Daily, dealz, In the Kitchen, Photos

Stocking up on @EqualCanada & groceries at Walmart #cbias

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We usually stock up on groceries on the weekends and go quite late at night so it’s less busy. But yesterday we ended up starting our shopping trip at Walmart at around 7pm.This winter has been phenomenal. I think I had a long sleeved shirt underneath my lightweight coat, and I was totally comfortable. Its been so mild out that you just don’t need to dress like a Sasquatch!The Easter stuff is out an in full swing. Cadbury cream eggs, I’m a ready for you! I’ve always been a fan of Easter since it’s close to my Birthday. Did you as kids ever get little wicker baskets full of toys, candy and Easter candy when you woke up Easter morning? I think I went for Easter hunts way beyond the appropriate age. Nothing can stop me from hunting down my chocolate candies!Alright let’s get serious. We have a list, and we have to stick to it. It’s too easy to get off track in here. So many things I want to buy.First aisle was in the Pharmacy section to pick up another canister of Equal Canada since it’s still on Rollback here for $7.97 (as compared to $9.97). Always like to save a bit of cash. The new yellow canisters of Equal is great because you can bake with it and it can be substituted 1:1 for sugar. I’m thinking of making some chocolate chip cookies from a recipe I found on #EqualCanada Facebook page.I know a few people who asked me where they could find Equal products, and they’re usually in the Pharmacy section/health food area of Walmart. I could never find it in the sugar or baking aisle of the grocery store part.This is so random. But I didn’t notice this until my boyfriend pointed it out. I always fuel my belly on Saturday’s with Kraft Dinner! I’ve been doing this for a while. Time to stock up on more!There’s plenty to go around.I always like to double check the prices to see if they’ve rung up properly, especially if they’re on sale or Rollback. I’m checking the toothpaste here.

The checkout line went pretty quickly. Here I am placing the last remainders of the things in our shopping cart onto the belt.Waiting in line to pay for the groceries.

Hope you had fun “shopping with me”! Don’t forget you can check out my Google+ story that I also wrote in conjunction with this blog post. You can also find Equal Canada on Twitter, and Equal Canada on Facebook.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias. All opinions are my own.

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Coupons, Daily, dealz, Freebies, In the Kitchen, Photos

Come help me find @EqualCanada at Walmart! #CBias

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Good morning! I’ve decided to take you all on a journey of our weekly grocery shop, and how I make lists to keep sane.

My boyfriend and I normally grocery shop at the grocery store or Walmart once a week. This time we decided to go to Walmart because of all the deals we spotted on their online flyer. But before we head out, I make a list of what we’ll be eating for dinner that week, and what coupons we need to use up before they expire.

This list honestly saves so much time trying to come up with ideas when I’m tired from coming back from CrossFit, or just right after work, and especially when I’m not feeling up to coming up with creative ideas for supper. The meat is always thawed in the fridge the night before so it’s less work.

The menu plan comes from searching for bargains online and Walmart had a ton of sales this weekend, so that’s where I got all of our supper ideas from. Onto the grocery list. 

Mitt scrubber isn’t usually on my grocery list, but I wanted a mitt to exfoliate my skin when I do my self tans. Hee hee.

We then headed out to Walmart at about 9:30pm—we have our routine so down pat we always know what time to hit up the stores. We like going to Walmart later at night since it’s not busy with a ton of weekly shoppers.

First thing we do is look through the flyer. Even though we’ve already looked through it online before leaving. It’s just nice to take one to cart around with us, for when something pops up that we were needing.

Sneak peak of what we buy for the week.Can you spot the coupons? I ended up getting those Corn Pops cereal for $0.47 with the coupons we had, plus the Charmin I had two free coupons.

By the end of our shopping trip the cart got way fuller than we expected. But there was still one item missing. The Equal canister for baking with was nowhere to be found.

It wasn’t in the baking section of Walmart, nor was the specific kind I was looking for at the Pharmacy section either. See?

We ended up just checking our purchases out and heading to the next available Walmart which was probably about a 15 minute drive away.

Ta-da! At the second  Walmart location, we found the yellow canister of Equal! My boyfriend’s eagle eyes saves the day. It was labeled as $7.97 which was the rollback price. It used to be $9.97.

Score one for us!

Up close and personal with the Equal sweetener. Little #EqualCanada buddy, you were not an easy find! It was difficult to find since they changed the color of the packaging to yellow.The Equal was spotted again in the Pharmacy section next to the protein powders. My boyfriend drinks protein shakes a lot, so I knew this would be an ordeal for him, picking out a new brand to try next.

I bolted towards the patio chairs which are (already!!) out for purchase.

