Ever wonder what to do with your old mobile phone?

Or that outdated iPod that you upgraded from years ago?

Or the myriad of chargers tangled up in a drawer that don't seem to fit any of your current gadgets?

If you're hungry for an answer, Pizza Pizza might be the solution.

In delivering on its commitment to the environment, the pizza giant is offering up free pepperoni slices in return for your old phones, iPods and chargers during the month of April.

What if you made your morning coffee instead of heading to the drive-thru on your way to work? Crazy idea isn't it?

But is saving some extra money really so crazy?  Believe it or not, those trips to the coffee shop really do add up.

According to the Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA), if you save the $5 instead of buying that latte -- even at 1.5 per cent interest -- you will save about $5,500 over 25 years. Not too shabby, eh?

Len Penzo thinks many people are wasting their hard-earned money tossing out perfectly good food because they take expiration dates at face value.

He admits that he trawls the aisles for discounts on items about to expire, and relies on his senses to judge when something seems to be a bit off.

When in doubt, he consults StillTasty, a site dedicated to helping consumers decide whether to keep it or toss it. Simply search for the food or beverage in question, indicate how long you’ve had it and whether it has been opened, and you’ll find out if you can safely chow down.

While many wine lovers will tell you otherwise, the most dominant flavour in that glass of Merlot may its price tag.

"We’ve known for a long time that there’s a correlation between what you pay for a wine and how good it tastes to you, but this correlation only exists, of course, when people know the price," says Dan Ariely, author of The Upside of Irrationality.

To prove his point, he references the work of wine critic Robin Goldstein, whose paper detailing more than 6,000 blind tastings maintains that “individuals who are unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine.”

Goldstein argues that most people buy wine based on image rather than any combination of smell or taste and that our expectations do influence our enjoyment.

As a result, when most people are given wine without seeing the label, they’re just as likely to prefer cheaper wines as compared to more expensive wines.

When it comes to snacking, certain items just belong together: chips and dip, wine and cheese, beer and pretzels.

But does that mix have to come from the same manufacturer? Apparently so.

Shoppers prefer matching brands for products that are consumed together because they believe products from the same brand have been designed that way, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

In one study, consumers ate Tostitos brand tortilla chips and Tostitos brand salsa but were told that they were actually various combinations of fictional brands called Festivity or Party Time. When told that the two foods were from the same brand, however, consumers enjoyed the chips and salsa that much more. 

Last week a dark cloud rolled in over the world’s snack lovers, churning and booming and threatening to wipe clean perhaps the most prominent junk food of them all.

After more than eight decades in business, Hostess Brands, weighed by mounting debt and management turmoil, announced it would cease operations. Immediately, this appeared to mean one thing: farewell, Twinkie.

Indeed, the prospect of that iconic sponge-cake-and-cream dessert being wiped from stores was enough to throw consumers into fits, but then, this is the Twinkie we’re talking here.

If the snack can supposedly survive a nuclear holocaust, definitely survive 30 years on a shelf, bet that it can triumph over a bout of bankruptcy, too.

It looks like consumers around the world aren't willing to keep trading down in their eating habits just because their incomes have stalled. In fact, it looks like some are just going to quit eating out  altogether, particularly at the lower end of the fast-food chain.

McDonald's just reported its first monthly decline in same-store in a decade, BrandChannel reports, never a good sign when you're looking for economic indicators.

And trusty Canadian icon Tim Hortons, while in slightly better shape, has seen its growth slow as well. 

“Our growth rates were below those we have typically delivered in recent years,” Tim Hortons chief executive officer Paul House told analysts recently. 

Typically, fast-food outlets hold their own when the economy slides as even cost-conscious diners view them as a fairly low-cost indulgence. Except that doesn't seem to be the case this time around.

Canadian whiskey connoisseurs have reason to celebrate with the news that the Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve 55 Year Old has arrived in the country. Even better, those with deep pockets will have an opportunity to take it home.

The renowned Scotch whisky has earned acclaim as one of the rarest and most expensive single malts in the world, with only 11 bottles ever being produced. Bidding will start at $50,000 when it hits auction on October 19th at Toronto's Trump International Hotel & Tower. Bidders can also participate in a live online auction. Sally Gordon, Janet Sheed Roberts' (1901 - 2012) great-niece will be on hand.

The coffee industry's push to sell machines that make single-serve specialty brews has upped the amount of joe Canadians are drinking at home.

Coffee drinkers average more than two cups per day and two-thirds of them are brewing at least some of their drinks at home, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm.

41 per cent of those with single-serve machines like those manufactured by Keurig report using their coffee device more this year than last year. 

So far, the big chains don't seem to be all that worried. But perhaps they should be.

There are certain traits of a nation, negative though they may be, that are also positive.

For instance, no one likes that Canadians and Americans are so fat, though you can see the argument coming: the mere fact that we’re able to eat so much, so poorly, is a testament to the wealth of our countries.

Again, it’s not what we want, but it’s reality, and now another embarrassment-of-riches story has come out once more.

According to a new study, Americans throw away nearly half their food each year, a problem that wastes more than $150 billion annually. Bad? No doubt, but are Canadians much further behind?