Tesco finest vintage English cheddar cheese

I was accepted onto the Tesco orchards finest cheese campaign. I received a £3 coupon for £3 off any tesco finest cheese and some pass along coupons to give to friends and family. I went to my local tesco and found the tesco finest cheese selection easily on the shelf once i was in the cheese section, there was a big selection to choose from and we seen the Tesco finest vintage English cheddar cheese on offer for £2.50 so we picked up two packs as we thought this would be the best fit for our family as we are big cheddar cheese fans but not so keen on other cheeses. I had no problem using my coupon at the till but I did ask where I received my coupon to which I replied Tesco orchard.

I took my cheese home and wanted to try it straight away...I'm a bit impatient like that so we decided to go for enchiladas, we grated the cheese and it grated nicely, it didn't stick together like some cheese can and it gave nice even slices and not breaking a part or crumbling, it was really nice cheese to work with. We sprinkled it on top of the enchiladas and put it in the oven for a few minutes and as you can see above it came out beautifully. We don't like our cheese overcooked or burnt, we like it when it goes all stringy like. When it came to eating it, it was really nice, it has a slightly different taste from our normal cheese but it was nice, the texture of the cheese was good too.

I tried it on a few dishes such as cheese on toast and we made cheesy pasta and again all nice.

We hadn't tried it just on its own yet so we cut off a few slices and tried one bit on its own and it was absolutely delicious, it melted in your mouth with a creamy texture. So we had some crackers with it and my daughter just ate the cheese, she is a big cheese fan and could eat it all day if you let her.

The packaging was nice, it was just a basic white packaging with a black label telling you what it was, you could easily see this is a premium cheese but does the packaging really matter...not really it's more about the product on the inside but sometimes we can be swayed just by the packaging on the outside.

I got this for free buy joining the Tesco Orchard, i have had quite a few campaigns now and they get better and better, you have nothing to lose by joining up and you could be trialing products too just by leaving some reviews, facebook posts, twitter posts and whatever else it asks you to do on the campaign.

The reviews i leave are my own personal experiences, you may have a slightly different experience as we are all different, the reviews I write are honest, I would never leave a good review on a bad product as what is the point and I personally hate it when people do that as if someone goes out and purchases it on their recommendation, they have then just wasted their money.

My reviews are my own personal feelings and I have not been paid, bribed etc to leave a positive review and I do not have to leave a positive review just because I have joined the Tesco Orchard as negative reviews are accepted too.

Thank you all for reading and hope you grab a bargain, trial a new product and have a great day much love Tasha xx

July's Freebies and coupons

My husband was made redundant in June 2015 so money was a little tight, we were lucky we were prepared but things were and are still a little tight as he started his new job at the start of august 2015.

I was looking for ways we could save a bit of money on our shopping bill as in august alone it was my birthday, my daughters 6th birthday, husbands nieces birthday, we had alton towers booked and paid for and chessington booked and paid for way before hubby was made redundant (just needed petrol and food) and also school uniform for when my daughter goes back to school in September.

A post on facebook caught my eye where some people had managed to get complimentary coupons for giving honest feedback on a product or to the company itself whether it was a compliment or complaint.

It got me thinking about how I could use this without taking advantage, I thought about just doing a few companies to see what I could get to help with my bills.

I had a bad experience at Frankie and Benny's on fathers day so I put a complaint in (I won't go into the ins and outs) however they very nicely sent me a £20 voucher to use when we next visit.

I was accepted on my first supersavvyme campaign where me and my husband got to try something each I had the Braun Silk-epil 5 and hubby had the Braun Series 3 shaver.

I was accepted onto the bzzagent campaigne, where you get to try all 3 flavours of the new Jacob's cracker crisps with some coupons to pass out.

I received a few coupons allowing me to get a free product from yazoo.

I received 3 random flavour boxes of popz microwave popcorn.

A voucher to get a free pack of petit filous yogurts.

Vouchers from Tesco orchard to try the Tesco finest cheese.

Not in the picture a £5 Gu coupon and a set of goggles from zoggs (daughters broke in the first week).

We also got 2 £5 vouchers from build a bear for spending so much and having the loyalty scheme and because it was my daughters birthday we also had 2 £3 vouchers. So my daughter got £16 worth of build a bear clothes for free. You have to spend a certain amount to get the £5 voucher but my daughter had some money saved up and knew what she wanted to get.

I did find it a bit cheeky and embarrassing emailing companies asking for a freebie or a coupon but I was surprised with the generosity given, we were genuinely grateful as every little really helps at the moment.

If you havn't already take a look at bzzagent and supersavvy me for products to try and sometimes coupons and Tesco orchard for vouchers to try at Tesco, you do have some surveys etc to fill out but they are really easy and if you get something to try for it, it is definitely worth it, I have had some great stuff to trial thanks to the named companies above.

Also take a look at your loyalty cards/schemes to see if your entitled to anything or if you can build something up.

