For those of you who are struggling to make ends meet...

ThreeShadows

Quid me anxia?
Google food auctions in your area. A friend told me that, when meat distributors deliver frozen steaks/shrimp, etc...to restaurants, if the outer cartons containing the product have so much as a rip in them they are rejected (Board of Health?). The distributors auction the protein off. These are proteins that are used at places like Outback Steakhouse. Friend filled her freezer with all kinds of goodies for pennies on the dollar.

I am considering doing this for food pantries in my area.

Good luck to all of you, I worry about you a lot!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Hmmmmmm. We had a guy knock on the door night before last asking if we wanted a box of frozen steaks ect for 5 bucks each. (the boxes) He'd said something about damaged boxes. But since I'd never heard of the company I told husband no.

I'll do a search on this later today and see what I can find.

Thanks :)
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
The laws may be different in different areas but here, all that stuff has to be thrown away! They are not even allowed to give it away! The prison where I work serves over 4,000 meals a day. They are not even allowed to serve properly refrigerated left-overs from one meal at the next. Open or broken cases of frozen foods or dented cans cannot be used - they can be discarded or composted or they can be returned to the vendor for credit but they can't be used for human consumption. They can't even be used for animal feed! Has to be tossed out!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Thanks for that 3S!

Lisa, I get guys like that coming through my neighborhood, too. One year I "bit" and bought some of the meat. It was o.k., but had been treated with meat tenderizers so much it was almost TOO tender/mushy for my liking.

Donna, I suspect we have similar laws like that were I am. I asked about old produce that our supermarket was pulling off the shelf to toss and they said they were not allowed to even sell it to me (I wanted it for my chickens) much less give it to me.
 

ThreeShadows

Quid me anxia?
This country wastes way too much food compared to the rest of the world.

I guess it must depend on state laws. I know these auctions take place in PA and MD. I would not buy from some unknown person selling door to door but I would trust an auctioneer who has a reputation to maintain.

I was told that the cartons in which the goods are packed were torn, not the individual packages themselves. If I try one of these auctions I'll let you all know how things turn out. I hate to see people go hungry while good food is thrown out.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
We have a store that sells items stores are unable to sell, or the store closes or is restructured or the packaging changes. I have gotten amazing deals. I just wish they had frozen food. You have to know your prices as not everything is a true deal.

I buy what new clothes we get from there, and many many gifts. I got some fancy men's cologne for 90% off two years ago. Some unpronounceable name but all the rage. It often looks like I spend a fortune when I spend very little.

I cannot find a listing for a grocery auction here but we are usually 6 mos behind the times.

Thanks for the info!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
3S I also hate to see good food go to waste. We waste alot in this country and it never has sat well with me. Guess that comes from growing up dirt poor.....sort o' gives me a different perspective on that sort of thing.

Susie we have a store chain here that does that too and I do alot of my shopping there. But you're right, you have to know prices before going in because sometimes their prices isn't really cheaper. Most of the time though you can get really awesome bargains on perfectly good items. They even sell furniture now......I got my coffee table and end tables there when we bought this house 6 yrs ago.......Nichole is now using them and they still look like new. Good furniture and really nice brands at good deals.

I still haven't had time to search this yet.......but I'm going to. My food budget needs all the help it can get. lol
 

Mattsmom277

Active Member
Gosh, I wish we had that type of thing here!!

When I lived and worked in Toronto, there used to be a place that sold stuff like that. Pretty much everything. Meat that was a day or two from the best before date. Great for the freezer. Diapers with a small tear in the bag. Crunched boxes of things etc. There wasn't much you COULDN'T get there. The deal was you had to show ID and proof of address for the records. You could shop there one time per month. You paid $20 at the door and were given a shopping cart. There were no bags, no boxes. Just your cart. Whatever you could put into your cart and roll out of the building, was yours for that flat rate of $20. It was great. I would get a month of toilet paper, female products, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, shampoo and conditioner, dish and laundry soap, household cleaners, canned goods, meat, etc. I also used to use the bottom rack to stack with bags of diapers for a young mom who lived nearby. Saved her over $60 a month in diapers, and I'd usually have well over $200-300 worth of products for myself.

Where I live, we have 5 seperate chain type grocery stores. You can save going to different stores and shopping the weekly sales. However you need time and energy to do so (I have the time, and create the energy from need). I wish we had more options. We don't have a local Costco or anything.
 
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