With food and gas prices the way they are, everyone has their advice on how to trim your food bill. I don’t know if you saw today’s Inquirer, but the front page of the local section has an article on BB’s outlet in Quarryville. I’ve never been there but have heard about it from coworkers as I work pretty close to Quarryville. One shopper in the article is quoted as saying “People who shop here are sensible and wise.” I respectfully disagree and here’s why.

BB’s is a grocery outlet that sells groceries with damaged packaging and expired dates. You do not have to sacrifice quality to save money. Here are some examples.

The first item they highlight is Barbie Bandaids that are in a stained box for $1.25, down from $2.99. I will be getting my free Bandaids this week at CVS. The box will be brand new and not stained. I also have gotten free Bandaids at Target and boxes for $0.50 at Walmart, again, all brand new and not stained. I will detail these deals as I come across them in the future. I will detail the CVS deal that starts today in another post sometime today. These same bandaids are also on sale this week at Walgreen’s, buy one get one, at $2.99. So $1.50 a box–only a quarter more, the box is clean and new and you don’t have to drive to Quarryville.

Next they talk about an 8-oz bottle of Kraft dressing for $0.50 down from $1.69. I just looked in my pantry and I have about 6 bottles (16 oz size, so twice as big) of Kraft dressing that I got at Acme for on average, $0.75 a bottle. And guess what? Unlike BB’s, my bottles are brand new, not stained or wet as the bottles are described in the article.

Another shopper brags of getting dented cans of tomatoes, 24 cans for $3. I regularly get almost free tomatoes at Walmart and you can too. You just need to go to the website for Muir Glen tomatoes, print off your $1 coupon and take it to the Parkesburg Walmart where the tomatoes are $1.22 a can. Yours will then be $0.22 a can, and guess what? The cans will be clean, not dented, not expired………..and organic!

This same shopper brags about her expired crackers. Yum. I have a better idea. Go online and join the Kashi community, which will then enable you to print your $2 coupons. Quite often Acme and Giant both sell these crackers for $2.50 and they are usually regularly $2.50 at Walmart. I’d much prefer a brand new box of crackers for $0.50, thankyouverymuch. There also are other ways to get free Kashi products, including crackers.

Lastly the article talks about the bargains on expired medicines, expired cereal and expired mayonnaise. First, I will not shy away from taking expired otc medicine though I would never give it to my toddler. But as a consumer, I prefer not to purchase it already expired. If you could see my stockpile in the basement, you would see tons of every type of otc medicine you can imagine. And I got it all for free at CVS or paid about 10% of the original cost. I used either ECBs to pay for it, or purchased it on clearance and used coupons to make it even cheaper. And I have everything–pain relievers, cold medicines, stomach remedies, you name it. All name brand, all brand new in clean packaging with current dates.

As far as expired mayonnaise and cereal, well, that’s your decision. But again, I prefer to get mine free or almost free at the grocery store, and not expired. Just about all the cereal that Kevin & I eat is free, or no more than $0.50 a box. Dan is a bit more brand loyal when it comes to cereal, but I still won’t pay more than a $1 a box for what he likes. And I will share these deals with you as I find them.

I do not care to sacrifice quality to save money and would argue that there isn’t much savings if you’re giving something up. Couponing can be more work, but so is driving to Quarryville. And it can be tough if you don’t know where to look. But that’s what I’m here for-to tell you where to look and hopefully in the process you’ll develop an eye for finding bargains yourself.