Aldi to give excess stock to community shop stores UK-wide

Excess stock from Aldi’s network of Regional Distribution Centres will be made available to Community Shop stores all over the UK after Aldi extended its partnership with Company Shop Group.

The supermarket has confirmed all its Regional Distribution Centres will now help redistribute surplus food that can't be sold in its stores.

Company Shop Group is the UK’s top redistributor of surplus food and household products and is working with Aldi to manage surplus stock from its Regional Distribution Centres. This will then be redistributed to the Group’s Community Shops across the country, where items will be sold at discounted prices as a way to help those who are in need.

Since first collaborating back in 2015, Company Shop Group has helped Aldi stop in excess of over 14,700 tonnes of food going to waste, with this new national roll out estimated to prevent a further 2,860 tonnes of food from going to waste every year.

Liz Fox, who is the Corporate Responsibility Director at Aldi UK, said: “Reducing food waste is really incredibly important to us, and we know by rolling this scheme out nationwide, it'll make a massive difference to communities all over the UK.

“The work Community Shop does is vital to so many people and, sadly, the demand it's seeing for surplus food is currently higher than ever. By extending our partnership with them, we can make a positive difference together.”

Gary Stott, Executive Chairman, Community Shop, added: “We’ve worked with Aldi for a long time now and are incredibly excited to be able to extend our partnership with them.

“The surplus stock that we redistribute through Community Shop is a lifeline for so many people, and by rolling out the partnership nationally, we can deliver positive impacts for people and communities on a much greater scale.”

www.aldo.co.uk

Aldi launches new vegan 'cheese' offering for Veganuary

Arriving specially for Veganuary, supermarket Aldi has launched its biggest ever vegan ‘cheese’ range – starting from a very nifty £1.49. From plant-based soft cheese and cheddar, to mozzarella and fake feta, shoppers can choose from the huge new range from now on.   

Aldi’s new Plant Menu Vegan Soft Cheese (£1.99, 200g) comes in either classic plain or a delicious garlic and herb flavour. Stir into pasta dishes, spread on sandwiches, or even use in baking recipes in place of regular cream cheese for the ultimate non-dairy treat.  

Back by popular acclaim and demand following huge popularity, is Aldi’s Plant Menu Vegan Cheddar-Style Cheese (£1.99) available in either a Block (200g), Grated (200g), or Sliced (180g) to suit a wide variety of meal preferences.  

Shoppers can also pick up Aldi’s new Plant Menu Vegan Continental Cheeses (£1.99) with a choice of either a creamy Grated Mozzarella (200g), a tangy ‘fake feta’ Greek Style Salad Cheese (200g) or a punchy Grated Hard Cheese (100g).  

Also launching in stores is the Applewood Smoky Vegan Block (£2.29, 200g) a smooth, creamy dairy alternative that’s infused with a deliciously smoky finished. Plant Based Boursin (£1.99, 130g) serves up the iconic garlic and herb spreadable blend as a totally vegan alternative. Plus, at £1.99 shoppers can enjoy a 37% savings compared to Sainsbury’s.  

Plant Based Babybel (£1.75, 100g, 5x20g) is a fantastic option for on-the-go shoppers or an excellent addition to kids’ packed lunches – and 19% cheaper than the same item at Sainsbury’s. Alternatively, those keen to boost their protein goals to kick-start their year can enjoy Eatlean Protein Cheese (£1.49) Grated (180g), Block (200g), Sliced (160g) – a tasty and healthier alternative that’s 46% cheaper at Aldi versus Morrisons!

www.aldi.co.uk

Sustained Growth Ltd. announces how to achieve extraordinary growth for your small or medium size beverage manufacturing company

Have you realised that creating great products doesn't bring the commercial success you had hoped and planned? This was the McQueen Gin experience which I completely turned around.

Meet Sustained Growth Ltd. providing real world Business Growth Guidance like nothing else available in the UK, from Dale McQueen, ex McQueen Gin, Scottish Gin Growth Company of the Year, and winner of Institute of Directors Regional Director of the Year.

The number of UK gin distilleries grew by 110 in 2021, there are now more than 820 UK gin distilleries, up from 710 in 2020 and 190 in 2015, according to the office for national statistics. Micro distilleries, those with less than 10 employees, now make up more than 730 of all sites.

Can consumer demand support growth for all of these? Probably not, so which will flourish and grow, and which will not?

Dale’s position as Managing Director of Trossachs Distillery Limited ended in August 2022, freeing him to bring his amassed wealth of real-world experience to help sustainably grow any aspiring small to medium beverage manufacturer.

