Masseys More than just another village Shop

The Quickes Smoked Cheddar we had a our cheese of the week last month was so popular we thought we’d have another of their wonderful cheddars.

So this week’s cheese is Quickes Cheddar with Herbs:

A combination of chives, parsley, thyme, oregano and marjoram is added to the cheese at the milling stage rather than at the end of the process. As the cheddar matures from between 6 and 7 months the flavours can really develop through the heart of the cheese resulting in a product with a good balance between the creamy flavourand the depth of the herbs. This product is made using vegetarian rennet.

There aren’t many recipes out there for something as specific as a Cheddar with herbs, but I did find a couple that could easily be adapted:

- This cheesy crisp recipe could be changed very easily – use Doritos and Cheddar with herbs instead of the cheddar and individual herbs for a scrummy quick snack.

- Use Quickes Cheddar with Herbs for a great quiche filling. Add a bit of ham and some caramelised onions for a fantastic quick lunch or a light supper

- And for the ultimate in comfort food, a merged cauliflower cheese and macaroni cheese makes a fantastic January dish on a budget. Replace the red leicester with a good strong cheddar mixed with a bit of Quickes Cheddar with Herbs and you’ve got a winter meal with a difference.

Posted under Food ideas, Recipes

We’ve always made a point of providing a personal service for our customers, and last week we found a new way to do that. And we’re thrilled with it.

One of our customers gave us his weekly shopping list – the list of groceries that he would usually be driving to Waitrose to buy. He asked us if we could fill that order – and we managed to get all but a few items (which will be in stock next time he asks). His order was packed up and delivered to his door on Wednesday evening.

After we had delivered it, I went onto the Waitrose website and priced every item – like for like – and discovered that not only did he get his shopping personally picked, packed and delivered,  he also paid £6.63 less for his shopping. If you add in the cost of a drive to Waitrose, at 40p a mile, that increases his saving a further £4.48 to a total of £11.11.

Even we were pretty impressed with that.

In fact, I was so impressed I decided to see what we could do on a different list – a smaller, every day basket of shopping:
1 litre semi-skimmed milk
1 litre grapefruit juice
6 eggs
1 loaf of medium sliced white bread
250g button mushrooms
225g cherry tomatoes
500g Utterly Butterly
1 medium head of broccoli
600g green beans
1 medium cauliflower
1kg carrots
Brussel sprouts
700g clementines
8 apples
700g new potatoes
1.2kg butternut squash

Here’s how the second sample worked out:

Waitrose price including travel cost: £34.81

Masseys price including £1 delivery charge £25.21

Total saving on this sample shop £10.60

And for those who like to shop at Tesco – the saving from shopping at Masseys would be £2.52.

I think this is a rather nice example of how shopping locally can help save the planet as well as saving money.

What do you think?

Photo credit: Alan Cleaver

Posted under Food ideas