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Morrisons has launched a brand-new Vegan Essentials Food Box to help its vegan customers during the lockdown.
The food boxes are particularly helpful for those who are vulnerable or self-isolating and can’t leave the house but are available for anyone to purchase.
Created in response to requests from customers following the launch of Morrisons other food boxes, the Vegan Essentials Food Box is available for £35, including next-day delivery to your doorstep, and will feed two people for a week.
Weighing just under 15kg and containing 23 different items, the box includes lentils, jackfruit, couscous, meat free sausages, meat free mince, dairy free cheese and almond milk – as well as a mix of fresh fruit and vegetables.
A typical Morrisons Vegan Essentials Box will include:
| ● KTC Chickpeas, 500g
● Morrisons Jackfruit in BBQ Sauce, 150g ● Morrisons Cous Cous, 500g ● Di Martino Penne Pasta, 500g ● Pure Sunflower Spread, 500g ● Alpro Almond Milk Unsweetened, 1L ● Alpro Plain Yoghurt, 500g ● Morrisons Almonds, 200g ● Violife Dairy Free Cheese, 200g ● Heck Meat-Free Sausages ● The Meatless Farm Co Mince, 400g
|
● Morrisons V Taste No Chicken Strips, 228g
● Morrisons Wonky Carrots, 1kg ● Morrisons Brown Onions, 1kg ● Morrisons The Best Sweet Peppers, 250g ● Morrisons Baby Spinach, 160g ● Morrisons The Best Farmhouse Loaf, 800g ● Morrisons Baby Potatoes, 1kg ● Morrisons Royal Gala Apples, 6 pack ● Morrisons Passata, 500g ● Morrisons Vegan Stock Pots, 4 pack ● Morrisons Apple & Cinnamon Granola, 500g ● Lotus Original Caramelised Biscuits, 250g |
Possible recipe options include a vegan pasta bolognese, rainbow salad bowls, soups, vegan sausage sandwiches or granola.
Tessa Callaghan, Head of Food Boxes at Morrisons, says: “Many of our vegan customers have got in touch to ask whether we could create a food box for them. We’ve sourced some of the best vegan food for this food box as we continue to play our full part in feeding the nation during these unprecedented times.”
Lockdown has meant that people are shopping differently so Morrisons has launched a number of different food boxes including a Gluten Free Food Box, and British Farmers Food Box.
The Vegan Essentials Food Box is the latest in the range to help feed its vegan customers during the pandemic.
For more information, visit www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/
#ItsMoreThanOurJob
How have our eating, cooking and food purchasing habits changed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown measures in the UK, Europe and much of the world?
Researchers at the James Hutton Institute are part of an EU consortium which has launched an international study to answer these questions.
Anecdotal evidence and social media suggest that more people are buying locally produced food, yet supermarkets and online retailers are experiencing record growth. It seems that our food-related habits have changed because of COVID-19, and in different ways.
That is why Hutton researchers and their colleagues across Europe have launched this large-scale study of the pandemic’s impact on how people relate to food, including food waste, at this time of crisis. Scientists are particularly interested in finding out if people are adopting more sustainable behaviours, and to see if these habits continue once the pandemic has passed.
The researchers have created a questionnaire open to anyone over the age of eighteen that can be accessed by visiting www.food-covid-19.org. The survey will be open until the end of June and the more widespread participation they get the better, so the team are calling on everyone who can to complete it and will report back on what they find.
Dr Liz Dinnie, a social researcher leading the research at the James Hutton Institute, said: “We are currently experiencing unprecedented circumstances where most people are forced to spend much more time at home.
“That also means many people eat more meals at home than before the lockdown. So far, we have no idea what consequences that has, e.g. in terms of how balanced the diets are, or how food systems in rural and urban areas might be affected. There are many contradictory trends, for instance a focus on healthy eating for strengthening the immune system, yet an increase in the sales of sweets, chocolate and snacks.
“With our research, we want to find out how food-related habits are changing in the population and what this means more widely, particularly in terms of food systems, sustainability and for tackling food poverty.
“We hope the results will give recommendations to decision-makers in the food sector and at policy level on how to respond to changes and make food systems fit for future food-related habits following the current pandemic.