He offers a free consultation to establish how he may add growth value. Having established that he can help, the initial engagement will be for 5 days, resulting in a detailed deliverable growth plan, which he can go on to help deliver if required. For lasting and sustainable results, he could act as a monthly part time member of your leadership team.

Sustained Growth Ltd is committed to growing client revenues quickly and sustainably, with passion, honesty and integrity. They have established a proven low risk and repeatable methodology that will deliver incremental growth, more quickly than your current expectation, and without compromising your values.

Graham Nicolson, Group Buying Director at ALDI Stores: "I’d like to thank you for all the amazing work you’ve done for us over the last few years. You helped us from the outset of our gin journey and played a pivotal role in helping us formulate our range and offer. We wouldn’t be in the position we are in without your involvement."

http://sustainedgrowth.co.uk.

Fill up for less: Morrisons helps customers at the pumps with fuel offer

Fill up for less: Morrisons helps customers at the pumps with fuel offer

- 5p off per litre after spending £35 in store - 

- Deal running from Thursday 5th January until Sunday 15th January –

Morrisons is helping its motoring customers to save money on fuel by offering 5p off every litre at the pumps this January.   

All customers who spend £35 in store between now and Sunday 15th January will receive a coupon giving them 5p off every litre of fuel purchased.  (Please note this offer excludes any franchised Morrisons Daily petrol stations.)

The coupon is redeemable at all Morrisons petrol stations and customers have until Sunday 22nd January to spend it. 

In addition to the fuel deal, Morrisons is helping out its customers stretch their budgets through the January squeeze by cutting 130 prices on its entry level Savers range. The cuts include important fresh and frozen products for family meals and lunch boxes, together with cupboard essentials and household products.

Rachel Eyre, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer at Morrisons, said: "January is always a financial squeeze after the expense of Christmas and this year we know the cost of living continues to impact customers’ pockets too. Our fuel offer aims to help budgets go a little further by providing a saving on one of the biggest expenses people across the UK are facing.”

The required £35 customer spend excludes certain items: Fuel, Tobacco, Lottery products, Morrisons Café,  Gift Vouchers & Cards, Infant/Formula Milk, Cash Back, Dry Cleaning, Fireworks, Online Games and Instant Tickets, Photo Printing, Saver Stamps, Postage Stamps, ‘Top-Up’ Mobile Phone Cards, Delivery Charges/Pass, Garden Centre & Pharmacy (where applicable).   

Did you know Morrisons has 339 filling stations across the UK?

For further information and the full terms & conditions please visit: www.my.morrisons.com/fuel-offer 

 

Foodspring

Foodspring produces some absolutely stunning supplements with some pretty nifty twists.

For example, what about their clear whey in delicious lemonade flavour? 

It's a high protein whey product which is also sugar free. 

They are also produce whey protein, and of special interest during Veganuary they have vegan protein, meal replacement for weight loss.

There is a range of protein bars, including vegan protein bars, too. 

There's also a range of vitamin supplements and other food supplements and amino acids, ready to drink products.

Hey! What about their Protein Brownies? And a special cook-it-yourself Protein Pizza base mix? Sounds delicious!

And don't forget the Lifespring absolutely delicious protein spreads! 

Their top selling Protein Creams have 85% less sugar than usual sweet spreads. Their vegan variety has 8x more protein. 

Just Nuts are some of the cleanest spreads around, with up to only four organic ingredients. And our rich Peanut Butter is made from nothing but genuine whole organic peanuts.

https://www.foodspring.co.uk.

Tesco is keeping low prices low, with over a thousand everyday products price locked until Easter 2023

Tesco has announced a new price lock on over a thousand products, which will run until Easter 2023.

The price lock underlines Tesco’s unwavering commitment to great value for its customers. 

This time, as well as popular branded products, prices have been locked on many favourite own-brand staples too, meaning customers can shop a wide range of products bought week-in, week-out – from cupboard essentials and teatime favourites to household and health & beauty products – safe in the knowledge they are locked at a low price.

So whether it’s Tesco Breaded Plaice Fillets and McCain Home Chips for a tasty midweek dinner or Nescafe Instant Coffee and Tesco Tea Bags alongside a bowl of Kelloggs All-Bran to start your morning right, our customers can count on the price of over 1,000 products at Tesco to be the same each time they shop – helping them stick to budgets and spend less on their shopping.

The latest price lock announced today follows last year’s price lock commitment, which saw prices frozen from 5 October until the start of 2023. Locking these Low Everyday Prices is a key part of Tesco’s commitment to delivering great value on the weekly shop – going hand-in-hand with Aldi Price Match, great value own-brand staples through ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ brands and exclusive deals through Clubcard Prices.

