Groceries for Le$$: Why You Should Shop the Ralph’s Rack

While walking through en route to the 88¢ grapes this past week, I pondered my next thesis worthy literary submission.  Then, as I glanced towards the rear of the store, it struck me like a bolt of lightning.

Nothing causes my eyes to light up quite like the vision of a full rack of day-old bread in the distance.  I peered longingly down the aisle.  Like finding an oasis in a parched desert, the adrenaline surges through my veins as I speed my cart towards the gleaming stainless steel wire shelving, a 6ft high, 3ft wide gateway to discount heaven.  Excellent dexterity is essential here.  There are others around.  I work the rack much like you check off your loved ones on a holiday gift list…

Father-in-law likes cinnamon danish, $1.39…check

Wife likes pita bread, 79¢…check

Kids like wheat bread 49¢ and chocolate donuts, 99¢…check

I need buns and rolls for the bbq, 49¢…check

While the items are arbitrarily priced at 50% off retail, yet I get angry when I see a price I don’t agree with.  I’ll mutter; “Why is the RL (“rack lady” with pricing gun) doing this to me?  Does she seriously think I’m that stupid?  NO RL, I will not pay you $6.99 for an old cake simply to help pad your lavish lifestyle!”  I will gladly pay 49¢ for a day-old loaf of bread, but I take umbrage when they insult my intelligence and attempt to extort me for $6.99 for an old cake with half the icing stuck to the plastic clamshell cover.  Some days she is my BFF, others, my nemesis!

On days when the planets align, they set up a table nearby with other discounted items like coffee, cereal, juice, wine, pet food, cleaners and cosmetics.  These items are never past expiration and are almost always exceptionally priced.

The other side of the coin is the depression, sadness and frustration of finding the rack bare or worse, arriving just as another shopper snatches up the last package of hot dog buns when that was exactly the ONE item you had actually hoped to find there.  Now the kids will have to eat their hot dogs broken in half and placed on the hamburger buns that I WAS able to get for 49¢.  We call them “dogburgers”.  I’m sure you’ve been there too.

OK, sounds easy so far, right? Well, it’s not, so lets go through the How To’s of shopping “The Rack”.

Philosophy

To those who wouldn’t be caught dead shopping “The Rack”, here’s some food for thought…If you shop late at night or early in the morning (let’s say 7 a.m.), you would pay full price for the item as a “fresh” product.  However, by 10 a.m. the bakery department has been culled, the same would be item is “racked” and discounted.  In conclusion, if it was fresh a couple of hours ago, it’s still fresh.  Don’t get stuck on the terminology or the stigma of the term, “day-old.”  Buy it! Save money!

Techniques

1. Try to position your cart so as to block or impede other would-be bargain hunters.
2. Quickly grab definite purchases as well as possible purchases.  Once in your cart, it’s yours. Then you are free to discard the unwanted items at YOUR leisure.

Tips For the Newbie

1. Get a good nights rest. Seniors have my utmost respect. These worthy adversaries are able competitors for bargains. As they effortlessly awake at dawn, you’ll need to get there as early as possible to get the pick of the crop.
2. On the very rare occasion when the item is slightly stale, freezing, then defrosting usually reverses the aging process.

In thanks for this information you must promise me not to buy the store brand Hawaiian Sweet Rolls and leave them for me. They are my favorite and amongst the rarest finds of all!  Thanks.

Honorable mention to and Stater Brothers for for putting out a small “rack” of their own from time to time.

Here are my picks for the week for August 10 -16, 2011, with Ralph's winning best overall prices for the week.

Albertson’s

Peaches, nectarines and plums 88¢ lb

Beef Loin Top Sirloin steak $2.99 lb

Chips Ahoy cookies $2.00 each

Henry’s and Sprouts

Cantaloupe or Seedless Watermelon  19¢ lb

Tomatoes 88¢ lb

Green Bell Peppers 25¢ each

Peaches and Nectarines 88¢ lb

Corn 25¢ each

Boneless Chicken Breast Tender s $1.97 lb

Ralph’s

Corn 20¢ each

Whole Chickens 67¢ lb

Doritos 11.5oz $1.88 each

Large Eggs 18 ct. $1.88

Colgate toothpaste 88¢ each

Stater Brothers

Pepsi 2ltr 88¢ each (must buy 4)

Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal $1.99 each

Ready Pac Garden Salad 16 oz  99¢ each

Cherries $1.99lb

Stater Brothers Juices 64 oz  $1.99 each

Fritos and Cheetos 10.5oz  3/$5.00

3 Days Only Saturday, Sunday, Monday…

Maruchan Instant Lunch soups 20¢ each

VO5 Shampoo and Conditioer 69¢ each

Oreos Cookies $1,99 each

Whole Rotisserie Chicken $5.00 each

Von’s

Ground Beef 80% Lean $1.97 lb

Top Round London Broil $2.27 lb (I find this cut to be tough)

Mangos 77¢ each

4 Day Sale Friday thru Monday…

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast $1.99 lb

Avocados $1.00 eac

Betty Crocker Cake Mix 99¢ each

Doritos 11.5 oz  $1.99 each

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