Bidding for Food? Absurd!!
Most people have never heard of such a thing. I'll admit, up to a few years ago, the same went for me. The mere idea sounds dodgy and black market. You auction off cars and storage units, not something you'd actually ingest...right?
A quick bit of research will show that food auctions are everywhere, and have been for quite a while. Mostly near large population centers, they sell off wholesaler's overstock, scratch-and-dent, and yes, even expired food. Perfectly legal in most states. And a HUGE money-saver for anyone who attends!
Thankfully there have been a few different auction businesses offering food at auction up here in rural Michigan, and I try to support them whenever they hold one. This is such a valuable facet to the frugal lifestyle, and it's a shame more people don't take advantage.
At first glance, a food auction might seem to be nothing but processed junk food. Plenty of cookies and chips and instant oatmeal and snack foods. Disheartening if you're trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. (One quick glance at the crowd, and you'll see who buys up the cookies and snacks, lol). But if you look over the merchandise, often you'll be able to find healthy offerings such as olive oil, whole wheat pasta, fruit juices, and the like.
Usually all they'll have out for inspection is the dry goods/canned goods...and you have to wait for them to sell off that stuff before the main event: What's In The Freezers!
The freezers are always the last to be emptied for obvious reasons. Therein contain the Holy Grails of the Food Auction...the meat! Food Auctions are an awesome place to stock up on meat products, everything from hot dogs to New York strip steaks to poultry, fish, and frozen processed foods and desserts. It's worth sitting through the dry goods for the frozen bargains yet to be revealed.
“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
There's a definite strategy to bidding at a food auction. Since usually there's multiples of each item, if you want to get something, it's important to get in on the bidding early, so at least you're on record as a "back-bidder". Let's say they have 10 cans of peaches, bidding starts at a quarter per can. If you don't bid, but you want some, and the bidding stops at 80 cents a can...usually only the people who actually bid on it can claim as many as they want at that price. Only if there's unclaimed cans do they open it up to people who did not bid. More times than not the winning bidder will take all 10 cans, and everyone is out of luck. But sometimes not. It's a chance you take.So if you get a bid in at 50 cents, and the bidding ends at 80, and the winning two bidders take 4 cans each, the auctioneer will go to the back-up bidder (you), and offer the remaining cans at 80 cents, which is a good price and you take them.
Something I've observed: the typical food auction crowd is NOT full of healthy eaters. So if you're in the market for healthy food, such as frozen vegetables...you'll be able to get them VERY cheap. Trust me. No guy addicted to frozen cheeseburgers is going to bid up the frozen broccoli.
I can't stress the importance of being educated on the retail price of food at the time of the auction! Sometimes the bidding gets a little crazy and the price will go above retail! One auctioneer I knew would actually stop the bidding when it approached retail, because he wanted to make sure people didn't overpay. That was cool of him! Others...not so much. I messed up a couple of times, thinking I was getting a bargain, only to find out I'd actually overpaid what I could have bought it for at a retail store! So, as they say, Buyer Beware!!
Auctioneers are also very careful of the condition of the items they're selling. I've seen them yank a particularly damaged package from the table or freezer and throw it away because the inner packaging was broken or the product was too damaged to be used. I've never, ever EVER come across anything that was spoiled or rotten. The auctioneer knows better. But, just like buying at a retail store, examine the items to make sure the cans aren't swollen or leaking.
Also very important: BRING BOXES! Bring boxes, shopping bags, coolers...more than you think you'll need! There'll be a few boxes available at the auction, but probably not enough for all your loot! They always sell the frozen food last, especially in the warmer months, but you should still bring a cooler just in case.
If I eat it I will DIE!
Some people are going to be leery of the whole "expired food" thing. True, much of the food is "expired", or it's "best by" date is long gone. BUT...the law is that if the food is frozen BEFORE the expiration date, and is kept frozen, it's legal to sell. I've purchased frozen blocks of cheese that were a year over their "expiration date", and found them perfectly fine to use. The fact I'm still here to blog about it proves it! But in case you need a little more reassurance, please check out Still Tasty which gives you more than enough information on expiration dates, best by dates, and the shelf life of about everything. You'll be amazed!
Who Broke The Can?
Food with damaged packages may not be pretty, but if you get past the ripped end flap or the dent in the side, you'll find the product within is perfectly fine, as tasty as ever, and you can enjoy the bonus of having saved a ton of money!
As mentioned earlier, just keep an eye out for bulging/swollen cans. I'd mention it to the auctioneer if you see one during the pre-auction viewing. But I've never seen one...I've found more swollen cans in retail grocery situations than anywhere else.
What The Heck Am I Supposed To Do With Ten Pounds of Tater Tots???
A lot of times the food auction will offer the food in bulk proportions. Recently I was able to buy a 4# smoked pork loin (a.k.a. Canadian Bacon) for around $2/lb. Unfortunately it was one, entire pork loin. This is where I heartily recommend acquiring or borrowing a FoodSaver vacuum sealer or some similar appliance. It was no trouble to allow the pork to thaw partially in the refrigerator, then cut it into smaller chunks, then vacuum seal the smaller portions, and re-freeze. 10# bags of hot dogs? Not a problem if you've got the freezer space. Divide into smaller zip bags and freeze. 4# blocks of frozen spinach? Let partially thaw, saw into 1# blocks, and re-freeze. Sort of like dealing with a warehouse club purchase at a fraction of the price!
Jump on in! The savings are fine!
If you think you're ready to investigate the wild, and entertaining world of food auctions (sometimes all the amusing action takes place in the crowd, not up front), I urge you to snoop out a food auction being held in your area. A good place to start is the auction web site, AuctionZip.com. I'd love to hear from anyone else who enjoys food auctions, or if you do take the plunge and find yourself in a heart-pounding bidding war over the last six Lean Pockets available!And the winning bidder is....YOU!
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