Christmas bargain hunting at T K Maxx

As well as a weakness for food I have a fondness for kitchen kit so it probably wasn't a good idea to head off yesterday for T K Maxx. Actually it was sheer frustration at the prices in John Lewis which is supposed, as they oddly put it, to be 'never knowingly undersold' but which always seems pretty expensive to me. We were after a large cast iron casserole and most of the ones we were looking at were £80 even after a 20% discount, sparked by reductions at one of their competitors.

TKM didn't have cast iron casseroles but it had huge beautiful baking dishes for a song. The red one above, part of the Typhoon Vintage Kitchen range cost £6.99 for a dish which will easily serve eight (yes, it is upside down in the picture but I couldn't think of a better way of showing what a fabulous colour it was!).

I also snapped up four dinky red ramekins from the same range for £2.99 a pack of two instead of £8 a pack and a couple of really nice retro mixing bowls for £3.99 each. Oh, and a couple of James Martin knives reduced from £10 to £3.99 and £16 to £7.99. I generally mistrust celebrity chef-endorsed products but these were beautifully balanced with good non-slip rubber handles.

I justified all this extravagance at the time on the basis that they would make great Christmas presents but will be sorely tempted to keep them for myself . . .