Food and Drink (Spring 1997)

After four years of hard studying, you know where to find the best value food and drink in Durham. Speaking from experience, and accompanied by photos of the empties, here's what Tom and I recommend... (Click on the thumbnails to see the full size images)

Ace Lager
As drunk by 8 Ace out of Viz, for which it gets extra points. Surprisingly, Ace isn't completely undrinkable, but then it's not the cheapest you can get either. Probably best described as mediocre.

Beer Dale's Arse
This is Safeway's own-brand bottled lager, and is virtually indistinguishable from Sainsbury's Beer Des Flanders. Not bad if served cold, and good value at about 35p for a (admittedly quite small) bottle.

Cannon Bitter
Kwik Save's own brand bitter - so cheap that the cans are printed in only 2 colours! Kwik Save also sell Cannon Lager, which is of a similar quality and comes in similar cans, except blue instead of red. The good thing about Cannon is the unbelievably low price - about 20p a can! Unfortunately, it tastes horrible, far too fizzy and watery. The extra effort involved in drinking Cannon (plus the fact that it's only 2% alcohol) means it's not particularly good value.

Sherwood Cream British Wine
This is Kwik Save's own brand sherry. It tastes incredibly sweet, a bit like cheap red wine with lots of added suger, a bit like drinking Ribena which has gone off. Never the less, it is quite drinkable as a post-bar nightcap, and a bottle goes down quite easily in no time at all (as you can guess from the number of bottles on our Windowsill O' Shame). Best of all, it's about 12% alcohol and only costs about £1.80 a bottle! In the same range, Kwik Save also sell Sherwood Dry, Sherwood Ruby, and Sherwood Green Ginger.

Safeway Savers Crisps
Top value for money, cheap and tasty crisps. The unopened bag in this photo deserves special mention as it only contained about 2 crisps! They may be cheap, but most bags do contain more than this.

Chocolate Starfish
One of the many chocolates from Tom's Dad's shop, the chocolate starfish provides an excellent source of innuendo and mirth.