Tag: shopping list

Six-year-old reveals ultimate back to school shopping list

Back-to-school season is here, and Fort Kinnaird has teamed up with its very own Chief Fun Officer, six-year-old Ruari, to reveal what children really want in their school bags this August and help make back-to-school shopping trips that much easier. 

Tasked with testing trends and giving his official stamp of approval, Ruari has rounded up the coolest must-haves for the new term.

From school shoes with football charms to fun pencil cases, his edit of back-to-school buys is packed with personality – and available now at Fort Kinnaird from stores including The Works, M&S, Clarks, Next and Primark.  

Here are Ruari’s favourite picks:

  • Pencil cases featuring Nintendo favourites and bold designs – fun, functional and guaranteed to stand out on the school table.
  • Cool stationery sets – from gaming-themed rulers to funky pens.
  • School shoes with a football theme – built for comfort and perfect for playtime goals.
  • Fresh uniform staples and comfy shoes – perfect for all-day comfort and classroom confidence.
  • Personalised keyrings and backpack tags – the little extras that make school bags harder to loose.

Ruari said: “I had so much fun getting ready for back to school at Fort Kinnaird. There were loads of new school shoes with footballs on them – they were my favourite!

“There was also lots of cool stationery to choose from, like colourful pens and fun pencil cases. I loved choosing it all, and we had such a great day – now I can’t wait for the new term to start so I can use it all!”

Liam Smith, centre director at Fort Kinnaird, said: “We know back-to-school shopping can feel like a big task, so we’ve made it easy, enjoyable and all in one place. With Ruari’s help, we’ve captured the trends kids are genuinely excited about – turning the trip into something families can enjoy together.” 

Families can make a full day of back-to-school shopping this weekend, with a whole host of entertainment, dining and exclusive discounts on offer at Fort Kinnaird.

Kids eat for less at family-friendly favourites including Pizza Express and Frankie & Bennys. And when it’s time to wind down, head to Odeon for a bit of movie magic to finish the day in style.

To find out more about Ruari’s back-to-school essentials, visit here.

For more details and to plan your day at Fort Kinnaird, please visit:

 https://www.fortkinnaird.com/event/lights-camera-summer

Healthy Heart Tip: Meal Planning

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Meal Planning

It’s 6pm, you’ve just got home from work and are about to make your evening meal, you look in the fridge and find some mince and a pepper and decide to make a chilli. You open the cupboard, grab the kidney beans, and then realise you’ve run out of chopped tomatoes.

The chilli you planned on making is no more, you don’t have the energy to go shopping so you reach for your phone and order a takeaway. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Effective meal planning can make eating healthier easier, save money, time and reduce food waste.

Read on for some meal planning tips.

Plan in advance

Planning your meals in advance is one of the most effective things you can do to make sure you eat a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet.

Seeing your week’s food together in one place can help you identify anything you might be missing. For example, you may notice you haven’t included your two portions of oily fish and can re-design your meals to incorporate them.

A shopping list is key

Once you have your meal plan, you can get to work creating your shopping list. It’s wise to do this in your kitchen so you can check what staples you have in as you go.

If you find this task boring and time consuming, try creating a list of weekly staples that you can reuse each week. You can always cross things off you don’t need that week but it can save time to have a master list and then add things to it based on what meals you’ve planned.

Utilise your freezer

Plans can change and using the freezer wisely can help. Take stock of your fridge every few days and freeze anything you’ve not ended up using. You can always cook meals you haven’t used and freeze them for a convenient meal another day.

It’s a good idea to have some basics in the freezer like frozen vegetables and cook-from-frozen fish. With basics like rice and pasta in the cupboard you can make unplanned meals easily.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips.