Food & Drink

There are many versions of the classic Monopoly game these days but one that many fast-foodies look forward to each year is McDonald's Monopoly. If you're going to eat under the golden arches or order a McDelivery, this promo can be a fun way to win a 'free' bite to eat, or if you're lucky, something bigger. 

With Easter fast approaching (and honestly, just for a bit of fun) we thought it was time to bring back the MSE Easter egg taste test. This year it's even more egg-citing as we've included vegan options too, with 10 eggs – six traditional and four vegan, a combination of supermarket and branded eggs. It was up to MSE staff to decide which they thought was 'tastiest' and 'most expensive.' Let's hop to it!

Where there's a will, there's a takeaway, and right now, staying in is the new going out. Of course, the cheapest way to eat is to cook it (I hear you 'fake-away' fans), but sometimes we just want a treat. If that's you, sink your teeth into this round-up of top takeaway and delivery tips.

On 15 Jul, the Government cut VAT to 5% for the hospitality sector including restaurants, cafes and pubs till 12 Jan 2021. This has led to many big chains such as KFC, McDonald's, Costa, and Nando's slashing prices – so we've canvassed 21 big eateries, coffee shops and pubs to see where you'll save, and if so, by how much.

With Valentine's Day on the way, love is in the air, and so is the pressure to overspend on flowers and chocolate. So when I spotted ultra-posh department store Fortnum & Mason selling boxes of nine chocolate truffles for £20, I set about trying to make my own. Oh, and did I mention they have KETCHUP in them...

‘Tis the season to fill trolleys, and when Christmas bells ring and shop tills ding it's very easy to find yourself tempted to overspend. So when I decided to give hampers as gifts this year, I set myself the challenge of assembling a Champagne-style selection on a Prosecco budget...

These days, pick & mix tends to be sold in cups at a fixed price rather than weighed out in a bag - so you pay the same no matter how tightly you pack the sweet treats inside. Yet for traditionalists, there's usually an option to pay 'per 100g', which I think begs the question: where are the weighing scales?

If you live near a couple of the same restaurant chain, believe it or not, you could pay as much as 38% extra for the same food from the same chain, compared with another branch less than half a mile away. Yet this is only based on the small sample I've been looking at recently, so there could be even bigger savings out there...

With the return of The Great British Bake Off last week, many have been bitten by the baking bug - whether that's making cakes or just eating them. Yet baking can often become quite expensive once you start looking at all the ingredients you'll need.