Marks and Spencer

 When you think of stores in the UK, Marks and Spencer's is one of the top stores, that is classical British.  When we first came to Canada in 1989, there were actual Marks and Spencer's stores in our malls.  We continued to buy from them, just like we had done when we lived in the UK.  There was nothing better than Marks and Spencer's underwear in my opinion.  As with a lot of stores, they closed down and we had to wait until someone came over (usually my mother) to bring things from the UK.

Now Marks and Spencer are shipping all over the world and they had a black Friday sale with 20% off (I think) everything on the Canadian site plus free shipping.  So I bit the bullet and picked up a couple of things I had, had my eye on.

For some reason I thought they had a warehouse over here in Canada, so was surprised to see the box had been shipped over from the UK.

The distinctive green colour of Marks and Spencer.

Mine were pretty boring buys though.  I got a couple of bath sheets.  They are so fluffy and big; a great buy.  They feel so luxurious.

I love a good tea towel.  I do prefer an Irish Linen tea towel, but have had them from Marks before, so knew the quality and these are as good as always.

As always, super pleased with the quality and the speed.  It was probably no more than 10 days from when I ordered to when they arrived.  

Are you a fan of Marks and Spencer?

Furry Slippers type of day.......

Woke up this morning to this, first snow of the season:

 😟Not impressed

Luckily I have just received my new slippers from Marks and Sparks.....

They are so furry and warm, plus they had 20% off which made it worthwhile in ordering them.  You can see more colours here.  Have to say great service and delivery when ordering from Marks..........

Oldie but a goodie

You have a bounty of zucchini/courgette and don't know what to do with them; it's red hot outside and you don't want to stand outside and BBQ and you really don't want to heat up the house, but the family need feeding......here is what you do you make a Sausage Risotto in the microwave.

I bought this book at Mark's and Spencer before we came to Canada over 29 years ago and it has served me well:

My carrot soup recipe comes from this book; I posted about it here.  Also the Sausage Risotto recipe comes from the same book, you can get the recipe here.

If you don't eat meat, just add more veggies, and it freezes great.

It also reheats perfectly as well.  It feeds four no problem; so that's two nights meals sorted!!

While I was getting the links for the recipes I saw this recipe for Crockpot Falafel, I am going to have a go at that this week as I have wraps on the menu and this sounds good.

Got to love Marks and Sparks.........

Placed an order for some new towels from Marks and Spencer's online on Monday afternoon and they arrived here on Wednesday afternoon.

I purchased these towels and they are huge and very fluffy.  I obviously haven't used them yet and will have to wash them first, but they look great too me. 

This is not the first time I have ordered from them here in Canada, and the service is excellent.  Just wish we could order food from them.  You can get 10% off when you place your first order with them.  I also love how customs, duty, taxes and shipping is all included.........well shipping when you order over $50 worth of product.  They were shipped by DHL and a signature was required, however you could go online and tick off the option that they could drop it off at your front door and you don't have to be in.  I live in a pretty safe neighbourhood so felt comfortable doing that.  Liked that option though from DHL.

Anyone else a big fan of Marks and Spencer? 

I have also ordered flowers to be delivered from Marks for people in Britain and again top quality; which reminds me Mother's Day is coming up!

Pretty Excited..........don't expect anyone else to be though!

Just placed my first order with Marks and Spencer on their new Canadian Site, here is a link to the site.  It is in Canadian dollars and duties and customs are all included.  They even offer free shipping for orders over $50.  I even got a 20% off coupon for signing up.  

Picked up these for a certain someone for her birthday in November.  She has a pair of gold ones, that are getting a tad tight!!  They too were bought at Marks.

Now for those of you in the know re: Marks and Spencer, their underwear is top quality, so ordered some for dh and I, and some new tea towels.  I paid $76 for a pair of wellies, five pairs of undies for me, three pairs for dh and three tea towels.  I thought that was pretty good value for money.  

I should receive them all next week............I will let you know what I think then.

Calling all British Expats, and all those Marks and Spencer fans.....

I had this comment left today, and decided to publish it in a separate post as I thought it would interest you:

Hello Gill

I recently came across your blog and have enjoyed your updates. I had no idea there were so many things you could do with pineapple! :-)

However, my specific reason for contacting you is on behalf of Marks & Spencer, as I thought you might be interested in a survey we are running exclusively for British expats. The M&S ‘Home and Abroad’ survey is looking to identify those things that British expats miss most when they’re away from home.

The survey only takes 5 minutes and in return for completing it, respondents have the opportunity to win a £250 gift card which can be used through the new M&S International Delivery service.

Is this something you would be interested in posting about on your blog?

Your feedback as an expat would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and regards

Kev Fitzsimons(on behalf of Marks & Spencer)

One thing Kevin forgot to mention that there is FREE International Shipping until March 29th, when you spend over 80 Pounds.........I need this like a hole in the head at the moment, but I should check it out...LOL

I have been a fan of Marks and Spencer's since I was a young child. I got a lovely blouse in there last year. Love those prawn cocktail wafer/crisp thingy's that they sell, they are to die for. You pop them on your tongue and they melt. Bought some great kitchen utensils there last year and my favourite purchase was this:

Isn't it just the cutest suitcase??? I ended up buying it as I bought four Easter Eggs for the kids, Cadbury's of course and they cost me four pounds. Had no where to put them, so ended up paying 29 pounds for this suitcase..............dh was NOT impressed......it's his own fault, as he should have made sure we took two suitcases each, but he didn't. I wish I had got the whole set but I only got the one.

We used to have M & S in Canada but they closed the stores a few years ago. I used to buy all our underwear from them, and the kids had a lot of clothes from M & S, as did me and dh. Their quality was so much better than the regular stores.

Anyhow I have entered the survey, as I would be like a kid in a candy store if I won the 250 Pound gift card. It would also be neat if someone I knew through the blogging world won it, if I don't!!

What's your favourite thing from M & S?