A Mr Bite supermarket voucher and a shopping experience at The Herdsman

Mr Bite isn't a fan of conventional gift vouchers or gift cards. This is for the usual sorts of reasons (not personal, not useful...) and because he thinks the terms and conditions can be unnecessarily difficult and limiting. His view is that vouchers should never expire and should be redeemable with cash for change. As most retailers don't agree, Mr Bite has his own voucher system for immediate family and friends.

If Mr B thinks a voucher would make a good present, he makes one up for an activity, store or purchase type, and gives it along with cash to cover the cost of the item/s. I used to struggle with this concept, imagining that the receiver would just use the cash for day-to-day things and not get the benefit of a 'present' or special purchase.

Over time, though, I have come around to his approach. There are several reasons for this, but one of the most important is that it benefits me - and why would I not agree with that?

Last December, for my birthday, I was the happy recipient of a Mr Bite voucher for a shopping exhibition to The Herdsman. This is an expensive, gourmet supermarket that started as a growers market in 1979 and has evolved over time to its current and highly regarded status. The supermarket stocks lots of fresh produce, good quality prepared meals (think gourmet salads, sushi, and pies and desserts made in store), hard to find products, and lots of international foods. It is vaguely reminiscent of Waitrose, but on a mini scale.

The Herdsman is located next to a kebab store that Mr Bite visits semi-regularly. When he does, I sometimes get an opportunity to wander The Herdsman's aisles, making noises of interest and glee. Unfortunately, it is an expensive store, so I rarely make purchases. An exception was the Coco Luscious coconut ice cream I found a year ago, the first time I had seen coconut ice cream in Perth (The Herdsman is the sort of place you'd expect coconut ice cream to appear for the first time).

This week, I put my birthday voucher to use.

For those of you who share my enjoyment of supermarkets and new products...here is what I bought.

Moving from the bottom up, we start with Redwood Food's fish-free fish style fingers. I know, what a name. What a travesty of a fake meat product. And yet! Vegan fish fingers! How could I not try them, if only to compare them with the homemade equivalent?

These are made from soy protein and the usual fake meat ingredients. Will they taste like fish? I can't yet say. Am I annoyed they have carrageenan? Yes. Did it stop me buying them? Clearly not.

The frozen cherry frozen yoghurt is a Herdsman own brand product, and one I am quite excited to try. It is a dairy frozen yoghurt, but looked worthy of consumption nonetheless.

These Vitalia choco & nuts bars are dairy free and vegan, and are basically a snack bar with a protein boost.

 Star anise was purchased for the simple reason that I have never used it.

Coco Pure's chilli, goji and chocolate coconut butter was purchased because I haven't tried the commercial variety since my first jar, and I just wanted it again (even if I can theoretically make it myself).

Delicasey's Tasmanian pepperberry in dark chocolate (dairy free) was bought because I have wanted to buy it ever since I saw it way back in May 2011. Frankly, that is a long time to hold out.

The voucher was for $50. I think my shopping skill is reflected by the total cost coming to $49.51.

Yes, expensive!

My verdict on these products will have to wait for another post, but I can say that they have already brought me lots of joy, and I am seriously excited to work through them!

Any recent supermarket fun in your parts lately?

And what you do think of gift vouchers? I actually don't mind the standard sort, but can see why they get a bad reputation sometimes.

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