Morrisons Launches Genius New Way To Buy Flour

From banana bread to fresh loaves of sourdough, many of us have used lockdown as an opportunity to brush up on our baking skills.

The only problem? Now that we're a nation of bakers, supermarket shelves are empty of ingredients like flour, as stores struggle to keep up with demand.

Luckily, Morrisons has come up with a new way for customers to buy the bread-making essential and are selling flour directly from their in-house bakeries.

The move effectively cuts out the middle man, with Morrisons staff decanting its in-house flour into smaller bags. The flour is sold in brand-own bakery packaging.

A 1kg bag of Morrisons' white bread flour, wholemeal bread flour, plain flour or self-raising flour will cost a customer 60p.

Meanwhile, avid bakers wanting to stock up can always opt for a giant 16kg bag of white bread flour, plain flour or self-raising flour, costing £9.

Morrisons have made small 50g bags of yeast available too, at 20p each.

The scheme has proved popular with shoppers. So far, the chain has sold more than 370 tonnes of flour to Britain's bakers and over 19,000 bags of yeast.

"Well done Morrisons for thinking of a way around the flour shortage!" wrote one happy shopper. Much appreciated!"

An impressed home baker commented: "I went to the shops today to buy flour and eggs. I thought I'd one the lottery! Thanks to the Morrisons staff for decanting flour from their sacks into paper bags. It's the little things that cheer you up."

Meanwhile, another enthusiastic customer called the move "out of the box thinking I'm not seeing from other retailers."

Earlier this month, the BBC reported that British flour mills were struggling to keep up with demand.

Emily Munsey, who runs Wessex Mill with her father, told the channel that they had quadrupled production.

"It's unprecedented," she said. "We've increased production about four-fold but we're nowhere close to meeting the demand we've seen."

Andy Clarke, Morrisons' bakery buying manager said: "Listening to customers, we know baking is important right now to keep the family busy and entertain kids during the lockdown.

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"It felt like a no brainer to give customers the ingredients they need to bake at home during this very difficult time."

Morrisons flour bags are available from the 450 Morrisons stores with in-store bakeries.

Topics: Cooking, lockdown, Tasty Food, Coronavirus, Food And Drink, Morrisons

Mary-Jane Wiltsher

Mary-Jane Wiltsher is a freelance lifestyle and culture journalist. Elsewhere she writes for Stylist, Euronews, PHOENIX and What We Seee.