I think we may have found a solution to your yard problem. Just hire someone to clean up the yard, then borrow or rent a roto tiller and make a garden. You'll save LOTS on groceries in the long run and you'll get much higher quality produce.
Of course you'll still have to provide your own bags, boxes and containers.
I think we may have found a solution to your yard problem. Just hire someone to clean up the yard, then borrow or rent a roto tiller and make a garden. You'll save LOTS on groceries in the long run and you'll get much higher quality produce.
Of course you'll still have to provide your own bags, boxes and containers.
It works for me.
my best friends mother was an organic zucchini grower who sold her veggie at a farmers market back in the 60's, plus harvested from her apple orchard on her ranch at harvest time - sold her organic apples to del monte. The point is you can grow what your soil and nature allows, and the rest is up to nature.
it's good practice, and physical exercise, and gives another a job maybe, to grow SOMETHIN' in your yard...it makes you feel connected to the basics in life, even a tomato plant - it's a beautiful endeavor.
if that isn't your thing, maybe you might be like my daughter, they fish! I mean FISH on their boat in their spare time, and have a blast at it!
(person use is great for them, they have businesses).
if growing isn't your thing, then preserving might be, and you can buy and preserve fruits and veggies at harvest time and do something with the economy from that avenue. canned designer goods brings a decent profit.
there issuch a thing as having enough land you can not possibly attend to what grows, so you have a company come in to pick and pack and bring it on to the distributor for pennies on the dollar.
you can do anything you want.
if you want to make money, do it.
if you want to build a designer label on little supply, do it.
if you want to give it to food banks and write it off at tax time, do it.
whatever - when it comes to utilizing your life, with your land, the bounty you have, or even have the possibilities for a flower re-sale business, WHATEVER it is, you can do it.
it takes growing conditions, commitment, a few hours a week personally, and a dedication to better your life.
it's available!
when i think of years ago, before i ever made an extra dollar that didn't have to go to anyone or anything, i was growing exotic flowers and herbs.
i started a different path down a new career by growing herbs, buying books, taking classes, networking with others and returning calls from others people who cared about me, and thought that what I was doing would take me to the next level in my ongoing, yet loved, cosmetic business.
____
not only is this green - it's where anyone with a planters thumb is headed, or a distributer will look, etc
i could go on about how how people have made good livings doing what they love, from planting at home, to taking natural photos, to potting herbs for sale at florists, to chefs in the top restaurants in the country, to private labeled lines of products, such as tea and herbal bodycare products, to designer label foods and other products.
wherever there is a will , there is a way.
btw, the field is wide open. as it stand now, there is room for many, many thousands of others to join.
it's good practice, and physical exercise, and gives another a job maybe, to grow SOMETHIN' in your yard...it makes you feel connected to the basics in life, even a tomato plant - it's a beautiful endeavor.
good thoughts there dakotawind (and RonG). You gave some great ideas ... inspiring even
And with a few chemicals and a knowledgeable neighbor, the job can be simplified to where it doesn't seem overwhelming. Growing some tomatoes and squash, maybe some melons and beans, lettuce and corn ... can be really simple ... And there are probable some folks around that would love to help with advice at least.
I shop at Aldi's ... I find their quality better than Sav-A-Lot or other discount groceries.
Aldi's is a European company that does well at providing a variety of products at a decent cost, I have one a block and a half away.
Over all they have decent quality, however it's not obvious at first what's worth it and what isn't.
I have several tips for people who may want to shop at Aldi:
You get what you pay for, Aldi's has two lines of food, price and quality are reflected, the cheaper of the two may not be what you want to buy. The cheaper stuff tends to be over processed fatty, salty and filled with preservatives.
Their fresh? meats are OK, but I suspect ultra preserved and maybe irradiated.
Their milk has some crazy shelf life, good if you are on a budget, bad if you want preservative free milk.
The ground turkey is cheap but when I was eating meat I used it and it was very hard to digest.
