Being on the Paleo diet, I eat a lot of nuts as a snack between meals. My absolute favorite: Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts. They are definitely one of those things that I can eat and think “I’m not depriving myself of anything, I can still eat some of my favorite foods in the world on the Paleo Diet”.
For this reason, I have to say I splurge a bit on Macadamia Nuts. Some might say I splurge a lot when it comes to Macadamia Nuts. Yes, there are some great deals to be had at Costco for some pretty decent Macadamia Nuts. But sometimes when you want to feel like you are treating yourself, pretty good isn’t what you are looking for. You are looking for amazing. You are looking for the best. You are looking for Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts.
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The Winner of my Macadamia Nut Taste Test – Mauna Loa Hawaiian Nuts
Given my love of Macadamia Nuts, I have purchased them from a lot of different sources. Usually trying to find the best deals, but also just trying to replenish my stock. I’ve tried Macadamia Nuts sold by Trader Joes (typically from Australia) from Whole Foods 365 (typically from South Africa). I’ve even had Macadamia Nuts from a local farm in Costa Rica where the nuts were roasted by a local cafe (I have to say there is something nice about the warm roasted nuts fresh out of the oven).
On a recent trip to Hawaii, I had the chance to taste test a couple of the brands from there: a local Hawaiian nut brand as well as the big name brand Mauna Loa (owned by Hershey). We ended up putting them head to head against some of the Macadamia Nuts I brought with me on the trip. In my opinion and that of my travel companion, Hawaiian Macadamia Nuts were the best, but surprisingly, Mauna Loa were hands down our favorite. It’s something about the buttery, roasted flavor, they are honestly amazing! Especially when they are super fresh.
How to Score The Cheapest Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts
I will say that in Hawaii at some grocery stores, they run grocery store club price specials on Mauna Loa nuts. They have some of the best prices I have seen. I believe I remember seeing a weekly special for the 11 oz bags for $8.50, an amazing deal. I definitely planned to stock up before heading back to the mainland and fill my suitcase, but unfortunately with the scramble to pack and leave, I didn’t have time to go back and stock up on the Mauna Loa nuts at the grocery store running the sale.
They do sell Mauna Loa nuts on Amazon, so that was my back up plan. Unfortunately, for most sizes, the prices range from overpriced to absurdly overpriced. That was, until I did a comprehensive analysis of the different options sold on Amazon and discovered that you can pay wildly different prices for the same product.
My Trick for getting the best price on Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts, at least outside Hawaii
So here is my trick. Amazon has a few sizes of Mauna Loa that are sold directly from Amazon, in a sea of overpriced nuts. What you start to realize is that there is a huge variation on prices for the same Macadamia Nuts. Just because someone is selling a 6 pack or a 12 pack of nuts in bulk, does not mean you are getting a good deal.
First, some rip offs to avoid
Some examples of NOT GREAT deals first for comparison, don’t fall for these “bulk packs” that do not offer much of a discount. There are many variations of Mauna Loa nuts being sold on Amazon: 6 packs of the 4.5 oz cans, 12 packs of the 4.5 oz cans, 3 packs of the 11 oz pouches, 6 packs of the 11 oz pouches. I had to take down some of my screenshots of various prices because Amazon doesn’t like it when we list prices for products as they tend to fluctuate, but the bottom line is that these various options tend to be at least 30% more expensive than the recurring strategy below. Also, these nuts are often being resold by third party sellers, rather than the listing by Amazon described below, so it’s hard to know how fresh the products are, or whether they have been sitting around for a while. With buying directly from Amazon, you would suspect there is a lot of turnover.
Now For the Good News! How to Save over 15% buying nuts online from Amazon
So now that I have spent time giving examples of bad deals, here is an example of a great deal. The below mac nuts (the same ones as in the six pack above) can be purchased for the lowest price per ounce I have seen outside of Hawaii (on sale at the grocery store) if you are willing to buy 5 or more SINGLE 4.5 oz containers. This is roughly the same size Mac Nut order as some of the more expensive options above, but for a whole lot less money. For example the equivalent 6 pack above was selling for [removing prices – but can still compare percentages], while buying 6 cans via subscribe and save for the item below from Amazon is only [removing prices] for the exact same 6 cans – a 30% savings (or saving over $10 off your 6 can order)!!!
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The steps I took to get the 15% discount off the Amazon lowest price on Macadamias
In order to get the full 15% discount, you have to order at least 5 subscribe and save items. However, each 4.5 oz can of Mauna Loa qualifies as a separate subscribe and save order, so simply order 5 or more snack size cans qualifies you for the discount (believe me, it’s easy to polish off a single can in one or two rounds of snacking, so don’t be fooled by the picture which makes it look like these are large containers – they are about 3 inches tall). Please note, you do not have to subscribe to having the order repeat every month. You could instead choose that the order repeats every 6 months, and still get the discount. You can also order once, then cancel the subscribe and save and would still get the 15% discount. Given there are a couple of steps to getting multiple cans into your subscribe and save orders for this same product to qualify for the discount, I am including step by step screenshots of how I do this:
Order the first can by choosing the “Subscribe and Save” option, which at first lists a 5% discount:
Once the order has been added to your subscribe and save subscriptions as shown:
Next go back to the original page to place another order for the same item (for convenience here is the link again). Choose “Review Subscription” to add another one of these to your ongoing subscribe and save orders:
In the next screen choose “Subscribe Now” to add the item to your monthly subscribe and save order:
Once you have reached 5 or more items (in this case 5 cans of Mac Nuts) in your subscribe and save order, the 15% discount will be applied to all of your subscribe and save items. So you will get the 15% discount on all of the Mac nuts:
Amazon purchases for 15 percent off? What’s the catch?
There is one downside to getting this maximum discount through subscribe and save. You don’t have much control over when the items are shipped to you. They will only confirm that they are shipping the product sometime in the next month. In my experience, I have generally received the shipment within about 2 weeks, but your mileage may vary. So if you are craving macadamia nuts right away, it might be worth the extra money to you to forgo the 15% discount and choose the one-time purchase option. These Mac Nuts are still a much better deal than the examples of bad deals at the top of the post. They are even less expensive than the store brand Mac Nuts sold at Whole Foods under their 365 brand or even at Trader Joes and are much higher quality, so this is still a great deal.
Getting all your Subscribe and Save Items on Amazon for 15% off
One neat side effect of placing these 5 4.5oz can orders individually in this way is that you will be able to get all other subscribe and save items from Amazon for 15 percent off too, as you have already met the minimum 5 subscribe and save items needed for the 15% discount! I have added a few other items in the past, also at this huge discount, such as my favorite Mutti Italian canned tomatoes (also Paleo) which also qualify for the subscribe and save discount. Adding 5 separate orders of the single can of Mac Nuts is a really fast way to qualify for the 5 or more subscribe and save order discount.
Your Order is on The Way
The last thing to do is sit back and wait for your Macadamias to arrive!
Are you a Macadamia Nut lover? Have your own strategy for buying nuts online or stocking up on Mac Nuts that others should know about? Have a favorite brand? Let us know in the comments below.
If you are looking for other articles on grain free, sugar free, preservative free healthy Paleo products see our other articles on the topic, like our article on Coco
