My Latest Scratch and Dent Shop

It's been some time since I've been to the scratch and dent store near the open air market. I was in the area the other day, though, and since I'd heard from my friend Alison how awesome of a selection they had recently, I decided to go there. Of course I regretted not bringing my collapsable shopping wagon with me because I ended up finding such wonderful things there that I ended up buying a cheap cloth wagon from the store and lugged some bags in my arms and needed to take many breaks when bringing the stuff home, but I wasn't going to give up on those stuff just because of a little work. Too many good things to pass up.

Here's what I bought. I think you'll see why I found this shop exciting.

First of all, I am a wine fan. I drink wine, in moderation, regularly. And white wine is my favorite type of wine. An Emerald Reisling is my favorite "regular" wine. (My other two favorites, Gewurztraminer and champagne are more expensive and thus only for special occasions.) I also like to use wine in cooking, either in risotto, or even in my homemade ramen soup. I try to buy myself some wine when I see it on sale, under $5.75 a bottle, and typically pay $4.85-$5.15 per bottle. Occasionally I'll find some as cheap as $4.25 and then I do I buy a few bottles. At the scratch and dent store they had Emerald Reisling for only $2.85 a bottle as long as you bought it in sets of 3. I bought six. If I'd actually had my regular shopping wagon I would have definitely bought more, but 6 was the limit in how much I could carry with the other foods I bought as well.

We're also a big fan of sweet chili sauce in my house. We love it on everything, from spring rolls to poke bowls to fish toast but recently ran out. I made some homemade stuff but to be honest sometimes I just want some store bought stuff. When I went to the grocery store I was a little shocked at how much it cost- $4.85 a bottle, because i'm so used to buying it from the scratch and dent store. Fortunately I was able to replenish my supply for only $1.42 a bottle.

I was out of bottled lemon juice and the store bought stuff costs $2.85 a bottle, so it made me happy to see the exact same brand (without food coloring, etc...) for only 95 cents if bought in sets of 3, so of course, I bought three.

I was hoping to get canned goods there, because I try to never pay full price for canned items if I can help it, and usually get a good supply at scratch and dent store (dented cans, woot woot!). This time, unfortunately, the variety of types of cans was not too extensive, but they did have some great things. Canned peas and carrots (something I generally try to keep in stock) they unfortunately only had one of- for 95 cents. They also only had a few cans of hearts of palm for 95 cents, so I bought all they had. But best of all- they had a bunch of canned lychees for only $1.15 a can if you bought them in sets of three. Canned lychees are some of my family's favorite fruit and $1.15 a can is a phenomenal price. I bought as many as I could carry.

I use a lot of sesame oil in my Asian cooking, specifically the Korean recipes. Its probably one of my most commonly used seasonings after salt and garlic. I try to never pay full price for it, and only buy it at scratch and dent stores. I was in luck and got bottles for $2.85, approximately half of the retail price.

They also had bottles of gluten free soy sauce for $2.85, again approximately half retail price. Unfortunately they didn't have so many, so I bought all they had, only 4 bottles.

They had packages of gluten free flour, including gluten free bread flour. They were $1.42 a package which is a quarter of their regular price. I bought as many as they had.

My favorite types of chocolates are mint chocolates, and they had mint chocolate truffles for $1.42 per package, and I bought all the packages they had.

They had this drink that seemed cool, it was made from sap of a tree (I don't know which one, because it wasn't written in English) and blueberries, so I thought it would be a fun treat. They were approximately 55 cents a bottle, so I bought five.

And as I was at the checkout I saw pistachio milk chocolate being sold for 85 cents each, so I bought three packages, why not.

I am very pleased with my haul. Even paying $10 for my wagon to take them home was well worth it, because of the savings in this shop. But next time I have gotta remember to bring a wagon from home.

Got any great deals lately? What were they?