BARGAIN buyers have been offered a festive treat after Aldi slashed the cost of a Baileys dupe to less than a fiver.
The cream liqueur can be nabbed for just £4.49 a bottle but shoppers will want to be quick before stock disappears from shelves.
Aldi customers have often got their eyes peeled for a saving with the latest find perfect for last minute festivities with family or even as a gift for stocking fillers.
The Ballycastle Classic Country Cream boasts an “elegant, Irish tipple” and promises a rich, chocolate and vanilla creaminess.
With “toffee undertones” the sweet finish derives from the aptly-named Golden Vale region in Ireland.
Shoppers who opt for the dupe could save a remarkable 73 per cent compared to the pricier original.
With Bailey’s Original Irish Cream Liqueur usually costing £16.50, the similar alternative offers a £12.01 saving.
Those hoping to try some themselves should get their skates on as the drink is already available in stores.
Although it is advised that bargain buyers phone up ahead to avoid disappointment due to stock levels.
Currently, the 70cl bottle has been advertised as sold out online suggesting fans of the drink may want to act quick to save themselves some cash.
The dupe can be served on its own, over ice or stirred into hot drinks for added merriment during winter.
Many have taken to social media to express their thoughts on the tantalising beverage.
One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, said: “Ever so slightly different.
“The quality in 90% of the products are no different to their branded counterparts.
“If the people replying to me where to blind taste Baileys and Ballycastle amongst other cream liquors bet they’d fail to note the difference between the two.”
Another wrote: “Ballycastle is better than baileys mate trust me.”
Somebody else said: “Go to Aldi’s Ballycastle is far cheaper and tastes the same as Baileys.”
A fourth put: “Ballycastle! Bought a bottle for £5.49 yesterday.
“Bit sweeter than Baileys but not bad at all.”
It is not the only cheap bottle the supermarket giant has to offer.
This Laurent Perrier champagne dupe has been tipped as the perfect Christmas drink.
Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how you can save hundreds of pounds a year:
Odd boxes – plenty of retailers offer slightly misshapen fruit and veg or surplus food at a discounted price.
Lidl sells five kilos of fruit and veg for just £1.50 through its Waste Not scheme while Aldi shoppers can get Too Good to Go bags which contain £10 worth of all kinds of products for £3.30.
Sainsbury’s also sells £2 “Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me” fruit and veg boxes to help shoppers reduced food waste and save cash.
Food waste apps – food waste apps work by helping shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses shift stock that is due to go out of date and passing it on to members of the public.
Some of the most notable ones include Too Good to Go and Olio.
Too Good to Go’s app is free to sign up to and is used by millions of people across the UK, letting users buy food at a discount.
Olio works similarly, except users can collect both food and other household items for free from neighbours and businesses.
Yellow sticker bargains – yellow sticker bargains, sometimes orange and red in certain supermarkets, are a great way of getting food on the cheap.
But what time to head out to get the best deals varies depending on the retailer. You can see the best times for each supermarket here.
Super cheap bargains – sign up to bargain hunter Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where shoppers regularly post hauls they’ve found on the cheap, including food finds.
“Downshift” – you will almost always save money going for a supermarket’s own-brand economy lines rather than premium brands.
The move to lower-tier ranges, also known as “downshifting” and hailed by consumer expert Martin Lewis, could save you hundreds of pounds a year on your food shop.
CAMERON MENZIES broke down in tears and looked like he was struggling to breath on an emotional exit from Ally Pally.
The Scottish plumber played the final two legs with tears rolling down his eyes as he was beaten 3-1 by American Leonard Gates, who had immense fan support, in the first round of the PDC World Darts Championship.
https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1868778499328119193
Menzies – the boyfriend of Fallon ‘Queen of the Palace’ Sherrock – is an emotional guy, the sort of person who wears his heart on his sleeve on the TV stage.
Mentally and emotionally, he was clearly struggling as his game imploded and qualifier Gates edged closer to the victory.
The Glaswegian missed 27 of his 32 double attempts and as his game unraveled in front of 3,300 people, as he wiped away the tears from his face, the situation got worse.
The scenes were actually distressing to watch and there was a fear he might not make it through the game – and could even pull out.
Members of the crowd were really poor and were verging on the edge of bullying by ironically cheering Menzies‘ throws even as he was visibly having a hard time.
