Shops like the dollar store, Grocery outlet and Big Lots (here in CA) sell food- freezer and frig sections. Are these foods safe? I always pass them up even if it's an awesome deal.. I just don't know if I can trust these foods to be ok. How can I find out? Do you buy foods from places like these?

I loved Grocery Outlet when we lived in Reno. I often found Horizon organic milk there for about $1 a half gallon, once I found organic cream for .39 a half pint! I remember organic applesauce also. Have you checked it out? I tend to rely on man. use by dates, as long as things were in date I was okay with it. On fresh items they were usually close to date, but we go through those things quickly in our house anyway! I miss it, if we had one here I would definitely shop there.
We have Big Lots here in Oklahoma, and I buy a few things there. Ours doesn't carry any 'cold items' so again, I just watch dates. It will occasionally have some organics too, mostly cereals. I tend to buy more gourmet type things there, seasonings and import items, than our real food :)
Anne

I get my juices and canned goods from a 99cent store. I am careful to check dates.
I used to buy frozen stuff from a place too, and it saved us a bundle. I was so sad when it closed. :(

I have bought food at the dollar store - anything but dairy usually. Frozen foods are fine, but i'm wary of milk, eggs, yogurt etc from there.
I also find organics there. Cereal, cereal bars, canned foods, juices on occasion. I usually stock up on snack foods and canned goods there and at big lots.

I shop our Grocery Outlet (the one with the rainbow) once a week. They always have organic food. It is never out of date. What I've read is they get anything that the packaging has changed on, fell off the truck, was overstock, damaged shipping boxes, etc.

I got 30 boxes of horizon organic butter there for .99/box!!!! The checkout lady looked at me like I was insane. I also got organic tampons for .99/box. I've gotten salad mix, cereal, ice cream, frozen veggies (they always have these), crackers, canned tomatoes, cheese, yogurt, soy milk, all in organic. The list goes on and on.

Yep, I buy stuff even if it's close to the sell-by date. I mean, seriously, as if it's fine at 11pm the night before the date and rotten at 1am the next morning? If it smells fine or is unopened, I'm fine stretching things out for an extra couple of days although we usually use food up really quickly anyway.

Kerri

I shop our Grocery Outlet (the one with the rainbow) once a week. They always have organic food. It is never out of date. What I've read is they get anything that the packaging has changed on, fell off the truck, was overstock, damaged shipping boxes, etc.

I got 30 boxes of horizon organic butter there for .99/box!!!! The checkout lady looked at me like I was insane. I also got organic tampons for .99/box. I've gotten salad mix, cereal, ice cream, frozen veggies (they always have these), crackers, canned tomatoes, cheese, yogurt, soy milk, all in organic. The list goes on and on.

Wow, where do you live? I love to stockpile groceries too!! Unfortunately hurricane season stops me from being able to stock as much because we could lose electricity.
I wish I had a store with those prices!! Here it is really hard to find stuff organic on sale because there are so many people that the first person gets the best stuff.
I get stuff at Webb's but sometimes the stuff is WAY out of date, or something has broken and gotten all over other stuff, or there are bugs in bagged and boxed stuff. :(
I do get organics through a wholesale co-op, but even wholesale is more expensive than non-organic foods unfortunately. I did notice a difference in how I felt (better) when I ate mostly organic as opposed to the other stuff.

Awesome! That is exactly what I wanted to hear :thumbsup:
My brother shops for food items at those places but this man cooks all his food in the microwave smothered in velveta! LOL! We differ on so much! LOL!
I just wanted to find an opinion I would depend on!
Thanks mamas :D

Oh and our grocery outlet is the one with the rainbow too! I can't wait to see what they have!

I live in Olympia, WA. Even our regular grocery stores sell organic for a decent price. We also have 2 food co-ops and they have great prices. We even have restaurants that serve organic foods. It is just a normal thing around here in Hippyville.