Their ground beef is scary, but eatable, I mean the ?fresh? stuff is like their milk stays fresh for a loooong time.
Allot of their frozen veggies come from over seas, the steamer bowls which I eat once or twice a day come from Belgium, so when it says to cook thoroughly they mean it! I got a serious stomach ache from a bowl of it because I didn't let it steam for 2 minutes, 6 minutes total.
All in all you need to be a shopper at Aldi's and if you find yourself in digestive distress after eating their food, don't worry just buy the higher quality stuff it's still a deal.
BTW I'm a coffee snob and Starbucks is my ideal coffee, well Aldi's has a new blend, that is comprable to Starbucks for 1/3 the price! The Sumatra is awesome and I have yet to get the Breakfast blend but it smells just like Starbucks to me.
Ron our land has a lot of clay and rock, we did the garden thing for 14 years and never had anything much but dead plants
Then he bought tubs and filled them with good rich dirt, put them in the front by the garage and we had lots of veggies
Stiill need to know the garden tool to buy
What are you going to do with this after you cut it back once? If it is going to become a yard you could just pay to have someone clear or cut it one time ... then do whatever you plan. Or can you just chop out anything too big for the mower by hand? Then just mow it on the highest setting.
If you wanted to garden part, you could amend the soil in just that part ...that would hold moisture better than pots, and give you more area for less money. There are probably some grasses or ground cover that would work on the clay and rocky ground, since you indicate something is growing there now.
Unless you plan to keep letting it grow up wild, I wouldn't think you'd want to buy equipment just for that one purpose. If you get it cleared once, and pick up the big rocks, then just mowing every couple weeks should keep it from getting out of hand. I think you said 3/4 acre, which is pretty large ... good exercise with a push mower I suppose.
I go to the Farmer's Markets in the area on the week-ends and buy local produce when I can.... it's much cheaper, usually organic and tastes good!
I've tried growing some things in the yard but apparently I have a brown thumb. I can't even get mint to grow and it's supposed to be highly invasive and hard to kill. :ph34r:
Dot, your cooperative extension office will do soil testing for you and help you design a garden ideal for your soil and region.
The options of meals aren't always what I want. For instance I don't serve much bready stuff, but it got me started on cutting back and working with leftovers, stuff like that.
I offer two options on our menu,though, 'take it or leave it' so I can't/don't leave much wriggle room.
We do shop at Save-A-Lot about once a month and try to stay away from the grocery store in between the monthly shopping.
All the usuals apply. Don't go shopping hungry, don't take kids, don't fall for the specials unless they really are, use coupons and shop on double coupon day (SaveALot doesn't do coupons).
We love the farmers markets here and I can't wait for them to get busy again.
Other tips I've collected:
Left over veggies? Dump them in a pasta with any kind of sauce you have lying around, maybe some chicken needing eaten. Especially good here since I carry my lunch to work.
Bulk is good only if you'll really use it. Ditto sale items.
A small amount of leftover fruit can be made into a smoothie or topped on a little ice cream to make it pretty.
Even the smallest amount of leftovers hanging out in the fridge can be loaded into a 'junk soup' or 'fridge stew'.
Kind of funny, to me, but my grand daughter is three and her mama could NOT get the kid to eat anything besides rolls. Period, not eating, no. She started garnishing the snotfaces meals with a little piece of parsley, even her morning oatmeal or cold cereal. Bingo, the kid loved the "tree" with her meal.
Ditto a piece of fruit sitting next to a boring plate of chicken perks it up, grabs the eye.
In the rare event we go out, we order one entree and split it, huge savings and since my almost 13 year old is a picker, we often have a take home bag who's contents get dumped into something tomorrow.
In the morning I do a KAshi protein bar or oatmeal
Lunch I make a tuna or salmon salad sandwich and take it for lunch and have a couple cherry tomatoes for dessert.