Glen Durrant, the three-time Lakeside world darts champion, said: “On the floor, Cammy has been the best player in the room. He’s the one that has stood out.
“It feels like it is a different game when you go on stage. It is just not happening for him. He is full of emotion.
“When you look at his preparation, he will have to work out if he is to find a solution about why he doesn’t play on the stage as he does on the floor. He’s extremely talented.
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“But at the end, it was a little worrying, I didn’t know if he was getting upset. If the heat was getting to him. It was a pretty bizarre ending.
“Very, very disappointing. He has people around him but he has to work it out himself. No point feeling sorry for himself. He’s a great darts player. He has to find a way through this.
“The excitement of playing on that stage is there but 16 per cent on the doubles was going to be his Achilles heel.”
Gates, 54, danced on stage after he sunk the final dart – this was match dart No5 – and he now faces Nathan Aspinall in the second round on Wednesday night.
Gates, a Texas lorry driver, said: “I was aware of Cammy. I want my opponent to play the best against me. So, I can see what I can do against them.
“I told him, use the energy, don’t look at it as a negative, look at it as a positive. Just use that energy, play a lot more darts, get better, keep showing the PDC what we can do.
“Nathan is a good darts player. I have to do better than what I did here. I am through. Merry Christmas. What can I say? This is frigging awesome!”
Gates added: “I told him, I hope you can block it out and play the game. Don’t get involved with negativity as someone is cheering against you.
“Focus on what you are doing. Go forward. I use that energy to block it out.
“It’s one of those things, you have to block out certain things. Do what you are there to do, I went back to the basics, throw your darts, check the scores.
“I hope I said things that will help him in his game, personally in life also. He has to figure out what it is. If he needs more help. I hope I said something that will build his confidence.”
THE World Darts Championship is underway at Ally Pally – and there has been a shock exit already!
James Wade became the first seed to get dumped out of the competition courtesy of a 3-0 loss against Jermaine Wattimena.
Gerwyn Price brushed aside Keane Barry in the final match of Monday night.
While teen sensation Luke Littler and his army of fans face a lengthy wait to kickstart his campaign.
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Follow ALL the action from the World Darts Championship with our live blog below…
BROOKLYN Beckham cooks up a storm with actress Eva Longoria as they film a cooking tutorial together.
The Desperate Housewives star, 49, is a close friend of his mum Victoria, and called Brooklyn, 25, her nephew.
They made tostadas from Eva’s cookbook My Mexican Kitchen with his hot sauce brand Cloud 23.
She said: “Look who came to help in the kitchen . . ”
Recently Eva wore an off-the-shoulder metallic gown for the Red Sea International Film Festival.
She joined fellow actresses including Catherine Zeta-Jones, 55, and Emily Blunt, 41, at the event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
More than 120 films from 81 countries will be shown at the festival, which has US film director Spike Lee, 67, heading up the jury for the features’ competition.
Last month Eva said she had left America after saying it is becoming “dystopian” and will be “scary” after Trump’s win.
Longoria has now given an interview to Marie Claire magazine in which she bemoaned she was done with Hollywood and “doesn’t miss it”.
She has been living outside of the US for some time before the election – despite coming back to campaign for Kamala.
And she will not be returning in the wake of Trump’s victory, saying his America will be a “scary place”.
Longoria said: “I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren’t so lucky.
“They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.”
GIANNIS Antetokounmpo insists he’s not driven by personal accolades despite standing on the brink of history.
The 30-year-old Milwaukee Bucks superstar can achieve a feat only LeBron James has managed.
The Bucks take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the final of the NBA Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday night.
Victory at the T-Mobile Arena would add the NBA Cup to Antetokounmpo’s NBA title, two league MVPs and NBA Finals MVP awards.
Only James has the complete set having led the Los Angeles Lakers to the Vegas jackpot in the first ever in-season tournament last year.
But Giannis isn’t focused on his personal collection.
“I don’t really think about that,” he said.
“I go out there, try to compete, play at a high level and try to improve as much as I can.
“I think when you approach the game that way, things like being in the NBA Cup final and winning the Championship just fall into place.
“If you focus on trying to win the MVP, it won’t happen.
“Because you approach the game the wrong way, and you’re thinking about yourself.”
Giannis added, “I wanted always to be one of the best players to ever play, like every kid that plays basketball.
