If you're in the market for a ceramic biscuit barrel then you might want to pop over to Debenhams - you can pick up a Mrs Bridges ceramic biscuit barrel (complete with a packet of biscuits, can't be bad!) for just £4.80 instead of the its original £12.

• Click HERE to take a look at the ceramic biscuit barrel

There are a few things I like my kitchen to have: a nice bread bin, a decent cafetiere, shiny pots and pans, an efficient kettle and an elegant ceramic biscuit barrel - and by elegant I mean NOT novelty!  I don't want it to 'moo' at me when I open it, or tell me I 'shouldn't be having one of those biscuits actually!'

It's not dishwasher safe, so you'll need to wash it by hand, and measures 21cm high with a 15cm diameter.  The biscuits that come in the Mrs Bridges ceramic biscuit barrel (I have no idea who she is, but I do like her biscuit barrel) are fruit and lemon flavour and will need to be eaten before April 2012 which really isn't that far away!

The price on the Debenhams website is £6 - just add code TH96 to take 20% off and drop it down to £4.80.

You can either collect your ceramic biscuit barrel in-store for free or add code SHD1 and get free standard home delivery.

Thanks to daisymeisha10 at HUKD

Lynley’s feature on how to create utterly awesome Valentine’s Day cards got me thinking. I am not a fan of the day either but I do like the idea of using it to do something creative and fun without spending money on cheesy cards or sparkly rubbish. So I decided to find some brilliantly unusual ideas that could make great Valentines gifts as well as translate into other presents for birthdays or Easter or Mother’s Day.

I rather want this deal for myself today, I am desperate for a decent food processor. This Kenwood FP196 food processor is down from the heavy £59.99 to a much tastier £29.99 and you can arrange to reserve and collect instore if you prefer.

• Click here to get some food processing at Comet

The cost of the item comes with one year of cover included and you get a rather brilliant food processor in the process. The Kenwood is a versatile and compact traditional food processor that has a one litre capacity liquidiser and plenty of extras included.

There are six attachments that you can use and it has a stylish chrome finish that should complement most kitchens nicely. There is a chopping blade, a shredding disc, a slicing disc, it crushes ice, has a whisk attachment and many of the parts are dishwasher proof too.

You can also lock the Kenwood food processor for safety purposes and the cord can be stored internally. Very nice for the price indeed.

Thanks to Saintledger at HUKD!

So, if you happen to be running a bit behind on your Christmas shopping and in dire need of Christmas gifts, then here are some excellent ideas for you from The Monster Factory. I was sent the Man Wrap and the Gnome Breadmen to review and this is what I thought…

The first items I reviewed were the Gnome Breadmen. The packaging reads… “The humble garden gnome is back!” And I add, mentally… this time you can eat them. The pack contains three gnome cookie cutters, a recipe, and some pictures that will come in handy come time to ice them.

I whipped up a batch of chocolate gingerbread dough and used these Gnome Breadmen to make some cute little cookies. They cut brilliantly, clean easily (not too many fiddly and poky bits to wash) and store away nicely in their packaging when you are done. These cost £6.99, are dead cute and brilliant, and aren’t just for Christmas.

Next up was the Man Wrap. This is a roll of wrapping paper on a handle so that men can wrap their presents easily. It is a bit sexist but seeing as most of the men I know are pants at wrapping Christmas presents, this isn’t too far off the mark.

My husband wrapped two boxes of homemade gingerbread for me. He had trouble getting the sticker off the paper to start. The paper itself is actually sparkly tinfoil. A sexier version than the one you find in your kitchen, but still tinfoil. Clever.

He then whipped it around the boxes. It was too narrow so he had to wrap it one way, and then the other. This was a point against it really, because you will have to use a lot more than standard wrapping paper to get one gift wrapped.

However, once you have whipped the Man Wrap around the gift you just press it to seal it. No sticky tape needed. Wow. What a pleasure. That alone makes this awesome. It costs £5.99 which is expensive. While the idea is great and the no sticky tape feature just brilliant, my husband found it as fiddly as standard paper (he said it was more difficult as it crinkled while he manhandled it) and I think the price is high. A fabulous novelty, a clever idea, but the paper needs to be wider and the price tighter.

