$20 Groceries!

Recently Jillina has been inspiring me to be thinking smart about money with her 'You're Nifty if You're Thrifty' posts. Mum's told me that the local PCYC gives out food parcels for $20 with food they're given, to raise money. I finally took her advice and called last week, and found out they've moved. I called and got the details, and yesterday I finally went. Here's what I got:

I am sooo in love with this place!! The size of the picture doesn't do the food justice - click on it and blow it up lol. First I went around and looked at all the food you can buy individually. The massive can of pineapple pieces you can see back right was $2 - for 3kgs!! I got 2 of them. The smaller cans (which are usually the 'big' cans - 850g) are 6 for $4, when they're usually $4-ish each at the shops!!! Great for food storage!! They also had massive beetroot tins, cheap yummy icecream (cookies & cream), frozen lasanges, and a bunch more. Oh and they sell clothes and stuff too - there's an op shop section.

I got some cans and the bottle of juice, then when I was at the counter a lady came and asked me if I'd like to look at the $20 food parcels. I said okay, and she showed me, and aside from most of the cans and 1 of the bottles of juice, that's what I got for $20!!! You can't even see all the fruit and veg in the box but there's HEAPS - this morning I'm making about 5 batches of banana cake to freeze, because we got about a kazillion bananas, and a million potatoes (oh - you can get as many potatoes as you want, for free! - there's a massive bucket out front!) plus lettuce, onions, something green I keep forgetting the name of but Mum said to just steam it, apples, etc. Then there's the cold stuff - the margarines and cream and yoghurt (you can't see them all, but we got a box of 10 yoghurts), plus extras, chips, noodles, lamingtons, biscuits, juice, pantry items like coconut, stock cubes, ricebubbles, oats, salad dressings, simmer sauces, oh, a cheese platter (yum, and usually $10 all on its own in the shops!), garlic bread, even some Betty Baxter meal replacements and moisturiser samples lol. You don't get to choose what you get, but if you're happy to be flexible, it's very worth it! What they have changes every week depending on what they get.

The place is run by a local church, and it's not just for people who are desperate. They are given the food, and are making money off it to give to the church or whatever, so they're happy for anyone to go!

If you're a local and you're interested in the address, ph # and opening hours let me know. I will be going every week :)