BJ's Gift Card winner

The winner of the BJ's gift card is...

Result: 5 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Ryan!

Thanks so much to all of you for participating. Please don't forget that, even if you didn't win the gift card, you can still get a 60-day free trial to go see if being a member of BJ's could save you some serious cash.

BJ's Giftcard Giveaway

Recently- well, in truth, almost a month ago- I was contacted by MyBlogSpark and given the opportunity to receive a gift card to BJ's Wholesale Club. I hadn't "warehouse shopped" for quite some time though I try always to find someone with a membership to pick up my yeast for me... if you use yeast and you're not already buying it in bulk this way, you simply MUST start- you'll save a bundle! Anyhow, I digress...

It took me awhile to even GET to BJ's because the closest one to us is fifty minutes away. This past weekend, we found a pocket of time and off we went!

Here are a few notes about my shopping experience at BJ's:

• I was very leery about shopping there so close to Christmas, but they were very well-staffed and had adequate parking.
• The young man at customer service was polite and informative, but not pushy- he told me about their current offers, but didn't drone on and on when I explained how far away I lived.
• The carts are very generously sized making it easy to put our infant seat IN the cart and our skinny 3-year old in the front... with plenty of room to spare.
• BJ's is the only wholesale club I'm aware of that allows manufacturer's coupons AND they encourage you to stack them with their store coupons.
• The annual membership fee at BJ's is $45 and comes with a money back guarantee. This means if a month before your year runs out you decide you haven't saved enough money to make it worthwhile, you can cancel and receive a refund for your entire $45. I was impressed that they stand behind their value that way!

I had all sorts of thoughts on how I was going to print off some great coupons and match them to bulk values and come out way ahead. The fact that our printer was on the blink halted those plans. And... truth? If you don't shop sales and coupons, you can save money just by buying in bulk at a warehouse club. If you are used to matching coupons to the deals, you can really do just as well at a grocery store on most things, in my opinion.

So... what did I buy? Well, with the $25 gift card I was given, I walked out with two organic, free-range chickens, four avocados (which my 6-month old has been enjoying!), three hearts of romaine, a 3 lb bag of limes, eight anjou pears, a 600-ct bag of coffee filters (another item I always try to buy at bulk stores!), and a giant bottle of vanilla extract. The chickens, especially, at $1.09/lb were a fabulous deal as far as I'm concerned.

The verdict? There are deals to be had! I think you have to have a pretty good "unit cost" established in your mind (or in a "price book") before you head out, but you can certainly score some great deals.

Would you like to give it a try yourself?

For a limited time, BJ's Wholesale Club is offering a free 60-day membership to anyone who wants one! You can get more information about setting up your own trial here.

For a chance to win a gift card so you can see how far $25 goes for you, please leave a comment on this post telling me what items you'd like to stock up on at BJ's!

For a second entry, follow @micropreemies on Twitter and let me know you did in the comments!

For a third entry, you may tweet about this giveaway on Twitter. Please include @micropreemies in your tweet and leave me a comment back here letting me know that you did!

**This giveaway will run through Friday, Dec. 18th.**

Thanks and best of luck to you!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimer: I received the gift card, information, and giveaway from BJ´s Wholesale Club and General Mills through MyBlogSpark. As always, my choices and my opinions are strictly my own.

Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters Winner!

Congratulations, Myra!!! Random.org chose you as the winner of the Nature Valley prize pack. I hope you enjoy!

Thanks so much to the rest of you for your entries. If you live in an area that has a BJ's wholesale store, be sure to stop by periodically. I'll have another fun giveaway coming up soon!

Here are your random numbers:

8

Timestamp: 2009-11-30 12:04:30 UTC

Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters... Oh, My, My...

Okay, so let me just tell you that I will not even hesitate to say that I love these little things (well, except for the cashew variety. Hubby ate those- I don't like cashews). I make my own granola- vanilla/cinnamon, peanut butter, and chocolate/almond- and I start out just about every morning with a half-cup of the stuff. I love it! The truth of the matter, though, is that I sometimes run out before I manage to make up a new batch. I found these Nature Valley Nut Clusters to be a fantastic substitute when that happened. They were also much easier to eat on the road one day when I found myself rushing out the door!

The lovely people at My BlogSpark sent me that whole nifty set you see pictured above-- four (yep, FOUR) bags of Nature Valley Nut Clusters, binoculars, a stainless steel water bottle, a hiking pack, and a super-cool flashlight that you can manually power- my preschoolers thought that flashlight was about the niftiest thing ever and they took turns carting it to school for show and tell. We haven't taken the whole set on a hiking test-run just yet but I'll tell you this- when we do? We'll have to buy some more Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters because the ones we received are long gone!

I like that Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters are made with 100% natural ingredients and include nuts for protein. I'm a sweet/salty snacker myself (I love chocolate covered pretzels too!) and this snack fits the bill perfectly. Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters come in four yummy flavors: Nut Lovers, Roasted Almond (my personal fave), Roasted Cashew, and Honey Roasted Peanut. The pouch reseals easily but, to be perfectly honest, we usually didn't need to utilize that feature. Ahem.

Would you like to win a Nature Valley Granola Nut Cluster gift set of your own? Of course you would! They're yummy. And it's fun to get gift packs in the mail!

