PRODUCT REVIEW - Jam Dunk

This is another no brainer that was confirmed to me after over hearing a conversation on the train a few nights ago between two 80-90 year old ladies whom I can only imagine to be two of the sweetest old ladies on the planet.  I apologise to the two of them for eavesdropping.

The conversation went something along the lines of this (names may have been changed to protect identities).

“I popped in to Jeanie’s the other day for coffee and after she popped out the back and came out with a little Christmas present for me.  She is good Jeanie, very organised and must have little gifts packed away for people she doesn’t expect to see around Christmas on occasions like these, very sweet of her”.

“It was only a jar of Cottee’s jam but still a really nice thought, I told her there was  no need to be giving me presents and she fogged it off saying it’s only little”.

This is where things got interesting and when I nearly turned to give the dear old lady a high five and congratulate her for still having all her faculties about her at her tender old age.  The conversation continued with her friend listening intently, nodding and agreeing.

“The only thing is Glenda, I don’t eat Cottee’s jam, I much prefer the home brand type as I find it tastier and it has a lot more fruit in it, Cottee’s seems to just be all jelly.  I’m not sure what I am going to do with it.  Still it is a nice thought, but I will most likely give it away”.

This old dear is spot on.  For an old fashioned jam, rustic, full of chunky fruit pieces and bursting with flavour it is Home Brand all the way.  If you prefer a smoother jelly like substance, well I don’t understand you, but I know an old lady who has a spare jar of Cottee’s and I can pass on your number.

Just to stick the final nail in the coffin of Cottee’s let’s look at price.  The Woolworths website has a 500g jar of Cottee’s Conserve (It’s not even called jam) for a price of $3.54 (or $0.71 per 100g) where the Home Brand Jam retails at $1.54 for a 500g jar (or $0.30 per 100g).  You don’t have to be Einstein to work out which one I’ll be taking off the shelf, Home Brand all the way.

A quick thank you to the two old ladies for confirming what I had known all along, and making this product review a little more interesting than it may have been!

Spark

PRODUCT REVIEW - Can I have a slice of Mint Supreme?

The thrifty shopper R&D Department has spent a valuable weekend trawling through supermarket aisles to bring you another product review.

This week, we deal with mint slice biscuits and compare two brands for you:

(1) Arnotts Mint Slice and (2) Coles Chocolate Mint Supremes.

Sorry for the sideways pic, our IT department have the day off today...

A simple price comparison shows that the Arnotts variety goes for $2.89 per packet ($1.45/100g), while the Coles variety will set you back $2.39 ($1.20/100g).

A tip-off from a work colleague led us to the snack aisle to test out these little suckers. And we have to say, we were impressed. The Coles variety ticked all the boxes that you expect a choc mint biscuit to tick. It was both chocolatey and minty, it didn't crumble once you had a bite, and it was able to withstand the Adelaide heat in the cupboard.

I suggest that you place your Coles Chocolate Mint Supremes in the fridge, because, quite frankly, they just taste better with a bit of chill in them. My dad once told me, "Son, you wouldn't drink a warm beer, so you shouldn't eat a warm mint slice." I think that family rule was passed down by his dad, and even his dad before that.

At a saving of 50c per packet, with a better than or equal to taste as the big name Arnotts Mint Slice, you cannot afford not to buy the Coles Chocolate Mint Supremes. I know double negatives can sometimes be confusing, so i'll make it clear for you: buy the Coles Chocolate Mint Supremes.

I've done a simple calculation for you:

If you were to buy 1 pack of Coles Chocolate Mint Supremes per week across the whole year, compared to 1 pack of Arnotts Mint slice you would save:

$0.50 x 52 weeks = $26. Divide $26 by the price of a Coles packet ($2.39) and you get 10.88 extra packets of mint slice per year. Assume you have 10 biscuits per packet and that's an extra 108 delicious choc mint biscuits for the year. For free! Now, if that isn't thrifty shopping, I don't know what is!

I must also declare that I do not own shares in Coles or any of their budget brands, I just like bargains and getting value for money!

Banjo.





PRODUCT REVIEW - A Hidden Secret in the Frozen Food Aisle

For the busy man who likes his food.  Try this one and tell me it is no good:

Woolworths Select Frozen Mashed Potato.

Yes I was sceptical when I received this tip, I like good mash, no powdered or fake rubbish.  But humble pie I ate when I tried this beauty.  Frozen 100% natural mashed potato, just whack a few pieces in the microwave and give them a zap, and done, perfect mash.  No peeling, chopping or anything just simple and painless food.  In fact it’s probably better than the stuff I make at home, smooth, creamy texture and full of flavour.  The person who handed down the tip was given 5 kilos of potato from a friend after serving them this mash at dinner, all because the friend thought she made the best mashed potato ever.  Give it to your Mrs without her knowing and see what she says about your mash.

