I’m picky when it comes to food. Not picky in the sense of food preference, but picky in the if-this-cereal-is even-within-a-two-month-expiration-date-from-today-I might-just-not-eat-it. I have some irrational fears and consuming “post marked” goods is one of them. The thought of eating cookies that say “Best by” two months out gives me the willies. But, if I want to be frugal maybe I can’t always be so picky.

This morning, Julia and I drove out to Kalona to visit the Central Discount Store. I have heard some people recommend the place and knew that they were open today (they are owned/ran by some Amish and are only open 3 days a week), so since Julia fell asleep in the time it took us to leave our house and pull into Fareway, I decided to let her sleep a little longer and make the drive out.

Here’s my loot from the trip:

In all my total was $7.42. With that I got:

– two boxes of Optimum Raisin Bran cereal

– 4 bottles of organic, diary free, gluten free ranch dressing

– one box of Back to Nature mint cookies (yummy!)

– two boxes of organic chocolate cake mix

– two boxes of organic chocolate icing mix

– one box of organic kid’s granola bars

The best thing is, these are all brands that are sold at New Pi that I always want to try but never have the heart to spend the extra money (with the exception of the cookies – I have bought those before – kinda a weakness of mine 😉 ). I can’t say for sure how much I saved, but to give you a small idea, the salad dressing alone is usually $3ish per bottle and I got it for 50 cents per bottle.