What's Working Wednesday: Salvage Grocery Stores

What's Working Wednesday is my weekly post to showcase something that is working for me or my family at the moment. It may not work for us forever and it may or may not work for you.

It's been a long time since I've done a What's Working Wednesday and I want to get back in the habit. I started looking at my life and wondering: "Is anything working in my life right now??" It was a bit depressing coming to the realization that, um, not much is working well in all the transition of our lives right now. I did come up with one thing though: salvage grocery stores!

Salvage Grocery stores are stores that sell close date, damaged, and overstock food items, often at a discount. I've only recently become familiar with the term but I've shopped at them before and they've definitely helped our grocery budget. When I lived in NY I would often shop at Glenwood Foods in Seneca Falls and Buda's in Syracuse and I would consider both of them  salvage grocery stores to an extent. I even vaguely remember shopping at a bent and dent store in Chattanooga occasionally though I couldn't tell you where it was. Ollies and Big Lots have food sections that might qualify as well.

Since moving to the Metroplex I have found a winner. My friend who lived in Dallas did a lot of her grocery shopping at the Grocery Clearance Center. I went once or twice while we were staying out there and, hoping for one closer to home in Fort Worth, a quick google search took me to Town Talk and on first visit I was in love.

Every visit to Town Talk, or any salvage grocery, is like a treasure hunt. You never know what you are going to find. I've never personally shopped for my own groceries overseas but every visit to a salvage grocery reminds me of stories I've heard from friends who have lived overseas and their excitement over finding Hershey bars or brownie mix on the shelves in their local grocery stores. When found they quickly purchase all they can and set something special aside for an upcoming birthday, squirrel some away and share some with expat friends. For example, on one visit to Town Talk we saw CliffBars for $5 a case. There was a man there in a shirt and tie that cleared the shelf of them, filling his cart because they were a flavor that he really liked. I don't think that I've seen Cliffbars there since.

Salvage grocery stores are also a great places to shop if want to buy specialty foods cheap or if you are on a special diet. I have found lots of gluten free and organic groceries for WAY less than at traditional grocery stores. There are also often international foods and mixes available for cheaper than at your normal Asian market.

Here are a couple of pictures of items I picked up on a recent visit to Town Talk:

A case of 12 8oz mango Noosa yogurts for $2 and 1/2 gallons of 2% organic  cream on top milk for 50 cents each (both were delicious and splurges I could not afford at traditional grocery stores where 1 of those yogurts goes for over $2)

Terra Sweet Potato chips 3/$1, Garden of Eaten Blue Chips 99 cents, Popchips 2/$1

New to the concept of salvage grocery stores? Do a google search to see if there is one in your area or check out this site.

 Find one to check out? Here are a few tips for shopping at a salvage grocery store:

1. Check dates

Decide how comfortable you are with pasta a month past it's expiration date or a case of yogurt that will expire tomorrow. In my experience both of them will be used up before they go bad in my house but you may have a different opinion on that. I once found some Pace Salsa Verde for a great price, it expired the next month so I bought a couple of them, then bought a couple more on a later visit. I finally stopped buying them because they got discolored and they were so far out of date but the store still had them on their shelves 3.5 years later when we moved - yuck!

2. Know your prices

Most things are cheaper but I have found that some things are actually priced more expensively at salvage groceries than at traditional grocery stores.  

3. Don't be married to one brand.

Last time we went there we were hoping to get noosa yogurt but, sadly, there was none. What we did find was Stoneyfield Organic and Chobani yogurts for 99 cents each for 32oz. We're big fans of yogurt around here so we were thankful.

4. Try new things

Because of the cheap prices I am not afraid to try things that I would never pay full price for at a grocery store. I may never buy them again but at least we've tried them once.

5. Treat each visit like an adventure or a treasure hunt

Pretend you're grocery shopping in a foreign land. You never know what you are going to find. If you see something you like buy it because it might not be there next time. Don't get super disappointed if something that you were really hoping would be there isn't. It might be the next time. 

Giveaway and Review: Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons

I was privileged to get an advanced copy from fellow blogger Kate Megill of her new e-book, Cut it Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons, that is coming out July 30, 2012 to review and giveaway.

We are pretty frugal so I wasn't really expecting a lot when I started to read this book but I figured it's always good to pick up some tips so I thought I'd check it out. Boy, am I glad I did!

