Bargain Food Store — Local services in Piedmont

Bargains Food Store is a unique shopping experience. It's not for everyone. First, if you are one of those prim and proper goody two shoes who walks around with your nose stuck high into the air, looking down on all the scum of the earth humans that surround you, then you will hate this store. This is a bargain store. They move enormous amounts of food through this store.

They buy near out of date stock, out of date stock, and overstocks from other large retailers. That's how they can sell the food for prices much lower than retailers.

Now a word about expiration dates. Most food items are good well beyond their expiration dates. Those dates are there because of government regulations that force companies to list them lower than they really are. For example, most medications retain 90% of their effectiveness for up to 10 years AFTER the expiration date.

I manufacture dietary supplements, and the government requires me to stamp each product with a 12 month from manufacture date expiration date. The expiration time period is actually more like 6-8 years as long as it doesn't freeze or is exposed to direct sunlight or high heat temps. So don't sweat the expiration dates. The only products to really watch the expiration dates is the cereals and grain products. They will go stale within a few months after the expiration date. Boxed cereal will be good for up to 7-8 months after the expiration date, as long as the inner bag is air tight.

Canned goods are okay for up to 5 years after the expiration dates. That being said, I have never found any items in the store more than a few months after the expiration dates at most. So buy with confidence. By-the-way, during hurricane Katrina, the famous national disaster relief organization here in America distributed jars of peanut butter to the many thousands of homeless residents with an expiration date that exceeded 6 years. No one died or became ill from eating that peanut butter. In fact, they were glad to get it.

The store is not a place f beauty. It is more of a working warehouse quickly moving in and out large food stock purchases, while providing consumers with an alternative shopping experience that will allow them to save a lot of money.

So if you can climb down off your overly judgmental high horse long enough to search through the tons of food items on the shelves, then you can walk away with a lot of great quality food at a very low price.

The owner is a super nice guy, and he started this business to help people save some of their hard earned money, while still being able to feed their families well.

It may not be a sparkling shiny marketing display like most retail supermarkets, but if it was then you would not be able to save nearly as much money due to the high overhead expenses. I like Bargains just the way it is.

I did read another reviewer's tip that I will strongly agree with. Have hand sanitizer ready when you get to your car. You should follow that tip regardless of where you shop. Face it, people are nasty these days, even when they don't look nasty. There are some bad little bugs going around out there.

See ya...

First, set your expectations: it is a BARGAIN store, so there will be dented cans and expired dates. Shop with care! Three month expired rice flour in a clean sealed bag is gonna be safe, and at .99 for 32 oz, I'll buy all they have. My hubby is gluten free and this stuff costs a fortune by mail order. I avoid expired canned meats but in-date dented cans with no rust and a very low price go in the basket. On the other hand, they have regular groceries, regular brands and off; some are at or above WalMart, most are much less. Aldi has me spoiled so I look closely at the prices and compare. It's set up like a warehouse, so look sharp for kids and older folks when wheeling your cart around. They also have farm stuff: animal feeds, wheelbarrows, fencing, etc, at fairly reasonable prices, though the pricing can be hard to find. There's some hardware, DIY items, live plants, paper for kids (coloring books, etc) and home office things. The fresh produce looks good and the pricing is reasonable, under WalMart but about the same as Aldi. My favorite area was the meats and frozen goods area. Good pricing on frozen veggies, potatoes, etc, and on some of the frozen meats. You have to buy the case, but there were good deals on chicken breasts, fritters, pork chops, 4 oz. rib eyes, sausage, and frozen fries, just to name a few. The breads and chips sections were well-stocked, no great deals here but lots of fresh product at reasonable prices. Look in the carts at the back of the store for the best scratch and dent items, just buy with care as to expiration date and package condition. Overall, love it. We saved about $25 our first visit on gluten free...

It’s an OK bargain food store. It did have some organic and GF items. But I found too much of it was way way out of date. Like a few cookie/snack bars had 2021 expiration/sell by dates. This is OCT 22. That’s quite a stretch to be selling that far out of date. Maybe sell up until or a few weeks or month past date but then it should be donated to food pantries or kitchens not sold in a store. I mean seriously a year and half or more past date? And some items were busted and taped closed, come on just toss it! We wanted these GF brownies snacks but every package was coming apart at the seams and almost looked like something had chewed on the package on one of them. So yeah we passed. Not that desperate. I appreciate a deal as much as anyone but this is a little ridiculous.

There were definitely more deals on other things than what we personally would ever need or use. But not as good as I would expect with having exp dates so far out and lots of stuff so bashed it’s probably crumbs inside.

I wouldn’t drive too far out of your way to come here just for the deals. We did get some items and hopefully they turn out ok. Again just really check the dates and the seams of packages. So many the glue and things don’t hold and who knows how many hot trucks and warehouses these have passed...