Shopping at an Amish Salvage Store

Something I haven’t told you about our weekend homestead yet: It’s in an area that’s being settled by the Amish. The first families came down from Pennsylvania three years ago. Now a bunch more families are moving to the area. We’ve been told 42 Amish families will be relocating to the area. And we’re really enjoying watching their community take shape.

There’s a great Amish bake stand that’s open on the weekends, and we love to stop there for fresh donuts. They’re ridiculously good.

And since this spring, several homes and businesses have gone up. There’s a new saw mill, a dry goods store, a hardware store and a wonderful salvage grocery store.

We finally made time to visit the salvage grocery store yesterday, and I really wish we had done it sooner. The deals are incredible. Take a look at what I brought home:

(5) bag of SunMaid chocolate covered raisins for $.50 a bag

(6)bags of Betty Crocker Salted Caramel cookie mix for $.15 a bag. Normally we make our cookies from scratch, but I sure can’t make them for that price.

(5) bags of yogurt covered pretzels for $.50 a bag

(4) boxes of Honest Kids Juice pouches for $1.50 each. If you look closely, you can see my kids have already been into these.

(10) bottles of Welch’s Farmer’s Pick 100% Juice for $1 each. Some are Concord grape, some are blackberry.

(10) boxes of cereal:

(4) Cascadian Farms Multi Grain Squares – $.75 each

(4) Honey Bunches of Oats – $.75 each

(1) Capt’n Crunch – $1.50 each

(1) Lucky Charms – $1.50 each

(4) boxes of Ocean Spray 100% juice fruit snacks for $1 each

(3) boxes of crushed/strained tomatoed for $.50 each. I’ll use these to make tomato soup.

(2) packages of unsweetened applesauce for $.75 each

(2) 6-packs of full-size Hershey’s bars for $1 each. I really wish I’d bought more. We make s’mores once a week now, and I always grumble about how expensive Hershey’s bars have gotten. They’re almost $4 at most stores. If they’re still there next week, I’m stocking up.

A huge bag of Sour Patch Kids for $2. These are one my youngest daughter’s favorite candies.

(32) granola bars for $.10 each from brands like LaraBar, Kashi, Clif, Nature’s Path and Cascadian

(3) boxes of chocolate ice cream mix for $.50 each

(2) boxes of falafel mix for $.75 each. Not my husband’s favorite thing, but the girls and I love it

A big bundle of Larabar granola (individual packs) for $2

(2) bottles of Method spray cleaner for $1.50 each. I love Method, but I don’t find it at my price often, so this was exciting.

A jar of lemon curd for $1. I make my own, but I’m out until we harvest our lemons. If you’ve never tried lemon curd on s’mores, in place of the chocolate, you need to put it on your to-do list. It tastes like lemon meringue pie. Yum!

a bag of dried apricots for $.75

A jar of salsa for $1

And the girls found a pack of ponytail holders for $.50 and a pack of Mr. Sketch markers for $1.

That’s a ton of stuff for $57.35. I can hardly wait to see what they have next time we go.

Now, as I mentioned, this is a salvage grocery store, so that means the stuff that they’re selling is past its best-by date, has damaged packaging or was closed out by either the store or the manufacturer. I don’t like to buy dented cans, so I always stay clear of that stuff in salvage stores, and I won’t buy anything with a broken seal either. Save for that (and a few other rules that I’m probably forgetting), I’m game.

If you want to check out the salvage grocery store scene, I have an article over on thespruceeats.com, with more information about salvage stores and how to find a location near you.

And if you want to locate an Amish dry goods store (I hope to check out the one near us soon), I also maintain a directory of those:

• Amish Grocery Store Locations

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I seem to have a bunch of groceries to put away.