Easter Competition!

It's competition time again! Last week's Cadbury Egg 'n' Spoon competition was so popular I've decided to give away another two boxes PLUS three bags of Easter themed chocolates.

The winner will receive all the chocolate in the photo above:

1 box of chocolate Cadbury Egg 'n' Spoon
1 box of vanilla Cadbury Egg 'n' Spoon
MaltEaster Mini Bunnies
Kinder Mini Eggs
Milkybar Mini Eggs

How to enter:

Retweet one of my competition tweets on twitter & follow @grocerygems.

Or Like Grocery Gems on Facebook.

Winner will be chosen at random and competition closes at 5pm on Friday 15th March.

Good luck everyone!!

Mother's Day Food Gifts at Asda

So Mother's Day is just a few days away, on Sunday 10th March, but there's no need to worry if you haven't got a gift just yet. As a Mum myself it's often the little things that mean the most. My favourite part of Mother's Day is definitely the breakfast in bed and a few sweet treats with a cup of tea during the day! Asda have got a lovely range of great value Mother's Day treats instore at the moment and I was lucky enough to be sent a few to review.

Asda Chosen By You 8 Mother's Day Mallows - £1.00

Any of you who've read this blog before will not be surprised that I was delighted with these Asda Chosen By You 8 Mother's Day Mallows. Oh yes, these are mallows that are covered in a pink coloured white chocolate and then coated in coconut. They are just so girly and pretty.

I had to try one straight away and I was delighted to find a slightly gooey mallow centre. The white chocolate is a lovely pink colour and the flavour is dominated by the delicious coconut sprinkles. I absolutely loved these mallows! They are not overly sweet, mainly because the mallow is so soft and light and the coconut flavouring adds a fresh taste. It's a perfect tea time treat and if your Mum is a coconut fan like me, then these are a must buy!  .

Asda Happy Mother's Day Chocolate Hearts - £1.00

I'm used to seeing these kind of chocolate nets for Easter and Christmas, and even Valentine's Day, but I've never noticed them for Mother's Day before. I love the colour scheme used here, the hearts are covered in a dusty pink and cream colour foil wrapping- great for a shabby chic loving Mum!

I'm quite fussy with chocolate so I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the chocolate in these. They have a great cocoa flavour to go with the pretty packaging! The chocolate is a rich milk chocolate with 29% cocoa solids.

Take a look at some of the other goodies available in the Mother's Day range at Asda:

Asda Shortbread MUM Letters Biscuits - £1.00

Asda Just for Mum Cookie - £3.00

Asda Mother's Day Chocolate Yummy Shoes!

Asda Happy Mother's Day Butterfly Cake - £6.00

What do you think of the Mother's Day range at Asda? I'll definitely be picking up a few sweet treats for my own Mum and dropping quite a few hints for the hubby too! 

Asda kindly sent me some Mother's Day products for an honest review and all views are my own.

Alpen Light Lemon Drizzle with Yogurt Cereal Bars

I can't quite believe this is my first Alpen Light review because it's a brand that has become a staple in my cupboards. Even though lemon drizzle is quite a simple flavour, it's a very unusual one for a cereal bar. The packaging for the Alpen Light Lemon Drizzle with Yogurt looks very bright and sunny with it's vivid blue and yellow colouring. It makes me think of summer and sunshine - despite the snowy mountain range in the background!

I liked the idea of a lemon drizzle cereal bar but I was slightly worried about the lemon pieces. I like lemon as a flavour, and I certainly enjoy the occasional lemon drizzle cake, but candied lemon peel is not something I usually like. Fortunately (and despite the picture on the packaging), the description on the box tells me that these bars are actually made with apple pieces flavoured with lemon juice. It's a lemon peel free zone!

Each box contains five cereal bars which have only 70 calories apiece. Well, at least I think it's 70 because that's what the front of the box says. The nutritional information on the back of the box actually says 62 calories.  I'm guessing the "70 calories" tag is used across the Alpen Light range regardless of the actual amount of calories.