My tuna( salmon) salad
One can albacore (tastes better), in water
I add veggies, chop baby carrots, celery, onions, a little zuchinni and butter squash, a little bit apple all choped small sometimes I use almond slivers if I can afford saltless almonds - 1 hard boiled egg, fat free mayo -- then I toast some 9 grain bread, lettuse on both sides and make my sandwich. -- you may want to skip the egg
Dinner mostly veggies. I take a whole zuchinni squash, butter squash, some asparagus, two cloves of garlic, onion, shatake mushrooms or portabella, red or green pepper sliced up - whichever is on sale --- olive oil in pan and stir fry it up. (For a little tang - balsmic vinegrette)
Then, maybe one piece of chicken or salmon. That is dinner. I either chop it into the veggies or have it on the side. Vegtables are my main course and the protein is the side dish.
Or if - as I got at Aldi's -- a pack of peppers - I will make a stuffed pepper - hamberger and a little rice with sauce for dinner
Snack might be a handful of blueberries -- or another apple from the bag that has the apple I use for the tuna
I buy mostly veggies, frozen fish, chicken breasts,I got a box of Edy's popcicles for a different snack. Then, for something different I found some chinese orange chicken on sale .
Next, for a beef once-in-a-while dinner, I made taco salad. So, I had lettuce - the same veggies above and did about 1/2 pound of beef with taco seasoning - you can do a couple pounds and freeze it for next week.
I only drink water - cheaper and better than soda. Juice really elevates your sugar - so if I DO juice it is organic berry juice - on sale
Ron our land has a lot of clay and rock, we did the garden thing for 14 years and never had anything much but dead plants
Then he bought tubs and filled them with good rich dirt, put them in the front by the garage and we had lots of veggies
Stiill need to know the garden tool to buy
Seth: - That makes me NEVER want to buy there again :(
I also shop at Aldi's, Dot....I stay away from their chips...too much salt....but a good way if you want to stay preserved until eternity, lol....but I do buy their frozen chickens and cornish hens. I do get their canned fruit...good to keep on hand and I buy their box Asian noodles and stir fry sauces. I stay away from any type of meat that I cannot see with my own eyes, so I do not buy anything that is in a roll, except perhaps ground sausage. Their milk and eggs are ok and so is their yogurts. I have noticed lately that their sour cream has fillers in it now so that they can keep the prices lower. But their dogs and lunch meats are just like Farmland imo. You just have to try it and see if you like it. I do buy their frozen veggies as opposed to the canned ones. The canned ones are just the same as any name brand, except sometimes you might find a stem in the green beans. But when I look at the price of green beans from Delmonte v Aldi's, I know how to pull out a stem and save about 75 cents!!! Their fresh veggies are ok, but you have to look them over carefully as far as I'm concerned.
What we do have here in this state, and I have to drive about 100 miles....but I think personally it is worth it even with the price of gas....is a (best explanation) "damaged goods" store where the prices are so low they are unbelievable. For example, most people do not know this, unless you're in the trucking or food business, semi's when they are carrying food products or medicine for that matter, have a little plastic ring on the lock on the doors to ensure safety from contamination. If that ring is broken for whatever reason when that food truck arrives, the entire load is rejected because it might have been contaminated in some way by tampering. This became law after the Tylenol event. When the load is rejected, the food then goes to these "damaged goods" stores and the public is allowed to buy it, with the knowledge that you are buying damaged goods. This doesn't mean that it is poisonous or anything. Sometimes, the food has been accidentally FROZEN and was not supposed to be frozen but only refrigerated, especially if the reefer trucks' A/C malfunctions. But as far as quality, sometimes I've gotten about 25# (no kidding) of SUBWAY brand trio meats for $8.00....I am not lying....it took me two years to use it with the meat in my deep freeze. Usually, when I go I spend about $200 and load up so much (THANK GOD FOR DEEP FREEZES) that I only have to go about every two years. Not lying!!!! Swear! Plus, this is restaurant quality food, because they cater to institutions....so one thing that you must be prepared for if you go....lots of room, because Mayo is institution size jars, etc and jelly the same way. So you have to either have a deep freeze, be able to re-can in ball jars or have lots of BBQ's. Also, you will need lots of freezer bags, because if you buy the meat, it comes in a box that can weigh up to 25# and so you need to separate it out into your family's size portions. Have on hand a lot of airtight jars as well. But common sense will tell you to stay away from their pastries that are fresh, unless you have a big family....because.....there's a lot in that package. Like one time I purchased buttermilk biscuits that only had to be put in the oven and it took up a lot of room in my deep freeze. There was only one time I bought something and it was buggy, or perhaps it did get buggy after I had it, I'm not sure. So if you have a major food distributor in your area, check to see if they have such an outlet that the public is allowed to buy food from them. I do know that my state in my area, or at least relatively close, I have two. I found another one and saw their sign saying "Public welcome!" So I knew what kind of store it was. Because though the food is considered to be damaged, sometimes the only damage is that the box was crushed on one end, but the food is perfectly intact, and by law they cannot sell it on the open market any longer. One final note: if you do find such a store in your area, KNOW YOUR PRICES, in the regular stores before you go...because sometimes not everything is a bargain! :unsure:
We used to have a damaged store here named Jordan's.
