Freegan Haul, Union Market

I had to post about my Last Haul on a Freegan Tour, there was 25 people and we all left with bags filled of high end foods! That night there was just so much Yogurt thrown out and I'm talking about HIGH END Stuff.  I didn't even realize till I got home that it was Goat Milk Yogurt something we don't even carry in normal supermarkets.  The Retail price is $2.99 for small little cup version of yogurt!!!!!  As you can see their all in their containers, pristine clean garbage and its freezing in NYC so essentially it was at Cold Temp the whole time it was just sitting on side walk.

I also picked up these portable Organic Yogurts from a High end Grocer in Manhattan, you do not even want to know how ridiculously expensive this sells for.  And its boxed, in pristine condition.  I can't believe that this was just going to go to the Landfills, perfectly packaged organic Yogurt! I am still trying to wrap my head around how stores can be so selfish, like who could afford this regularly to start with and why would you just throw it out!

There was also tons of this Organic boxed cookies.  Again in super clean food only bags, and its also wrapped inside as well.  I would have taken more because its sad to say that even with 25 people on the tour, we still had a bunch left over.  I can literally see how this is a food rescue mission, what we can't take gets tossed in a landfill!!

Again perfectly packaged Spinach Ravioli, this is going to be dinner one night!  This is all from just one store, can you imagine combined with 25 people and I took conservatively... how much food was just tossed in one night.  And its clean and high end food just thrown out when Bowery Homeless just nearby.  How lazy and wasteful can these stores be??

The total retail cost estimate of my Haul from this one store is over $55 !!!!  And being realistic, I would never have access to buy this High end food and because I went on this Food Rescue tour, I am going to eat better than when I actually BUY food and all for free!

Freegan Breakfast courtesy of Le Pain Quotidien

It's official, I am so totally becoming a freegan I went on a another tour and I'm in complete awe!!!! I get why now some Freegan's will say they eat better than most people because NYC is unique in its high end food sources.  

I got the above from Le Pain Quotidien a high end organic NYC bakery chain.  Where muffins and crossiants run from $3.50 to $3.95 each!! It's just crazy they throw out bags of fresh in some cases it was still warm pastries and bread all neat in clear bags filled with just food!!!

The dark muffin was filled with Dates inside, so delish and healthy and completely out of my budget.

I would have gotten more because they literally had whole loaves of organic bread, at least 2 huge clear garbage bags full but I just literally didn't have any more bags to fill up.  And for those of you who think its gross, everything was clean and they separated the food from their normal garbage.  

This one run, literally supplied me with a weeks worth of amazing breakfast and all for FREE!  Honestly, this is better than Couponing even!!!

I really think I am going to keep doing this, I know for sure now that I am never ever going to buy Bread again!!! I didn't even touch the bounty of breads at Panera.  I'm super excited because this is going to save me a lot of money. And it was only my Second tour with the group!

Target Christmas Clearance at 90%

Whoppee!!!! Target is doing 90% of Christmas Clearance!!! I went today and was able to pick up the below:

Dunkin Donuts Coffee $.83

Peace Mantle  Piece $3

Wreath Holder $.29

Gift Tie $.10

Mini Bodycology Set $.29

My store had sparse wrapping and ribbon left. There was Exhileration PJ shorts for $.99 ; ornaments; gift bags and tissue paper in the $.10 to $.15 range but I already have leftovers from my last Clearance haul so I resisted.   While I love shopping Christmas Clearance because you can find a lot of super deals to stock pile your gift and Holiday decor, don't go super overboard! Have a purpose in mind for everything you get.  My mantle piece is versatile enough not to be a just holiday decoration.  I could also break up the letters and use them as individual book ends or personalized paper weights.  The wreath holder, I'm actually using it for hanging additional things over my door.  And the mini bath set, can be given out as a Valentine day gift as part of basket since its not a Holiday themed fragrance.

My suggestions: the Hannakah stuff in Blue/Silver/ White ribbon is great for baby shower themed gifts.  Pretty ornaments can be great decoration tools for your gift baskets and stock up on ribbon and bows. If you ever went to Michaels or Hallmark, you would know the regular prices on these things are ridiculous.

Coke Rewards , Free 12 Pack at Rite Aid

Remember the Free 12-Pack coke reward Coupons that were offered for 30 pts this past Coke Holiday! I got 5 of them and the only catch with these rewards is the max value you can redeem for is $4.99 so you have to find them on sale.  Rite Aid this week has them on sale for 3 for $13.98 with a 2 up reward back!  Note: you do have to pay for the CRV deposit which is $.05 per can, but the Up reward helps with that.  And to top things off, the red icon indicates this counts toward their 50 Anniversary UP reward promotion, Limit 2 offers! 

Christmas Clearance on Gift Sets

Hurry!!!! Link Walmart has marked its gift sets down even further to 75% off!!! I found some great stuff left over that would be great Valentines day gifts or upcoming anything gifts!!!!  Stocking up on gift sets post holiday is a great way for you to shop and pick up the materials for your next gift basket gift for super cheap.  And you don't have to be crafty at all.

Here is what I look for when I stock pile up on gift sets:

They are all food related gifts, so you  have to watch the expiration date. But even if you can't gift it before then you can still stockpile these and use them after expiration by being creative.

  

I'll start with the Soup set, its 4 Distinctively Shaped cups and a Soup Mix for $3.50.  What attracted me to this set is that the CUPS alone would cost more than $1 each if I were lucky enough to find these at the local dollar store. So after expiration, of soup I would just take out the cups and make my own themed Soup Gift basket out of it.  Or I could just take out the Soup to personalize the gift insert my own Soup Mix with a cute note and not even have to deal with Wrapping.  Either way Flu Season is coming, and this would be great Hostess gift anytime of the year!

The Smore's kit is Awesome, $2.50 for 2 Hersheys Mugs and ingredients there's no Christmas decoration on it so you can literally give this out for Valentines day coming up!  But if I couldn't make it in time to gift this before expiratioin date, I would use the ingredients but try to keep the Cute Wrappings (if possible) and then make my own quick cheap basket with the Mugs.

Buffalo Wings Set, for $3.50 the ingredients alone makes this a great deal.  But even better is that it comes all packed for your. You have a Bucket, Label, Ribbon and Wrapping all done for you, if the food is about to expire just replace your own Sauces bought from Couponing and bam instant expensive looking gift set!  Plus these are great also for Valentines day coming up and the upcoming BBQ season.

Lastly, the Heddy Bear in the Cup kit. If your lazy, and the candy gets eaten up, its easy to just replace some candy in from your own Couponing Pile and regift this set.  But the other reason, I flagged this one is that finding Teddy Bears for under even $3 is kind of hard and they are great additions to any GIFT basket.  So even if you don't plan on giving this as a gift because it looks cheap, you can use the Teddy to make any of your other planned baskets look way more festive and expensive.

How to make Canned Chicken Broth taste Homemade

GINGER!!! A small amount is all you need about 2 teaspoons for a Quart (its really to your taste).  You can mince it so you can eat it our just cut think slices and remove after soup has heated. I would leave it in because Ginger has so many health benefits.

Jamba Juice Coupons

I hope you guys bought your gift cards for the Holidays.  This is a great way to get use your already discounted Holiday Gift Cards to get more bang for your buck.  You can get them here Print LINK