Tesco UK CEO, Jason Tarry, said: “As we start the New Year, we know times are tough for many of our customers right now. We hope this extended price lock commitment gives our customers the certainty of knowing that over a thousand household favourites and own brand essentials will stay at the same low price for months to come – helping them budget when they need it most.”

• Price Lock includes over 1,000 products across larger Tesco stores and online. Excludes Express.

• Prices locked until 10/4/2023.

Morrisons kickstarts the year with price cuts on Savers range

Morrisons is cutting 130 prices across its entry level products to help customers’ money go further throughout the January squeeze.

The cuts include important fresh and frozen products for family meals and lunch boxes, together with cupboard essentials and household products to help customers across their shopping. 

Morrisons has invested over £16 million to make these cuts as customers look for help on their weekly shop after the expense of Christmas and as the cost of living crisis continues to impact household grocery budgets. 

Fresh products like bacon, pre-cooked chicken and cheese which can be used to make hearty meals have had their prices reduced as well as fruit and vegetables including apples, pears and potatoes.  Frozen ready meals, fish fingers and prawns have been cut along with cupboard fillers like tins of beans, chopped tomatoes and tuna chunks.  Household essentials such as laundry powder, washing up liquid and dishwasher tablets have also seen their prices slashed as have toothbrushes, toothpaste and sanitary products. 

Morrisons entry level range has 263 products, 28 of which were new additions within the last six months.  This month the range will grow further with the introduction of cherry tomatoes, easy peel oranges, green beans and mixed peppers.

David Potts, Chief Executive, Morrisons, said: “Our Savers range offers customers great value on the products they buy every day. We want to do all we can to help when it comes to the cost of grocery shopping and by investing in the range and cutting the prices further, our customers will see a noticeable impact on their budgets at a time when they really need it.”

Morrisons price cuts will be communicated to customers via TV, radio, press, digital display and social media as well as email and online activity. On the website, the Savers range will be highlighted on the homepage under Morrisons ‘More Way to Save’ section and until January 22nd, the seasonal aisle in Morrisons stores will feature displays of the ambient Savers products in one place to help customers shop the breadth of the range, while the fresh and frozen items will have prominent displays in their aisles to help customers identify them. 

Morrisons entry level range includes ‘Morrisons Savers’, ‘Morrisons Wonky’ in produce and ‘Morrisons Essentials’ in homeware and health & beauty.  The price cuts are in all of Morrisons 498 supermarkets and the majority of products can be found online.

www.morrisons.com.

What to do after dry January? Vidrate has the answers!

9 million people are estimated to be participating in Dry January this year, and the first night out on the town back after 4 weeks alcohol free could be a heavy one. 

If you don’t fancy nursing the mother of all hangovers the next day, Nick Hird from Vidrate have stepped in to advise the UK on how to properly hydrate and fight off the dreaded post night out grogginess. 

“Whether you’ve been participating in Dry January and had an alcohol free month, or you've seen sipping wine here and there; - the dreaded hangover the next day may put you off. Here are our top tips for preventing a rough post party. 

- Hydrate before drinking

'Dehydration is the main cause of feeling hungover, alongside vitamin depletion and excessively putting toxins into your body. By staying hydrated before drinking you’re giving your body a head start. You're supposed to drink 6-8 glasses of fluid everyday - so this gives you an idea of how much you should be drinking to stay hydrated.

- Make sure you eat

This is an obvious one, but one many people ignore. Don't start drinking on an empty stomach as this makes your body absorb the alcohol quicker. By eating a well-balanced meal before a night out, you slow down the body's alcohol absorption rate.

- Drink water with your alcohol

Alcohol is a diuretic, which stimulates your kidneys to produce urine, meaning it makes you lose more water than you take on board. Basically, you pee more than you drink, which means you are dehydrating yourself and with that you also lose some of the body's electrolytes.

Drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic drink keeps you hydrated and helps you retain some water, minerals and vitamins.

- Avoid fizzy drinks

Don’t drink non-alcoholic fizzy drinks, instead of water to try and fight off the hangover. Fizzy drinks actually increase the rate at which your body absorbs alcohol - so could make your hangover worse. Same with carbonated alcohol such as prosecco and champagne - the carbon dioxide speeds up your alcohol intake meaning you get drunker faster, resulting in a worse hangover.

- Don’t drink too much water

Don’t chug multiple glasses of water before bed as this might do more harm than good. Drinking water in excess means you’ll need to go to the toilet and can mess up your sleeping pattern.

Drink one glass of water before bed and keep another on your bedside table for when you wake up with a banging head and dry mouth. Think about adding a hydration powder, such as ViDrate, to your glass of water before bed to help replace the vitamins and minerals lost.