Kate gives some great advice in this book and also some very helpful tools. The thing that stuck out the most to me from this book was "Measure Twice, Cut Once." I'd always heard this phrase in regards to carpentry and craft projects but I'd never applied it to something I do all the time - feeding my family. "Measure twice, cut once" means that you have a limited amount of expensive materials so be sure that you use them well so that you don't waste them. In this ebook Kate gives us advice and tools on how to apply measure twice, cut once to feeding our family with the limited amount of money that we have been given to steward.

I'd always heard of the benefit of having a price book. In this ebook Kate not only tells us how to do it but gives a great template in Excel so we don't have to make one up on our own. She also explains how to figure out how much each meal actually costs. I haven't yet taken the time to go through and "measure twice" our food plan and I know that it is going to take some time to get there but I know that with the resources that Kate gives in her book I am going to be able to reduce our food budget (or at least actually live within the budget that we have which I have rarely been able to do).

I really love all the ideas, recipes, helpful hints, storage ideas, and tools to help feed my family for less without using coupons and I am looking forward to putting them into practice to help cut our food budget. I am sure that you will too.

You can learn more about the book at http://www.cutitoutwithoutcoupons.com/ or Kate's blog: teachingwhatisgood.com

Cut it Out! will be available for sale July 30 and I really think that it is worth the money you'd spend on it. The cost of the e-book is $3.99 but for the first 4 days of the launch (July 30-Aug3) it will be available for half price - only $1.99!

How about even better? Get it FREE! Enter my giveaway to win a free copy! To enter simply leave a comment below and share your biggest struggle with feeding your family on a budget. The giveaway closes at 9am EST on Monday, July 30, 2012. (Note: Kate is also giving away 5 free copies on her blog at this link so enter there as well.)

Oatmeal Bread

Today Glenn and I sat down to look at the next week and figure out when he'd be working, when we'd moving and when we'll be staying where, etc. I decided to bake some bread because with moving, trying to keep up with school, finishing Glenn's secondaries, etc, etc, etc and we are probably going to be hungry at some point this week and bread is a good thing to have in the house.

My favorite cookbook is the More With Less Cookbook ( love, love, love this cookbook, a definite must have!) and my favorite bread recipe from More With Less is Oatmeal Bread. It is so yummy! After baking it today and eating a sandwich with it I thought that I really needed to post the recipe on my blog just in case I want to bake it and can't find my cookbook (which would be the end of the world!!) or want to make it at someone else's house. Also if you feel adventurous and would like to try it feel free. As I have said before, it is tasty!

Oatmeal Bread
(says it makes 2 loaves, I usually double it and make it into 3 loaves in my 9" loaf pans)
Combine in large bowl:
1C quick oats
1/2C whole wheat flour (I usually do more than that!)
1/2C brown sugar (I usually do less than that!)
1T salt
2T margarine
Pour over:
2C boiling water
Stir in to combine.
Dissolve 1pkg yeast in 1/2C warm water
When batter is cooled to lukewarm add yeast.
Stir in:
~5C white flour (less if you've added extra wheat flour)
When dough is stiff enough to handle turn onto floured board and knead 5-10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise again. Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased 9x5x3 pans. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Cool on rack, brushing with margarine for a soft crust.

I laughed as I typed the recipe at several of the things that I do differently than it says to. I love home made bread! I have only bought probably 8 loaves of bread in the last year so this is the bread we usually make sandwiches on (unless I get lazy and make Mom's French Bread recipe which I'll save for another post).

Here is a picture of the 2 loaves that are left after having sandwiches for supper (there are also a few crumbs from the first loaf visible on the counter.) Now one is in a plastic container for enjoyment tomorrow and one is in the freezer for us to eat in a couple of days. Yeah for homemade bread and having food in the house!

My new addiction...

OK, this is the 2nd thing that I wanted to blog about today. The first was my "need" for a hexbike by Santana. They are so cool! (and SO expensive but would be SO fun! Living in Rochester though we could not get rid of our motor vehicle though.)

This morning I after getting up and doing my quiet time I ran to Wegmans because we needed groceries and I wanted to go without kids and before they woke up. I was planning on doing Aldis too and lollygagged at Wegmans waiting until 8 when I thought Aldis would be opened and when I got to Aldi they didn't open until 9. I was not going wait around for an hour for it to open so I ran back to Wegmans to get a couple of things that I hadn't gotten earlier and went home. (after stopping at McD's for a Mocha Frappe which we had a free coupon for - super yummy but NOT worth $2.29!)

