An Adventure to Costco

Do you know how to get this American all choked up?!  Put her in the middle of a Costco surrounded by huge packaging she has no idea where she's going to put when she gets home, somewhat familiar surroundings (like that in America) and the challenge of figuring out whether the huge package of whatever is a good deal.  Give her a voucher for £14 off at the checkouts and a three coupons for FREE products and she might just explode with joy.

So this trip to Costco started a couple of weeks ago when someone posted to an Facebook page I'm part of about Costco and whether a membership was worth buying for the American products.  It has crossed my mind a couple of times before that this may be a worthwhile investment because we always bring back so much from Ohio when we visit and if we could possibly buy them in the UK instead, it'd save us a lot of effort bringing things back with us every summer.  Comments to the question asked made me look into the membership, but it would cost about £36 for the membership.  Perhaps that wouldn't be worth it.

Then a few days ago, someone posted an update to the same Facebook page that Groupon had a deal on an annual membership for £28 plus a £14 off voucher and freebies.  Wow!  But wait... there's more.  I know there's usually a discount code for Groupon... so after a little search and a few attempts to find a discount code that works, I got a discount of 20% off the £28.  So we paid £22.40 for the annual membership.

Now one drawback is that our closest Costco is 35 minutes away in Birmingham, so I won't be able to go too often... maybe that's a good thing!  However, even if we just go once, it'd be worth it because of the coupons.

We had fun looking around the warehouse and sampling a few tasty treats.  I made sure to pick up my free rotisserie chicken (worth £3.29) and HUGE chocolate fudge cake (worth £9.99)... we'll get the batteries next time.  What else did we buy? Lots of toilet paper, 1L of maple syrup (the same exact one I bought my mom in Ohio), 6 boxes of Kleenex tissues for less than £1 a box, 3 pints of Ben&Jerry's cookie dough ice cream for £6 (my daughter's favourite), 44 packs of microwavable popcorn (this one is a gamble because I don't know if it'll be any good), a big can of coffee, guacamole, raspberries... and diesel.  Yep, Costco even has a petrol station that sells fuel cheaper than where we usually fill up.

I can't lie, I was slightly disappointed there weren't more American products there that I would usually bring back to the UK with me, but there are big bags of chocolate chips there that I'll get another time.  As always I went through the store scouting good prices. The only way I can do this is by knowing my prices, like I always say.

A Bowl Full of (Wonky) Lemons

There's something so "homey" about a bowl full of gorgeous yellow lemons resting on top of a kitchen counter... but I didn't buy a big bag of lemons to simply look pretty in my kitchen... oh, no... I already drink gallons of water throughout the day, but sometime last week, I thought, "why not add slices of lemons to my water bottle?"  It's supposed to be good for you, right?  I did consider the cost of a lemon, about 35p per gorgeous fruit, but I thought it'd be worth it for the "promised" health benefits.  

No, I didn't pay £3.15 (35p x about 9 lemons) for this bag of lemons... no... I paid £1.  That's right. £1.  Notice what the label says... "Wonky Fruit".... uhh... they sure don't look wonky to me!  Perhaps a little smaller than their 30p friends, but boy, what a savings!  

This isn't the first time I've bought less-than-perfect produce.  Each of the major supermarkets carry perfectly edible and oddly beautiful fruit and veg.  Morrisons offers "Wonky Fruit" and "Wonky Veg", like these lemons.  Tesco label their "ugly" produce as "Perfectly Imperfect" and Sainsbury's called "Greengrocer Value Selection".

This comes after a campaign to pressure the large supermarket chains to relax their standards on the appearance of fruit and vegetables, which would allow a greater - much greater - amount of produce to be sold in the supermarkets and not to be simply plowed back into the fields as fertilizer.  This in turn also helps farmers earn a greater profit on their crop yield.  Seems like a win-win situation!  Find out more in this article from the Guardian.  

You do have to search for the delicious gems a little, but they're there, and they'll save you a small (very small) fortune... but hey! We're finding the pennies, right?!

