Launch of Our New Blog

When Annikki and I wrote our book, "HANDBOOK FOR SURVIVAL IN FINLAND" in 1994 after almost 10 years of careful research, the guarantee that went with the book was that if the buyer did not get his or her money back, by following our suggestions in the book, within a month of purchase, we would refund the cost of the book.



5000 copies of the book sold. There was not a single "money-back" claimant.

A few weeks ago our local newspaper, Kaleva, started a Best Buy column. In earlier blog entries, KALEVA follows us 12 years on.. both on our personal blog, Jacpb's Blog, and well as our CHAFF Blog, Disgust at Kaleva's "Hintavahti" column we accused Kaleva of trying to capitalise on our Fun game and also of perpetrating a fraud on its readers.

We also gave our best buy suggestion in the latter entry.

We were innundated with requests to run our own Best Buy Blog page for our readers in Oulu.

So that we did not burden our world-wide readers with such local news, we have started this Oulu Best Buy Blog and we will post here any good finds that we make.

Some will be "shock" passing best buys, while others will be best buys that are more permanent in nature.

For instance, today, there is a K-Shop in Välivainio called KOTIHERKKU which is closing down in the next three days as a new K-Market has opened a few tens of metres away. Many of the products are on offer at a reduction of 30% starting at 7:00 am TODAY. The shelves will be empty within the day, but tomorrow and upto Saturday, the discount will increase till they clear the shelves. (The discount does not apply to fresh products, baked products, meat, meat based products, ready foods, milk home products, cheeses, alcohol, cigarettes, newspapers, mother's milk based products and drinks in returnable bottles. Check the list when you enter the shop!)

Location of KOTIHERKKU in Välivainio

It is worth checking out this shop for things you may need. But, be warned, the basic prices in these small shops are usually higher than in the larger Supermarkets. So be sure of the prices before you fall for this 30% discount as 30% on 200% will still make products more expensive.

So to get the best buy information, check back frequently.

If you have any suggestions of Best Buys, please send us an email, and we will investigate and determine the facts behind your suggestion.

Best buys can be on anything - from your daily needs as food, toileteries, to cars, houses, etc.

If you live in another part of Finland and would like to submit details from your area, we will judge your finds against the Oulu standards and publish. So do keep your suggestions coming in. Maybe we can start a national network of Best Buy Blogs for all the major cities.

Welcome to our Best Buy Blog, and as the first suggestion for this blog we give one which is used quite a lot in Indian cooking - Coconut Milk.

The prices of a tin of Coconut Milk are in some shops as high as Euro 2 (Euro 5 per litre). The price is a function of the creaminess of the milk.

However, for standard cooking purposes, the very BEST BUY Coconut Milk is the one available in PRISMA shops in Oulu. The price of te Rainbow Brand is Euro 0.79 for a 400 ml tin (Euro 1.975 per litre). We know that this is cheaper than what is available in even many of the Wholesale Outlets in Oulu.

Our previous best buy was the 2.5 kg Euroshopper French Fries from K-Citymarkets at Euro 1.95 for a 2.5 kg packing which is Euro 0.78 per kg.

Keep those suggestions coming in.