Angel Food Menu for October

So if you haven't checked out the Angel Food menu for October, it is shaping up to be a good one. Unlike Bill I am not going to list ALL of the items here but I do have some comments that might help those of you who are new. And if you haven't tried Angel Food before, I suggest that you give it a go. Aside from scratch and dent items, it is the best way to save money on groceries!

So the highlight of the October menu, in my opinion, is the seafood box. For $35 you get 6 lbs of seafood including:

• 16 oz oven-ready buffalo shrimp
• 20 oz stuffed crabs in their natural shells
• 16 oz oven-ready battered fish
• 16 oz tilapia
• 11 oz stuffed salmon portions
• 17 oz crab cakes

I have had all of these before except the stuffed salmon and it is all really quality food.

Another recommendation that I have is the allergen-free box. All of the items are processed to remove the top 8 allergens: peanuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, tree nuts, fish, crustacea, and gluten. In these items is plenty of fried chicken, and that is one of the best values in Angel Food. Usually the chicken comes from top vendors like Tyson (even though it will arrive to you without a label). The chicken is very flavorful. The allergen-free box is $25 for 5 lbs.

The steak box is always a good deal too: this month you get 2 lbs ribeyes and 3 lbs strips for $25. Their steaks are usually pretty good quality - mostly lean cuts.

Also notable is the fact that you can pre-order your complete Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for $36. Each dinner includes a 7.5 lb (average Perdue roasting hen (very flavorful - we had it last year), a 3lb netted boneless ham, cranberries, 3 vegetables, gravy, rolls, and a dessert.

My plan is to order the $41 signature box, the steak box, the seafood box, and the allergen-free box. For $126 I get enough food to take care of dinners for my family of 4 (well 5, but my son isn't eating solid food yet) for an entire month. You just can't beat that.

About the only thing I personally wouldn't ever buy is the produce, as I said - the fact that it usually arrives bruised and/or frozen (it happened to me twice!) is bad news, in my opinion. Aside from that, why would you buy that when you could go to your local farmer's marker and get it fresher and cheaper?

But overall, my final assessment is that Angel Food is a good deal, and October is a great month to try it.

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Scratch and Dent Sales - for Groceries??

MSN featured an article today on going to scratch and dent grocery stores to get your non-perishable food - you can view the article here: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/FindDealsOnline/cheapest-food-this-side-of-a-dumpster.aspx

Basically what these stores do is take the dented cans or items with damaged packaging, or items close to their sell-by date and resell them for literally pennies. When I first heard of this, I was skeptical. Like many of you, I thought that there must be something wrong with the food. Don't they tell you to avoid food with damaged packages or dents? Can't you get botulism that way?

The answer is yes, and no. According to the MSN article: "According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture fact sheet, beware of any can that is swollen, leaking, extensively rusted, has visible holes or punctures, or is crushed/dented badly enough "to prevent normal stacking or opening with a manual, wheel-type can opener."


So don't say we didn't warn you. But often the can or package in question is perfectly fine, even though is has a sizable dent, or even when it is difficult to open with a can opener. We here at Living Cheap have been doing this for years, so like we promised, we won't recommend anything we ourselves haven't tried!

Bill, Angela and I, in fact, get a lot of our food this way - through cast-offs from grocery stores and even the food bank! Angela in particular through the years has all the connections for finding these castoffs, much to the benefit of all of her friends and family (and random people on Freecycle). And speaking for Bill and I we have never encountered food that was compromised in any way in quality. For example, I made chicken parmesan yesterday using crushed tomatoes that came from a scratch and dent, and I regularly eat soup for lunch that comes from dented cans. Our kids love the canned fruit - and except when we make an effort to make a big meal we rarely have a breakfast or lunch that wasn't either free or bought for pennies on a quick-sale bin because of damaged packaging or an upcoming expiration date.

There are several directories online for finding your local scratch and dent grocery store, such as Anderson Country Market's site: http://www.andersonscountrymarket.net/directory or http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/discount-stores/97055-salvage-grocery-list-state.html  There aren't many outside of bigger cities, but the items are so inexpensive that it is worth bringing a big box and loading up whenever you make that trip to Dallas.

If you live in a city without one, the best strategy is to search the discount or quick sale bins at the grocery store or even drug stores. Ask the manager what they do with the dented cans and if they just throw them away, offer to take them off their hands. Don't be shy - in this economy if you don't ask someone else will!