A Few of My Favourite Things: Aldi

I admit it - I'm a big fan of Aldi.  I have been shopping at Aldi almost every Monday for at least a year and a half in an attempt to save on our monthly grocery bill.  I love Aldi because, for the most part, everyday food items are cheaper and the quality is excellent.  I definitely feel that I am getting great value for money.

I'd love to share with you which products from Aldi I buy on a regular basis and the prices of a comparable product at my favourite "orange" supermarket.

As you can see, in this one "basket" I saved £9.00.  That's a lot!  This doesn't even include fruit and veg, which I mention below.

We love Aldi's Everyday Essentials Mature White Cheddar, but I couldn't find the price of it quick enough to include it in this blog and I don't have the package anymore to look at how much cheese this is.  However, if my memory serves me right, this is a 1kg block of cheese that costs about £3.50. When open this cheese, we cut it in half and wrap both halves in cling film/ plastic wrap.  We use up one half before using the second.  The second half has never molded before we use it either.

I included these cotton pads in the list above, but I have to say, they are so cheap and softer than the basic variety at the orange supermarket.  200 pads at Aldi cost 69p but £1.60 at the orange supermarket.  What a difference!

Ok, I'm just going to mention it: feminine hygiene products at Aldi are just as reliable as what you'd buy at the supermarket but WAAAAYYY cheaper.  Just a gentle nudge to try them for yourself (if you are a female, of course!).

A few more of my favourite things from Aldi are: frozen fish fingers, frozen fruit and veg, crisps, some cereal, biscuits (though my husband finds the digestive biscuits to be too sweet) and houmous.

In addition to the products listed above, prices on fresh produce is also much lower than the supermarket, especially the new-fortnightly "Super 6". These super-buys are 6 fruit and veg favourites marked down to an even-better price than usual.  I will write a separate blog post on the bargain fruit and veg at Aldi.  Some people say that Aldi's produce molds quicker than at the supermarket, but I have never found this to be the case. Oh, and quick a quick tip, Aldi charges per banana, not by weight, which I find can be more expensive than at the supermarket, but I will find out exactly when I post my fruit and veg blog.

There are a few things at Aldi that I don't like as well as the comparable products at the orange supermarket: toilet paper, tissues, bacon (it's too thin), body lotion and jarred pasta sauce.

BUYER BEWARE!  Aldi does sell name-brand products.  Just because it's being sold at Aldi doesn't mean it's a good price.  Quite often I've found that name-brand products are more expensive than at the typical supermarket. Please make sure you're getting a great price on an item before you automatically put it in your trolley/cart.

Just like anywhere and any time you shop, you have to know your prices.  Learn whether your favorite item or brand is a good buy by keeping track - either simply by remembering or by writing it down - of the quantity versus the price. You don't have to shop at Aldi but if you want to spend less on your supermarket shop, I want to encourage you to figure out whether what you're buying a good deal or not.

Quick Tip: Snap a Pic of Your Voucher Codes

I just got home from an evening out at TGI Fridays with some mom friends.  I'm sure you know me well enough by now that I don't go anywhere without first looking for a voucher code of some sort for the restaurant or store that I'm going to.  Of course I make sure it's valid for the day and time I'm going to use it and it's actually for something that I plan on ordering.  

Fast forward to actually using the voucher code... I'm talking about the kind that are on mobile apps... whenever I hit "Claim" or "Use It Now" or similar on the voucher to get the code, I snap a quick picture of it just in case the voucher code somehow magically disappears between the time I hit "Claim" and when the waiter or cashier is able to enter it into the register.  

I learned this the hard way a couple of years ago when I lost the data connection before the waiter could take down the voucher code.  Tonight would have been a similar situation when the waiter could only enter in 5 voucher codes that the other ladies had - I had the 6th - and my voucher code disappeared when he was trying to sort it out.  Thankfully I had taken a picture of voucher code and he was able to use the photo of it unbeknownst to him to take 6th appetizer from our group's bill.  I hope you found that Quick Tip helpful!