Latest news with #MarksAndSpencer
The Sun
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
I tried supermarket chicken kievs – my winner was cheap and had a delicious ingredient that added an amazing crunch
GOLDEN, garlicky and oozing with buttery filling - we all love a chicken kiev. They were first introduced to the UK by Marks & Spencer in the 1970s as its very first ready meal. 4 Today, supermarket shelves are packed with options, from budget packs to 'gastro' meals. But which are best? We grabbed our knives and forks (and a LOT of napkins) to put a selection of supermarket chicken kievs to the ultimate taste test. Whether you're after an easy option to feed picky kids on a playdate, or rustling up a posh twist on a retro classic for dinner, we've picked the perfect kievs. LUCY TOBIN finds out: Tesco Breaded 4 Garlic Chicken Kievs (500g) £2.75 277 calories per 100g At just 93p per portion, this is Tesco's mid-range offering and my kids loved it. With the packet of four kievs cooking from frozen in 30 minutes, I found the pack made for a convenient family dinner. There's an average 277kcal per 100g, so on the high side for dieters. The actual meat content in this chicken kiev stands at only 53%, which explains the soft texture. The coating wasn't as crunchy as others, and the garlic butter centre is mild and creamy rather than packing a herby punch. This helped explain its popularity amongst the kids: it tastes a bit like a giant chicken nugget with a garlic butter dip, and everyone's plates were almost licked clean. Free from artificial flavours, colours, and preservatives, Tesco's chicken kievs tick the box for a fuss-free family meal, being affordable, mild, and easy to cook – but they lack the wow factor for a special dinner. 3/5 Exceptional by ASDA 2 Wild Garlic Chicken Kievs (385g) £4.98 221 calories per 100g 4 These kievs stood out for their generous size: they were far chunkier than the other chicken dinners we tried. Maybe their wonky scale comes from the fact that these chicken kievs are made with whole chicken breast, not reformed meat – it's less fast food nugget, more restaurant-style mains. The chicken is tender and juicy, and holds its shape together properly when cut. But when you do cut it, a rich, buttery wild garlic filling oozes out. It's smooth and herby, with a really strong garlic and parsley hit. You won't worry about a vampire visit with this on your breath. The breadcrumb coating on Asda's wild garlic kievs crisped up evenly in the oven, providing a satisfying brown crunch without going soggy. And it's 221kcal per 100g, if that's a concern. Visually, these kievs look posh – thick, golden, and well-filled. At almost a fiver for two, they're no bargain, but the generous size, honed recipe and well-balanced flavour justify the higher price for a special weekend dinner. 4/5 Sainsbury's Fresh British Chicken Breaded Kyiv with Garlic & Herb Butter x2 (260g) £3 259 calories per 100g 4 What stood out about Sainsbury's two-pack of chicken kievs was that they were almost mess-free. Unlike the others, this garlic and herb butter filling stayed inside the chicken during the oven cooking process, so there was no elbow grease required to wash up the baking tray. Still very buttery, though, and coming in at 259kcal per 100g. The chicken breast was tender and moist, while the breadcrumb coating was satisfyingly crunchy, although not quite as crisp as Aldi's kiev. The herb blend in the butter tastes fresh and perfectly garlicky. This was decent value for the portion size - it fed two adults and a child in our household, and delivers on both taste and looks for a popular midweek meal. 4/5 How to save money on your food shop Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how you can save hundreds of pounds a year: Odd boxes - plenty of retailers offer slightly misshapen fruit and veg or surplus food at a discounted price. Lidl sells five kilos of fruit and veg for just £1.50 through its Waste Not scheme while Aldi shoppers can get Too Good to Go bags which contain £10 worth of all kinds of products for £3.30. Sainsbury's also sells £2 "Taste Me, Don't Waste Me" fruit and veg boxes to help shoppers reduced food waste and save cash. Food waste apps - food waste apps work by helping shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses shift stock that is due to go out of date and passing it on to members of the public. Some of the most notable ones include Too Good to Go and Olio. Too Good to Go's app is free to sign up to and is used by millions of people across the UK, letting users buy food at a discount. Olio works similarly, except users can collect both food and other household items for free from neighbours and businesses. Yellow sticker bargains - yellow sticker bargains, sometimes orange and red in certain supermarkets, are a great way of getting food on the cheap. But what time to head out to get the best deals varies depending on the retailer. You can see the best times for each supermarket here. Super cheap bargains - sign up to bargain hunter Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where shoppers regularly post hauls they've found on the cheap, including food finds. "Downshift" - you will almost always save money going for a supermarket's own-brand economy lines rather than premium brands. The move to lower-tier ranges, also known as "downshifting" and hailed by consumer expert Martin Lewis, could save you hundreds of pounds a year on your food shop. Aldi's Sourdough Breaded Wild Garlic & Jersey Butter Chicken Kievs, two pack, (375g) £3.99 221 calories per 100g I was sceptical about whether sourdough was really needed on a chicken kiev or just a bit of foodie buzzword bingo. It sounded like a marketing gimmick - until I bit into the brilliantly crunchy, deep golden crust. Oh, it was delicious. The chicken inside was succulent too, and the garlic butter oozed out perfectly. It seems the sourdough crumb wasn't just for show, as it added a toasty flavour and an extra crunch that set Aldi's chicken kiev apart from those with usual breadcrumb coating. And they come in at 221kcal per 100g. The only downside was that the garlicky interior squirted out quite violently during the baking process, leaving an oven cleaning job that I didn't want to face after opting for a quick convenience meal for dinner - next time I'll use the air fryer. Crunchy and flavoursome kievs, though. 