Spying on the Boyfriend. Can you spot him? I even had a great conversation with a woman picking out potted plants for someone’s house-warming present. I think we did a pretty good job picking out one of the plants for her ;)

After we finished our shopping trip we headed home to finally chill out for the night. Since I did a pretty good job using my coupons on Saturday, I had to take a photo of my great finds.

My best deals:
Charmin toilet paper = free with coupon
Carnation Instant Breakfast  $5.97. I had a $1 off coupon.
Rice Krispies squares on sale for $2.00  and I used $2.00 off coupon. All 3 free!
Corn Pops $2.97. I used three $2.50 off coupons = $0.47 each!
Royale Toilet paper was $4.47 and I had a $2 off coupon making it $2.27.
Equal was on rollback from $9.97 to $7.97, so I saved $2.00.

The other stuff shown is some produce, whey protein and two bags of milk and frozen fish which I put away immediately. We have enough meat from our last week’s shopping trip, which chicken and pork were on steep discount.

So, do I buy anything unusual that you wouldn’t normally buy on your grocery shop? What are your must-have’s for a grocery trip? I always love getting fresh bell peppers and bananas. This time I wanted to try out the new brand new Equal canister made for cooking and baking.

You can find out more information about Equal Canada on Twitter, or Equal Canada on Facebook.


This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias. All opinions are my own.

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Daily, Photos

Golden Arches hunt for #EqualCanada #CBias

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What a weekend! There are now just a few more days until Christmas and a few more days until our holiday break from work. Of course, the malls and everywhere in between are jam-packed with shoppers finishing up the majority of their Christmas shopping. But it wasn’t as bad as you may think. Yesterday, Scott and I ended up heading out to shop and, at first, the mall was pretty busy.  That is, until the traditional mall closing time of 6pm when the crowds suddenly began to thin out. I’m not sure everyone realizes how late the stores stay open for Christmas shoppers!

We hit up a bunch of places including Walmart to pick up a few groceries for the rest of the week. We didn’t need too much; just a few essentials.

As we were finishing up our shopping, supper time had come and passed and our tummies were growling a bit. I think my tummy was growling at the impatient shoppers. But that’s a topic for another day. I thought this was a perfect time to treat Scott and I to a feed of McDonalds, thanks to #EqualCanada and #Cbias. I’m always a fan of stopping at McDonalds since they offer free wi-fi and I can use my iPad.

Hmm, what to order? Scott ended up using a free Big Mac Meal coupon he had, and I got my specialty: the McDouble, plain. Only cheese please.

I give my extra burger patty to Scott since it’s cheaper to order a McDouble (2 patties) than it is to order a cheeseburger. (I think…maybe it’s just because Scott likes to have an almost-double Big Mac).  He went for an extra McDouble as well for good measure.

Love free re-fills. Did I get the Coke Zero, or the Barq’s? Take a guess!

When I placed my second order of the evening, I decided to get a coffee so we could take it to go, and bring it with me to sip on as we finished up our shopping.

After I placed my order I asked the cashier if there was Equal available instead of sugar. He honestly had no idea what #EqualCanada even was. It was funny. He asked me and I said it was a sweetener. He then asked me why I’d rather Equal than any other options and I told him that it just tastes better in my opinion. He nodded and smiled as he was ringing my coffee through. One of the credit card machines was down so we continued to chat.

From there, I asked him if there was a comment card that I could fill out. He called out to the manager who came over to greet me (they were both super friendly and great to deal with), but the manager apologized and said they didn’t have any comment cards. I thought that was a bit strange, because aren’t they usually hung up in a little holder on the wall where you can grab one and fill it out yourself? I told him it was okay and I suggested that I could just fill out the survey mentioned on the back of the @McD_Canada receipt instead to suggest that McDonalds carry a variety of sweeteners to give customers more selection.

The situation got more silly at this point because I ordered a medium black coffee, but the guy filling my order said there weren’t any medium cups in stock either.  So, as a bonus, I ended up getting a large, filled to the brim with coffee.  We were both laughing.

Sweet, upsized for free! The one thing I really enjoy about McDonalds coffee is not only the taste, but the cups are from the future. The lids are not flimsy and the top easily pops up and stays with the lift of your finger.

And no asking for double-cupped cups anymore since they are already two layer insulated!

As soon as we got home from our shopping excursion, I did fill out a McDonalds survey. They don’t put it on the back of their receipts for nothing, right?

Hearing feedback from customers is important to any business and a really great way to interact with large corporations.

Have you ever filled out the McDonalds survey before?

I hope everyone is almost finished up the majority of their Christmas shopping. Does anyone have people left to buy for?

If interested, here is some more information about Equal. Visit Equal online, tweet @EqualCanada, and @McD_Canada or like Equal Canada on Facebook.

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias. All opinions are my own.

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