Meijer Continues to be Really Cool

To those faithful Meijer shoppers who continue to check this blog and have been sorely disappointed in a lack of posting, I apoligize. I don't plan to make any promises to do a better job at keeping this up, but I understand how frustrating it is to go to a place expecting to see something new only to be disappointed again and again. It is like going to a store that is not Meijer. Anyway, for those who have been coming here week after week, I have found another somewhat funny commercial. My favorite part is the clown at the end. ENJOY!!

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Shopping Carts

This is not the most exciting blog, but I am afraid things have been a bit slow in the Meijer department. So, I thought I would just share another thing about Meijer that keeps me coming back.
Now, before I get too far, I have to admit that I don't shop at too many other super centers, so I don't know how special the carts are Meijer are, but they certainly beat the local grocery store. For starters, Meijer has two different sized carts. There is your typical grocery store cart with the flip down thing for the kids to sit on and the space below to put bags of dog food and 24 packs of pop. There is also a smaller sized cart. It is a few inches narrower and about half as long. You can usually find these moving around the store with a 20-40 year old man behind trying to fit in as much stuff as he can without having to resort to getting the big cart and looking like Mr. Mom.
On top of these choices, those shoppers with kids can choose from the extended addition cart with a bench for two kids to sit in, or better yet, for a buck you can get a hybrid cart that is half mobile entertainment center and half shopping cart. There is a little T.V. screen inside that plays episodes of Sponge Bob. You don't have as much room for groceries, but the lack of screaming kids allows you to be brave enough to shop more than once a month. My friend Jaret calls this the best dollar he has ever spent. He can often be found walking the aisle of Meijer with his two older kids completely enthralled with the 8 inch T.V. screen and totally unaware of the fact they just walked by all the sugar cereal.

Next Best Thing

I am hoping that everyone has had a chance to use the Meal Box thing. Julie and I have been printing coupons from it, though we haven't really used it to make our grocery list or plan meals at this point.
In response to Caitlin's complaint that she still has to cook the food, I think she has been watching too many episodes of Star Trek. However, I am not completely without some help.
There was another comment on the last post with a link to the Meijer Team YouTube channel. While they will not come out to your house to cook your food, there are many videos that show how to cook the food. In case you haven't checked it out yet, go here.
I only see 9 videos on this site. Hopefully more will follow.

Cool Meijer Thing!!!

Okay, I realize this is two posts in one day, but this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Except for of course things like mountains, newborns, sunrises and the ocean. So we will call it the most practical amazing thing ever.
As you can see on the right, there is a huge box thing that says "Meijer Meal Box". Marc discovered it on www.meijer.com. From what we can tell, it is a way to very easily plan your weekly meals and make a shopping list. You just select the meals you want, drag the picture down to the mini calendar at the bottom, select what meal it is for (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and then click the tab that says "Shopping List". The shopping list will have all of the ingredients you need for all of your meals and will highlight the things that have a coupon or are on sale. The coupons are at the bottom of the list and will print out easily for you. AMAZING!!!

For those who are Meijer.com members (it is free and easy to sign up) you can click the "Sign In" tab on the Meal Box and it will remember who you are. The tab will then change to "Profile" and you can select different things based on your food preferences. For instance, you can select if you only want meals that are low fat or low sodium, you can select a certain diet plan, and you can select gourmet or budget type meals.
PRACTICAL!!!

You can even put this thing on your own computer desktop, but feel free to come back here and use it. I have just started to figure it out, so please spend some time using it and let me know what you think. It looks like there are more options that will be added later. Have fun!!

TV digital converter box deal

This week at Meijer, they are offering Summer Bucks coupons. You get a certain dollar amount off for buying a general merchandise item. The more the item costs, the more you get off. If you happened to get your coupons from the government for $40 towards a new converter box, you should be able to use them in conjunction with the Meijer Bucks to get a really good deal on a converter box. I haven't done this yet myself but will check it out and let you know. I suppose you will be better off to just not get one at all and avoid the brain numbing programing that is sure to continue to exude from your television whether it is digital or analog.

Sweet

I have to say I am a bit disappointed with the lack of comments on the last post. It is hard for me to believe that of the hundreds of people reading this blog, only two have cared to comment on their favorite Meijer products, and one of them doesn't really like Meijer products and the other only commented to share a completely unrelated story. Both comments were still greatly appreciated and those people will be receiving a prize for their efforts. Speaking of last posts comments, MEIJER EXECUTIVES please take note that people in Kansas want awesomeness. They are sick of the same old mediocre products and low quality produce. Really, Meijer doesn't have a lot of competition in the awesomeness department in Kansas. It wouldn't take much to really make an impact. Sorry Kansans, not trying to be rude, I mean you do have the prairie thing going on, and K-State, but you need some help. Like an extreme makeover state edition, with Meijer stores as the center piece. Someone at Meijer needs to get Ty Pennington on board and then things will happen.

Okay, this post is getting off course. What I really wanted to share was a picture sent to me by a co-worker who found it on someone's Facebook site. Sorry I can't give credit to whoever you are.
Have a look.
What I am thinking is that someone at Meijer was on a health kick and was just trying to say to the masses, "You can buy 4oz of sugar wrapped in a fancy bag for 62 cents, or you can get this 5 pound bag of sugar for like a buck." Clearly Meijer continues to be concerned with helping the average consumer save money.

If you didn't comment last time, feel free to continue to do so. I am eager to learn what products at Meijer you have found to be really good. Let me also know if you have decided to replace your candy bar habits with straight up sugar, and how that is going.

Meijer Brand

Meijer had a wonderful ad campaign going not that long ago that showed comparisons between name brand products and Meijer brand products with the only difference being the price. (See the commercial posted below with the girl eating spinach.) Even before these commercials came out, I had been expounding to my less enlightened friends how good Meijer brand products are. This concept was brought to mind again by my friend Dian, who occasionally has a moment of weakness and shops at a different mega store. She ends up buying bread there and is remorsefully disappointed with the poor taste and quality. She then wished desperately that she had gone to Meijer instead and purchased the Meijer brand wheat bread. Poor soul.
For those who buy name brand products, or store brand products at places other than Meijer, I want to encourage you to give Meijer a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

A few of my favorite Meijer products are: hot dogs (its all gross meat no matter who packages it, might as well be cheap), the cranberry cocktail juices, bread, salsa (the corn and black bean is the best) and milk (it is the only kind my wife and I drink).

Please write in and tell me some of your favorite Meijer products.