Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[Trainerdude]

Ok. Is there a definitive thread on how you are all earning enough miles for tickets? I get my gas at shell and the 1 air mile per fill up makes me think I will never get there. I don’t shop at sobeys or metro as it seems so expensive. Any other tips?

 

[nicynot]

Okay folks.. who’s seen Disney gift cards lately at either Sobeys or Canadian tire or even shell or needs? Specifically in Nova Scotia or Moncton?

 

[hdrolfe]

Has anyone used Miss Fresh? Is it worthwhile? How is the food?

I tried it for one of the big deals. I like the food, my son does not. It's expensive to me for what it provides, but it did force me to eat more vegetables and actually cook. Which I guess is a good thing? It was worthwhile for the bonus airmiles for the box itself and the bonus, I think it was one of my megmiles or shop the block.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Shop The Block Coming soon is up
https://shoptheblock.ca/

Nov 14 to Dec 27
Max earn 1200 AM for 7 offers

I've started a thread to help everyone earn the maximum number of miles, come on over and join the fun!

Shop the Block 2019

 

[Donald - my hero]

Ok. Is there a definitive thread on how you are all earning enough miles for tickets? I get my gas at shell and the 1 air mile per fill up makes me think I will never get there. I don’t shop at sobeys or metro as it seems so expensive. Any other tips?

This thread is where you'll find the most current information on collecting airmiles. I keep the title updated to reflect where the discussion starts for the upcoming weekly flyers, happens on Wednesday at some point. The first post has links to all the flyers and well as information regarding signing up for targeted offers. Everyone reports on their shopping trips and that allows us to figure out our own plans of attack.

Whenever there are big promos I start threads that are dedicated to those and if you follow along there you will be able to get some pointers on how to maximize that as well. Shop the Block is starting up on Thursday November 14th and you can earn up to 1,200 miles.

For us personally? Most of our miles come from Rexall, followed by our credit cards and then Metro. We don't get gas at Shell and only shop at Sobey's if the miles return is huge. Feel free to ask questions, everyone likes to help!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Has anyone used Miss Fresh? Is it worthwhile? How is the food?

It's not something we've used but i know lots have during some of the big promos. I'm sure it will become a topic of conversation in the Shop the Block thread once it goes live.. big miles for trying out the service!

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Ok. Is there a definitive thread on how you are all earning enough miles for tickets? I get my gas at shell and the 1 air mile per fill up makes me think I will never get there. I don’t shop at sobeys or metro as it seems so expensive. Any other tips?

Look for the air miles signs at Shell and they are not all the same. Different stores have different sales. There's one by me that was giving 100 miles for 25 dollars of car washes. I bought 4. I only used 2 so far. The other morning I was going to work and stopped in and they had buy 2 chocolate bars for 10 miles. And, if they have any sales on like 25 liters pays 5 miles. It's a lot more than 1 mile. This thread is amazing. I wanted to get back to gold status for this year and I have no problems getting the 400 miles I needed. I did it in only a few weeks
And today, was at foodland and got 52 miles for spending 40 bucks.

 

[mab2012]

Has anyone used Miss Fresh? Is it worthwhile? How is the food?

We've had a few orders. The food is not bad. There were some dishes we liked, and others that were just okay. We found the portion sizes to be on the large side.

It is expensive for what it is, and I find it generates a lot of garbage (some of which is recyclable). I've disabled my account, but sometimes if I'm looking for inspiration I will go and look at this week's recipes and then just buy the groceries myself. They are generally fairly simple and quick meals, so they can be good for a weeknight. That won't get you the Air Miles though!

I did have one not-so-great experience back in the summer. I forgot to cancel my order one week, so it was placed automatically. Fine. My fault. The order was supposed to arrive on Tuesday. It didn't. When I looked up the tracking information, it said the package was "not available for loading". I contacted support late on Tuesday, and asked them to cancel the order (I didn't want it anyway, and certainly not once it was delayed in transit). On Wednesday I received a response saying that the order was "in transit" and should be received by the next day (Thursday), that it was "out of their control" and I should let them know if anything was "not fresh". Which completely ignored the fact that if I *had* been relying on that package, my meal plan for the week would have been totally shot, AND that there almost certainly would be "not fresh" items by the time the package arrived two days late... if it arrived at all. I replied, saying as much, and was then offered a refund. The package never did show up, so either it was completely lost in transit, or it wasn't actually out of their control after all.

