My Favorite Grocery Store

This weekend Kyle and I headed south to St. James, Missouri to spend the night at my parents' cabin in the woods and help them cut down a Christmas tree. We left right after work last night- I skipped out of work at exactly 4:15. I couldn't wait to get out to the country- gravel roads, no television, stars, snow, and my favorite part of it all: I-44 Surplus.
My mom and I discovered this store about 2 years ago and have been obsessed ever since. Imagine if everything in your grocery store was on sale- majorly on sale- like 40 to 80% off everything. Well, that's what this store is like! The first time my mom and I went to the store, we started in the bread aisle. We looked at the prices and thought, "NICE!" Then we walked a little further and saw even more incredible prices which is when I asked my mom, "Is this a food pantry?" The food was so cheap I thought it had to be some type of charity. Turns out, it's not a charity, but more of a 'scratch and dent' type of store. The prices are low because the box might be a little smashed in a corner, a can might be dented, or something might be expired. I try to stay away from the expired food, but I don't mind if the box to my granola bars is a little smashed. Of course, sometimes there is nothing wrong with the packaging at all- it's exactly as you would find it at Whole Foods!

The merchandise at 1-44 Surplus changes every day. There's a variety of everything from all food categories- cookies, cereal, soup, pasta sauce, tea, granola bars, cleaning supplies- everything. I never know what I'm going to find and since I buy mainly organic food- it's a complete treasure hunt. There's nothing better than finding a $7 bottle of Nature's Gate shampoo for $2.99!

With the store being so far away, I only hit it up once every few months and I buy a lot. Today I purchased 76 items for a grand total of $101.55. The most I have EVER spent at the surplus store, but also the most I have ever gotten. Here's a small selection of the items I purchased today.

Udi's natural artisan granola $1.99- I'm excited to eat this on top of yogurt for breakfast! Chocolate galore- all fair trade and organic: Theo vanilla milk chocolate 2oz. 75 cents, Dagoba dark 2 oz. 75 cents, Divine milk chocolate with spiced cookies 3.5oz. $1.25, Here's a few more REDONKULOUS prices: Late July cookies 39 cents, Pacific Organic soup $1.25, 1 oz. Justin's almond butter 20 cents, Traditional Medicines Breathe Easy Tea $2.75, BreathSavers 39 cents, Annie's Organic Macaroni and Cheese 99 cents. SCORE!
Cleaning supply action. Both my dish soap and glass and surface cleaner were $1.79 each- a savings of almost $2 on each of them from full price at the grocery store! It's pretty obvious why I love 1-44 surplus! Have you ever been to a 'discount grocer' like this?