Thrift.ie

The Best of Ireland’s Consumer Advice and News

Review: Early bird at the Saddle Room

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My highlight of Taste of Dublin: steak frites from the Saddle Room. Simple, unfussy, and perfectly cooked.
The Shelbourne Hotel lost its character when it was revamped, but its restaurant seemed reason enough to visit. I headed there with our good friend Geordie Sue a few weeks ago to check out the early bird menu; €22 for [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Another tale of good customer service… at Centra

We have regular whinges about bad customer service here at CheapEats, so it’s always nice when we can point out the good.
Last week, I spent four successive days swearing that I wouldn’t be hungover again until September (I was marking the end of summer). With so much alcohol residue coursing through my veins, the cravings [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Education Fees and Investment Policies. Banks? No Thanks!

Just when you thought your bank couldn’t make you feel any worse via increases in mortgage rates, account charges, and the stifling of credit; they have the gall to start delivering sermons on the need to start saving for your children’s education with one of their investment policies.

It’s all designed to scare the bejaysus out of you: motivation to save through fear. They give the impression that they are doing you a favour by highlighting the issue of education costs and prompt you to start saving as soon as possible.

There’s nothing wrong with saving for education via an investment policy, but it only makes sense to do so if you are not going to get screwed on charges. Do you want to save for your own child’s education or for the education of the child of the person that’s selling the product? If you are going to start saving for education fees you have to get the product right from the outset, otherwise you will end up with something that is not fit for purpose.

It would not be unusual for a bank to charge you 5% of every payment you make to an investment plan, plus an annual management charge of 1.5% pa of the value of your fund. Or, to put it another way; if your fund had a growth rate of 6% pa over the term of the policy the charges would reduce the growth to about 4% pa. This ‘beast’ of a product is woefully bad value for money.

In addition, your ‘make-it-up-as-we-go-along’ Government have increased the tax on growth of these investment policies to 28% AND introduced an idiotic 1% Tax on all contributions that you make to the plan.

Seriously folks, you have got to put the time into researching what is on offer in this market. You can’t really do anything about the Government Tax, except giving your local TD a piece of your mind. What you can do is focus on the product charges. It is possible to save/invest in these products without the 5% charge on each payment and reduce the annual management charge to about 1% pa. Your bank will not be able to provide you with a competitive product.

Example: If you saved €150pm for 18 years in what the bank are offering you would end up with a fund of €43,088. This would be increased to €45,867 if there was a single charge of 1% pa on the value of the fund. A potential €2,779 more in your pocket, as opposed to the banks. Both funds assume a growth rate of 6%.



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Originally published on: Pensions & Investments.

Winner of our Milano Create Your Own Pizza Competition

This week, Milano offered our readers a chance to win dinner for two to promote their great new ‘Create Your Own Pizza’ challenge.  85 of you said ‘me please!’ and the lucky winner is:
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

79
Timestamp: 2010-09-02 11:08:39 UTC
So well done Catherine, commenter no 79! We’ll be in touch to [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Recipes: Blackberry season

The blackberries are out and it’s your chance to get free food. You can use them to make jam, cakes, ice cream, compote, crème brulée, coulis and even tea.
You can also use blackberries in savoury sauces. Venison goes well with autumnal purple-red produce and this Pan-fried venison with blackberry sauce is very fast and easy [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Bank of Ireland changing from 1890 to 0818 number for Banking 365

Just noticed this on the Bank Of Ireland website – If calling from your mobile, the new number for Bank of Ireland phone banking services is 0818 365 365. If you are calling from a landline, however, you can still use 1890 365 365. From 8th September 2010, customers will only be able to reach [...]



Originally published on: SayNoTo1890.com.

02 and online vs paper billing – the controversy continues

It seems that the decision of O2 to force all their customers towards online billing is causing a lot of concern for [...]



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Originally published on: ValueIreland.com.

The Mingle Market is coming to town!

The Mingle Market is coming to Dublin on September 12th!
There’ll be arts, crafts,antiques, vintage clothes and lots of quirky jumble.
You’ll find it in the Co-Op, Newmarket Square, Dublin 8.
Happy shopping!
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Originally published on: The Savvy Shopper.

Special buys at Aldi

Lots of Italian special buys this week at Aldi, including:

Panini press – €25.99
Italian biscuits – €1.99 each
Italian spice mills – 99c each
Premium pesto – €1.39 each

Nothing for picnic goers, but I’m jealous of you all so HA HA. No tents for you: that’ll ruin your weekend, right? Click here for details.
The current Super6 offer – [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Special offers at Lidl

Food offers
Current food offers at Lidl include:

Red/ white cabbage – reduced from €1.29 to 79c
Pinot Grigio delle Venezie Blush (750ml) – reduced from €5.49 to €3.99
Something called “chicken olives, with pork, sage and onion stuffing” (answers on a postcard please) – €2.79

Remember, new set of food offers every Monday at Lidl. Click here for details.
Super [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

We heart Hunter!

Although it may be a little late to order online for EP we can’t help but lust after these cute red hunters.
Click here for a closer look.
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Originally published on: The Savvy Shopper.

Reasons from one company why they only provide 1890 numbers for their customers

This link came up in a Google Alert recently. It shows two reasons why Imagine WiMax won’t provide their customers with a geographical alternative for their 1890 customer care numbers. Their first response to a customer query was: The reason we have an 1890 number is because this number is charged at a flat rate [...]



Originally published on: SayNoTo1890.com.

September specials at Carter Beauty

If your heading to Electric Picnic this weekend and are in need of a beauty overhaul you may be interested in the current special at Carter Beauty in Blackrock.
€99 will get you….
A full body spray tan
An eyebrow shape
An eyelash tint
Eyelash extensions
A gelish three week manicure
and a diamonte Pedicure…phew!
This offer is available until October 31st.
You’ll find [...]