Thank you for reading, I hope this inspires you to try and save money for your family and helps you out a little bit, good luck and much love tasha xx

Birthday Sweet Cones

Birthday Sweet Cones

It was coming up to my daughters 6th birthday and we wanted to do something different, we have always done goodies bags and they have always been hit and miss if the child likes them or not, especially if the child is older than the others. So we got thinking about what we could do that also would not break the bank balance. We thought what child doesn't like sweets, yes the parents may get annoyed if their child gets hyper after eating them but once we hand the "goodie bag" or "sweet cone" over it is down to the parent if they let them have it, so we decided we would make a sweet cone based on our daughters favorites and what we thought the others would like too.

I started looking online at what I could get and straight away I found a large pack of 25 sweet cones for 99p free postage, bargain as they came with something to tie it up with too, they took approx a week to be delivered.

The next task was the sweets, we went around number shops and got them in 3 trips as we could not get everything we wanted on the first trip.

The sweets we used in order in the sweet cone were:

• Bubblegum (Blue) millions
• Smarties
• Haribo Starmix
• Rainbow drops
• Mini marshmallows
• Large marshmallows
• Frozen wrapped individual chocolate (hidden between the marshmallows)

It took us about 10 minutes to make them all up but we didn't have anywhere to put them, so I searched and I found a gift basket, we put them in the gift basket but thought there was something missing, I had a bit of curling ribbon so I added a bow around the top just to give it that little something extra.

They still looked a bit plain so I ordered some stickers with minions on which at the moment is my daughters favourite and added Thank you for coming to my party love Ebony xx. The stickers which my daughter put on really gave it that final touch and they were a big hit, every child who received one loved them. The parents were impressed too, they thought we bought them but we actually made them.

These were really easy to make and gave the party that bit of an extra touch, I will say be careful with them we did have one accident where one child hit something else with their sweet cone and millions went everywhere haha (we did offer to clean it up) otherwise a big success! 

You don't have to make these for a birthday, this could be made with your child/children just to have some fun by spending time making something with them, Easter, Valentine's day, Christmas, you could add one to your child/children's Christmas eve box if they have one or just a nice treat.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a big success with making your own sweet cones, much love tasha xx

Product review – NSPA Treatment Elixir Oil

NSPA Treatment Elixir Oil for Normal/Dry Hair, 150ml

Like most parents I have a very wingy 4 year old when it comes to brushing her hair, I have tried using a tangle teezer although great, the hair breakage that comes along with it from using it everyday isn’t. I wanted to find something I could put in her hair that would help, I already used a detangling spray everyday (I have tried a few) which kind of helped but wasn’t fantastic. I was shopping in Asda and I saw the nspa treatment elixir oil on sale for approx £2 original price tag of £4.95. I thought well its on offer i will give it a go otherwise if it doesn’t work I’m only a few pounds down. Well I was very happy and impressed I gave it a go! I used it on myself as well as my daughter, I washed both of our hairs normally, towel dried them and used 2 pumps of oil, rubbed it in my hands and evenly distributed it throughout the hair, then came the test. Normally when I brushed our hair after a bath/shower it was knotty. Unfortunately for my daughter she has my thick long hair, well I started to brush my daughters hair and was amazingly surprised. There was NO knots or tangles and I could brush her hair without her screaming and crying even though I am extremely gentle. I am a qualified hairdresser and aware on how to brush the hair properly, still doesn’t stop my 4 year old making a fuss. I have used this product every day for the last 4 weeks and I am very impressed. My daughter went for her swimming lesson this week and I wondered what would happen if I didn’t put it in?, would it make a difference?, was i imagining the difference?, you guessed it, it was knotty and full of tangles, I wont be making that mistake again and this product will be a full-time part of our daily routine! It has made our hair feel soft, not frizzy (for me a big benefit as I don’t have to straighten my hair daily anymore), It has revived our hair and looks hydrated but most importantly it does NOT look greasy from the oil, it is a lightweight oil and you do not notice it is in your hair. It dries nicely instead of having big, frizzy, buffy hair! I cant imagine this product not being used in our daily routines as it really does a fantastic job, I would highly recommend this to everyone, especially people with very knotty hair, I just wish I found this product sooner!!

This is taken from the nspa website about the product

Treatment Elixir

Instantly absorbing, NSPA’s Treatment Elixir detangles, conditions and works to eliminate frizz for healthy, happy hair. This multi-tasking spa-inspired formula helps to soften and strengthen unmanageable hair whilst restoring shine and protecting against environmental damage without leaving an oily residue. This indulgent miracle oil will leave you wondering how you managed without! – ‘A good hair day in a bottle’

How to Use

Apply two pumps of oil to towel dry hair or one pump to dry hair and run through lengths for beautiful, glossy shine.

this is a product that is exclusive to Asda so check it out when your next doing your shopping, (i seen a bottle on the shelve yesterday my oil is a yellowy/orangy colour, the one on the shelve was see through, not sure why or if there is a difference as the bottles look the same) thanks for reading much love tasha xxx