Going, Going... Gone

Food Auctions. What an idea! They are springing up all over the country and can save you money on your grocery bill.

What is a food auction? It's when distributors and manufacturers sell out of date food, or dented cans, or any other condition that might render it in a condition not suitable for grocery store shelves. If you are going to consume the food soon, or it's paper products, cleaning products, or something that does not spoil, you might want to try and buy it at an auction.

Be careful, though. Don't pay more than you want to pay on a per unit basis. Know what the items sell for in the store and limit yourself to paying no more that 50% of retail - and aim for less. In order to do that, you will need to know how many items come in the unit size - in the box and decide your top price by dividing the amount you will pay by the number of items you receive. It does sound complicated, but is really pretty simple.

If there are 12 items in a unit and you pay $6.00, it's 6 divided by 12, for a price of 50 cents per unit. Again, if there are 15 items in the unit and you pay $2.75 for the unit, it's 2.75 divided by 15 for a price of just over 18 cents per item. The formula is price divided by number of items.

If you have formed a Village, this would be an opportunity to share within the Village, or with others who are having a difficult time.

Find the food auctions in your area and use them. If nothing else, visit one to see what they might have and how the process works. They may not have everything you need, but the food auction can help keep costs down.

And, be careful - you might not want to bid on the extra hot sauce.

Read this article and then do a search for auctions in your area:
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ihmEpbBCzbLRlWCJMoUPlC9BwqowD974KCGG2