“In Scotland this will include recommendations under the Good Food Nation Bill, which aims to put social justice and sustainability at the heart of Scotland’s food systems.”
Professor Colin Campbell, the Institute’s Chief Executive, commented: “Our food systems need to change if we are to change our trajectory on climate change. We also need a new relationship with food for the sake of our health.
“As the current pandemic has shown underlying health is critical to how we come through this, so we desperately need to know what people think and how they are changing if at all. It is only through understanding the changes taking place at this time that we can help to design food systems and value chains that are both socially just and environmentally sustainable.”
The survey can be accessed at www.food-covid-19.org.
Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by Dr Helen Flaherty, Head of Health Promotion at Heart Research UK
National Barbecue Week
25th-31st May – http://www.nationalbbqweek.
Healthy Barbecuing
Summer is here and many of us are heading out to our gardens to fire up the barbecue. Some of the foods traditionally cooked on barbecues, such as burgers and sausages, can be high in calories, saturated fat and salt.
However, barbecued food does not have to be unhealthy. We have some tips for enjoying a heart-healthy barbecue without compromising on taste.
These tips can also be followed when cooking in the kitchen.
Choose a healthy source of protein
Foods that are high in saturated fat, such as red meat, butter and hard cheese, can increase your risk of heart disease. You can cut down on saturated fat for your barbecue by swapping red meat, sausages and burgers for skinless chicken, fish or low-fat vegetarian meat substitutes. Alternatively, you can thread cubes of chicken or firm fish onto skewers with slices of bell pepper, courgettes, mushrooms, red onion and cherry tomatoes before grilling.
Swap white bread rolls for high-fibre alternatives
Increasing the amount of fibre in your diet can reduce your risk of heart disease. Instead of using white bread rolls for your barbecue, you could switch to wholegrain rolls or wholegrain pitta, a brown rice salad or jacket potato.
Add some colour
Include plenty of salad and vegetables to make your barbecue colourful and nutritious. Avoid using too much salad dressing on salads as this is often high in calories. Try rubbing a spicy marinade on pieces of courgette, bell pepper, onion, cauliflower florets, and mushrooms and grilling them on the barbecue.
To make the marinade, mix together 2tbsp olive oil, 1tsp harissa or chilli paste, 1tbsp lemon juice, 2tbsp tomato puree, 1tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander and ½ tsp Dijon mustard. Rub or brush the marinade onto the veg and leave it for at least 20 minutes in the fridge before putting it on the grill (you can thread the veg onto skewers before grilling if you wish).
Healthy grilled desserts
Try grilling slices of pineapple, watermelon, halved bananas, peaches, nectarines or plums for a healthy dessert. The natural sugars will caramelise, giving them a lovely sweet flavour. Serve with a spoonful of thick, creamy yoghurt and sprinkle with a handful of chopped toasted nuts, such as hazelnuts or almonds.
With lockdown restrictions for the hospitality industry expected to extend for weeks to come, Robbie Allen, founder of ‘Keep Edinburgh Thriving’ has diversified his business offering to incorporate the ‘Quarantini Box’.
Each Quarantini Box will be filled with cocktails lovingly crafted by Edinburgh bartenders and restaurateurs as well as beers and spirits from local distilleries and breweries.
Serving as a critical business lifeline for the hospitality industry, Robbie Allen plans to work with new bars and restaurants each week so the people of Edinburgh can support multiple hospitality businesses at the same time through the regular purchase of a Quarantini Box, which will be delivered free of charge every Friday & Saturday.
The decision to diversify the business offering to support the hospitality industry is a direct result of customer driven demand with Allen confirming that he has sold over 2,000 Keep Edinburgh Thriving boxes (2,011 to be exact), generating over £55,000 in revenue for 47 local Edinburgh businesses in only 6 weeks.
Robbie Allen, founder of Keep Edinburgh Thriving said: “We have been completely overwhelmed with the support we have seen for Keep Edinburgh Thriving and it’s been amazing to be able to support local independents to stay in business through such a tough time.
“Our local bars and restaurants are expected to stay closed until at least July or early August so we want to support them as much as we can as well as bring a little bit of the Edinburgh bar scene to customers across the city who will be missing their favourite bars and restaurants.”
