Participating in Community Warehouse Food Sale Nets 74% Savings on Groceries
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
The SHARE Colorado Warehouse Food Sale happened on Saturday, May 10 in Denver, Colorado.
I participated, and I’m so glad I did!
What can you fit into a 12 x 12 x 14 cardboard box?
As the photo shows you can fit a lot if you pack it well! Could you believe that you could fit over $100 worth of groceries and meat into it?
You can! I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. I expected a savings of at least 25% but I was amazed to find out I was able to fit an estimated $115.00 worth of meat and groceries into that little $30.00 box! I saved an estimated 74%!
The SHARE Colorado Warehouse Food sale works like this:
Each shopper gets a shopping cart with 2 boxes. You can choose to just get one box, or you can get several boxes - there’s NO LIMIT.
Each “box” (12 x 12 x 14) costs $30.00.
They don’t care what you put into the box, so long as the top can be closed and taped flat. So it was extra fun to see how much I could actually get into the box. I did a lot of rearranging and sometimes I’d find something I really wanted so I’d take something out and put it back, in order to fit something else. When it was all done, I had a few very small spaces left at the top of the box where 3 little boxes of strawberry jello fit perfectly. I had a packed-full box with NO wasted space.
Here’s what I got:
Meat / Seafood / Deli:
3 lb. Boneless Pork Roast
1 lb. Ground Turkey
7 oz. Cocktail Franks
2 lb. Bratwurst
1 lb. Breaded Fried Shrimp
3 lbs. extra lean ground beef
2 lbs. buffalo steak
6 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
1 lb. Pollock Fillets
2 1/2 lbs. chicken leg quarters
1 lb. beef franks
12 oz. package bacon
5 ounces shaved turkey
(23 1/2 pounds of meat!)
Pantry / Frozen:
24 oz. Bag Birds Eye Classic Italian Blend
4 packages strawberry jello mix
1 jar grape jelly
18 oz jar peanut butter
Dairy / Produce:
2 1/2 lbs. Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 1/2 lbs. Jack Cheese
16 oz. American Cheese Slices
2 tomatoes
Estimated Value $115.00 (and this is based mostly on store sale prices)
Cost: $30.00
SAVINGS OF 74%
The shopping experience was similar to any warehouse shopping experience such as Costco or Sam’s. The food items were kept in their boxes and were loaded high on pallets, the aisles were wide, and with it being a warehouse there was an open-market feel. People browsed through the aisles, shopping and placing items in their carts and into their boxes. When finished, we went through the payment line where volunteers gave us a tape gun to close up our boxes and take payment.
Easy!
I only got ONE BOX and yet my freezer is FULL of frozen meats and seafood and I have well over a few month’s worth of cheese and meat. Not too bad!
The great thing about this program is that it’s open to everyone. Another great thing is that there is NO LIMIT on how many food boxes you can buy. Only having $30 to spend, I opted to just get one box. But I saw families shopping with their kids, who had 2 shopping carts (2 boxes in each cart).
TIPS TO MAXIMIZE SAVINGS:
There were a lot of pantry items available such as pasta, canned goods, pasta sauces, juice boxes and mixes. Items such as these are easily found on sale throughout the year at major groceries and can easily be combined with coupons. If you want maximum value, pass up these items and go for meat and seafood and dairy which usually cost 2.99 - 6.99 a pound even on sale. This way you can buy these foods for less than $1.00 a pound! That’s right, I added up the pounds of meat I got and it added up to about 24 pounds.
I also got a few other items such as peanut butter and jelly and I picked up the jello boxes because I had some tiny spaces in my box to fill and I enjoy strawberry jello! The “$30.00 per box” is what FITS into the box and it doesn’t matter how much the box actually weighs.
I’m definitely going to be watching for future chances to participate in my SHARE Colorado Food Coop. I spoke to one of the volunteers on my way about volunteer opportunities. She invited me to come on out for the next “bag day” where they get the monthly food orders ready for distribution. I set the date in my calendar so I can show up and volunteer. This program is mostly successful because of volunteers and it’s a program that’s making a huge difference to me and for families of this region so I’m going to do everything I can to help them.
For more information and to check on upcoming events see the SHARE Colorado web site.
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