While at Wegmans I bought some garbanzo beans because I have a new liking for hummus and when I got home I "had" to make pitas with a new recipe that I have been waiting for an opportunity to use. I think that I could eat pitas with hummus every day for lunch for the rest of my life and not get tired of it! Here are the recipes if you want to try this yumminess:

Pitas: (found this recipe somewhere online, my apologies to whomever I stole it from who deserves credit)
1T yeast
1 1/2C warm water
3C flour
1 1/4t salt
1t sugar
Knead 10-15 minutes. Put in greased bowl and make sure dough is greased on all sides. Raise until doubled (1 1/2- 3hrs). Roll into a rope, break off into 10-12 pieces into balls. Let sit 10 minutes while letting the over temp rise to 500 with a stone or flipped cookie sheet in it. Bake 3 minutes, flip and bake 3 more then store in a bag.

"Nippy Garbonzo Spread" (from More with Less Cookbook)
Saute: 1 onion in 2T margarine or olive oil
Combine in saucepan:
1 1/2C cooked chick peas (garbanzos) mashed or ground
sauteed onions
2 beaten eggs
Heat stirring until thickened and dry. Add to taste:
salt, cayenne, and mayonaise

We made a lot of noise because the smoke detector kept going off. I guess my oven is not used to being at 500 degrees. Making this will take some effort but as you can tell from Hannah's smile it is worth it!

In other news I am having a Cooking Show tonight at my house. I am planning on signing up to be a consultant so if you are interested in having a party or a catalog show contact me and you can get some great hostess benefits!

Lots and Lots of Dough...

Jenn, one of our friends from Houghton works for Monroe Ambulance and stops in occasionally. Tomorrow is her birthday so I invited her for pizza before work tonight and we made her a cake. Caleb and Hannah were making the cake and I was making the dough when Glenn got home. I went and gave him a quick kiss and when I got back Hannah asked me what was next because Caleb had already added the sugar. Where? I wondered... He had put it in with the pizza dough that I had already started. So the bowl had 2 C plus 3t of sugar, 3 C water, 3T yeast and 1.5t salt. What do I do with it??? I hate to waste the sugar and the yeast and I do need to make bread but none of my recipes call for nearly that much sugar... hmmm. So, trustly old Betty had a recipe for "Rich Egg Bread" that calls for 1/4C sugar and only makes 1 loaf of bread so.... I made 8 times the recipe. That means 24-28C of flour!! Good thing I always buy flour by the 8 pack at Aldi :) I added some whole wheat flour to try to make it more healthy. I also broke off a chunk and added some raisins to make some cinnamon raisin bread. I'll probably make 4-5 loaves of regular bread, 2 loaves of raisin bread and make some cinnamon rolls with whatever is left. I guess I will be up a little later tonight. Edited Saturday morning to add pictures: The picture on the left below is the dough before I let it rise. I should have taken a picture after it rose... they were almost touching. It was huge! And then on the right it is the finished product that I baked this morning. It doesn't look like that much. I really thought it would look bigger. Well, at least we have bread for the next few days :)

April Fools Day

Today has been a good day for us. Rochester gave us a great April Fool for today - 60 and partly sunny! Yeah! We got some school stuff done and walked to Linden Meigs Park to play on the playground. We left home at about 10:30 and didn't get back home until after 3:15pm. It was SO nice to be outside! It was supposed to rain but we only got sprinkled on twice. We made a few new friends and even got phone numbers for a couple of people. For the last half hour or so that we were at the playground there was a 10 year old boy and his 7 year old sister that homeschool. It was fun for Caleb to have someone to play with. They live close to the playground so hopefully we will be able to meet up with them there again.

Poor Glenn had to spend all of this glorious day in the hospital. When he called on his lunch break I asked him if he had been April Fooled and he said that one of his patients that has been there the whole time he has worked there got him but other than that no one had gotten him.

And for supper of course we had to have something fun so we had cake. Lydia laughed when she saw our supper. She said "It has green frosting... and there's peppers on there!" I had made this cake before and put real sprinkles on it and Glenn wasn't impressed so I cut up carrots and green peppers for the sprinkles. "and there's ketchup!" It was fun.