“When you’re in your backyard and you’re dribbling the ball, you’re thinking about being one of the best and making that shot and dunking on somebody.
“You always think about that. But it takes so much more.”
James turns 40 later this month and continues to put up incredible numbers.
Giannis said, “I always look at the other players that set the blueprint for us and what he’s done is incredible and never been done.
“I definitely want to play late into my career until I’m 45 or as much as my body can allow me.
The NBA Cup returned for a second season this year with the finals once again set to take place in Las Vegas.
The 30 teams were split into six groups of five teams each with games taking place on Tuesdays and Fridays from November 12 to December 3.
The six group winners and two best wild cards advance to a quarterfinals stage on December 10 and 11.
And the final four head to Las Vegas for the semifinals on December 14 and the final on December 17.
All games count towards the team’s regular-season record, apart from the championship game.
“LeBron kind of set the path for us, set the blueprint for us. We’ve just got to follow.”
The Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks 110-102 in the semifinals on Saturday night with Antetokounmpo scoring 32 points.
In the second semifinal, Oklahoma City took care of the Houston Rockets with an impressive 111-96 win.
The Thunder lead the Western Conference standings and have lost just five games all season – the second fewest in the league behind the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“This is a great test for us,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
“We played them late last year on the road and they really took it to us, and it was a great game for us.
“Because we had been having a great season to that point, and we ran up against a team that was really ready to take it to us, and they did. Physically mauled us.
“It was good – it was like water in the face for us.
“I thought it really informed us at the level of physicality, focus, everything you need to win against a good team, they exposed, on that particular night.”
THE one-year grace period for a new parking regulation in California is weeks from ending, as drivers face $40 citations for violating the law.
Written warnings for vehicles parked within 20 feet of a crosswalk in the direction of approaching traffic began on November 11.
However, beginning on January 1, 2025, the warnings will be replaced with $40 written fines.
However, some drivers could be hit with fines as high as $64, depending on their jurisdiction.
California‘s daylighting parking regulation is meant to protect pedestrians by prohibiting vehicles from parking close to intersections and crosswalks.
Vehicles parked close to crosswalks or intersections often obstruct a driver’s view of pedestrians entering or using the crosswalk.
The new parking measures will “increase the visual field of both pedestrians crossing the street and drivers pulling up to an intersection,” the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said.
“The concept is simple. Pedestrian safety is vastly improved by removing vehicles that are close to intersections and crosswalks,” the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office told KTLA.
“Pedestrians will no longer have to ‘peek’ around large SUVs before they venture out into the intersection.”
The Daylighting law is expected to eliminate more than 13,000 parking spots in San Francisco alone.
San Francisco officials intend to paint the banned parking spots red, particularly near schools, to warn drivers.
“This is an important step toward improving safety on our City streets,” Bethany Bezak, the director of the San Diego Transportation Department, said.
“Working together, we can prevent needless crashes and save lives simply by changing how and where we park vehicles.
“This new law will bring us closer to our Vision Zero goals and a future where everyone in San Diego may safely walk and wide.”
The Vision Zero network aims to eliminate traffic-related fatalities across the world.
In San Diego, traffic officials have already begun painting curbs across the city red to indicate the 20-foot buffer zone.
Some car owners in San Francisco fumed over the new regulation, saying parking in the city is already challenging to come by.
“I think they should not do this at this time,” Masie Wong told NBC affiliate KNTV in November.
“They should at least wait for the economy to get better.”
Wong, who owns an AC trading company, told the outlet she had to shut one of her locations in the downtown area due to the limited parking spaces.
Celina Preciado said the new law will make shopping and dining in the city more difficult.
“It’s already hard to find parking as it is,” Preciado added.
“We probably will have to use public transportation now more often.”
There will be a 60-day grace period for the rule from January 1 to March 1, 2025.
A new parking law has been introduced in California.
California Assembly Bill 413, also known as the Daylighting to Save Lives Bill, prohibits parking within 20 feet of crosswalks.
The law makes it illegal for drivers to stop, stand, or park within 20 feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
Daylighting is a term for keeping the areas next to intersections as clear as possible to improve visibility on the street and protect pedestrians and bike riders.
The law also prohibits parking personal and commercial vehicles within 20 feet of the left curb on one-way streets or within 15 feet of crosswalks where a curb extension is present.
The law goes into effect on January 1, 2025.
There will be a 60-day grace period for violations until March 1.