Lower your monthly food bill 50% (without coupons)

[Dot]

I've done an experiment order to test the quality of this locally. If it turns out good this could be a real life saver for my elderly mother with the senior meals. She wants to cook and be independent, but her whole life of cooking was for a family of 4 with pop in suprise kids all the time so her quantity value is shot. Heh

If she cooks for just herself it will be her eating one pot of stew for 6 weeks lol.

p.s I used your email for the recommend 

[booklvr777]

Ok, I picked up my first order today from Angel Food Ministries in No. VA.  It was a fast and easy process.  They had sent me an email receipt, which I printed out and took with me.  A lady at the front desk took the receipt and then someone in the back brought out 2 pre-filled boxes of food (we ordered 2 of the regular packages--I think it's called the signature box).  Anyhow, they even took the boxes out to our car for us.  We weren't there 5 minutes and everyone was just super nice.  (And no one tried to convert us or push any religious beliefs on us, for those who are concerned about that type of thing--although it could be different elsewhere I realize).
The food was abundant and well packaged.  I definitely could not have gotten this much food at the grocery store for $30.  We are going to grill the steaks tomorrow since we're supposed to have a nice day (fingers crossed).  There was a substitution of Beef Stroganoff for the Lasagna and my daughter's package had a bag of onions in it but mine did not.  My package had the frozen bag of chicken fried rice, hers did not.  But that works out ok for us, since we live together and don't need 2 bags of onions and the chicken fried rice meal is plenty big enough for all of us.  I would say, though, check your food to be sure you are getting all the items.  The dessert item was a yummy looking lemon cake thingy that my s-i-l immediately recognized as being the kind that Starbucks sells for a pretty penny (by the slice) and sure enough, it was labeled "Starbucks".
All in all, I am very satisfied with the food and the experience, although I will check carefully next time to be sure all the food items are included.  Not that i needed more onions, lol, but if they had forgotten one of the other items, I would have minded.

Modified to add: We grilled some of the ribeye steaks tonight (11-15) and they were fabulous--really tender and just yummy.  If the rest of the food is as good as this, it will be great!

[wiccawench]

I had a very similar experience to booklvr.

I headed out to the pick up location and it was well signed not only an easy process but their manner was so friendly. No bullshit religious stuff it was all about community.

Yes they carried the boxes out to the car for me.

I ordered a box of fresh fruit/veges (which included honey and a bag of shelled pecans) pears, apples, oranges, potatoes, carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, grapefruit and onions.... $25

I also ordered the grilled meat pack and the breast chicken meat pack......

quality top notch.

the VOLUME of chicken surprised me......omg! really good value!

I will definitely be using it again....... it was altogether a positive experience

THANKS SO MUCH! My family thinks i am so clever! LOL!

sorry i actually never got any photos as the kids and hubby unloaded the car while i was on the phone and opened and put stuff away before i could!

  (I am NOT complaining... it was just amusing since i wanted to take a photo or two)

[Dot]

I got my first order yesterday.

I am impressed. The signature box is well done, the frozen veg is lovely and top notch. The meat is in good sized purportions.

I got the senior box for my mother and they look lovely. 10 nicely portioned well balanced healthy meals just needing to be nuked/baked. She will report the flavor as she eats them so I will post that later.

The dispensing church I got mine from was very efficient. I was in and out in 5 minutes tops. You go in, get a box, go down the line and your box is filled with your various bits from what you ordered. Everyone helping was very cheerful and nice. Yes, they even offered to take my boxes out for me.

I am so pleased I am doing this as a monthly order from now on. Excellent excellent way to save a ton of money. Plus we get to eat a few steaks which I hadn't found befor to be cheap enough to buy.

[Erin]

The vegetables were top notch, way better than I can usually afford to buy.  (I usually buy broccoli cuts because they're cheaper, this broccoli was absolutely scrumptious!) Really everything they offered that we've tried so far has been quite good.  Already ordered a box for next month.

[booklvr777]

We have tried several of the items from the signature box now--the steaks, the chicken patties, the fish fillets, the beef stroganoff (substituted for the lasagne), the brocolli, the milk, the dessert cake--all just great!  And the steak was really nice because we can't usually afford to buy steak of any kind.  We are definitely going to order for Dec. too.  It was a great experience, great food, and a great price--much cheaper than we could have gotten at the grocery store.

[swampman]

I would like to let the mod who removed my posts about dumpster diving, thanks.  There are people who do not have enough money to even purchase cheaply through this service.  40% of the food in groceries goes to waste and ends up in dumpsters.  Why not take advantage of it.

[DoomOrBust]

I would like to let the mod who removed my posts about dumpster diving, thanks.  There are people who do not have enough money to even purchase cheaply through this service.  40% of the food in groceries goes to waste and ends up in dumpsters.  Why not take advantage of it.

Your dumpster diving post is the third post listed for this category, you are swatting at dead flies there diver man!