Then people stopped going there.
It closed :(
Bride
What is its name maybe one of those is around here - or near other posters trying to save?
I know I was truly blessed, when I got invited to lunch at this lady's home and all her condiments were institution size jars and I asked her why and she was the one who clued me into the store and that was about 10+ years ago.
Just google WHOLESALE FOOD DISTRIBUTORS for your state and see what comes up. Make some calls and see if they have such a store, or if not, perhaps they know of one.
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Dot Matrix
Any other deals out there?
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Shellon
We don't have Aldi's here, but it's equal that we do have is Save-A-Lot
Good deals, same set up
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Ron G.
I think we may have found a solution to your yard problem. Just hire someone to clean up the yard, then borrow or rent a roto tiller and make a garden. You'll save LOTS on groceries in the long run and you'll get much higher quality produce.
Of course you'll still have to provide your own bags, boxes and containers.
It works for me.
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dakotawind
my best friends mother was an organic zucchini grower who sold her veggie at a farmers market back in the 60's, plus harvested from her apple orchard on her ranch at harvest time - sold her organic apples to del monte. The point is you can grow what your soil and nature allows, and the rest is up to nature.
it's good practice, and physical exercise, and gives another a job maybe, to grow SOMETHIN' in your yard...it makes you feel connected to the basics in life, even a tomato plant - it's a beautiful endeavor.
if that isn't your thing, maybe you might be like my daughter, they fish! I mean FISH on their boat in their spare time, and have a blast at it!
(person use is great for them, they have businesses).
if growing isn't your thing, then preserving might be, and you can buy and preserve fruits and veggies at harvest time and do something with the economy from that avenue. canned designer goods brings a decent profit.
there issuch a thing as having enough land you can not possibly attend to what grows, so you have a company come in to pick and pack and bring it on to the distributor for pennies on the dollar.
you can do anything you want.
if you want to make money, do it.
if you want to build a designer label on little supply, do it.
if you want to give it to food banks and write it off at tax time, do it.
whatever - when it comes to utilizing your life, with your land, the bounty you have, or even have the possibilities for a flower re-sale business, WHATEVER it is, you can do it.
it takes growing conditions, commitment, a few hours a week personally, and a dedication to better your life.
it's available!
when i think of years ago, before i ever made an extra dollar that didn't have to go to anyone or anything, i was growing exotic flowers and herbs.
i started a different path down a new career by growing herbs, buying books, taking classes, networking with others and returning calls from others people who cared about me, and thought that what I was doing would take me to the next level in my ongoing, yet loved, cosmetic business.
____
not only is this green - it's where anyone with a planters thumb is headed, or a distributer will look, etc
i could go on about how how people have made good livings doing what they love, from planting at home, to taking natural photos, to potting herbs for sale at florists, to chefs in the top restaurants in the country, to private labeled lines of products, such as tea and herbal bodycare products, to designer label foods and other products.
wherever there is a will , there is a way.
btw, the field is wide open. as it stand now, there is room for many, many thousands of others to join.
something to think about huh?
