My invite from Gordon Brown to attend 10 Downing Street

How exciting, I have just received an invitation from Gordon Brown to attend an event at no.10 Downing Street to celebrate the success of Britain's small and medium sized businesses.
The reception, which will be held in a couple of weeks time, aims to bring together a wide variety of entrepreneurs and business owners to toast their success through what has been a very testing time. I suspect I have come to the attention of Downing Street's Events Office through Business Link, whose help and support I have received over the last couple of years. Since starting my business in 2007, I have been in touch with Business Link from the outset. Primarily I got in touch with them to ensure I got solid advice and support to build the foundations of my business, then latterly they have been there to help with more complex issues such as Intellectual Property law and PR for my first product, Count On It food labels.
Since receiving my invitation I have found out via conversations on Twitter that Claire Young (you may remember her from the BBC programme The Apprentice) and Nadine Hill, another mumpreneur will also be attending. I am really looking forward to the event, not only will it be a fantastic opportunity for me to meet like-minded people, on a personal level it is a once in a lifetime opportunity - something will definitely be telling the grandchildren about.

Count On It - perfect for the big chill

Your freezer
The greatest hero of them all. There's not much that can't be frozen until it's needed. If you have chicken breasts that you're not planning to eat straightaway, they can be cut into strips and frozen, to be defrosted quickly and used in a stir-fry later.
Even cheese can be grated and put into the freezer to use in a sauce or on an omelette. And a lot of time can be saved by cooking a big dish, then dividing it into portions to freeze for another day. (WRAP, Lovefoodhatewaste, 2008)
To remind you when you froze your food, just pop on a Count On It label, scratch off the date and stick it in the freezer. Count On It to save you time, money and waste.

Amanda can Count On It

Christmas leftovers are as much a part of the festive season as the tree and presents. It’s the one time of the year we buy those little food luxuries – chutneys, pickles, sauces – as well as cream, mayonnaise, too much meat, fish, seafood and puddings – our fridges groan with the amount of food we purchase.

In the last 12 months we have all become more aware of the amount of food we waste, and this set against a backdrop of soaring food and energy costs, means people are more determined than ever not to waste good food or throw it in the bin.
Help is at hand. Count On It™ easy to use food freshness labels will tell you at a glance if your food is still fresh and safe to eat.

The stick-on labels display scratch-off panels which show when a product was first opened, stored or frozen. No more guess work needed.

The labels are a godsend for busy, on-the-go mums. And there is no one busier this year in the run up to Christmas than TV star Amanda Holden. Amanda, mum to two-year-old Alexa, will tie the knot in early December and then starts filming the third series of Britain’s Got Talent with Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan.

“I love giving Alexa fresh, wholesome food but a lot of the time I forget when I opened the jar of pasta sauce or carton of fruit juice – these labels are brilliant as reminders,” said Amanda.

Amanda also uses them when batch freezing. “Good nutritious food like fish pies and cottage pies can be made in advance and frozen, and these labels act as a check on when the food was first frozen – they are so simple to use but so effective, I’m beginning to wonder how I ever managed without them”.

Amanda is confident her friends, actresses Sarah Parish and Angela Griffin, also young mums with busy lives, will find them useful. “I’ve already lined up a few boxes for them to try out over Christmas”

Count On It™ will go on sale in Lakeland stores nationwide from January. The product will also be available in the new Lakeland brochure and online at www.lakeland.co.uk. It is also available from www.count-on-it.co.uk

Lakeland’s Barbara Shepherd said: “Count On It™ is one of a number of products we have introduced to help people reduce food wastage. We liked the no nonsense simplicity behind this product and how it can help people save money – foodies, mums and families will love it”.

Count On It™ has also received rave reviews from a number of leading food writers and home economists including Leicestershire-based Teresa Bovey.

As someone who loves food, both preparing and eating, Teresa has found the labels a fantastic aid in the kitchen. “I love them – I use them on everything from sauces and dips to freezing and leftovers – I don’t throw any food away as I’ve got peace of mind that it is still fresh and safe to eat”, Teresa added.

For more ideas on how to get the best out of your Count On It labels visit www.count-on-it.co.uk – the money you save on food could come in very useful

Website revamped and relaunched

Count On It's website has now been fully revamp and relaunched ready for Count On It hitting the press and Lakeland's shelves in the new year. Thanks to Gary at Netronyx, the site is slicker and more user friendly and clearly shows the features and versatility of the product. The press campaign is well underway and with our new celebrity endorsement (more about this shortly), we are hopeful that Count On It will go from strength to strength. Feedback on site always welcome.