Time with special girlfriends is a rarity, but quality moments with my sister in law are virtually nonexistent. So when we had a home school conference scheduled right around the corner from one of my favorite destinations, it quickly turned into an event to celebrate.
You know my love for all things thrift, but I bet you didn’t know it extends to food items as well. For years, I have splurged with my time to drive an hour and a half round trip to one of my favorite food stores of all –
The Pepperidge Farm Thrift Store.
Row upon row of some of my family’s favorite breads, snacks and treats at “Super Double” couponed prices literally turns me into a kid in a candy store. To say that the Pepperidge Farms Outlet cashier chuckled at us (and not with us) is an understatement. With only two aisles in the whole store, we still shopped for about one hour but like I mentioned, it became an event. We had a blast just going and doing nothing, except search the aisles to see who could find the best deals.
Have you ever had those moments with a girl friend? Time spent together where you enjoyed yourself so much, but you weren’t really doing anything significant but sharing life together?
Well, after my sister in law and I crammed our car full of literally sixty boxes and bags for our stockpile, we carefully selected one item to receive the prominent place of honor between the bucket seats. You know the spot, the area on the armrest where one has to balance the treats so that they can be evenly distributed when your hand slides in the bag.
Guess how we choose to indulge on our hour long car ride home? There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation in deciding our favorite – Milano cookies. (The kids can enjoy the goldfish. ;))
We laughed, giggled and licked our fingers.
Yet, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you why this afternoon created an even better ironic moment. I shared last month that I was thrilled to partner with Pepperidge Farms in their Milano Moment campaign to celebrate those special moments.
What I didn’t share was that I got the invitation on literally the same day that I went to the thrift store. One of the general inquiries on the phone was, “Do you like Milano’s?” I started giggling and replied, “Seriously, I just came home with twenty bags of them.” (And they thought I was kidding…)
Unfortunately, our treats go quickly around this place, and I hid the last package of the new Strawberry Milano’s that were sent to me. (Please tell me I’m not the only mom that hides food?)
Guess what I came home to yesterday? Ahh…it felt nearly the same when the kids found their Christmas present last year.
I need to get better on my hiding spots.
If you were still wondering what else I snatched up besides all those amazing Milano’s, here’s a sneak peak at this store I have been going to ever since I only had two children. You can seriously save SO MUCH money on snacks and breads by stocking up at these outlets.
Even though I often make my own bread, I will buy tons of the short dated loaves and freeze them. This brand is one of my favorite store bought, and I do buy it regularly at my local grocer as well. Look for the coupons, they will often offer them. (We love the sourdough and the Swirl…yum.)
When the Goldfish are this much of a steal, I stock up. With football season here and always having to pack snacks for practice, they go quickly and every time I go, there are some on sale more than others.
Check your local phone book or Google area bakery outlets bakery thrift stores to see if one is offered near you. Remember, I have quite the little drive, but it’s SO worth it. Grab a girl friend or two and make an adventure out of it, and then email me and let me know. I’d love to share that “Milano Moment” with you.
Do you have a friend like that? One that you can just do anything with and it becomes an event?
I have been so busy lately, that I haven’t prioritized that like I should. I plan on doing that now!
Girlfriend time, saving money, and my Milano’s, it doesn’t get any better than that.
I LOVE Milanos! I have so many memories of my dad buying my sister and I bags of them and we would use the little paper cups inside as tables to rest our cookies on!
My sister use to live 2 blocks from the Pepperidge Farm outlet. HELLO! Talk about some prime real estate. I love getting cheap goldfish since my children could eat several bags a day if I would let them.
Haven’t found one close to me up here… 🙁
Toni
Oh, a Pepperidge Farm Outlet would be a dream come true. Milano’s are among my favorite treats. I can’t tell you how many times my mom, sister and I finished a bag off on the way home from the grocery store. My girls love them too.
Oh My. That would be a dream come true. Enjoy gals and kiddos.
M-M-M
Where is the one that you go to located? I would love to check this out…definitely worth a drive!!
@Deborah, You’re in NC, right? Well, this store is located in Burlington. Call ahead because they have specials and deals on diffferent days and weekends, so you’d want to plan it when they are doing an additional 15% off day. When I went, I purchased SO MUCH and then at check out she said, “come back this weekend and it’s another 15% off your purchase.” Ugh – wish she hadn’t told me that…lol.