I have been looking for a lovely Christmas cookie cutter set for ages. It sounds like something easy to find but strangely it has turned out to be something of a nightmare. They were either the wrong size or too expensive or both. Then I discovered this kit from Swift which has seven Christmas cookie cutters for only £3.99 including free delivery.

• Click here to get some cookies with Amazon

The Swift set of Christmas cookie cutters isn’t marked down by that much really but it is one of the best sets I’ve found yet that isn’t made from plastic. I much prefer using metal cookie cutters as the plastic ones can stick and end up looking a bit rubbish.

The Swift set of Christmas cookie cutters has a candy stick, Santa, an angel, a reindeer, a bell, a star and a Christmas tree included in the kit along with some recipe and icing ideas too. These cookie cutters look wonderfully good and the price is darn near perfect.

Ok, so this is a deal that I would like as a Christmas pressie. A Salter slim design electric platform kitchen scale for a mere £8 including delivery. What a bargain. My poor old scales have become somewhat tired from excessive use so this is a must for me!

• Click here to get weighing with Amazon

The Salter slim design kitchen scale is black with a silver plate in the centre. It is very slim – perfect for people with small kitchens that have limited baking space. The item is half the original price at £8, usually costing about £15.

The Salter kitchen scale has an easy to read display with 20mm high digits and metric/imperial conversion. The platform is stainless steel and other features include an aquatronic liquid measure function and an add/weigh feature. The scale measures 160x180x2mm and is powered by a CR2032 battery which is included in the price. It also comes with a 15 year manufacturer guarantee. Brilliant.

Thanks to djq at HUKD!

Home Bargains are selling this Salter 'Kids in the Kitchen' baking set for just £4.99 - they claim the rrp is £24.99

• Click HERE to go over to Home Bargains

I say they 'claim' the rrp is £24.99 because there was something about this Salter 'Kids in the Kitchen' baking set that rang a few bells, then it dawned on me - I wrote a review about it last year!

So I scooted off back through the archives - you can read it in full HERE - and discovered that back then the price was £14.99, well I can't imagine it's gone up by £10 since then; either way - whatever the proper retail price is, you're not paying it at Home Bargains.

The Salter Kids in the Kitchen baking set includes the following:

• Large double handed sieve
• 2.5ltr mixing bowl with level markings
• Rolling pin
• 3 cookie cutters

I remember Lynley saying that whilst she was a bit disappointed with the items in the set, and I quote, "As the parent, I was very disappointed with the contents; there seemed to be more air in the box than items, and it didn't contain anything that you probably haven't already got in your kitchen anyway," her son absolutely LOVED everything and was chuffed that he had his own bowl and cooking things.

If you're going to be cooking up a Christmas storm in your kitchen (oooh that reminds me, I must give the Christmas cake more brandy today) and you have youngsters crying out to help, then this Salter 'Kids in the Kitchen' baking set might come in handy.

Happy baking with kids!

This year I’ve been on a mission to find the best priced Christmas products with the best tastes for your table. My first taste test took me to Aldi where I got the Luxury All Over Iced Christmas Cake for £6.99. This is a very reasonable price for this sized of cake and weighs in at 58.3p per 100g. Compared to the £8.50 of the Tesco Iced Rich Fruit Cake for the same weight, it is considerably cheaper.

This year I’ve made my own Christmas cakes, they are my benchmark. How will these pre-made Christmas cakes fare against the traditional Delia recipe I’ve used? Well, pretty good actually. The cake is well packaged and easy to unwrap and get into. The layer of marzipan and icing is definitely NOT stingy, and the lovely decorations are a delightful touch.

The fruitcake is rich and moist, lots of nuts and fruit so no stinting there, but, for me, it is overly sweet. This opinion was not shared by the other people I gave slices to, however, with everyone else commenting on how it was pretty much spot on.

Overall, I’d have to say that the Aldi Luxury Christmas cake is surprisingly good and one I would definitely purchase. The next thing on the list from Aldi was, of course, their mince pies. The packaging looks inviting and rich and doesn’t leak sugar everywhere – a big plus.

These mince pies are alright. As a mince pie fanatic I am very fussy and unfortunately the pastry is not firm and crumbly enough, it feels too soft. The filling is divine but the pastry lets the side down. However, when you compare their lovely 99p to the £1.50 of the Tesco range, well, the pastry isn’t that much of a hindrance – you can always bung them in the oven to crisp it up a bit first.

