Outside the Box Grocery Shopping

On Saturday Hubs and I made a short trip to a town west of us.  It was a beautiful day finally(not too cold, not too hot and no SNOW!lol)so we made a trip of it running errands.

We hit a nice greenhouse/nursery and I picked out a flat of plants(plus one tiny Oregano plant)......

$16.95 for a full flat(plus $1 for the oregano plant)for mostly plants you can't get at big chain stores.
Well not the marigolds, petunias and basil, but the Japanese(Ichiban)eggplant and varieties of tomatoes like Black Krim, a Mountain Pride variety(good for our location), San Marzano Redourta and Amish Paste(like a Roma).  Just being in that place had me wanting to expand the garden here. 8-)

But for now, I've got this little strip of dirt plus two half barrels to plant in(besides the few veggies I sneak into the front flower bed).  Here's the tomato plants with marigolds to keep them happy and ward off bugs. 8-)

Then we hit Rite-Aid to see what I could glean there since we drove right past it. I posted what I got there already.

After that we drove to the other end of the town to hit the Grocery Outlet.  It's run by an Amish family(they have three locations now)and it's a great place to find bargains!  They buy overstocks, discontinued, items that didn't do well at reg. retail outlets and items coming to the sell by dates.  The prices can be insanely cheap or a little under what you'd paid at the grocery store.  They have been known to carry all national brands plus many store brands.  And you just never know what you'll find!

We dropped $97.25 at this store and came home with all this........

2 x Glory red beans .50¢
2 x Panko crumbs .50¢
6 x OEP green chiles .50¢
2 x DD Cold Brew pods $1.99
2 x Kingsford BBQ sauce .50¢
2 x canned olives .99¢
2 x DelMonte mandarin orange cups .99¢
1 x ground Cumin  .95¢
4 x Fillip Berio olive oil .99¢
6 x DelMonte creamed corn 3/$1
1 x Vlassic pickles $2.99
3 x 5pack Kraft mac/cheese $2.49
2 x squeeze limes .49¢
1 x Sweet Baby Ray's mustard sauce $1.29
1 x Chips Ahoy! cinnamon cookies $1.49
1 x Red Hots siracha sauce .79¢
2 x OSpray organic cranberry juice .79¢
1 x soy sauce .99¢
2 x Almond Breeze milk $1.49
2 x Lipton chai tea bags .99¢
5 x Powerade drinks .89¢(CB drank one before I took the photo)
1 x Melba toast crackers .79¢
1 x 12 pack hot dog rolls $1.99
2 x case of H2O $1.99

And all this that I didn't take a photo of, mostly frozen and refrigerated foodstuffs.....
1 x 12 pack local cream soda $2.99
2 x bags Tyson chicken strips $3.99
2 x Catfish nuggets $1.49 lb.(3.25 lbs.)
2 x rolls Farmland bkfast sausage $1.49
2 x boxes Waffle bkfast sandwiches .79¢
1 x Birdseye garlic cauliflower .99¢
1 x 2 lb. bag frozen cauliflower $1.99
1 x Lebanon bologna pack $2.49
1 x JMartin red pepper cream cheese $2.99 *
1 x Cantaloupe $1.50
1 x quart Strawberries $1.00
1 x Celery .89¢
4 x Lemons .25¢
1 x Icebery Lettuce .99¢
1 x Tomatoes(1 lb.) .90¢
1 x seedless Grapes $2.25 (.99¢ lb.)
1 x Bananas $1.08 (.42¢ lb.)
2 x dozen Eggs $1.39

I figure even with sale prices on some of this stuff it's over $225 buying it in town at one of our grocery stores.  That Ocean Spray organic 100% juice goes for $3.99 around here so for .79¢, I'll buy it!  .50¢ for panko, bbq sauce  or seasoned red beans?  .33¢ a can for corn or .99¢ for a box of expensive Lipton tea bags?  I'm in!
We don't travel there often but when we do, I take a cooler and stock up.  ;-)

Then I let Hubs drink a bit since we were in that town.........

Then it was home to let Chester out and for me to figure out where to put all those groceries! lolz

Do you ever buy groceries at restaurant supply houses or salvage grocery outlets?
What sources other than regular grocery stores have you found?


Sluggy