# Help me get free food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850 "2015-11-06T23:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/1 "2015-11-06T23:41:35Z")
I just went through the junk mail we got today and there was a flyer with 11 coupons… each was for $1 off with a purchase of $1 or more. I don’t really think I will go through with this but I thought it would be fun to figure out what I could get in each of the departments that was just barely over a dollar so I could basically eat for free. (reality is I will go there and spend a couple hundred bucks). So my categories are: Produce Meat Seafood Bakery Prepared Foods Specialty Cheese Bulk Foods Deli Dairy Aisle Frozen Aisle Sweet Shop So, I think I could maybe get a green pepper, 1/4 lb of ground beef, maybe a shrimp or two, a couple of cookies, a bit of potato salad, a tiny bit of cheese, maybe some peanuts from the bulk bins, a few slices of ham, no idea on the dairy, a frozen burrito, and a couple of candy bars. Any better ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/2 "2015-11-06T23:57:32Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > … no idea on the dairy, a frozen burrito, … You should be able to get a quart of milk and _three_ frozen burritos for just over a dollar each. Other than that, the issues I see are: 1) does your store actually sell Specialty Cheese to order? The ones I go to just have a bunch of cheese selections in plastic wrap. I can’t actually ask for $1.02 worth of blue cheese, please. and 2) potato salad isn’t going to come from the Prepared Foods, I don’t think. It’d be from the deli. Prepared Foods is going to be stuff that you have to buy the $3 or $10 package or nothing. Interesting thoughts, though. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/3 "2015-11-06T23:57:48Z")
Diary Aisle = You can usually find a yogurt that’s just over $1. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/4 "2015-11-07T00:07:50Z")
Those Banquet or Michelina’s frozen meals are a buck. They also taste like they’re a buck and probably made of 40% fat and 40% salt but, hey, they’re a buck. The simple frozen pasta ones (mac & cheese, noodles and alfredo sauce, etc) are probably a better bet for taste than the Salisbury steak or meatloaf slices. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/5 "2015-11-07T00:09:03Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > You should be able to get a quart of milk and _three_ frozen burritos for just over a dollar each. > > Other than that, the issues I see are: 1) does your store actually sell Specialty Cheese to order? The ones I go to just have a bunch of cheese selections in plastic wrap. I can’t actually ask for $1.02 worth of blue cheese, please. > > and 2) potato salad isn’t going to come from the Prepared Foods, I don’t think. It’d be from the deli. Prepared Foods is going to be stuff that you have to buy the $3 or $10 package or nothing. > > . Actually this is from a very upscale store and they will cut cheese to order. They do have a large case with what I assumed was the “prepared food” where you can get marinated flank steak, lemon pepper chicken breasts, rosemary potatoes, and things like potato salad. I’ll also admit that I’m not good at looking at prices… are frozen burritos only $0.33 each? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/6 "2015-11-07T00:13:56Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > I’ll also admit that I’m not good at looking at prices… are frozen burritos only $0.33 each? Probably not at a very upscale store. I can get Tina’s Green Chili Bean Burritos for 37 cents at Meijer’s. They’re not the best ever, but they’re certainly edible. And I guess they wouldn’t be as good without the habanero salsa I splash over them, which at $3.69 a jar would just flat out destroy your budget. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/7 "2015-11-07T00:53:19Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Probably not at a very upscale store. I can get Tina’s Green Chili Bean Burritos for 37 cents at Meijer’s. They’re not the best ever, but they’re certainly edible. And I guess they wouldn’t be as good without the habanero salsa I splash over them, which at $3.69 a jar would just flat out destroy your budget. 😃 It is a Market District which is owned by Giant Eagle, so their prices are actually pretty reasonable for normal things. It is just that they offer lots of stuff you wouldn’t find in a “normal” grocery store. > **[Market District | Carmel IN](https://www.facebook.com/MarketDistrictCarmel/)** > > Market District, Carmel, Indiana. 13,715 likes · 4 talking about this · 11,641 were here. A Dining, Cooking & Shopping Destination Unlike Any Other! I’ll treat it like one of those cooking challenge shows where they have to use the ingredients in the baskets, but then it turns out they also have a fully stocked pantry. I have a pretty good pantry as well, so I’m pretty sure I could make something decent from this. I’m actually getting more tempted to try this… we’ll see how bored I get this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/8 "2015-11-07T01:00:16Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > I’m actually getting more tempted to try this… we’ll see how bored I get this weekend. You’re looking at pulling just one meal out of this? If you do it, I’ll be interested in the outcome. And in Produce, depending on what’s on sale and what you like to eat, you may be able to get two or three items for just over a dollar. Maybe a tomato, and a cucumber or a green pepper; or an onion and a green pepper, and so on. Fruit is probably right out. How much over a dollar do you think you’d try to limit it to? A nickel, a quarter? ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/9 "2015-11-07T01:11:19Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > You’re looking at pulling just one meal out of this? If you do it, I’ll be interested in the outcome. I really don’t have a plan other than I thought it was funny that I got a bunch of coupons that said if I spent $1 I could get $1 off. It would be fun to go through the line and pay with pocket change. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/10 "2015-11-07T03:50:07Z")
Around here you can usually get little individually vacuumed packed ham steaks at 10 for $10. You don’t have to buy 10, and they are just the right size to put on a bagel or a kaiser roll. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-free-food/736850/11 "2015-11-09T15:00:25Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Actually this is from a very upscale store and they will cut cheese to order. Oh, really? There are usually single servings of cereal in a plastic bowl that sell for a buck. And little packages of drink mix.