Available in plain or with cracked pepper (I would suggest the plain and add your own cracked pepper should you require).

Spark

PRODUCT REVIEW - Bread

I have recently made a decision.

Lawson’s bread (the one you get in the brown paper wrapping) is the only type of bread that you can buy to please your taste buds. I have done the full array of breads as my breakfast each morning, yet have decided that cheap imitation bread just does not suffice. For starters, cheap bread, such as Woolworths or Coles brand bread, does not fill you up. Secondly, it does not cook well, and often becomes hard, crunchy and dry.

Lawson’s bread on the other hand cooks well as it is thicker. When butter or margarine is applied immediately after cooking it soaks in to perfection. Add a spread of vegemite and you have warm, moist, and wholesome toast. I prefer the Settler’s Grain variety, as the grains often get stuck in your teeth and you can enjoy eating breakfast for hours after the initial meal.

Other high profile breads, such as Helga's, with plentiful advertising budgets claim to hold a position as a 'podium' bread. I have been nothing but disappointed with Helga's. I find it too thin, therefore getting too crusty upon toasting and it has a poor ability to rebound from being frozen.

Lawson's will cost you a bit extra, (once every few weeks my local Coles has it on special), but it is definitely worth the extra spend.

Banjo.

EDITORIAL - Parsnip as potato substitute

Recently, I attended a Gala Dinner with a 3 course meal at $125/head. First up, for entrée, we were given a chilli prawn dish. Quite nice, prawns cooked well, and the spices used in the dish were something else.

Dessert was a cheese platter with assorted chocolates. I am still baffled as to why cheese is served after a main meal, as I view it more as a pre-entrée nibble to be had with crackers, but that is not the point of this story.

The main meal was a beef dish. The table also received a side serve of greens, and what I thought was a side serve of potato. Having eaten my beef and greens, I decided to jump in and get some potato. It looked nice and there were girls on the table who were avoiding starchy carbs to look after their rigs. I served myself some potato, and jabbed a fork in to bring it up toward my waiting mouth. I sunk my teeth in.

I did not get the result I was looking for. It was not the crunchy outside yet soft inside of a roast potato. No, it was a parsnip. I knew it was a parsnip, because I knew it wasn’t potato. I checked the menu, and yep, parsnip all round. As this was a first up parsnip experience, I’m not sure how I felt. I was surprised by its texture and may have found it a bit bland. Potato is my favourite vegetable so anything less lead to disappointment.

In the light of day I have decided to go easy on the parsnip until I have had a better chance to explore its full potential. It’s no potato, but it may be a useful substitute in times of potato famine, eg Ireland in the 1800s. I will reserve judgement.

Banjo.

PRODUCT REVIEW - MEAT PIES

A meat pie is a meat pie right...wrong

The world of frozen pies is littered with succelant imagery of pies sitting in bakehouses with large chunks of steak covered in rich hearty gravy, however many of these images are deceptive to the untrained eye, or in this case taste bud. I have road tested all the pies you will find in your Coles, Woolworths and Foodland freezers and have established a top 3 to eliminate the need for you to suffer through an unsavoury dinner after a tough day at the office. 3rd - Herbert Adams King Island Gourmet Beef Pie - A pie with a tall structure, with serious fillings of 38.5% meat, crispy pastry and a very complementary gravy. 2nd - Patties party pies - i know, i know not your standard dinner meal, but put half a dozen of these babies on your plate with your 3 veg and you wont be complaining (almost good enough to eat without sauce) and brings us to the number 1 - Clear winner - Sargents Extra Special Grain Fed Beef Pies (be aware - Sargents do produce to 'lower' quality pies, both good but not to this standard) tender beef, amazing rich gravy, perfectly seasoned - it has no rival. Do yourself a favour and place a couple of these in the oven tonight - you will be glad you did.

El Fardo.

thrifty shopper launch

We are online!

After finally squeezing some funds out of the under-performing launch team, we are finally taking our message to the thrifty shoppers of Adelaide.

We will back soon with the thrifty ethos, thrifty purchasing rules and some great products that we here at thrifty have found and think will please your taste buds and your budget.

That's it from me, Banjo Banks, Junior Vice-President of Research and Development.

I better go and check with the Presidential Management Committee that they were happy with a slight speeding up of the launch sequence! (just by making this blog we are now tracking 10 years ahead of schedule!)

BB.