M&S Autumn Food Range at the NEW Selly Oak Foodhall

I have always been a huge fan of the M&S Food range, and living very close to the food hall at Sears Retail park in Solihull, we visit fairly regularly, frequently making the most of their dine in for two or special meal deals which bring little luxury to our weekend meals. We also get all of our Christmas food from M&S every single year, having my Dad around for dinner on Christmas Eve, and it make our lives that little bit easier to have it all prepared and ready to go.

This week, M&S have opened the doors to their brand new foodhall in Selly Oak on Selly Oak Shopping Park, open from 8am-8pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am – 5pm on Sundays. As with other M&S foodhalls, and something that may not be commonly known, the Selly Oak store also offer the ability to purchase and collect the full range of M&S Clothing & Home products via their Collect in Store service. Customers can opt for next day pick up if they order online by 10pm the night before on M&S.com and the store can also offer hassle free returns.

With Halloween on it’s way (one of the girls’ favourite times of year!), I decided to put the Collect in Store service to the test by ordering some Halloween outfits for the girls. Ordering online is all well and good, but working during the week, I often find that parcels get sent to collection points which can then be a bit of a hassle to collect. Going into one of the larger M&S clothing and home stores is obviously an option, but with most being in the town centre I would have to pay for parking, and obviously there is no guarentee they will have the girls sizes in stock. Opting to use the Collect in Store service therefore is far more practical, super easy to arrange, and means I can check out some of the Autumn and winter food ranges when I go and collect!

Here’s what I got the girls for Halloween:

As you may have seen from my Instagram, I am a big lover of the Day of the Dead celebrations and the message behind it and ever since we saw Coco at the cinema I have fallen in love with this Mexican celebration, so it’s great to see Day of the Dead designs becoming a bit more maintstream this year. I got Erin this fantastic velvet and lace skeleton dress which is adorned with flowers, glitter and printed bones. and comes with a floral headband to perfect the look.

Neve is a little less keen on dressing up, as some outfits can be a bit on the scary side for a two year old, however the M&S dress up cat set is adorable, and even she couldn’t help but fall in love with the cute little ears headband. I love how classy this outfit looks with the tutu skirt and diamante trim, and is something that can be worn a little more often than just the one occasion.

Whilst picking up my outfits, I took some time to check out the new M&S Selly Oak foodhall, and treat Mike and I to some yummy meals to enjoy after a long day at work, There are loads of NEW items in the M&S Foodhalls this season; so many in fact that I’d need a double length blog post to cover them all, so here are just a few of my absolute favourites;

Sticking with the Halloween theme, M&S have a fantastic range of Halloween sweets and treats, currently on a 3 for 2 offer, which is great if like us you have a Halloween party to plan for. Some obvious classics with a seasonal October twist including the classic Colin the Caterpillar cake (no birthday is complete without one), which has been adapted for Halloween to become Count Colin with his very own vampire fangs and spooky red drizzle. I also love how the iconic Percy Pigs have a limited edition Halloween bag of Percy Pumpkin sweets (next to the Merry Percymas pack of course!)

With Christmas on it’s way, it’s also great to see some of the festive food arriving in store too – from the Christmas Turkey Feast sandwich (for which a 5% of the sale price for every sandwich sold goes towards the Shelter charity), Pigs in Blankets and Turkey Feast Hand Cooked Crisps (NOM) and the Huge Party Food range, full of everything you need to make a family buffet with a twist.

How cute are these Mini Santa Hats made from meringue topped with vanilla ice cream and raspberry jelly?! I know the girls are going to absolutely love these!

From the fresh food ranges, there are lots of fantastic deals on which make M&S far more reasonably priced than you might expect. I am a big fan of the home stir-fry deal, where you can pick up your Protein (e.g. chicken, beef), a vegetable pack, noodles and a stir fry sauce for just £6. They also have a massive range of wholegrains and supergrains including Orzo and Buckwheat (my absolute addiction at the moment) which are the perfect complement to a stir fry dish.