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rhino
good thoughts there dakotawind (and RonG). You gave some great ideas ... inspiring even
And with a few chemicals and a knowledgeable neighbor, the job can be simplified to where it doesn't seem overwhelming. Growing some tomatoes and squash, maybe some melons and beans, lettuce and corn ... can be really simple ... And there are probable some folks around that would love to help with advice at least.
I shop at Aldi's ... I find their quality better than Sav-A-Lot or other discount groceries.
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Bramble
We don't have a discount grocery store like Aldis, though we shopped there when we lived in the midwest.
We do participate in SHARE, which is a way we can save on groceries.
http://www.sharecolorado.com/index.cfm?act...does_share_work
We garden, too, and grow lots of herbs and garlic. So many herbs grow like weeds--we dug out tons of sage last year and gave it away on freecycle.
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Seth R.
Aldi's is a European company that does well at providing a variety of products at a decent cost, I have one a block and a half away.
Over all they have decent quality, however it's not obvious at first what's worth it and what isn't.
I have several tips for people who may want to shop at Aldi:
You get what you pay for, Aldi's has two lines of food, price and quality are reflected, the cheaper of the two may not be what you want to buy. The cheaper stuff tends to be over processed fatty, salty and filled with preservatives.
Their fresh? meats are OK, but I suspect ultra preserved and maybe irradiated.
Their milk has some crazy shelf life, good if you are on a budget, bad if you want preservative free milk.
The ground turkey is cheap but when I was eating meat I used it and it was very hard to digest.
Their ground beef is scary, but eatable, I mean the ?fresh? stuff is like their milk stays fresh for a loooong time.
Allot of their frozen veggies come from over seas, the steamer bowls which I eat once or twice a day come from Belgium, so when it says to cook thoroughly they mean it! I got a serious stomach ache from a bowl of it because I didn't let it steam for 2 minutes, 6 minutes total.
All in all you need to be a shopper at Aldi's and if you find yourself in digestive distress after eating their food, don't worry just buy the higher quality stuff it's still a deal.
BTW I'm a coffee snob and Starbucks is my ideal coffee, well Aldi's has a new blend, that is comprable to Starbucks for 1/3 the price! The Sumatra is awesome and I have yet to get the Breakfast blend but it smells just like Starbucks to me.
Seth
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Dot Matrix
Ron our land has a lot of clay and rock, we did the garden thing for 14 years and never had anything much but dead plants
Then he bought tubs and filled them with good rich dirt, put them in the front by the garage and we had lots of veggies
Stiill need to know the garden tool to buy
Seth: - That makes me NEVER want to buy there again :(
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Steveo
Dot can you give me an idea of what to buy>??
I usually spend $120 a week on groceries and its really getting higher every week :(
I did a "search" on the Aldi site and theres not one near Orlando Florida, however there are a few "Save a Lots"
But my question is...what am I supposed to buy for $75 that will last 2 weeks?
BTW I am on a ADA/Cardiac diet (low sugar/low cholesterol)
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rhino
What are you going to do with this after you cut it back once? If it is going to become a yard you could just pay to have someone clear or cut it one time ... then do whatever you plan. Or can you just chop out anything too big for the mower by hand? Then just mow it on the highest setting.
If you wanted to garden part, you could amend the soil in just that part ...that would hold moisture better than pots, and give you more area for less money. There are probably some grasses or ground cover that would work on the clay and rocky ground, since you indicate something is growing there now.
Unless you plan to keep letting it grow up wild, I wouldn't think you'd want to buy equipment just for that one purpose. If you get it cleared once, and pick up the big rocks, then just mowing every couple weeks should keep it from getting out of hand. I think you said 3/4 acre, which is pretty large ... good exercise with a push mower I suppose.
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Belle
I go to the Farmer's Markets in the area on the week-ends and buy local produce when I can.... it's much cheaper, usually organic and tastes good!