And if you head on over to their Facebook page they are giving away £100 vouchers in their Trolley Dash competition which you can, obviously, spend on Christmas cake and mince pies!

There I was, innocently collecting the post, when three Weight Watchers Hot chocolate sachets appeared. One was caramel, one was mint and the third one was plain. Seeing as it was cold out and I fancied something sweet, I thought I would start with the caramel.

The Weight Watchers caramel flavoured hot chocolate is alright. Just alright. It doesn’t suffer from a nasty chemical aftertaste, something very common to diet hot chocolate, and tastes nice but it didn’t shiver my timbers or shake my tree. I love caramel but found there wasn’t a very strong caramel flavour to it.

Next up was the Weight Watchers plain hot chocolate. Like the others, it is so easy to make. Add hot water, stir, drink. I add some cold milk to cream it up a bit (fat free of course!). Now this was more like it. In fact, I prefer it to the Options Hot Chocolate that I usually drink.

Years ago I gave up on instant hot chocolate, especially the diet ones, as they tasted foul. This was delicious. The Weight Watchers plain hot chocolate is creamy, chocolately and decadent. I loved it. It will be replacing my usual hot chocolate on my next shopping run.

The last sachet was mint. Now, I am not a fan of mint chocolate unless it is After Eights so I wasn’t sure I was the best person to test this. I gave it to weight watching hubby to drink instead. He is very fussy so I wasn’t holding out much hope for a good review. However, he liked it. He said it wasn’t too sweet and wasn’t too minty but was a nice blend of the two.

It costs around £2 at Tesco at the moment (on sale) and around £2.85 elsewhere. A good price for a scrummy hot chocolate.

There are four character Disney mugs to choose from at The Disney Store and they are all selling for £4 each. However, if you buy two then you get one for half price, dropping the cost of each set down to only £3 each. This is a really cute little deal for Christmas gifts!

• Click here to get some Disney fun with The Disney Store

There are four different Disney character mugs to choose from – Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Comic Strip. Personally I think the Comic Strip mug set is the best, it just feels more fun and varied. However, these are all lovely sets to buy for little (and big!) Disney fans.

If you look below each set you will see the marker saying that you can buy one and get one half price. The mugs used to cost £10 each, so dropping it down to £3 each with this deal is very good indeed. The only down side here is that delivery from The Disney Store is ridiculously high at £4.95 so you may want to see if this deal applies instore.

Thanks to Skybluman at HUKD!

Winter has popped its head around the corner and is inching across the ground. The nights are drawing in and the wind has a bit of a bite. What better time to learn how to make soup and to whip up cheap and cheerful recipes that can be eaten for lunch or frozen for a cold and snowy day.

A classic soup is, of course, tomato soup. Tomatoes have been proven to have preventative power over cancer and are high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, potassium and Lycopene. And, one of the best ways of eating it is in a lovely, fresh soup. I went and hunted for a recipe that tasted good and didn’t cost a bomb.

The Bebedelice is a multifunctional 5-in-1 food processor that has been reduced from £79.99 to £47.99 on Amazon, a saving of £32 and 40% off the original price. This is a very fancy little gadget that does pretty much everything you can think of so this price seems reasonable.

• Click here for some food processing fun at Amazon

The Babymoov Bebedelice Multifunciton 5-in-1 food processor comes in red and cream and is brilliant for parents with small kitchens. The Bebedelice is a compact and useful food processor that cooks fresh food, blends it with the included two long blades, warms baby’s bottles and jars, sterilises baby bottles and defrosts preserved foods.

I am rather taken with this chap. I mean, think how much you spend on a blender and then a bottle warmer and then a steriliser? This gadget does all of it. Colour me impressed. Not only does it do everything above but it has an automatic shut off, has two alarms to let you know if things are ready, has a cooking juice container, a warming plate and a bunch of accessories too.

Thanks to pducar at HUKD!

I was recently getting some poppy-related goodies from the Royal British Legion’s online shop and discovered this cute little recipe book , Flossie Crums Recipes for Remembrance, which costs only £2.50. I thought, hey, I’ve reviewed another of the Flossie Crums’ books before and found it loads of fun to do with my daughter, so why not try this one.

