Iceland

Don’t let Kerry Katona put you off. Or Coleen Nolan and Jason Donavan for that matter, since Kerry’s had the boot… and Jason only comes out especially for Christmas. Iceland isn’t all ginger nut lemon cheesecakes and triple chocolate gateaux with mini hot dogs and fifty piece prawn platters. When the brunette and I were poverty stricken students, she at Preston and myself at Salford, she introduced me to the delights of Iceland. I was sceptical, after all, this was long before I’d discovered the joys of Aldi and Home Bargain. But when she served me a baguette pizza hot from the oven before a night out and showed me a cupboard full of fresh apples, all from Iceland, I was impressed. It’s so darn cheap, you can’t ignore it.
The apples? Yup, they were a surprise to me too. Iceland isn’t just frozen food, it’s chilled produce too. She even had cheese from there. I went myself in search of some goodies, lucky to be living about thirty seconds from Salford Shopping Precinct at the time. (Well, how lucky that is exactly depends on your view of Salford Shopping Precinct.)
I was pleasantly surprised to come across breakfast cereal, crisps, chocolates, biscuits, all at far lower prices than you’d find in the average supermarket (well-​known brands too) and I did find a shedload of Quorn selling cheap as well as a great deal of really good quality fish, ready to roast in the oven. Years later, when I worked at Spinningfields, a colleague and friend of mine who’s a real self-​confessed ‘foodie’ and gourmet said she always goes to Iceland for fish. She couldn’t knock the standard.
So you might not want to put the party platters on for your more snobby mates, so what? They may never know. Iceland food is tastier than you’d think and doesn’t make a dent in your wallet. Swallow your pride, people. My own pride actually stems from the amount of money I save getting quality groceries from places many people turn their noses up at, Aldi and Iceland being two great examples. Just try and blot that image of Jason and Coleen singing about duck spring rolls out of your head and you’ll be just fine.