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Originally published on: The Savvy Shopper.

1.6 litre diesel or 2 for 1 burger?

I was renewing my car insurance recently. Nothing odd about that, the usual ritual of spending ages trawling numerous comparison and quote sites, searching for the best quote, calling here, there and everywhere to try and bargain, and, being a young male, failing miserably in most cases!

It’s long been a part of Irish society to try and get a few bob off here and there, and this “cute hooreism” is even more important nowadays, with the dreaded r word still upon us! Anyway, between grappling with engine sizes and no claims bonuses, I spent hours upon hours researching, for a reward of €50 less than I was currently paying. A great result some might say, and I was rightly delighted!

Until, that is, I thought about the time spent and money off that I gained and compared it to something else, something many people do at least four, if not five days per week, and put a lot less though into – eating out! (Of course it would come back to food for someone so entwined in mylunch.ie , but that’s no bad thing is it?!)

Anyway, I put my thinking cap on. If I ate out only four times per week for the year, spending on average €8.50 a pop, this would come to a grand total of €1,598 (based on a 47 week working year). My car insurance, from quite a reputable Irish insurer came in at no less than 1,100 euro, down from 1,150.

Would it not make much more sense then, to spend a similar amount of man hours on my lunchtime experience?!

It’s quite easy to see how spending even 5 minutes per day on our site could save you literally hundreds of euro per year. A 2 for 1 deal here, a €2 off deal there, free dessert perhaps, or even just searching the site for daily lunch specials.

The reason we set up mylunch.ie was that we wanted to publicise the amount of great lunch deals which were available out there, and all of these small savings add up very quickly. We’re very passionate about all things lunch as you can see!

And also, isn’t it much more enjoyable browsing for lunch options than it is entering your engine size and age into an insurance site?!

Anyway, I just wanted to relate our site to something which we all have to do yearly, and which we all try to save money on.

Stay hungry!

Shane from mylunch.ie

Originally published on: mylunch.ie Blog.

M&S to sell branded products in its Irish stores

M&S is to start selling branded products* in its Irish stores. Up to 450 brands, including Coca Cola, Kellogg’s, Barry’s, and Tayto will be phased into all 20 M&S stores by the middle of September.
It’s a big leap for the retailer, which has always prided itself on selling only its own produce, but it’s worked [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Amnesty’s Taste for Freedom, September 30

I’m a big fan of “supper clubs” – I call them that for lack of a better word – and we’ve written about the idea several times here on CheapEats. Simply gather some friends together, get one person to make a starter, another the main, and someone else the dessert. A great alternative to eating [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Mezze recipes, part two

I’m really loving Anissa Helou’s fantastic mezze recipes, as well as the stories on her wonderful blog. She currently has a lovely tale to tell about chocolates made from camel milk. Here’s two more mezze recipes from her excellent book Modern Mezze; check out more of her books here.
Mezze are so versatile: they make great [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Product Review: Tesco Finest Dinner for Two

M&S’s Dine in for Two for €12.50 offer must be one of the most attractive and successful supermarket special offers of recent years. It’s been running for ages now, consists of a great selection of unfeasibly luxurious food (both ready-made meals and fresh ingredients to cook) and is clearly hugely popular.  I’ve seen people charging [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Review: Ananda’s, Dundrum

I’m always dubious when someone tells me they’ve discovered the best Indian restaurant in Ireland. More often than not, it turns out to be very good indeed – but also very, very similar to most Indian food served in Ireland. Seven pieces of identically shaped chicken or lamb, swirling in lots of sauce, and served [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

New recipe search engine from The Guardian

The Guardian – home of the wonderful Word of Mouth blog, publisher of the Observer Food Monthly magazine, and my favourite newspaper for food journalism – has just launched a handy online search guide for its recipes.
It’s disarmingly simple: enter the ingredients you wish to use, with the option to exclude those you don’t have [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Readers E-mail: Fine Gael Jobs Proposal

This e-mail came through from a ValueIreland.com reader some time ago, but I’m only getting a chance to publish now. What do [...]



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Originally published on: ValueIreland.com.

€2 Tuesdays: Sweet and sour pork chops with buttery mashed potatoes

By Mitchell O’Brien
We’ve been doing this one at home for ages. The kids love it, but it works for a dinner party just as easy. Have a go!
Sweet and sour pork chops with buttery mashed potatoes
Total cost: (excluding electricity) € 8.80
Serves: 5
Cost per person: € 1.76

Ingredients

Ingredient
Source & Cost

5 Medium Pork Chops
your local Butcher – 5 [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Special offers at Dunnes, August 30

Offers this week at Dunnes include:

Snack pack apples, pears, and oranges (1kg) each – €1
Mix and match any 2 selected meats for €6
Johnson’s selected baby toiletries – half price

And there’s loads more, on everything from the essentials to the treats. Offers are valid until Saturday September 4 unless otherwise stated.
Click here for details.
Another bargain spotted [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Special offers at SuperValu, August 30

Loads of tempting offers this week at SuperValu, including:

Mix and match any 3 selected fruit and veg for €4
SuperValu chopped tomatoes (3 tins x 400g) – reduced from €2.15 to €1
Mix and match any 3 selected meats for €10 (save €8)

You can also pick up the ingredients for a family dinner for €5.
Most offers are [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.

Sponsored Post: Milano Create Your Pizza Giveaway

Competition closed. Check back again to see if you’re the lucky winner.
Passionate pizza fanatics are being given the chance to star on the Milano menu for the first time. Milano has just launched a nationwide challenge to cook up the ultimate pizza idea and is inviting everyone to come up with imaginative suggestions that [...]

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Originally published on: CheapEats.ie.