- Avoid coffee

Reaching for a cup of coffee on a hangover might seem like a good idea, but the caffeine dehydrates you further - making your hangover even worse.

- Have a power nap

Sleep is one of the best hangover remedies but when you’ve been drinking the alcohol disturbs your restorative sleep. Try and schedule in a power nap the next day, or if you don't have time make sure you get an early night so your body can recover.

- Exercise

Yes exercise! We know the last thing you want to do when your head is pounding is exercise. But even a short walk or jog will make you feel better due to the fresh air and endorphins released by physical activity.

- Ginger

If your stomach is unsettled and you keep getting waves of nausea then ginger is a great remedy. Ginger helps reduce inflammation and helps settle your stomach.”

Vidrate provide natural, healthy supplements and probiotics to help with hydration, health and well-being. https://www.vidrate.com.

Good Guys introduce tastier, healthier meltier biscuits

You'll be able to enjoy snacking the lighter, meltier, healthier, tasty way with totally new Biscuit Melts from Good Guys Bakehouse, the challenger brand on a mission to put the ‘good’ into savoury snacking.

Unlike a lot of savoury snacks makers who spray their snacks with flavourings and extra oils, the moreish Biscuit Melts, available in Cheddar or Peppered flavours, are made with generous helpings of real Cheddar Cheese, Chilli Powder, Black Pepper and Spices to tantalise the taste buds, and baked to perfection to lock in the all important flavours.

As a result, the tasty, crispy, wafer light biscuit melts are packed with real flavour and contain 50% less fat. Even better, they’re just 5 calories each!

Says Steve Monk, Founder of Good Guys Bakehouse: “At Good Guys, we believe snacks taste best when they’re simply baked with real ingredients. Unlike many brands that spray flavourings and extra oils onto their snacks, we bake in utterly natural ingredients so our biscuits don’t just taste real, they’re lower in fat and calories too.  Perfect for guilt free snacking on the sofa!”

Good Guys Biscuit Melts are available to buy on Amazon and in Sainsbury's stores from this month. The RRP is £1.75 for each carton containing 39 biscuits.

So who are the Good Guys?

They're a group of snack lovers who left their jobs at a major snack firm and who joined together as they understand that making the best tasting healthier snacks wasn't about what you could take out, but what you baked in.

They craft 'Seriously Snackable' healthier biscuits which are crammed full of real ingredients, not padded with air or sprayed with flavourings and extra oils. More of the real, means less of the rubbish!

For them diversity in background and experience makes for a better workplace, which makes better biscuits. They feel passionately that everyone should have the opportunity to reach their full potential and are proud to donate 5% of profits to the Up Reach charity that works to improve social mobility.

www.goodguysbakehouse.co.uk

Don't want alcohol? But you'll love Mavrik's alcohol free offerings

If the New Year has you thinking about reducing your intake of alcohol, or you feel that booze doesn't fit your current lifestyle requirements, or  you never drink alcohol, then Mavrik has the answer with its exciting new range of non-alcoholic cocktails.

Mavrik offers four non-alcoholic cocktails that look good and taste good too, making them absolutely ideal for free-spirited adults who are happy to avoid alcohol for personal and wellness reasons. Expertly crafted and 100% natural, this new range of drinks are made from high quality ingredients with zero compromise on taste and enjoyment.

So, whether your taste buds enjoy something sweet and fruity, bitter, or cool and refreshing, there's a flavour combination for you. Choose from:

Aromatic G&T: A delicious take on the quintessential English refresher with a refined low calorie pink G&T.

Cuban Mojito: Zinging with mint and rum flavours, this indulgent alcohol-free Mojito is the perfect drink to share guilt-free with friends.

Venetian Spritz: A refreshing, spirit lifting, low calorie Spritz with a sweet and refreshing taste.

Storm & Spice: a fiery, tongue tickling, low calorie take on this classic and spicy Bermudan rum cocktail.

With under 50 calories per can (20 cal per 100ml), all four of these new virgin cocktails will suit anyone seeking ways to reduce alcohol to fuel a more positive mental and physical wellbeing. Mavrik provides the perfect chance to keep you on track with any health and fitness goals, whilst still allowing you to let your hair down and have fun with friends and family.

Mavrik drinks are available to buy online from https://www.mavrik-drinks.com/shop, RRP £9.75 for a tasting pack of all four flavours or create your own mixed case of 12 for £23.80.

And what's even better coeliacs can drink these down safe in the knowledge that they are gluten free and vegans and vegetarians will be able to quaff these drinks for their Veganuary parties, too! A triple winner!