There was also one recipe that called for an ingredient that wasn't provided. IIRC the item wasn't actually in the list of ingredients, but it was needed in the instructions. That particular recipe was quite badly written and unclear, but most have been easy to follow.

Other than that, my orders (maybe 3 or 4 in total) have always arrived on time, and well packed in ice. There has been the occasional unusable item; generally a bit of fresh herb or other more delicate vegetable that went mushy in its plastic bag. Any meat we've ordered has been vacuum packed and would easily last for several days or longer in the fridge.

 

[TammyLynn33]

I tried it for the last shop the block . It was expensive and only my DD was adventurous to try it . I found the simpler foods were way more expensive . All portions were small specially the meat . And I found most
of the prep time high..
it was an okay experience . Would be good to try new meals and portion control but it wasn’t for us ..


QUOTE="hdrolfe, post: 61247193, member: 505294"]
I tried it for one of the big deals. I like the food, my son does not. It's expensive to me for what it provides, but it did force me to eat more vegetables and actually cook. Which I guess is a good thing? It was worthwhile for the bonus airmiles for the box itself and the bonus, I think it was one of my megmiles or shop the block.
[/QUOTE]

 

[alohamom]

Ok. Is there a definitive thread on how you are all earning enough miles for tickets? I get my gas at shell and the 1 air mile per fill up makes me think I will never get there. I don’t shop at sobeys or metro as it seems so expensive. Any other tips?

I find that my local Sobeys and my local Metro both have very good quality meat so when there is a bonus 100 Air Miles for spending $100 at Sobeys (like there is this weekend), I will sometimes stock my freezer. It isnt too hard to reach $100 when buying meat for the week, and I will include buying any veggies or fruit that are on sale in that shop as well . I try to only buy what is on sale and is a good price because it really doesnt make sense to me to overspend to earn miles.I also find the Sobeys "My Offers" helps by added threshold spend bonuses that usually apply to under $100 for me. So if I spend $100 on a binus 100 weekend I will often end up getting more like 140-160 AMs. I do find this strategy takes extra time because it means trips to different stores for basics. I dont accumulate miles as fast as some of the others on this thread but I have been Onyx 3 years in a row because of all the tips everyone posts. Plus the big bonuses like the up coming Shop the Block push my totals pretty high.

I personally dont shop that much at Rexall. I find it really hard to even get to $50 which is usually the minimum spend for bonus Air Miles because I can find most of the things I need and use much cheaper someplace else (ie-WalMart or Superstore) Other folks here have everyday items they buy on a regular basis at Rexall that suit their needs and budget. Recently, Rexall introduced an expanded M&Ms frozen food section in some stores and that made a difference for me. We dont eat a lot of M&M food but there are a few items we do like and that made it much easier for me to get to $50. A few weeks ago there was an incredible double dipping scenario at Rexall that allowed you to earn over 200 Air Miles on a $50 spend so I did go out of my way to take advantage of that

Try to do the Shop The Block promo that is coming up. It looks like it might be harder than it has been in the past and they are only offering 1200 max but hey, that really is a fairly substantial chunk of miles.

Good luck!

 

[alohamom]

As far as the Miss Fresh promo goes, I went back and forth about it but ultimately decided for me it was too much for too little

 

[osully]

I tried it for one of the big deals. I like the food, my son does not. It's expensive to me for what it provides, but it did force me to eat more vegetables and actually cook. Which I guess is a good thing? It was worthwhile for the bonus airmiles for the box itself and the bonus, I think it was one of my megmiles or shop the block.

I tried it too for the AM promo last year. I chose the vegetarian box even though we aren’t vegetarian - thought I would change it up. It was very overpriced and we personally did not love the meals. A few ingredients also arrived bad or broken open so I complained to them and they gave me credits towards more boxes. Got a lot of miles for trying though so if you’re curious give it a shot!

 

[ottawamom]

Ok. Is there a definitive thread on how you are all earning enough miles for tickets? I get my gas at shell and the 1 air mile per fill up makes me think I will never get there. I don’t shop at sobeys or metro as it seems so expensive. Any other tips?

This is the definitive informative thread! Sobeys and Metro can be price competitive if you shop the sales. As far as collecting AM goes you won't get something for nothing, but if you shop the bonuses you can get some pretty good returns.

It does take time an effort and changing some of your purchasing habits but it can pay off if you play the game.

 

[mort1331]

So little off topic but I know a few of you collect. Comes out Sunday Nov 17. Last time min purchase to get one was $15.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

What is that?

 

[mort1331]

What is that?