Just curious, how can you afford the interent if you cannot afford food?

[Dot]

Thought I would update on the senior meals.

My mom says they are really good. Perfect sized portions. Easy to cook and she doesn't even need to flavor them or add stuff to make them good. She was delighted in the veg because it's varied and flavorful and high quality. This is such a wonderful way for seniors to save a ton of money and have healthy meals as its very very hard to cook for one on a budget yet still have a varied diet.

We both HIGHLY recommend telling any seniors in your area that are on a tight budget about this program.

[swampman]

I would like to let the mod who removed my posts about dumpster diving, thanks.  There are people who do not have enough money to even purchase cheaply through this service.  40% of the food in groceries goes to waste and ends up in dumpsters.  Why not take advantage of it.

Your dumpster diving post is the third post listed for this category, you are swatting at dead flies there diver man!

Just curious, how can you afford the interent if you cannot afford food?

Most of the new homeless still have computer skills and use computers at libraries to check their e-mail and keep on line.  I personally am not homeless. I am living on social security and a pension from a company I worked for for about 15 years as well as money from odd jobs and consulting projects.  Dumpster diving extends our food budget. If you had been reading any of my posts, you will realize that I live on a doomstead and grow much of our food.

I am just offering an alternative way to lower your food bills by 50% without coupons.  There is a great amount of waste in our food system.

[Erin]

Swampman, I know we live in the same region, so maybe you're aware of this.  Dumpster diving is commonplace for the Amish.  No kidding.  Yeah, we're wasteful, and they know it.  They're not ashamed to make use of it either.

A girlfriend of mine too these photos, she lives and works in the Bellefonte/State College area.  I am not sure where she took these.  She thought it was hilarious.  I though, "Hey, smart guy!"

[DoomOrBust]

FYI, My mother and I both have tried the Angel Food prepared meals and I just wanted to let everyone know that Walmart sells the "Marie Calender" prepared meals, they often put them on sale here in Kansas for $2.50 each ($.30 cents cheaper than Angels), they are twice as good as Angel Food's, ConAgra's prepared meals.

We just cannot believe how good the Marie Calender meals are, just like home cooked and portions are larger than the Angel Food and cheaper too if you buy them on sale, not on sell they are $3.00 or about 20 cents higher than Angel.

Wanted to make sure everyone trying to stretch their food budget knows about these meals, I am sure anyone that tries them will be as delighted as we are. Restaurant quality food in a neat take home microwavable package!

We discovered its best to take the frozen food out of the package and put it on a plate to thaw, then cover the unthawed meal with a paper towel/plastic wrap and nuke for 2 minutes stir around then nuke another 2 minutes. Again, no need to keep frozen as that does nothing but increase the cooking time costing you money for energy.

[booklvr777]

I will second the recommendation for Marie Callendar's frozen meals--it's the only frozen dinner that I really like and I buy them when they are on sale to have as an occasional quick, easy meal.  The portions are hearty and the ones I've tried have been very good (chicken parmigiana, yum!). 

[OutOfStep351]

For those of you who are really destitute, please check out the dumpsters behind grocery stores.  30-40% of all food is thrown out because it has reached an arbitrary expiration date.

Generally 6:00pm is the best time because they have to throw out the bread and expired dairy.  Winter is the best time to dumpster dive for obvious reasons.  Bring a broomstick with a hook attached to it because most of the food is in large garbage bags and you have to snag it and bring to you.  Don't jump in.  It will crush the food and there is a bad sludge on the bottom of the dumpster.  Use discretion.  Bread is good, Eggs are good (carton thrown out if one egg is broken).  Canned goods, some frozen goods.  Meat is a no-no, but produce is good.

I roomed with the king of the dumpster divers.  During the three years we shared a house, I only spent $150 on groceries and that was for delicacies that I couldn't live without.

BTW,  if the dumpster is locked then it is illegal to dumpster dive in that dumpster.  Generally there is one good store manager in town that doesn't like to see all that food go to waste.

Very true. I used to work at a natural foods coop, and even they had tons of perfectly good produce that had small blemishes that were "unsellable." I went home every night with a bag full of culled produce and a baguette or two. Wages sucked, but I bet I ate more than 200 bucks a month in free organic food. I still pop in there every once in a while when my pals are working to snag some veggies and fruits.

To the store's credit, they were in the process of trying to get city approval for a biomass digester.

Every few months, I would get a giant, industrial strength trash bag and fill it with rotten produce. I'd dump it all into my compost and mix it up (after removing and saving any seeds). My garden grew great.

I think most grocery stores around here have locks on their food dumpsters, though.

[pkbutrfli]

"Serving Communities in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming" (anyone in these states should check this out)

http://www.sharecolorado.com/

The food has been astounding!  I will order from them for as long as they are still around.  My grocery bill has been slashed by less than half.

If anyone orders their pre-packaged stuff let us know how they are, I've only ordered the produce and meat.