The grill can be used as a grill

One of the Christmas presents I received this year was a fantastic Sainsbury's 'Health Grill' (an own-brand equivalent of a George Foreman grill):


Being a thorough kind of person, I read the instructions before using the grill and was amused to come across the following sentence:

The grill can be used as a grill and can cook a wide variety of foodstuffs.

Really - the grill can be used as a grill? And here I was planning to use it as a microwave...

Once cooked, serve

The four-step cooking instructions for Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' Moussaka climax with:

4. Once cooked, serve.

I'd like to think that's what I would do unless specifically told otherwise.

And yes, there have been a lot of food-related posts on The Engine Room recently...

Muesli for the mathematically challenged

I spotted this in my local Sainsbury's supermarket:



So one packet of Dorset Simply Delicious Muesli costs £2.09, but if you buy two (at £4.50) then the unit price rises to £2.25.

Is Sainsbury's trying to discourage shoppers from buying in bulk? Perhaps this is a green initiative to penalise people who use their car to do their shopping...

Jason and the mystery of the pigs in blankets

We recently had an email from Jason regarding two kinds of own-brand bacon-wrapped sausage (pigs in blankets, if you prefer) that are available in Sainsbury's. He wrote:

One is 37cal per roll and shows as red on the traffic light system. The other is 40cal and shows as green. One is 6.7g salt and is red; the other is 6.7g salt and amber. Is it me or does this not make sense as a quick-glance guide to healthy eating?

All I can imagine, Jason, is that the second type of bacon-wrapped sausage weighs much more than the first (per sausage, that is, not per pack). Although the heavier sausage has a similar calorie count and salt content to the lighter one, it has fewer calories and less salt per 100g (or any other fixed weight) and is therefore 'healthier'.

To me, the real question is: why does Sainsbury's go to the trouble of offering two types of own-brand bacon-wrapped sausage?

These are actually pigs in blankets from a recipe on the Waitrose website. I don't know how they fare on the traffic light system, but they certainly look tasty...

News from the island: 1

Fed up with being bombarded with big stories? In the first of an occasional series, here's a news brief from the local paper that serves my adopted home, the Isle of Wight:

A child became stuck in a trolley at Sainsbury's, Newport on Thursday morning last week. She had been freed by the time the fire brigade arrived.

Well, it made me smile.

Photo special: premuim ale

Having said yesterday that I'm not that keen on run-of-the-mill typos, I do find it amusing that one of the employees of my local Sainsbury's supermarket consistently spells 'premium' as 'premuim':



I did say consistently:



I have to admit that I always struggle to spell 'privelige' and 'sacrelige' correctly. Or do I mean 'privilege' and 'sacrilege'? I think I'm misled by the 'elig' part of 'religious'.

So now I want to ask: which words do you have consistent difficulty spelling?

Photo special: whats' happening

As I'm on holiday (again), I've written some posts in advance (again). As before, each post is based around a photo or photos I've taken recently. And once more, please forgive me for any cock-ups on my part, as I won't be around to fix them sneakily before anyone notices.

Here's today's photo:



I'm not really one for misplaced apostrophes (if you are, I recommend visiting Apostrophism or Apostrophe Catastrophes), but what we have here is a rather special case.

I took this shot in my local Sainsbury's supermarket. It appears the sign was printed with a misplaced apostrophe, which was subsequently partially erased - either by the supermarket or by a passing grammar fan, I know not. However what makes me laugh is that whoever tried (badly) to erase the errant apostrophe did not also insert an apostrophe in the correct position.

Photo special: working with Sainsbury's

Yep, your blogger went on holiday, and all you got was this lousy photo:



This is another snap taken in a Sainsbury's supermarket. I was struck by the sign's use of 'working with' rather than (as you might expect) 'working for'. I think Sainsbury's is trying to promote the idea of one big, happy team. No bosses here!

On the same note, I've noticed that the supermarket calls its employees 'colleagues' (at least in its tannoy announcements).

Photo special: wine double discount

As I'm on holiday this week, I've written some posts in advance. Each day I'll be sharing with you one of the photos I've taken with my camera phone recently (so do excuse the poor picture quality).

Also, please forgive any cock-ups on my part because I won't be able to fix them sneakily before anyone notices.

Anyway, here's today's photo:



This amused me because, if you look carefully, you'll see that the wine was reduced in price twice - once from £5.99 to £4.00 (fair enough), and then again from £4.00 to £3.99. Save a whole penny! Technically a double discount I suppose.

The photo was taken in a Sainsbury's supermarket a couple of months back.

Spelling can be (pomer)grate

My local Sainsbury's supermarket is currently selling a type of fruit called, according to the printed labelling, a 'pomergrate'. I can only assume that it's like a pomegranate, only better.

Just a shame the pomergrates aren't pomergratis...

And no, they aren't part of the SO RAS range.

They're grate...