Buy Dented Groceries, Save Big Sure, you could spend five hours a week clipping coupons and spend only $4 on groceries, OR you could just buy some busted ass cans of green beans on the cheap at a back alley "salvage grocer." [Consumer Reports Money]
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@pattiesmart: I think that's only if the seal on the can has been damaged. I think a little dent is okay.
@pattiesmart: [www.associatedcontent.com]
Avoid "popped" "bloated" or "bulging" in the can department.
Who has 5 hours to look for, clip coupons and take them to the store? Have you ever been behind someone with 50 coupons in checkout?
@savdavid:
It doesn't take 5 hours. Although I never get my week's groceries for $4 either, I usually save about 10-20%. I do it while watching TV, and I have a coupon organizer that I bought at staples. It really is no big deal...I don't understand people who say they don't have "time" for it all...especially when they're yapping on the internet! :)
I don't think the term "busted ass" has any place on the Consumer Reports blog. It reminds me too much of big media's push to incorporate slang into their programs so they seem more "hip."
When I worked at a grocery store in college, there was a lady who came in all the time who would refuse to buy dented cans. Not because of the possibility of a leak and botulism, but because she said "dented cans don't have as much corn (or whatever) in them." As if the cans were already dented before they filled them.
@catniplover: I definitely had time to do it back when I was still clipping coupons - but it ended up not being worth it because even if I had recouped the cost of the Sunday newspaper, a lot of the coupons required you to buy multiples and it wasn't something small, either. Kelloggs and General Mills coupons always required at least two boxes of cereal for the discount.
@DPGumby: This is Consumerist, it's not "the Consumer Reports blog," If you click the link in the post here, you'll get to a Consumer Reports blog, easily identifiable by the URL "blogs.consumerreports.org" Other CR blogs can be accessed by using the menu on the left of the screen.
@DPGumby: Just to clarify DPGumby, The Consumerist didn't use to be a Consumer Reports blog and was actually part of Gawker Media. The purchase of The Consumerist by Consumer Reports was pretty recent (less than a year ago) and one thing they wanted to keep was the culture and still be run the same way as they always have been.
So there you go... that's why you see "busted ass" on the blog.
You can find a lot of undented deals on a grocery store's clearance shelf. I have found all sorts of good stuff which is clearly intact, but has been marked down for some reason.
"Salvage grocers" aren't just for dented cans of beets. They often sell products that just didn't make it, or are too close to expiry for a supermarket's tastes. GOOD deals.
@DPGumby: The right response would have been:
"Hey DPGumpy, RTFA. The post on CR Money never uses the term 'busted ass'"
Clearly, I thought I saw quotes around the blurb, assumed the language came from the article and didn't RTFA. My bad.
There used to be a salvage grocer across from my work...shopped there several times a week and saved a lot of cash...
Dented cans are fine, as long as the dent is not very serious and the seal on the can is unbroken. Never buy anything that looks suspicious. As always use your best judgement.
@pattiesmart:
i had thought so too but i just went and read more on it, there seems to be better control over it due to the way the food is processed during manufacture
"From 1950 through 1996, 289 (65.1%) botulism outbreaks have been traced to home-processed foods and 31 (7%) to commercially processed foods, including foods served in restaurants. The type of food processing responsible for 124 (27.9%) outbreaks is unknown"
"E. Prevention and control
In the United States, foodborne botulism due to commercial foods has been largely controlled by safe canning and food manufacturing processes. Commercial canned foods are heated to a sufficient temperature and for a sufficient time to kill the spores. Unheated commercial foods in cans or jars can be made safe by acidification or other manipulations that inhibit the growth of the organism (e.g., addition of phosphoric acid to garlic in oil). Occasionally, commercial foods still cause botulism if they are prepared in a way that permits toxin production."
"C. botulinum may cause container lids to bulge and the contents to have "off-odors." Commercial cans or home-canned products with bulging lids should not be opened, and foods with off-odors should not be eaten or "taste tested.""
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Ah yes... much much love for Grocery Outlet. <3
$80 nets me 10 filled bags of groceries and stocks my freezer for months.
A lot of the times it's stuff that's been discontinued or that they are no longer carrying. What sucks is when you try a new product that's discontinued and like it, and know that you will never be able to buy it again.
Aren't canned green beans especially susceptible to nasty shit going on if the can is dented or damaged?