Similarly, Mike’s also a big lover of the Indian deal, where you can choose from a huge range of options to select 2 mains and 2 sides for just £10 – the new Chicken Dhansak sounds absolutely divine, and we’re looking forward to checking that out at the weekend.

For those with food intolerances or who are watching what they eat, M&S’s tailored ranges are ideal. The wheat free, dairy free and gluten free ranges are fairly extensive, and with new additions to the veggie and vegan ranges, you can be confident that you wont be left with just a couple of choices simply because you have specific dietary requirements. No being made to feel like an after thought, there really is something for everyone. Despite being a meat eater, I have to admit I was quite tempted by the look of the Melt in the Middle Spiced Vegan bakes – they look delicious!

Mike is a HUGE meat lover, so when I saw the NEW range of slow cook meat including Slow Cooked Peppered Beef, Vietnamese Style Pork Belly and Mexican Style Pork Shoulder, I knew he would be keen to try them all. After devouring the entire Slow Cooked Chunky Beef Chilli (for 2!) to himself this evening, he swears blind it’s the best chili you will find in a supermarket, with generous quality cuts of extremely tender beef.

For real winter warmers, the NEW Spiced Chilli Beef and Cheese Bake and Chicken Hash & Stuffing Dinner both sound particularly homely – ideal for when it’s turning autumnal outside, and the perfect dinner to leave you feeling toasty warm and content again! If you’re a big lover of a Christmas dinner, there is no need to wait till December with the M&S Roast Turkey Dinner for one ready to go in just 35 minutes! 🙂

Desserts wise, this Autumn Fruit Pie is definitely one to warm you up after dinner, with a mix of blackcurrents, blackberries and cherry compote in a puff pastry case. Served with lashings of custard with a throw on the sofa – that is my idea of absolute bliss.

M&S also have a fantastic range of drinks and food gifts this year, and you may have already heard about this in the national press. M&S have launched a range of ready made cocktails in a can, I repeat, COCKTAILS IN A CAN, perfect for the party season. These mini cans cover everything from a classic gin and tonic to a Pina Colada, Mojito and even a Porn Star Martini, and the cans are in a really attractive design making them ideal for creating mini hampers to give to friends or loved ones. I know for a fact these will be right up my sister’s street, so she will be finding a little selection of these under the tree on Christmas morning!

As you can see, there is an fantastic range on offer at the M&S Foodhalls this season, and with the M&S Selly Oak foodhall offering a Collect in Store service so you can get all your needs under one roof, you really cannot go wrong. It’s also great to see that M&S have switched their lunch range cutlery from plastic to wooden too to do their bit for the environment!

Fancy winning a £50 gift card to spend at M&S so you can try some of these dishes out for yourself? Head over to my Twitter page and –> RT the pinned post to enter. <–Terms and conditions apply (see below). GOOD LUCK!!!

Lucy

Giveaway Terms and Conditions:

This competition is delivered by Real Mum Reviews in conjunction with M&S Selly Oak
The prize is a £50 M&S Gift Card
The competition closes on 31st October date at 11.59pm
Entries can be made by retweeting competition post
M&S colleagues (including related suppliers) are exempt from entering the competition
A winner will be chosen at random on 1st November and will be notified within 48 hours by Real Mum Reviews and will be asked to provide relevant contact details for the gift card to be issued
If the selected winner does not respond within 72 hours, Real Mum Reviews reserves the right to select a new winner
The prize will be delivered to the winner by email by M&S representatives, Grayling
The gift card will be valid for 24 months and M&S will not be responsible for replacing the voucher if it is not used
The winner’s contact details will be passed to M&S and its representatives to process the prize and will not be used for any other purposes
All other Standard giveaway terms and conditions apply, and by entering this giveaway you are deemed to have agreed to the terms held within.*This is a collaborative post*