The book arrived in all its tiny glory – it really is a pocket-sized recipe book – and I loved most of the ideas that were inside. Bear in mind that all the recipes are about remembrance so they involve poppies or specific colours relating to the theme.

The recipes are broken down into three different categories – Easy Peasy, Not Too Tricky and Worth The Effort. The first category has three recipes and I found the mini poppy cupcakes to be an utter treat. Not only did they escape my Cupcake Curse (my inability to make decent cupcakes) but they tasted scrummy.

I wasn’t that impressed with the Knickerbocker Glory to be honest. That was stretching it a bit. However, the Poppy Yum Yum Pops are too cute for words.

Next up I tried the Eleven o’Clock Remembrance Day Sponge Cake. This tasted pretty good actually, albeit a tad eggy and I wasn’t a huge fan of the follow-on flavour. However, as with all recipes, this is often down to user error and I tend to err more than most.

My absolute favourite recipe is the Extra-Special Poppy Toffee Cupcakes. These taste fantastic and are to blame for my complete failure to adhere to my diet in any shape or form. In fact, my husband has banned me from making them again.

The book is great for cooking with kids and the recipes either fun or easy enough for them to enjoy. And the price isn’t half bad either!

Wooo! The spooky season is nearly upon us so what better time to start making and baking scrummy Halloween recipes and creepy critters than right now? I’ve gone out to find the absolute best of the best recipes to share with you because these are the ones that I use over and over again. Even when it isn’t Halloween. And some of them are so darn clever that they deserve a Hall of Fame all of their own.

This is a pretty good deal actually. Argos is selling their value range food processor for £12.49 instead of the usual price of £24.99. At half the original price, which was already quite reasonable for a food processor, this is a very tasty bargain indeed.

• Click here to get processing with Argos

The Argos value range food processor is made from plastic, has only one speed, and has a dry weight capacity of 0.3kgs, and a liquid capacity of 0.72l. It honestly isn’t very big and isn’t hugely efficient for the master bakers and cookers out there, but it is pretty much ideal for parents about to embark on weaning.

The capacity of the blender is 1.44l and it has a safety interlock system, stainless steel blades and two attachments – chopping, shredding and slicing blades. The entire size and oomph of this food processor will definitely not stand up in a busy kitchen, however, it is far superior to smooshing baby food by hand, especially at this price.

Thanks to OldEnglish at HUKD!

This awesome dinner set used to cost £40 at Debenhams but is now marked down to an extremely tasty £12. This is a superb price for a 16 piece dinner set that looks to be good quality and nicely neutral colours. Add to this several Debenhams discount codes and you can drop the price even further and get free delivery.

• Click here to get cooking with Debenhams

There are several codes for Debenhams at the moment which will take further money off the price above. The code PJFP takes 15% off fashion and home (which this eminently qualifies for), and the codes PJ8P or PZ3P will take off 20 and 10 percent respectively.

Using those codes you will take off enough money to replace the cost of the delivery charges hence the free delivery above.

The set here consists of four of all the usual bits and pieces included in a dinner set – mugs, plates, bowls etc – and are plain white with a black “frame” band around them in varying sizes. The set is from Sabichi and is made from porcelain with a glaze finish. You can use it in the microwave and dishwasher (yay!).

Thanks to ke11yh at HUKD!

There's no denying it, decent pots and pans are expensive so when a deal comes up it's always worth taking a look.

Amazon are currently selling this Prestige Aluminuim 5-piece pan set for £40 instead of £114.99.

• Click HERE to go over to Amazon

I wrote about pans a little while ago - my kitchen in South Africa is woefully lacking in the pots and pans department; after telling you about pans I beetled off to have a look for some new ones with the intention of buying some.

I came home panless but with a new plan - I'll buy new pans here, when I find a good deal, and take them back with me in January; these Prestige pans are likely to be the ones destined to live in the Southern Hemisphere.

They are made from 2mm guage aluminium, have the Prestige logo stamped on the base, non-stick coatings and some have glass lids.

