I bought an M+S beauty bag out of sympathy for them...well sort of.

[soupyspoon]

I do like a bargain and I also like shopping, so not saying there was nothing in the act for me.

I had two aunties who spoke Scotney. They were Fifers who joined up and then met their Cockney soulmates during the war: in peacetime, they deserted us moved south to live in London and then Essex.

I’m finding myself strangely drawn to checking the updates on this post, even though I didn’t really understand the point of it and had never heard of an M&S beauty bag. I’m assuming it’s a Sparks card offer. I stopped bothering with my Sparks card after I found the offers were mainly 5p off when you spend £100 on food!

I also feel strangely compelled to watch this post. I think the OP is a genius guerrilla M&S marketing whizz. I have just bought some preserved lemons, never having previously considered doing so in my entire life and with no idea what I am going to cook with them. They do look pretty though.

You'll get drawn in ...they do a Mothers Day box, a Summer Gift Bag and pièce de résistance , the Beauty Advent Calendar , available about early November till stocks last or end November
Then you can join the threads on Style and Beauty with the daily opening where posters discuss whats a good day , or a Drawer of Doom.(usually something from Ren/ Elasticiser / black eyeliner )

I don;t buy them but I lurk to see what I;m missing

I bought the beauty bag today. It's got nearly everything I use anyway so am well pleased.

No preserved lemons, but I did get a new bra to support our M&S. I mean the bra is to support me not M&S......😁

I say this sometimes at work and people just stare at me in confusion instead of laughing uproariously in recognition. It's very painful.

I haven't been to the shops for days. I have been on Vinted though, looking at bags, so I feel I can join in as a bag is a bag is a bag.

I enjoyed reading this thread last night and have just been to an M&S with loose plans to maybe buy the Beauty Bag but realised I don’t actually need anything - I wasn’t really in a shopping mood for some reason. So I went to the food hall and bought a chicken for Sunday and Indian ready meals for tonight. And a bar of that Big Daddy chocolate. I’m blaming this thread for that as I’d never heard of it. It sounds revoltingly sweet.

I already have a jar of preserved lemons. Never used. Obviously.

I really wanted the beauty bag but it's sold out in my city. Plenty available on eBay for more than twice the price 🤔

As a rule of thumb use them in anything which would benefit from a lift of citrusy (but more complex citrusy)/salty savoury tang. Pulse curries are definitely worth a try but salad dressings/vinaigrettes (especially for grain and pulse salads), winter veg casseroles etc. Experiment and see what works. Black limes can be used in similar ways but have more of the sour intensity - a little like sumac. I don’t eat meat but preserved lemons and black limes are often used with chicken and other meats in much the way that apricots, cherries and apples are used with some meats to give a lift or tang.

Just experiment with things rather than waiting until you have the other 99 ingredients needed for an Ottolenghi recipe!

I went for the Beauty Bag today…….sold out.

Yeah life is too short to pith a preserved lemon.

Typically I used them whole, halved or thinly sliced and the only part I remove is any odd pips. If going into a dressing then finely chop or blend with other ingredients.

Gosh that didn't take long

The beauty bag looks a bit meh to me but I’m loving the sound of the Big Daddy chocolate bar. What a change in career for him.

Im back from work

We have a stair basket I should have disclosed this at the start of the discussion

Its full

The bag took priority due to the pressure I was feeling on here.

You need a 2nd stair basket (enabler)

Oh come on, where is that laughing icon.

Oooh you poor thing, I feel your pain
I wore new shoes last week to nip to the shops about 10 mins away and ended up with blisters on the soles of my feet on the outside edge of them. It was 2 days before I could walk properly.

If they're the same I recommend a bath or shower with the plug in/drain covered and a liberal sprinkle of salt in the bottom, wound plasters and your feet up for an hour. Worked wonders for mine.

What really sped it up was paraffin gauze on top of the blister and the wound plaster holding that on rather than a blister plaster (they were a good 2 inches long on each foot hence not blister plaster) hope they go soon!

I bought some preserved lemons during the first lockdown in 2020. I’m not sure why, but they were easier to get hold of than loo roll if I remember those heady days.

They were in a fancy jar and came with a case of wine, also handily bought online.

The wine disappeared fairly quickly, within a few days, unfortunately the preserved lemons hung around for years, looking like something that should be stored on a mortuary shelf.

I can’t find them now! I’ve accused DH of disposing of them but he’s denied it (he can’t meet my eyes).

Bit late to the thread and not sure if anyone's already mentioned this, but if you don't have any preserved lemons handy or if they are still the hallway (haven't RTFT to find out the current location of the jar) you can easily use a squirt of Jif/Cif for much the same result.

@soupyspoon you may want to report your OP to MNHQ to amend the title to something about preserved lemons and pop it into the Food/Recipes topic instead.

I love this thread.

@Quirkswork . Thanks for the tip. Never considered Cif before 😉

…photo under review. I’m sure you can guess what it is 😀

They have made it to the kitchen, still in the shopping bag though.

I'd just go with what's easiest re p-lemons/cifjif.

Can you tell yet whether you will be able to unscrew the lid? What will you do if it's too hard?

Yes. It gets filled up with stuff like umbrellas, hats and gloves because there is nowhere else in the hall for them to go, so the stuff waiting to go upstairs goes on the stairs above the stair basket. I need another stair basket.