So if your around a disney store when it opens and your picked to open it, they have a giant key to open with magic. Every store worldwide opens this way. You then get a small replica of that key. The regular key is green and white. Since last year they have been having some special keys, usually to co-ordinate a movie coming out. And you dont have to be the first one in line, but there is limited supplies at each store, sometimes 20 sometimes 100. This is the christmas one coming out. They attach a purchase to getting one, so last time Frozen you had to spend min $15 to get one.
Some of these people have lined up for hours for, and on ebay they are going for anywhere between 25-100US for them.
We missed the Aladdin one, were lucky with the others, and now I have someone who gives me a heads up when the next come out.
Just a fun little keepsake

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Oooh small souvenirs like this are right up my alley lol

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

I find that my local Sobeys and my local Metro both have very good quality meat so when there is a bonus 100 Air Miles for spending $100 at Sobeys (like there is this weekend), I will sometimes stock my freezer. It isnt too hard to reach $100 when buying meat for the week, and I will include buying any veggies or fruit that are on sale in that shop as well . I try to only buy what is on sale and is a good price because it really doesnt make sense to me to overspend to earn miles.I also find the Sobeys "My Offers" helps by added threshold spend bonuses that usually apply to under $100 for me. So if I spend $100 on a binus 100 weekend I will often end up getting more like 140-160 AMs. I do find this strategy takes extra time because it means trips to different stores for basics. I dont accumulate miles as fast as some of the others on this thread but I have been Onyx 3 years in a row because of all the tips everyone posts. Plus the big bonuses like the up coming Shop the Block push my totals pretty high.

I personally dont shop that much at Rexall. I find it really hard to even get to $50 which is usually the minimum spend for bonus Air Miles because I can find most of the things I need and use much cheaper someplace else (ie-WalMart or Superstore) Other folks here have everyday items they buy on a regular basis at Rexall that suit their needs and budget. Recently, Rexall introduced an expanded M&Ms frozen food section in some stores and that made a difference for me. We dont eat a lot of M&M food but there are a few items we do like and that made it much easier for me to get to $50. A few weeks ago there was an incredible double dipping scenario at Rexall that allowed you to earn over 200 Air Miles on a $50 spend so I did go out of my way to take advantage of that

Try to do the Shop The Block promo that is coming up. It looks like it might be harder than it has been in the past and they are only offering 1200 max but hey, that really is a fairly substantial chunk of miles.

Good luck!

Hey I only highlighted the one line because it got my attention and just to use an example. So when our kids were babies I used to get tons or miles and I was easily gold because of Metro. I could get a pack of diapers at Walmart for 19.97 or 19.99 at Metro but since you never buy just diapers you always get either wipes or cream then you get the 20 dollars and a mile. If they had a bonus week-end I'd buy 3 or 4 packs of diapers. It was more money, it definitely was harder on the bank account but it worked and we always would spend the miles for car rentals when on holidays so it all worked out. Just another example for trainerdude to see how he can add his miles.
I haven't shopped much t Rexall. My wife would need to get the beauty supplies to add it up but she works from home and can't get out there after work. I can't go buy it for her.

 

[cari12]

Ok. Is there a definitive thread on how you are all earning enough miles for tickets? I get my gas at shell and the 1 air mile per fill up makes me think I will never get there. I don’t shop at sobeys or metro as it seems so expensive. Any other tips?

We get most of our miles from Safeway (Sobeys) and our BMO AirMiles MasterCard. I also do the big promos like Shop the Block starting on Nov 14.

 

[bababear_50]

So if your around a disney store when it opens and your picked to open it, they have a giant key to open with magic. Every store worldwide opens this way. You then get a small replica of that key. The regular key is green and white. Since last year they have been having some special keys, usually to co-ordinate a movie coming out. And you dont have to be the first one in line, but there is limited supplies at each store, sometimes 20 sometimes 100. This is the christmas one coming out. They attach a purchase to getting one, so last time Frozen you had to spend min $15 to get one.
Some of these people have lined up for hours for, and on ebay they are going for anywhere between 25-100US for them.
We missed the Aladdin one, were lucky with the others, and now I have someone who gives me a heads up when the next come out.
Just a fun little keepsake

Oh that is so cute
thanks for sharing
Right now I am on day two of setting up a *small* grinch whoville village which started with two inexpensive whoville houses and it has blossomed into 8 house 10 Wonky trees and multiple accessories.....lol.
It is a lot of fun though.
Hugs
Mel