Sainsbury's Taste the Difference dried apricots - back in stock

Sainsbury's TTD dried apricots - £1.69 for 250g

Readers with a good memory will remember I was disappointed these lovely apricots had vanished from the shelves in our local Sainsbury's.  Gone also were the prunes and those wonderful dried figs.  click here for my rant about this.

Happily I can tell you these apricots are back in stock, just as they said.  No sign of the prunes and the figs were nearly sold out.  Looks like others enjoy them too!  One of the nice things about them, aside from the lovely caramel taste, is that they're just apricots and none of those nasty preservatives.

My wife has bought a packet of Asda's ready to eat Stoned Dried Apricots, in fact they've been lingering a while now as they really are 'orrible to eat.  In fact I've just tried one of those miserable chewy things and, with regret I can report, they do not taste anything like an apricot should.  If you like apricots, DON'T BUY THEM FROM ASDA!  It gets worse, take a look at the ingredients....apricots 89%, water, acidity regulators (malic acid, ciric acid) preservative (sulphur dioxide).  UGH.

Go and buy the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference dried apricots if you like apricots as good as they could ever come!

Some of our friends kindly pass old copies of the excellent Ethical Consumer magazine http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
to us and we really do thank you, Steve and Rachel.  The January / February 2011 edition has a helpful looking guide to supermarkets.  I haven't had a chance to completely review it as yet but it does relay grim findings all too often.  Sometimes there are some pleasing surprises.  No pleasing surprises with Sainsbury's though.  Their Ethiscore (out of 20) is just 2.5.  Naturally the Co-Op is amongst the highest scoring supermarkets and Tesco, ASDA and Netto are the worse.

I cannot resist telling you about today's visit to Sainsbury's.  This has little to do with apricots or the battle against stress but it is worth a rant.  In addition to picking up my Nectar points, getting another £4 off my next £40 shop as well as £4 discount today, they have given me a voucher for 3p.  Yes 3p.  It tells me to "Enjoy 3p to spend on your next shop"  Sainsbury's, are you being a bunch of shysters or are you trying to tell me something?  What can I buy for 3p?  Shall I buy a single grape perhaps?  Mind you, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves....

Finally, you will be pleased to know I cycled there, as normal.  I took Doreen the Dawes Galaxy complete with my Carradice saddle bag and Karrimor pannier bags.  Today must have been the heaviest shopping trip and I couldn't resist putting the back wheel onto our weighing scales when I got back.  Wow - 4 stone 6 pounds in weight.- 62 pounds in all.  Goes without saying the bike is fine, me too but it was hard work racing to beat a red traffic light that was on it's way!