The pan sizes are as follows:

• 1 x 14cm aluminium milkpan
• 1 x 16cm aluminium saucepan
• 1 x 18cm aluminium saucepan
• 1 x 20cm aluminium saucepan
• 1 x 24cm aluminum frypan

I wish these were an Amazon Deal of the Week, but they're not so the price is subject to the usual Amazon jiggery-pokery as and when they feel like it.

Happy cooking!

I recently joined up with a local fruit and vegetable dropping off at your door scheme. It has been an interesting experience. On one hand I have had some utterly delicious fresh fruit and vegetables, and on the other hand they are often really, really dirty.

I’m a big advocate of the five a day thing so buy a lot of fresh produce as well. According to research given to me by Fit Fruit & Vegetable wash, apparently apples can have been exposed to up to 12 different types of pesticides and handled by up to 10 different people by the time they reach your home. Urgh.

Possibly a quick rinse under the tap isn’t QUITE enough.

This is where Fit comes in. This fruit and vegetable wash is made of entirely natural ingredients and is supposed to remove pesticides and bacteria without leaving a funny taste or smell.

While I love the idea of this stuff you could have coloured me suspicious. Can I really ingest it? However, careful examination of the ingredients shows that it is natural and safe. More so than if you ate an apple without washing it.

I tested the stuff on the Incredibly Dirty Carrots first. These are a nightmare to wash. I have to say that the Fit Fruit & Vegetable wash got off around 30% more dirt than just water. They didn’t completely clean them but they did a pretty good job of it.

I then washed apples, plums, grapes and tomatoes. I could feel a difference. The waxy coats were taken away and what was left was crisp and tasty fruit.

The wash is now regularly used in our home and only costs £4.99 for the spray and £5.99 for the soak which can also be used as a refill.

If you know me then you know this sounds strange - I LOVE new pots and pans!

This Tefal 5-piece essentials pan set - that Amazon have reduced from £100 down to £39.99 - really appeals to me; it takes iron will not to buy almost every pan deal I find.

• Click HERE to go over to Amazon

I live between the UK and South Africa.  I'm currently at home in SA and my pots and pan collection here is absolutely WOEFUL! I'm talking one largish frying pan and a big steamer/casserole pan - I really must sort this out and buy some more.

I might have to go hunting and see if I can find an equivalent to this 5-piece Tefal Essentials pan set as it would be perfect.

It comes with a 20cm and 24cm frying pan and 16cm, 18cm and 20cm saucepans.

Each pan has a 'Thermospot' that tells you when the pan has reached its perfect cooking temperature and they all have non-stick interiors.

In addition to that, the saucepans have glass lids.

I'm a big fan of glass lids - even though they get water marks if you don't dry/polish them with a tea towel - because you can see exactly what's going on inside the pan.

I wish these were an Amazon Deal of the Week so their price was guaranteed until Sunday; they're not, so we'll have to take our chances and keep our fingers crossed that Amazon leave their price alone for a fair while yet.

Thanks to mrsbargain at HUKD

When I was first asked to try out these savoury snack bars called Veatables I was deeply suspicious. I don’t think I’ve ever outgrown my childhood disinterest in all things vegetable and fruit related. In fact, if I could live off cake, I would.

Needless to say, because I am bravely treading the waters of a “healthy lifestyle” I decided to give these a try. They are part of your five a day, are completely healthy and full of vitamins.

Veatables were invented by a husband and wife team who wanted to give their kids healthy snacks in the afternoons, instead of sugary sweet ones. In the process of inventing these healthy titbits they made the Veatable.

The bars are soft and chewy and come in three flavours – Tomato Pizza, Thai Sweetcorn and Sweet Roast Vegetable. My daughter and I stared at the bars for a while. She announced that she was hungry and so I gave her the Tomato Pizza flavour.

Our very first bites were tentative. I hate cold food (unless it’s a salad) so I really wasn’t sure if I would be able to eat these but I was definitely going to stop being a baby and try. Meanwhile, my daughter’s bar was gone before you could blink. She utterly loved it and wanted more. She then stole mine.

I have to say that I liked it. I wouldn’t be buying them for me, though, as there is something in the taste I don’t quite get on with. However, my daughter adores them and the remaining bars have become a staple afternoon snack that I wholeheartedly approve of.

The pizza and the roast vegetable bars are the best but the Thai Sweetcorn didn’t really appeal to any of us at all. You can find out more information and buy them online from the Veatable site.