This post comes on the heels of Grocery Outlet wrapping up their semi-annual wine sale, where every wine in stock is 20% off the normal price. Since we were stopping by on a fine Daylight Savings Sunday anyway to pick up our usual stash of Corn Nuts and energy drinks, we figured we might as well browse the bubbly and see what was up for grabs.
While I’m hardly a wine connoisseur (as you’ll see in a bit by the bottles I picked up), there are loads to choose from. If you can’t decide, there’s even a handy Grocery Outlet specific guide here (using GO’s other nickname “Gross Out”). You can tell how cheap Ben and I are when he scoffed that $6 was still too much for a bottle; guess he’s used to the $3 Chuck at Trader Joe’s. In addition to my normal shopping, I did end up splurging on a couple of bottles to tide me over in the meantime. Here’s some goods we ended up spotting and documenting for your reading pleasure:
1. Sweet Pea Apple Wine with Blackberry Flavor ($2.99 + 20% off) and Chocolate Shop – The Chocolate Lover’s Wine, Red Wine with Natural Dark Chocolate Flavor ($9.99 + 20% off)
As you can tell, I’m a sucker for novelty labels and things that may or may not fall under the defintion of “wine”. While I figure that the apple-blackberry wine is probably akin to a tart, slightly alcoholic juice, I’ve been duped before (Google “Chocovine Reviews” for more fun). Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
2. Chorizo Chipotle Corn Nuts, 4 oz bag – 69 cents
Because we haven’t seen the likes of these since we did one of our very first reviews on the same product back in January 2011. I don’t really expect these to last long in our cupboard since we’re not reviewing them again and they are full of spicy, meaty deliciousness.
3. Crying Tiger Ramen Noodle Soup, Beef Flavor – 15 cents
I’d be lying if I said we purchased it for reasons other that the name “Crying Tiger” but it looks like a standard beef ramen (a taste test will tell the truth). Oddly enough, the tiger on the package isn’t even crying, much less is he even disappointed that his face and species is attributed to a pack of cheap ramen.
4. BetterOats Mom’s Best Naturals Maple & Brown Sugar flavor and Lavish Dark Chocolate Oatmeal with Flax – 50 cents each
Next to the wholesome Mom-approved/”Mom’s Best” brand, the Lavish oatmeal looks downright seductive. Ben buys snacks for his co-workers to sample from his workspace so he figured he’d get a healthy alternative to the norm of Super Mario & My Little Pony fruit snacks, though I can’t say how healthy dark chocolate oatmeal (with flax!) might be.
5. Belly Flops Irregular Jelly Beans (aka Jelly Belly factory rejects), one pound – $2.99
Nothing like buying a product with the word “irregular” in the name (besides Metamucil and Ex-Lax). On closer inspection, the bag contains things like conjoined twin Buttered Popcorns and snake-like Green Apples, so if anything you’re getting more candy per bite! Jelly Belly says: “Belly Flops are no less flavorful, or lovable, than regular Jelly Belly jelly beans; they just come in wild shapes and sizes. You may find one that’s round, one that’s square, or you may even find a bunch stuck together. On very rare occasions, a flavor may not match a color. A red Belly Flop might taste like Blueberry, or a white one might taste like Chocolate Pudding. Crazy!”
BONUS: 
THE NOTEBOOK LIMITED EDITION GIFT SET – $9.99
Stickers! Stationery! Bookmarks! Ryan Gosling! Here’s a great one star review I found on Amazon.com:
“I borrowed my sister in laws DVD of this movie cause everyone told me how romantic it was. What they neglectecd to inform me was that it was an emotional roller coaster through out the movie in which I wanted to kick my tv, plus I didnt know I’d need to watch it with a whole box of tissues. I was either mad or cried throughout the entire movie! But I figured it was ok as long as it had a happy ending. I’m not gonna say too much there for those of you who hasnt see it yet, but what the heck was that ending about? That was soooo sad I was blubbering like a baby. Needless to say, after the movie I was so upset I actually threw the remote control. I have now boycotted the movie from my house. A little drastic you say? Not to somebody who used an entire box of kleenex throughout the movie. In closing, hated the movie! Watch at your own risk. (and with tissues)”
Have a great week everyone. Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day, don’t imbibe too much and we’ll be back next week with another review.
Tags: Apple, Blackberry, Candy, Grocery Outlet, Jelly Belly, Oatmeal, Wine
Well it’s more of a they didn’t have any Cabernet Sauvignons that I wanted to try. Especially now that I have a steady supply of Rex Goliath Cabernet for $5. Plus, I’ll never drink a cheap Merlot again.
03.12.12 at 10:50 am
Thanks for the link! You’re quite ambitious, as we feel we have enough to do with just one product (wine) at one discount chain (GO)!
03.20.12 at 9:36 pm
Crying Tiger Ramen is a REAL Chinese style ramen. It has no MSG and it has the yellowish noodle color of REAL Asian ramen made with mineral water.
Shrimp Chilli is delicious (leave OUT the chilli pepper that comes in the package for the faint of tongue.) I make it with veggies, an egg dropped in, and mushroom shoyu sauce. Yum!
04.16.12 at 1:16 pm
Yum, you’re making me hungry!
04.16.12 at 2:06 pm
We just bought a case of the crying tiger ramen (beef flavor). I thought since my kids love ramen it wouldnt hurt to try it. It was HORRIBLE! Tasted like burnt plastic and made us all very sick. We took it back and the store exchanged it for us. Sadly, this batch was just as bad. No one will eat it. Not even my dog and my eldest son (they eat anything) so that’s saying a lot. I even tried rinsing the noodles, not using the powder, and adding our own sauce. Now even the idea of ANY ramen makes us sick.
06.30.12 at 8:19 pm
Wow, that’s pretty depressing.
07.01.12 at 8:26 am