Nick Robinson, Owner of Tonic Bar Edinburgh comments: “In this difficult time the Quarantini Box allows Tonic as a team to bring a little bit of normality back into our lives.
“We can’t wait to have our doors open again, to see our customers enjoy themselves and put this all behind us, but as our doors are closed we are accumulating substantial amounts of debt each week via fixed costs and the Quarantini Box will allow us to generate some revenue to reduce this debt.”
There are two box sizes of gift box available – a small box contains four cocktails and one beer (£39) and a large box contains six cocktails and one beer (£55). Each Quarantini box also contains garnishes, serve instructions and pick n mix. All you need is a glass and some ice.
If customers want to enhance their at home experience, they can add a cocktail shaker for only £5.
Rachel Bailey-Palumbo, Director at Hey Palu, said: “Hey Palu is still relatively new to the Edinburgh bar scene (under a year old), so the impact of COVID-19 and having to close our doors has felt particularly devastating.
“COVID-19 has meant we have had to think on our feet to diversify and has led to the creation of our ‘Hey Palu at Home’ ready to drink cocktails. When the opportunity arose to partner with the Thriving Box Company we were extremely excited.
“Their clever concept gives people both the opportunity to support Edinburgh small businesses like ourselves and try new products, whilst also opening up the possibility for us to engage with new customers, who we hope will become regulars once we are able to open again.”
Menu for delivery weekend of 22nd May will include:
To help support the local community further during this epidemic, £2 from each gift box sale will be donated to the Edinburgh Food Project.
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has caused a sudden, steep decline in business for cafes, restaurants, boutiques, artisans, creators and local retailers.
For more information about how to support your local high street and keep Edinburgh Thriving, visit www.keepedinburghthriving.com
People’s eating habits during the pandemic are providing food for thought in a new piece of research, co-led by the University of Northampton.
The ‘Food, Mood and You’ study is looking to survey people over the age of 18 each day for a single week in which they note their activities, their emotions and how they are eating.
The results for the UK will be collated over the next two weeks and volunteers can register and take the survey online.
The study is also being rolled out across countries including Australia, Canada, USA, Finland, Spain, Italy, Russia, Portugal, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Korea.
Dr Josephine Chen-Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Developmental and Educational Psychology, is the UON lead. She said: “There are lots of anecdotal conversations about how we are supposedly eating more during lockdown – perhaps due to boredom – but no firm evidence about this and, more importantly, why that is happening, if at all.
“It will be fascinating to see what’s actually going, so I encourage people to take part in our survey and help us add another piece to the complex jigsaw puzzle of human behaviour during our ‘new normal’.”
Professor Tracey Devonport at University of Wolverhampton has been working collaboratively with colleagues from UON and University of Jyväskylä, Finland (Dr Montse Ruiz).
She adds: “It is likely that we have all heard friends and family talking about eating more during the COVID-19 pandemic because they are experiencing emotions such as boredom, stress or frustration.
“We wanted to develop a research project that explores emotions and eating and in doing so provide simple interventions that may help manage emotional eating during these challenging times.”
Most Scottish adults (61%) would buy more seafood if they knew it was caught in UK waters. But many remain largely unaware that a lot of the fish found in their favourite dishes can be sourced locally – even though Scots are more likely to check where their seafood is caught than residents of any other part of the UK, with over half (51%) taking the time to look.This comes as fishermen across the UK have been hit hard by falling demand for fish from restaurants and exporters as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic and are now looking to sell more of this great product at home rather than overseas.
A study of 4,000 adults was carried out for the ‘Sea for Yourself’ campaign, an initiative supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Seafish, the public body that supports the UK seafood industry.
It found that more two thirds (68%) of adults in Scotland don’t know that hake is found in UK waters, and are unaware that coley (74%) and monkfish (72%) are caught and farmed in UK waters.
And despite being a fish-loving country – 82% of Scots eat seafood at home as part of their diet – nearly two thirds (66%) say they don’t know how to prepare shellfish or find it difficult. Yet if they had the right skills to prepare and cook these species, 38% say they would for a special occasion.
The campaign is encouraging Scots to get more seafood-savvy by creating a nationwide list of seafood suppliers, making it easy to find a local retailer, local fishmonger or even fishers who deliver locally.
