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Last Updated on December 6, 2020
In my early 20s, I was happy but broke and I made sure to stretch my penny on food. I bought my groceries from Grocery Outlet, Ethic Markets and Surplus grocery stores. There were two small markets, now unfortunately closed, that I found that sold dented canned foods, discontinued products and food a hairs breath from the stamped expiration date. To say I could turn $100 into groceries that lasted a month was no joke and then, well, I starting more money and ditched my cheapo ways for New Seasons.
Now some may think that eating expired foods is the same as playing Russian Roulette but even the FDA gives a nod to the practice by stating that are only an indication by the manufacture of when the food is at its optimum quality. So, let’s talk about savings.
Coconut Mint Secret bars: Paid $6. Retail online for $35.98
Arrow hood Mills Tahini : Paid $1.99 Retail $9.99
Lurpak Butter: Paid $1.99 Retail $6.99
I bought all of these items from Grocery Outlet. I have snagged everything from 1.5 lbs of Uncured Pepperoni for $6 to Sudz Bare Naked 8 oz Soap Bars for .99 cents (these retail for $5.99 a bar).
If you’re lucky enough to have a Local surplus store you might find even more amazing deals. Also, if you see something you like buy as much as you can afford/stock away. Things go fast. I’m still kicking myself for not grabbing more uncured bacon that I found for $2.99 for 12 oz.
There is a store near me like this. I recently got two 4 lb bags of organic quinoa for $4.99 each, because there was a small taped cut in the side of each… obviously a box cutter gone wild. That saved me about $50 😀
Sweet deal Robin! I seriously love these stores!
we dont have them here.
We don’t have stores like that here 🙁 BUT my saving grace is marked down meat. Yes, I’m the selfish person that everyone else rants about on Facebook that buys every package of 30% off meat when they start marking them down.
Whatever you can do to save!
I have a grocery outlet near me, but they charge an extra 20% (what?!), so I never go there. 🙁 However, I love that Schnucks clearances out on a lot of food that I eat, especially organic food!
What the? I wouldn’t go there either if they charged extra.
No shame in saving money!
great tips to save. thanks for sharing.
I think we may have a store like this out here but it’s not in a good area of town. I am grateful for places like Sprouts where I can get organic produce and fresh meat at great prices.
Great deals but we don’t have any kind of Organic stores close by where I live. The one nearest to me is about 30 minutes.
Mmmm I saw mint coconut bar and that is enough. Looking them up!
Nice score!
I wish we had stores like that around here.
Great tips!
You really got some great deals there!
Those are some awesome deals! I have no idea if we even have a store like that here but it sounds like a smart way to shop!
We don’t have stores like that here but I would go in a heartbeat. I eat past the expiration date (within reason) and don’t think twice about it LOL
I’ve heard the same about expiration dates. It’s great that you can get such a deep discount on items just because they are less than perfect. This is a fab way to eat good and not go into debt doing it.
Total score! I don’t think we have anything like that here though…
I don;t think we have anything like this here.
Those are some awesome deals! Thanks for sharing!
Great deals!
No stores like that near me. But I eat past the expiration date… within reason, of course. 🙂 My hubby (and my son, because of my hubby) will not. That magic date on the package means it is suddenly bad from one night to the next morning. lol.