We are really really frugal people. But we really enjoy having an afternoon chocolate treat. But we also like decent chocolate. Before we moved we would get chocolate from Trader Joes or on sale at WF. But now we live rural and do not have access to TJ, WF, Aldi or Lidl. Stores around here only had the cheap candy bars, so I would buy the gold Ghirardelli bags of dark chocolate chips shipped from Target and we would have like 10 chips as a snack.
Last year I stocked up on multiple bags before the chocolate prices skyrocketed, and we just ran out. At Target this time the 24oz bag was $16.99! I could not put it in my cart. Just too expensive. Last time I bought them on sale at $8.99.
Any other chocoholics out there with a hot tip? How are you frugally getting your fix? I also have access to Costco. And Amazon but I'm leery of the counterfeit products issue they've been having.
Any Frugal Hacks or Tips for Chocoholic?
byu/ahoveringhummingbird inFrugal
Posted by ahoveringhummingbird
8 Comments
Shop in-stores the day or so after a major holiday. For example, the day after Valentine’s Day I got a bunch of bags of Ghirardelli, Lindt, etc chocolates for half off. I help stock the chocolate at work (I’m a teacher and our team keeps a tin of chocolates for those days when it’s extra necessary to have a little sweet treat). Sure, it’s almost April and half our chocolates still have little hearts on the wrapper or whatever, but it doesn’t bother us.
Honestly, how far away is TJ from where you currently live? If chocolate is that important in your life, it’s very shelf stable so I’d advise just making a trip out to the city and make it a point to stop at TJ and buy 3-6 months worth of chocolate.
Costco seems like the obvious answer. They usually have a very large rotating selection of sweets and snack bars.
For a while we were getting the thin mint pretzels, then switched to the blueberry açaí chocolates.
winco has bulk dark chocolate with nuts, along with all sorts of other stuff. its something like $5-8/lb (for the chocolate). if you want kid candy, its $2.50/lb, which i think is pretty good considering i took the kids to dollar tree and thought that was a good deal before i discovered this.
i donno, im not a choc connoisseur, but i like it.
We get Nutella from Costco and spread it on graham crackers. A little goes a long way.
We used to have a Russell Stover store nearby but not anymore. If you have one of those, they occasionally have sales especially around the holidays. You can even find discounted chocolate right after the holiday. My dad and I used to grab some and he would even gift me some on the holidays when it was still open.
I like Nutella for that fix because a spoonful is so filling.
Oddly enough, eating salad greens helps, sometimes part of the chocolate craving may be a magnesium craving and salad greens fulfill that.
I’m not sure what the equivalent is in your area, but I sometimes hit up the local Bulk Barn for chocolate chips, chunks, wafers, etc. to make my own little goodies. There are often different grades of chocolate and you can often pick up fun things to mix with the chocolate (nuts, cookies, spices).