Asian food, try the Australian Women's Weekly large format softback books - most book shops sell them an I've found them to be really good. They have a huge range covering everything from Asian right through to standard baking.

And before you ask - yes, A guy who likes cooking :eek:

Dougie

[willsken]

Thanks Debs. I had a look at the "Watties" web site and it looks great. Just can't wait to get to NZ so I can try out a few of the recipes. Are the Watties products like our Heinz in the UK? Do they do baked beans as my kids love their beans?

Our local supermarket sell Heinz beans. We live in a really small town, so if they sell them, they must be around in most places!:nice1

[shakyle2906]

Working full time, i admit i rely a lot on convenience foods and ready meals.........

Just wish i had the time to 'cook from scratch'.......

I used to years ago, but perhaps need to think about it as sometimes i cringe at what we spend on food shopping every week.

Sharon

[runswick]

If you're working full time, get a slow cooker, fill it up and come home to a lovely stew or cooked joint of meat. I use mine even though I'm a SAHM, its a Godsend!

[shakyle2906]

If you're working full time, get a slow cooker, fill it up and come home to a lovely stew or cooked joint of meat. I use mine even though I'm a SAHM, its a Godsend!

Thanks, may think of that, especially when winter comes in!

Sharon
x

[willsken]

If you're working full time, get a slow cooker, fill it up and come home to a lovely stew or cooked joint of meat. I use mine even though I'm a SAHM, its a Godsend!

I use mine a lot now. In the UK all I used it for was stew but now I buy oven bags and put joints of meat in it. Yum. :yes

[ellenmelon]

libraries are GREAT for recipe books ive found. i dont have the money to drop on one to own so i use the library and websites like www.allrecipes.com.

[gil]

Hey Destiny,
It IS possible to get M&S food shipped via this website. However the shipping costs are stupendously high! I suppose it depends how desperate you are...:D

http://www.britishsupermarketworldwide.com/acatalog/index.html

Gil

[Destiny]

Thanks Gil for the website link.

Does anyone on this foum actually use this site?

I remember reading an article about a shop in NZ which actually stocked UK goods. I can't remember where it was through. Does anyone know anything about it? I seem to remember that it was set up by a British couple who missed a lot of thier old favourites and found that their was a huge demand from people who felt just like them.

Thanks again for all your replies.

Destiny

[KerryS]

There are lots of shops like the one you described. Bramptins and English Corner Shop being two that spring to mind.

http://www.bramptins.co.nz/
http://www.theenglishcornershop.co.nz/

There is another site that delivers M&S food to NZ, but the postage is still quite expensive. http://www.britsuperstore.com/index.html
It's ideal for satisfying those Percy Pig fixes though!

[Kerry and David]

I use the Anabel Karmel Cookery books which are great for all ages. She has just brought out a Fussy Eaters recipe book which you can get off of Amazon, they are not long winded recipes and she is very good at hiding the healthy ingredients especially in the pasta dishes - my boys love the food that I have prepared.:nice1

K x

[jubjub]

I have just been a bought a new cookbook by alison Holst, its the winter warmers one and some of the stuff looks yummy, easy and quick to make!

I am heading off down the crock pot route for this winter I think.... saves having to stand and stir things or worry about being interrupted by my little monkey, and I can go out and leave it! (edited, by leave it I mean the food in the pot, not the little monkey....)

[Kerry and David]

(edited, by leave it I mean the food in the pot, not the little monkey....)
:laugh :laugh

K x