Once the wrapper was removed I could immediately smell the zesty lemon - this is one product that lives up to it's named flavour. The bar itself is held together quite lightly, it's not dense or overly chewy like some cereal bars. The overall texture is quite soft but they don't crumble or fall apart easily. The bar is covered with a yogurt drizzle that adds a little bit of extra sweetness and creaminess. The lemon, or rather "apple masquerading as lemon", fruit pieces are evenly spaced throughout the bar. Using apple as the base to carry the lemon flavour results in a sweet but tangy zestiness. At first it seems a bit odd to taste lemon in a cereal bar, but as the sugary flavours of the cereals start to blend with the lemon, it creates a very appealing combination. Considering the low calories in these bars, they are a tasty treat that will easily satisfy the urge for a sweet snack.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Alpen Light Lemon Drizzle with Yogurt

RATING: 7 out of 10
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition (per bar): 70 or is it 62 calories? 0.8g protein, 10.8g carbs (4.1g sugars), 0.8g fat.
Purchased: Asda.
Price: £1.00. 

Mr. Kipling Banoffee Cake Slices Review

Mr. Kipling is the number one selling cake brand in the UK and it's not hard to see why, they keep the brand innovative by launching lots of new varieties. Even though I'm not a fan of their pies, it's hard to resist a Mr. Kipling cake slice (especially the lemon ones!), and seeing as I love banoffee as a flavour, I had to give these new Mr. Kipling Banoffee Slices a review.

The cakes come in individually wrapped snack packs, something that is obviously very handy if you don't fancy eating all six in one go!

The Mr. Kipling cake slice is essentially a small rectangular sponge cake, with a thin cream layer, all topped off with a thick layer of icing. This banoffee version has a nice yellow and brown colouring that compliments the flavours within. The cake is described as a "toffee flavour sponge with a banana flavour filling".

These cake slices are much smaller than I remember, there's probably a maximum of three or four bites per slice. I had mine with a cup of coffee and to be honest it was hard not to go for a second slice. The banoffee flavour in these has more emphasis on the toffee part of the word "banoffee" rather than the banana. There is an appetising toffee flavour in the sponge and also in the icing, with a subtle banana flavour coming from the inner filling. I would have preferred a stronger banana flavour but overall the flavours work well together to make a super sweet treat.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Mr. Kipling Banoffee Cake Slices

RATING: 7.5 out of 10.
Buy it again?: Yes.
Nutrition (per slice): 140 calories, 1.0g protein, 19.9g carbohydrates, 13.8g sugar, 6.2g fat. 
Purchased: Asda.
Price: £1.00p (special offer price).

Nestlé Orion Banány v Cokolade (Banana chocolate bar)

This is a Czech chocolate bar produced under the Orion brand (owned by Nestlé) that I bought in a local grocery store. The full name is Banány V Cokolade, which I would like to think means Banana Versus Chocolate (even though it actually means Banana In Chocolate).

Some of you may know me as a bit of a coconut addict but I'm also a fan of banana flavoured snacks. I've always been on the search for a decent banana ice cream (oh Pirulo how I miss you), so if you have any recommendations for that please let me know. I actually bought an ice cream maker just so I could make banana ice cream. That's how obsessed I am. But enough about ice cream, let's talk Banány v Cokolade.

The shape is just like a banana that has been dipped in chocolate - fully fitting for a confection called Banana In Chocolate.

The chocolate may be dark in colouring but it's not really a serious dark chocolate. It's the sort of basic sugary dark chocolate that just tastes sweet without any intense cocoa flavour. However, we all know that when it comes to banana filled chocolates - it's the centre that counts. I didn't buy something called the Banány to critique the chocolate.

When it comes to a product like this, I'll guiltily admit that I don't want all-natural flavours. I want the sweet candy banana flavour that you get in foam banana sweets or banana ice lollies from an ice cream van. If I want natural banana flavour I'll just eat a banana. The Banány v Cokolade is not that kind of artificial bar, - it's actually made with all natural colours and flavourings. Unfortunately, there is only a mere hint of banana amid the sugary gelatinous texture of the centre, that in the end just didn't have much appeal. It's not the worst bar I've ever eaten, there is nothing horrible about any of the flavours, it just wasn't for me. 

Grocery Gems Verdict: Nestle Banány v Cokolade

RATING: 4.5 out of 10.
Buy it again?: Nope.
Nutrition: 172 calories.
Purchased: Local (Turkish) grocery store.
Price: £0.59p.