Anyhow, there are strategies…the prices are marked due to date so some are completely clearanced prices where others are just on sale like a typical grocery store. 🙂
We love us some goldfish around here. We are so fortunate to have one near our favorite library. I can stop in weekly if I like…Ducking…Seriously, with five kids, even though we focus on Real Food, we do stock up on goldfish and any other thrifty goodies. I’ve been known to stash the $1 loaves of cinnamon bread in the freezer for a treat later.
I have no idea how to hide stuff so the kids don’t find it. My teenager finds EVERYTHING and inhales it.
Forgot to mention that the last time we were at the store, they had great snack-size packs of goldfish that we’ll be tossing in the lunch boxes comes school time. Which reminds me that I need to go back and pick up some more.
I do like the milanos, actually love, but avoid them because of the teenager, and my husband. I think they would last maybe an hour in our house.
@Barb @ My Daily Round, yes, we both have the same problem…if you solve it, let me know. 🙂
I live about 20 minutes from what we have dubbed “The Snack Food Capitol of America” – Hanover, PA. It is home to UTZ, Snyder’s, Wege, and Hanover brands (frozen/canned food). All of them have outlet stores and I LOVE getting bargains there! 🙂
@Jess @ Get Busy Living, Seriously? All of those in one area? I would be doomed for sure. Now, if I wasn’t flying to PA this Oct, I would be tempted to field trip on over there. 🙂
I just did a google search and found that entemanns-oroweat and sara lee are near me. Haven’t found a set in stone wepage for them, but Yelp has some reviews. My goodness, I stand no chance with doughnuts nearby!
I like the Pepperidge Farm Genevas best.
No outlet here, but, every now-and-then the cookies go on sale for $2/bag. I stock up then. But the Pepperidge Farm are ONLY for DH (and now for me, since I’ve discovered Genevas).
The teenagers can have Keebler instead.
wow, I’ve never seen a Pepperidge Farm outlet before! Now I must plan a trip to the Burlington area 🙂
There’s a Sara Lee outlet that’s occasionally on my route. I need to get back in the habit of checking there.
What I love is Big Lots, they get all the extra Arnold’s Sandwich Thins for the area and I love them for not having HFCS and being high fiber.
Hi 🙂
Many years ago, when Nabisco first came out with their fudge covered Oreo’s at Christmas time, I bought a box and hid it in a drawer of my dresser. Seeings how we are both ‘cooks’ and we have worked for caterers our kids whole lives, I knew they would appreciate them… but I also knew that I could not afford to buy several packages …. so with my husbands approval, I bought one and hid it. When the boys asked dad why mom had started taking a glass of milk with her to bed, I nearly lost my cover by laughing. He shot me this amused look and said he didn’t know since he wasn’t here at night (he worked nights), they would have to ask me. I said that it was to make sure I was drinking all the milk in a day the doctor had said I needed to … which he had said … I just had a really good reason to o;-p.
@Cheryl B., oh Cheryl – that is GREAT! Love it. I was feeling really selfish hiding them, but then I thought…they just do NOt appreciate them at all. They can eat a five cent freezer pop and get the same enjoyment. And yes, I bought those Fudge covered Oreos last Christmas (day after Christmas sale), and they were SO yummy.
I WISH we had a Pepperidge Farm Outlet near us; the closest is almost 2 hours away. The last time I was there I bought the big 5lb cartons of Goldfish & they ended up going stall before we were able to eat them all (the kids started refusing to have them for snacks …*again* very dramatic sigh & then would say I was starving them LOL)
Thank you for this post. I googled the closest Pepperidge farm outlet and did not realize that I have one about a mile and 1/2 from me at the Carolina Outlet Mall. I will most definitely be paying them a visit.
BTW, you are not the only one with a “goodies stash”.
Oh! YUM! I could get into some REAL trouble there!!!
A melt in your mouth moment!
I have a solution to hiding food. I use an empty oatmeal container to store small goodies….no one else cooks this except me 😉 I have also put treats inside my stand mixer bowl. Many times it is right under their noses and they have no idea!