John Watson, Scotland’s first Master Fishmonger who runs C Fayre in Largs has expanded their mail order deliveries and whilst he has had to close the shop for direct customers, he has also developed a home delivery service which is proving extremely popular in and around the Largs area.
Similarly Downie’s of Whitehills a long established, family-run Scottish seafood processor nestled on the coast in Aberdeenshire; has seen the volume of their mail order delivery service for fish and seafood more than double in sales to customers in Scotland and across the UK.
Jess Sparks, Seafish Regional Manager in Scotland, commented: “We have seen several independent fishmongers across Scotland, such as C Fayre and Downie’s, adapt their businesses so that they can continue to provide their customers with not just an excellent service, but great in-season seafood as well.”
In addition, the campaign’s ‘Fish Is The Dish’ website also shares recipe inspiration and tips about how to prepare fish. And with only half of adults in Scotland (46%) knowing that, just like fruit and vegetables, fish are seasonal, the site also has lots of information about the wide variety of regional seafood that’s available throughout the year.
UK Government Minister for Scotland Douglas Ross said: “I pay tribute to all those involved in Scottish fishing across the country who are working so hard to feed the UK in these challenging times.
“People can help them by trying some of the great variety of seasonal fish that is caught in UK waters every day. Buying seasonally, whether directly from fishermen, a supermarket or your local fishmongers, allows you to play your part in supporting our great fishing industry which is a vital part of Scotland’s rural economy.”
Mike Warner, Seafood Specialist and Seafish ambassador, said: “Buying seasonally-sourced fish and shellfish is a great way to get the best out of seafood. Right now, some of my favourite, seasonally-available species would be mussels, brown crab, hake and mackerel.
“These species are being caught (or harvested) in UK waters right now and are available for purchase either online or at independent fishmongers and stockists.”
To access the list of seafood suppliers across the UK, including those who are offering online deliveries, visit: https://www.fishisthedish.co.uk/learn/how-to/where-to-buy
For more information about the health benefits of fish or to discover new recipes to try at home, visit: https://www.fishisthedish.co.uk/
Dave McBryan, the Quizmaster of The Southsider, on West Richmond Street in Edinburgh, was crowned BBC’s 2020 Mastermind Champion on Monday night [Monday 4 May].
The 46-year old, who is originally from Dublin, beat off competition from 96 contestants throughout the series to take home the title, in an experience he described as a “pretty nerve-wracking affair”.
Appearing with five other contestants in the final, Dave chose the View Askewniverse films by Kevin Smith as his specialist subject, and American singer Otis Redding and Olympic Fencing as his specialist subjects in his heat and the semi-final.
This is the second time he has won a major TV quiz, after winning ‘Fifteen to One’ on Channel 4 in 2014.
Dave, who is currently ranked Number 2 in the Irish Quiz Rankings and is a member of the Irish Quiz Team, has been competing in quizzes for seven years and has been the quizmaster of The Southsider for over five years.
His quizzes were as popular as ever until the pub was forced to close during lockdown, drawing over 20 teams every week. However, it is not for the faint-hearted, with McBryan putting everyone through their paces every Thursday evening at 9pm.
David Moore, General Manager of The Southsider, said: “I am so delighted for Dave, his win is truly well-deserved. It is a real privilege to have him as our Quizmaster, his quizzes are a highlight of our week at The Southsider.
“He really is a professional and I am looking forward to what he has in store for our quiz programme when we are back open again.”
Responding to the Scottish Government’s strategy to exit lockdown measures, which state that gathering in pubs is likely to be banned or restricted ‘for some time to come’, CAMRA Director for Scotland Sarah Crawford said: “While the Government must follow scientific advice and do what is right to keep people safe, this will undoubtedly be a huge blow for pubs and breweries.
“The pub and brewing sector was among the first to be hit by the lockdown and it is set to be among the last to get back to normality. One thing many people are looking forward to when all this is over is going down the pub to meet friends and family for a drink.
If the Scottish and UK Governments do not make sure that our local pubs and breweries receive all the financial support that they need to weather this crisis, we risk not having them around at all when all this is over.”