I've tried growing some things in the yard but apparently I have a brown thumb. I can't even get mint to grow and it's supposed to be highly invasive and hard to kill. :ph34r:
Dot, your cooperative extension office will do soil testing for you and help you design a garden ideal for your soil and region.
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Shellon
This is a neat site that I've found very useful. Following is their 70$ grocery list for feeding 4-6 people, menu suggestions, etc.
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/70dollarmenu.htm
I've just got me and my daughter, so I shop more like this one
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm
The options of meals aren't always what I want. For instance I don't serve much bready stuff, but it got me started on cutting back and working with leftovers, stuff like that.
I offer two options on our menu,though, 'take it or leave it' so I can't/don't leave much wriggle room.
We do shop at Save-A-Lot about once a month and try to stay away from the grocery store in between the monthly shopping.
All the usuals apply. Don't go shopping hungry, don't take kids, don't fall for the specials unless they really are, use coupons and shop on double coupon day (SaveALot doesn't do coupons).
We love the farmers markets here and I can't wait for them to get busy again.
Other tips I've collected:
Left over veggies? Dump them in a pasta with any kind of sauce you have lying around, maybe some chicken needing eaten. Especially good here since I carry my lunch to work.
Bulk is good only if you'll really use it. Ditto sale items.
A small amount of leftover fruit can be made into a smoothie or topped on a little ice cream to make it pretty.
Even the smallest amount of leftovers hanging out in the fridge can be loaded into a 'junk soup' or 'fridge stew'.
Kind of funny, to me, but my grand daughter is three and her mama could NOT get the kid to eat anything besides rolls. Period, not eating, no. She started garnishing the snotfaces meals with a little piece of parsley, even her morning oatmeal or cold cereal. Bingo, the kid loved the "tree" with her meal.
Ditto a piece of fruit sitting next to a boring plate of chicken perks it up, grabs the eye.
In the rare event we go out, we order one entree and split it, huge savings and since my almost 13 year old is a picker, we often have a take home bag who's contents get dumped into something tomorrow.
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Dot Matrix
Steveo: I may not eat the way others do --
In the morning I do a KAshi protein bar or oatmeal
Lunch I make a tuna or salmon salad sandwich and take it for lunch and have a couple cherry tomatoes for dessert.
My tuna( salmon) salad
One can albacore (tastes better), in water
I add veggies, chop baby carrots, celery, onions, a little zuchinni and butter squash, a little bit apple all choped small sometimes I use almond slivers if I can afford saltless almonds - 1 hard boiled egg, fat free mayo -- then I toast some 9 grain bread, lettuse on both sides and make my sandwich. -- you may want to skip the egg
Dinner mostly veggies. I take a whole zuchinni squash, butter squash, some asparagus, two cloves of garlic, onion, shatake mushrooms or portabella, red or green pepper sliced up - whichever is on sale --- olive oil in pan and stir fry it up. (For a little tang - balsmic vinegrette)
Then, maybe one piece of chicken or salmon. That is dinner. I either chop it into the veggies or have it on the side. Vegtables are my main course and the protein is the side dish.
Or if - as I got at Aldi's -- a pack of peppers - I will make a stuffed pepper - hamberger and a little rice with sauce for dinner
Snack might be a handful of blueberries -- or another apple from the bag that has the apple I use for the tuna
I buy mostly veggies, frozen fish, chicken breasts,I got a box of Edy's popcicles for a different snack. Then, for something different I found some chinese orange chicken on sale .
Next, for a beef once-in-a-while dinner, I made taco salad. So, I had lettuce - the same veggies above and did about 1/2 pound of beef with taco seasoning - you can do a couple pounds and freeze it for next week.
I only drink water - cheaper and better than soda. Juice really elevates your sugar - so if I DO juice it is organic berry juice - on sale
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Dot Matrix
Rhino
UTTO
This sounds serious. Maybe I should just call the x-hubs and ask what he did.
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Seth R.
