In defense of the Grocery Outlet!

Here I go again, promoting a commercial store. Chile's blog right now has a series on food security. It is a very interesting topic. How do you afford to buy food? One answer I have is the Grocery outlet. It is a rousing discussion at work.

Seriously I don't know what folks have against the Grocery Outlet- or as FPF's husband, terrible person calls it the Used Food Store. Okay - so do I -can't resist a good store name - thanks michael.
I also call it a green store. And a lot of my friends think I have lost my tree-huggin' mind.

But when you think about it- their items generally are simply items that some CEO or some "mainstream" grocer has decided wasn't good enough to sell.

The reasons are varied- a label change on a product, a store closes and has excess amounts. But I call it a green store because they sell what normally would have been thrown away! They purchase the items at pennies on the dollar, and pass the savings on!

I personally like that, because I am getting good merchandise, and keeping waste out of the waste stream. I am not saying you are buying garbage there or their food is garbage. But why throw away a perfectly good can of tomatoes because you changed the label? Grocery outlet and stores like them are just opening an affordable shopping experience for people.

My mom used to have qualms buying clothes from thrift stores. And she used to tell me I didn't know who wore them before I bought them. And to which I would just look at her and reply What does that matter- I wash it once and it is clean. A person could argue with that whole outlook that you don't know who made the clothes either. Well my mom, while not a thrift store aficionado, will buy something used today.

And mom while not a Grocery Outlet fan, will go in there to buy items like canned tomatoes.

They also sell fresh items like meats, cheeses, produce. I have never bought produce there but have bought meat and cheese there. And it was all good. And tasty.