I’m writing to you today to update you on the range of ways we are helping to get food and essential items to those who need them most (writes Sainsburys Chief Executive MIKE COUPE).
We continue to prioritise elderly and vulnerable customers for online delivery and have offered over 725,000 elderly and vulnerable people access to slots so far. We identified 450,000 of these customers based on our own data and from customers registering with us.
We have also been able to match over 275,000 additional customers in England, Scotland and Wales based on government data and we are contacting these customers to arrange priority home delivery.
We will be in touch with more customers based on the database we receive from Northern Ireland as soon as we can. For vulnerable customers who have been offered a slot and are unable to place their order online, we offer a telephone ordering service and we now have five times the number of colleagues on hand to help with this.
As we do our best to keep our colleagues and our customers safe, we have had to temporarily change some of our processes.
To help our colleagues socially distance, we are no longer asking them to accept unwanted substitutions or to process refunds on your doorstep. If you do not want the substitutions, then you need to call us to let us know and we will process the refund for you.
This is only temporary and we are working on a digital process to make this quicker and smoother. I apologise for the inconvenience in the meantime and I’ll write again to let you know when the new process is up and running.
As I’m sure you can appreciate, our online home delivery and click & collect services are in more demand than ever before.
We are increasing our capacity as much and as quickly as we can and by the end of the month we aim to offer 600,000 online slots per week. We are doing our best to add more slots and will keep going with this but it’s important that I highlight that there is far more demand for these slots at the moment than we can ever satisfy. I have therefore included below a full list of other ways to access food and other essential items.
We are doing our best to reduce queuing times both inside and outside our stores.
To help with this, we have been extending our opening hours. By Monday the vast majority of our supermarkets will be open from 08.00-22.00. We are installing perspex safety screens in our petrol filling station stores and these will start to re-open from next week.
We are also extending opening hours in many Convenience stores to 10pm or 11pm. You can check the latest opening hours in your area before shopping here.
To help with queuing inside stores, we are installing additional protective screens between manned checkouts.
These screens will help keep our colleagues and customers safe and will mean we can open far more manned checkouts in the stores that have them. We are installing them in over 150 stores over the next week or two and I will keep you updated on this and other steps we are taking to help make your shopping trip quicker and easier.
For elderly and vulnerable customers, we offer dedicated shopping hours between 08.00 and 09.00 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And NHS and social care workers can shop in our supermarkets from 07.30 to 08.00 Monday to Saturday before they open.
We have also extended our partnership with WHSmith to provide easy access to food for NHS workers in 80 hospitals across the UK at a discounted rate.
We know that many of you are already shopping for friends, family and neighbours and we are very grateful to you for providing this community service. I mentioned in my last letter that we were launching a Volunteer Shopping Card to make it easier for people to shop for others and I am pleased to let you know that these are now available online.
For customers who are struggling to leave the house to get to the shops, we have also expanded our on-demand delivery service ChopChop to London zones 1 and 2. The service allows you to choose up to 20 of 400 grocery and essential items for home delivery within an hour. We’re looking at how we can bring this service to more people in more places across the country and I will keep you updated on progress.
Many of you have also written to ask me what additional steps we are taking to support the most vulnerable in our communities.
In addition to donating £3 million in cash to Fareshare to help to distribute food to food banks and other vulnerable communities across the UK, we are also supporting the government’s free school meal vouchers scheme, ensuring that children who qualify for free school meals can continue to access free meals while schools are closed.
Many of you are also helping us to make a real difference to communities across the UK by buying a copy of The Big Issue in stores and online. We are also supporting Comic Relief and the BBC on The Big Night In, which is raising money for people impacted by COVID-19. I hope lots of you will be able to join me in tuning in this Thursday at 7pm and donating in a range of ways if you can.
I know that most of you really appreciate the essential role that our colleagues are playing at the moment to keep the nation fed.
Our colleagues are working in really challenging circumstances, constantly trying to balance the need to serve our customers well, to keep shelves stocked and to help people get in and out of shops as quickly as possible.
We are also asking them to help us keep you safe. Unfortunately this means they will ask you to queue outside shops when they are busy. Please help us to make our colleagues’ jobs easier by showing them kindness and respect at all times.
Best wishes
Mike