5/5 Deluxe Lidl Garlic and Herb Chicken Kievs, (385g) £3.99 230 calories per 100g This was a chunky chicken kiev, with a generous portion and a herb-heavy filling. In fact, the centre tasted more like cooked green veg than garlic - the flavour wasn't as strong as in other dishes, so it will appeal to those who prefer milder tastes. The breadcrumb coating is crisp and evenly golden, although not as crunchy as Aldi or Asda's meals. The chicken breast meat had a good, juicy texture, and the kiev came in at 230kcal per 100g - about standard for this dish. Overall, a decent dish, but it didn't stand out like some others, and, at £3.99, it's not the bargain we sometimes expect of Lidl. 3/5 Iceland 4 Garlic & Herb Butter Chicken Breast Kievs 500g, £3.50 These chicken kievs are coated in pale breadcrumb and also look like giant chicken nuggets - they're not a posh option to wow friends over dinner, but they're brilliant value. At 87p per kiev, they are a top choice for an easy supper or when your kids have invited friends for tea. The filling is nice and green thanks to the herbs, and properly garlicky, although some parts did look a bit oily. The chicken was tasty enough but not as succulent as others and tasted a bit dry in parts. Overall, a good value option but no show-stopper. 3/5
Forbes
17 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Transparency And Trust Vital In Quest For Cyber Security
The ongoing fall-out of the cyber attack on Marks and Spencer — five weeks after the attack it looks like the U.K. retailer will take a £300 million (£403 million) hit to operating profits, while CEO Stuart Machin faces losing a substantial proportion of his pay — is yet another example of the disruption that such action can cause. While speculation continues about who exactly was behind it, and similar ones on other groups, it is a reminder of how vulnerable even the largest organisations are to hacking. Coming at a time of great political and economic uncertainty, the last thing already over-stretched executives need is another issue to keep them awake at night. But the fact remains that the more we all rely on technology the greater the risk of it turning around to hurt us. Moreover, such is the pervasiveness of that reliance, abandoning technology in search of total security is just not an option. Organizations just have to learn to live with it and to create systems that minimize the risk of successful attacks in the first place and then isolate the incursions so that they do not take down the whole enterprise. One of the reasons that these attacks receive so much attention is that they almost invariably involve breaches of customer information. This is not only understandably worrying for the customers but can also have a serious effect on the organization's reputation. Some idea of how difficult it is to deal with a threat that is both ever-present and ever-changing is conveyed in research published earlier this month by SurveyMonkey, the platform for surveys and forms. While 95% of U.K. businesses said they understood and met all requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, more than half admitted to experiencing data-related issues since the regulation was introduced seven years ago. Of these British businesses, 16% had faced the consequences of a GDPR-related fine or penalty and 18% had experienced an official warning or investigation by a data protection authority. In an interview, Eric Johnson, SurveyMonkey's CEO, accepted that the introduction of the regulation had shaken the technology industry and that the rules could be expensive to adhere to and pose a challenge to how things were done. But he added that his company regarded compliance as a cost of doing business, and urged companies to adopt best practice. SurveyMonkey claims to have had a strong security and privacy program for some time, but it has responded to customers' desire for more transparency by launching the Trust Center as a one-stop hub offering guidance, resources and security assurances for businesses dealing with the difficulty of keeping abreast of legislation and customer expectations. One particular issue arises from technology constantly both doing more and posing more of a threat. As a result, businesses could not set up a program and then forget about it, said Johnson. While pointing out that the majority of U.K. businesses were concerned about using AI, he added that there was an opportunity to 'fight fire with fire' by using the capability of AI to help with the detection of risks. In the end, though, it appears to come down to vigilance and trust. Indeed, 92% of the U.K. businesses questioned by SurveyMonkey said that adhering to GDPR and data privacy laws had given them a competitive edge by strengthening customer trust, with 85% confident that their clients fully trusted their data privacy practices. Moreover, they were working hard to vet third-party vendors. Although 91% of businesses felt confident in their service providers' handling of data, 89% insisted on clear proof of compliance and security before partnering and 78% had cut ties with vendors over concerns about GDPR or data security.
Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Marks & Spencer winning the battle for middle class foodies
Marks & Spencer is winning the battle for middle-class grocery shoppers despite falling prey to a crippling cyberattack, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Food sales at the retailer grew at almost twice the rate of the wider market in the first month after the cyber hack. The robust performance, described by one analyst as 'remarkably strong', shows M&S is extending its lead over rival Waitrose, which also targets affluent shoppers. Sales at M&S of groceries, its biggest unit, grew by 8 per cent in the four weeks to May 18, according to the latest data from research firm Kantar. That compares with sector growth of just over 4 per cent, meaning M&S has increased its share since it confirmed the attack on April 22. Analysts say that while the hack caused its growth to slow from 21 per cent in the previous period, further gains are likely as M&S opens new, larger stores. Chief executive Stuart Machin has vowed to double the size of the food business. He is accelerating a programme to convert 12 former Homebase outlets into food halls stocking the entire M&S range. Many are in affluent middle-class towns, including Godalming and Farnham in Surrey, and Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The stores are situated near Waitrose supermarkets, throwing down a gauntlet to the rival retailer. The Godalming site, which will be M&S's largest food-only store when it opens next summer, is opposite a Waitrose. Analysts expect the cyberattack to cost the food business about £100 million, mainly through wastage and the extra logistics costs involved in replenishing bare shelves. Shares in M&S have recovered in recent weeks, but are still 8.5 per cent down since the hackers struck. In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday last week, Machin said M&S would emerge stronger from the crisis. 'We've been around for 140 years with lots of challenges. We survived that and we'll survive this,' he said. In a reshuffle, marketing executive Anna Braithwaite left last week. M&S has appointed Boohoo's David James as supply chain and logistics director. Sharry Cramond, who was in charge of food marketing at M&S, will become marketing director of fashion, home and beauty. 'M&S looks remarkably strong despite the cyber disruption,' said James Anstead at Barclays investment bank. In the hack, the personal data of millions of customers was stolen, online sales suspended, and shelves emptied after cyber criminals gained entry to M&S systems over Easter, apparently via a third party. The food and clothing giant faces a total bill of up to £300 million and the disruption could go on until July.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Service station expansion expected to get go-ahead
Plans to double the size of a service station look likely to be approved. Gillingham Services, in south Norfolk near Beccles, could expand if South Norfolk Council's planning committee offers the green light to the scheme on Wednesday. Council officers have recommended it is given the go-ahead. The bid would see a new Marks and Spencer's shop and a Greggs drive-through built. The current services, off the roundabout between the A146 and A143 Norwich Road close to the Norfolk-Suffolk border, include a petrol station, McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks. The council has received dozens of objections from locals with concerns, including fears about increased noise and light pollution, as well as heavy traffic in the area. The proposed development includes a farm shop, electric vehicle charging hub, and six other trade units in addition to Marks and Spencer's and Greggs. The plans also include a battery energy storage system (BESS) but few details are known about its design and scale at this stage. It is expected that the development will create around 115 full-time jobs. In a report to councillors, officers acknowledged concerns, but said the development would provide "overriding" economic and social benefits. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Local Democracy Reporting Service South Norfolk Council
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Norfolk service station expansion expected to get go-ahead
Plans to double the size of a service station look likely to be Services, in south Norfolk near Beccles, could expand if South Norfolk Council's planning committee offers the green light to the scheme on officers have recommended it is given the bid would see a new Marks and Spencer's shop and a Greggs drive-through built. The current services, off the roundabout between the A146 and A143 Norwich Road close to the Norfolk-Suffolk border, include a petrol station, McDonald's, KFC and council has received dozens of objections from locals with concerns, including fears about increased noise and light pollution, as well as heavy traffic in the proposed development includes a farm shop, electric vehicle charging hub, and six other trade units in addition to Marks and Spencer's and plans also include a battery energy storage system (BESS) but few details are known about its design and scale at this is expected that the development will create around 115 full-time a report to councillors, officers acknowledged concerns, but said the development would provide "overriding" economic and social benefits. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