LOL, sorry.
Seth
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brideofjc
I also shop at Aldi's, Dot....I stay away from their chips...too much salt....but a good way if you want to stay preserved until eternity, lol....but I do buy their frozen chickens and cornish hens. I do get their canned fruit...good to keep on hand and I buy their box Asian noodles and stir fry sauces. I stay away from any type of meat that I cannot see with my own eyes, so I do not buy anything that is in a roll, except perhaps ground sausage. Their milk and eggs are ok and so is their yogurts. I have noticed lately that their sour cream has fillers in it now so that they can keep the prices lower. But their dogs and lunch meats are just like Farmland imo. You just have to try it and see if you like it. I do buy their frozen veggies as opposed to the canned ones. The canned ones are just the same as any name brand, except sometimes you might find a stem in the green beans. But when I look at the price of green beans from Delmonte v Aldi's, I know how to pull out a stem and save about 75 cents!!! Their fresh veggies are ok, but you have to look them over carefully as far as I'm concerned.
What we do have here in this state, and I have to drive about 100 miles....but I think personally it is worth it even with the price of gas....is a (best explanation) "damaged goods" store where the prices are so low they are unbelievable. For example, most people do not know this, unless you're in the trucking or food business, semi's when they are carrying food products or medicine for that matter, have a little plastic ring on the lock on the doors to ensure safety from contamination. If that ring is broken for whatever reason when that food truck arrives, the entire load is rejected because it might have been contaminated in some way by tampering. This became law after the Tylenol event. When the load is rejected, the food then goes to these "damaged goods" stores and the public is allowed to buy it, with the knowledge that you are buying damaged goods. This doesn't mean that it is poisonous or anything. Sometimes, the food has been accidentally FROZEN and was not supposed to be frozen but only refrigerated, especially if the reefer trucks' A/C malfunctions. But as far as quality, sometimes I've gotten about 25# (no kidding) of SUBWAY brand trio meats for $8.00....I am not lying....it took me two years to use it with the meat in my deep freeze. Usually, when I go I spend about $200 and load up so much (THANK GOD FOR DEEP FREEZES) that I only have to go about every two years. Not lying!!!! Swear!
Plus, this is restaurant quality food, because they cater to institutions....so one thing that you must be prepared for if you go....lots of room, because Mayo is institution size jars, etc and jelly the same way. So you have to either have a deep freeze, be able to re-can in ball jars or have lots of BBQ's. Also, you will need lots of freezer bags, because if you buy the meat, it comes in a box that can weigh up to 25# and so you need to separate it out into your family's size portions. Have on hand a lot of airtight jars as well. But common sense will tell you to stay away from their pastries that are fresh, unless you have a big family....because.....there's a lot in that package. Like one time I purchased buttermilk biscuits that only had to be put in the oven and it took up a lot of room in my deep freeze. There was only one time I bought something and it was buggy, or perhaps it did get buggy after I had it, I'm not sure. So if you have a major food distributor in your area, check to see if they have such an outlet that the public is allowed to buy food from them. I do know that my state in my area, or at least relatively close, I have two. I found another one and saw their sign saying "Public welcome!" So I knew what kind of store it was. Because though the food is considered to be damaged, sometimes the only damage is that the box was crushed on one end, but the food is perfectly intact, and by law they cannot sell it on the open market any longer. One final note: if you do find such a store in your area, KNOW YOUR PRICES, in the regular stores before you go...because sometimes not everything is a bargain! :unsure:
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Dot Matrix
We used to have a damaged store here named Jordan's.
Then people stopped going there.
It closed :(
Bride
What is its name maybe one of those is around here - or near other posters trying to save?
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brideofjc
I know I was truly blessed, when I got invited to lunch at this lady's home and all her condiments were institution size jars and I asked her why and she was the one who clued me into the store and that was about 10+ years ago.
Just google WHOLESALE FOOD DISTRIBUTORS for your state and see what comes up. Make some calls and see if they have such a store, or if not, perhaps they know of one.
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