Bargain Fever Britain & Other Stories

Last night, I decided to have an evening of catching up on TV programmes that I'd missed earlier in the week.  OH was out at a Spin class and I hadn't watched any TV in a while.  Firstly, I decided to watch the programme Bargain Fever Britain, which originally aired on ITV on Tuesday evening at 8pm.  It was the first (I think) in what promises to be an interesting series about how we are now becoming more and more keen in this country, to bag a bargain.

It was particularly interesting to me because it featured Approved Foods, a company I have ordered from many times in the last few years, who sell discounted food online.  They were one of  four discount companies, whose fortunes the series follows.  It was great to see the faces behind the company and the people who work for them, who all seemed a thoroughly decent bunch.  To be honest,  I've known this for a long time anyway, as in two years of ordering from this company, I've had very few problems and any I have had have been pretty insignificant.

I'm sure that since this programme aired, that they have been inundated with orders and am tempted to get back on the site and check it out.  I probably will at some point, but the last time I looked a few days ago, there weren't enough things I wanted to merit an order.  I'll keep popping back though and checking out what they have for sale.  I expect that demand caused by the programme might mean they run out of things even quicker than experienced in the past, but all I can say about this is, good for them, as they appear to have really taken a risk in upgrading their warehouse to one three times the size and taking the business to another level.  It will be interesting to see what happens from here on in.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that they are now becoming more mainstream and popular, as the service they provide, at its best, can be pretty fantastic.  I guess the main reason I haven't been ordering so much lately, however, is that when I have all that food in my cupboards, it is so much easier to overeat, so I'm trying to cut back on orders as a result, and keep my weight in check, which is not their fault at all.

The other programme I watched was the second episode in the new series of Mary Portas's Secret Shopper.  I watched the first episode last week and really enjoyed it and was interested to see that it featured the 'posh' Spar supermarket on our local high street.  (I rarely shop here by the way, but it is popular and convenient sometimes, especially as it has a free cashpoint).   Similarly, I wanted to watch this week's episode, as it was focused on a department store in Lowestoft, where we went on holiday one half term several years ago.

Last week, I found myself listening to exerts from Mary Portas's new autobiography on Radio 4, as it just happened to be on the radio when I was in the car on my way to the gym.  I really enjoyed it and may go back and listen to the episodes I missed on their website.  She's quite a formidible character and I can't help but admire her. (I realise other people may disagree with me on this point)

Anyway, I digress, this week's episode of Secret Shopper was also interesting.  I'll definitely be watching both of the above series regularly over the next few weeks, especially now Broadchurch and Wolf Hall have finished and there's little else I'm interested in watching on TV.  Are there any programmes you've been enjoying lately?