Here are a few ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment sharing what you enjoy doing most out in nature. (I like walking rocky shorelines the best!)
2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment letting me know you did (please mention @micropreemies).
3. Mention this giveaway on your blog and leave a link in the comments.

That's it! Good luck!

This giveaway will remain open through Sunday, November 29th. A winner will be announced and notified on Monday the 30th.

**Disclosure: This prize pack was mailed to me by General Mills through My BlogSpark at no cost to me. I am asked to share my opinion with you all but my views are strictly my own. I am not being compensated for this review.**

Wanchai Ferry Winner

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2009-09-16 10:54:32 UTC

Congratulations to thediaperdiaries!

I've already sent you an email... hope you enjoy your Wanchai Ferry prize pack. Thanks to all of you who entered this fun giveaway. I have another fun and yummy treat coming up soon!

Wanchai Ferry Yumminess!

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity I rarely have-- I got to try the new Wanchai Ferry frozen meals. As part of the My BlogSpark program, I was able to sample the Orange Chicken variety. Now, I have to say... we do not eat many frozen meals around here (with the notable exception of when I was pregnant- then, convenience reigns as I battle all-day sickness that lands me in the hospital). I love to cook, and I love to cook with fresh ingredients, from scratch. One of the perks of being a stay-at-home mom (and, honestly, one of the responsibilities in my opinion) is cooking homemade meals for my family.

Anyway, the point of all this is... I may very well not have ever tried the Wanchai Ferry meals had it not been for this Spark. But I'm so glad I did!

One busy night I had managed to feed all three children and had them tucked away to bed by 7:30 pm. And then I realized-- oh, yeah, WE'RE supposed to eat too! I was happy to have that Wanchai Ferry meal tucked in the freezer!



It cooked up in about 15 minutes and what I loved the most was that you brown the (fully-cooked) chicken in the pan for a bit before adding the other ingredients. This keeps it from getting soggy and makes the meal taste a lot more like a good take-out might.

Even more fun- I had received these cute bowls, chopsticks, and place mats along with the meal. All of a sudden a crazy evening morphed into a fun date night!

I have to say I enjoyed this meal even more than I expected to. I think you will too!

I'm excited to be able to offer one of my readers a Wanchai Ferry prize pack that will include two Asian inspired rice bowls, chopsticks, and bamboo placemats along with two coupons for free Wanchai Ferry frozen meals! (Each meal serves two people- probably not two super hungry people, but it was plenty of food for my hubby and me!)

To enter, please leave a comment telling me which of these flavors you'd love to try:

• Orange Chicken
• Shrimp Lo Mein
• Spicy Garlic Chicken
• Sweet & Sour Chicken
• Sweet & Spicy Shrimp

This giveaway will run until Tuesday, September 15th. Good luck!

This post is linked to Things I love Thursday!

Stop & Shop Gift Card Winner

We have a winner of the $10 gift card!

Here are your random numbers:

2

Timestamp: 2009-09-09 13:13:23

Congratulations, JC! I've sent you an email to get some more info. Thanks to all of you for your great tips!

Stop & Shop Back-to-School Savings 2 Day Giveaway!

A couple months ago, I made the move from Indiana to Connecticut. I grew up here, so it's certainly not "all new" to me. But one thing I definitely had to figure out (and, well, I'm still working on figuring it out!) is where to shop to get the best deals on my groceries. I was delighted to discover an Aldi within driving distance, but it's still not exactly handy. This means I certainly have to explore how sales and couponing can score me some deals at the more local stores.

I was fortunate to be the recipient of a $10 gift card to Stop & Shop from the lovely people at My BlogSpark. As it turns out, there's a great promotion going on at Stop & Shop this week on several General Mills products. From September 4th thru September 10th, the store is having a Back-to-School Savings Event.

Here is how it works: General Mills and Stop & Shop are teaming up to give families a great way to stock up and save, as they gear up for back to school . You'll find great sale pricing on the participating General Mills brands which includes several yummy cereals, Yoplait yogurts, Pillsbury products, and more! In addition, if your Stop & Shop sells gas, you'll automatically earn 100 points on your Stop & Shop car for each four participating General Mills items that your purchase. Each 100 points earns you 10 cents off per gallon of gas. For those Stop & Shop locations without gas stations, don't worry- you're not left out of the savings- if you buy five participating General Mills products, you will receive 20 Bonus Box Tops for your school. It was a lot of fun for me to be a part of this Spark! I loaded up the three kids yesterday and hit our local Stop & Shop. Armed with coupons and my $10 gift card, I hit the aisles. Here's what I walked out with: 2 Yoplait Fiber One 4-packs 2 Yoplait Delights 4-packs 1 Yoplait Yo-Plus 4-pack 2 packages Toaster Strudels 1 box Cinnamon Toast Crunch My total? 80 cents. I earned 200 points on my card which will save me 20 cents per gallon when I fill up. Not a bad deal! I need way more than 4 gallons to fill my tank so I'll easily make up that 80 cents in a flash. ********************************************** Would you like a chance to see how far you can make your $10 go? I have another $10 Stop & Shop gift card to share with a reader! Just leave a comment with your best tip for saving money on gas. I'll draw a winner Tuesday morning (Sept 8th). Good luck!!!