My Amazing Scratch and Dent Store Deals!

Nearly all the extremely frugal groceries I got today. Not shown, 3 kilograms of rice.

I am beyond excited by today's grocery shopping trip at the scratch and dent store. I happened to have 34 dollars left in my December grocery budget but when I saw the prices I decided to go over budget and use some of my January grocery budget to cover this, because as a very busy person it would have been ridiculous to not buy the things when I was in the area one day before my next budgeted month begins and instead wait for when I'm in the area. The deals were so good they couldn't be missed!

Additionally, as I hadn't originally been planning on grocery shopping today, I didn't have my collapsible shopping carts with me and ended up buying two new cheap ones. Even with that extra cost, I know this trip was that worthwhile that it was worth paying that extra money.

So just how worthwhile was it, how much did I spend, what did I buy, and how much would it have cost me purchased in a regular 'cheap grocery store' as opposed to a scratch and dent store? Let's do the math.


We are out of cereal in my house and that was something we definitely needed.
The cheapest I can buy regular gluten cereal for Lee, the only gluten eating family member, is $2 a package. The cheapest I can buy gluten free cereal (at a special outlet store) is $2.85 a package. Usually, though, gluten cereal is over $3 per package and gluten free is $4.25 at the very least and nice gluten free cereal is $5.71.
At the store today saw low quality gluten free cereal for 70 cents a package so bought 4, and the kids' favorite special gluten free cereal at 95 cents a package so I bought 12 packages.  I also bought 3 packages of gluten cereal for 95 cents a package. Altogether I paid $17.05 for 19 packages of cereal. If I would have bought them at the prices they usually are sold for, they would have cost a total of $88.90 if I paid regular prices for the equivalent, or $71.40 if I compare it to standard pricing and not for the high quality gluten free cereal like I bought.
So that's a difference of $54 to $71 between what I paid and what that cereal is worth, hence that much "savings".

I've mentioned quite a few times on my blog about how much my family and I love canned hearts of palm. They usually cost $2 a can at cheap grocery stores, but were selling them for 95 cents a can, so I bought 12. $11.40 for those instead of $24, so a difference or savings of $9.60.

The kids and I also love canned pineapple, and I found pineapple canned in pineapple juice, usually $1.70 a can or more, for 95 cents a can. I bought 6 cans for $5.70, where they usually would have cost $10.20, for a difference or savings of $4.50.

Even better, they had canned lychees, usually $2.85 a can, at 95 cents a can. I bought 3, all they had. $2.85 for those instead of $8.55, for a difference/savings of $5.70.

I desperately needed bottled lemon juice, and got 3 bottles for 95 cents each, where each bottle was still marked with its original price of $2.54, so a total of $2.85 instead of $7.62, for a difference of $4.77.

When possible, I do try to avoid using white sugar, especially if I can find a healthier alternative, and date syrup is one of those healthier alternatives. However, each jar of pure date syrup usually costs $8 at the standard store, or $6.85 at the discount store I generally frequent. I bought 2 jars at $4.28 each for a total of $8.57 instead of $16 or $13.7 for a difference or savings of $5.13-$7.43.

I generally make my own non dairy milks. I made my own cashew butter, and mix that with water to make cashew milk on the spot (instructions on how to do that in my cookbook, Penniless Foodie in the Wild). The cashew butter is shelf stable, and its super convenient to make my own non dairy milk that way. Unfortunately, though I love cashews, I seem to have developed a cashew allergy, so I can't make my favorite cashew milk. I haven't gotten around to making my own almond butter, so when I want a non dairy milk that I can drink, I've been buying almond milk or similar. They cost around $4 per liter bottle here for the shelf stable non sugary kind. I found bottles of shelf stable almond milk, rice milk, and soy milk, for $1.42 each, so I bought 5 total for $7.14, instead of the $20 they would otherwise cost, for a difference or saving of $12.85

We're big dijon mustard eaters here; I use it not just as a condiment, but also as an ingredient in delicious recipes like my vegan cheese sauce and onion soup, and in dressings. I usually find them at $2.85 each, cheapest, and this time I found them for $1.42, so I bought 2, for $2.85 instead of $5.71, for a difference or savings of $2.86.

I use olive oil on a regular basis in my house. It is my main oil. Typically I buy them in 750 ml bottles, each typically costing $8, but I've been lucky to find them sometimes at $6.28, when I stock up. I bought 2 5 liter bottles for $28.57 each, or a total of $57.14. At the standard price I buy olive oil, 10 liters would cost $106.67, and at my super low stock up price, 10 liters would cost $83.33. This is a difference or savings of $26.19 or $49.53!!!

Rice usually costs $1.42 per kg package, or 71 cents a pound. They were selling rice for 95 cents per kg package or 43 cents a pound. I bought 3 kg packages or 6.6 lbs for $2.85 instead of the usual $4.26 for a difference or savings of $1.41.

Although its not healthy, I decide to not have school sandwiches be a fight with my kids, and sometimes my daughters want chocolate spread (mixed with peanut butter or quark cheese, so there's protein). Usually chocolate spread that I was buying cost $4 per package (I was buying a nutella knock off), but instead I bought 3 chocolate spread jars at 95 cents each. I'm not sure how much those generally cost, but I assume at least $1.42 a package. Total was $2.85. Since I'm not exactly sure how much those generally cost, I'm not going to compare prices.

Lastly, I bought 3 packages of sour jelly beans for 95 cents each, for a total of $2.85. Again not comparing these to other pricing.

To bring it all home, I purchased 2 collapsible shopping carts for a total of $20.

So, was it worth it?

Well, the total of my shop was $124.10 dollars, not counting the $20 on the shopping carts.
Had I paid regular prices for everything, it would have been an additional $127.01-$169.65 for the groceries, so yes, spending $20 on the wagons to get them home was an easy decision.

You might have noticed that I wrote the price difference or savings. The reason I did this is because some people, in posts like this, would say "What do you mean, saved? You spent money, you didn't save it! Saving would be not spending!" To those people, I say you have a point.
But groceries need to be purchased anyhow. And you can buy them full price or you can buy them at a discount. Yes, there are certain groceries that are extra, that I don't have to buy. But this shop is things that I do anyhow buy. Other than the last two items. So by buying them where and how I did, I did save money.

Can you see why I love scratch and dent stores? They really are awesome!!!

Have you made any amazing purchases lately? What were they?