Grocery prices have made a lot of shoppers rethink where they buy their food. Coupons, weekly sales, warehouse clubs, and store rewards can help, but there’s another option that doesn’t get nearly as much attention: salvage grocery stores.

These stores buy food and household products that regular supermarkets and manufacturers need to move. That can mean overstock, discontinued products, seasonal items, packaging changes, or food that’s getting close to its best-by date.

Since these products are purchased for less, the savings can be passed along to shoppers. Depending on what a store has in stock, you might find familiar brands for a fraction of what you’d pay at a conventional supermarket.

It’s not the right place for every item on your grocery list, but for flexible shoppers, a salvage store can be a great place to find inexpensive food.

What Is a Salvage Grocery Store?

A salvage grocery store sells products that traditional retailers no longer want or need in their regular inventory.

The merchandise can come from manufacturers, distributors, warehouses, or other grocery stores. A product might have been overproduced, discontinued, replaced by new packaging, or left over after a seasonal promotion.

You may also see dented cans, boxes with minor damage, close-dated products, or foods that are perfectly usable but don’t have much time left on the store shelf.

The lower purchase price allows salvage stores to sell many items at a much lower retail price. Discounts can vary widely, but finding food at 30%, 50%, or even 70% below conventional grocery prices isn’t unusual.

Where Does the Food Come From?

A lot of the food starts out in the same places as the groceries you buy at a regular supermarket.

A manufacturer may produce more of a product than retailers need. A grocery chain may have too much inventory. A company may change the packaging for a product and have thousands of cases of the older packaging left over.

Rather than letting all of those products sit around, businesses can sell them to liquidators, salvage distributors, or other companies that specialize in moving surplus merchandise.

Those products can eventually make their way to discount grocery stores and salvage markets.

The system gives sellers a way to recover some of their costs while giving shoppers another place to find inexpensive food.

Is Food From a Salvage Store Safe?

The idea of buying discounted food can make some people nervous, especially if they aren’t familiar with salvage stores.

A low price doesn’t automatically mean a product is unsafe. Salvage stores still have to follow applicable food safety rules, just like other food retailers.

That said, shoppers should give products a quick inspection before buying them. Skip cans that are badly dented, bulging, or leaking. Check packages for tears, unusual swelling, or other signs that the food may have been damaged.

Dates on food can also be confusing. A “best by” or “sell by” date doesn’t always mean the food becomes unsafe on that exact day. These dates can relate to freshness and quality, though rules and recommendations vary by product.

What Can You Find at These Stores?

The inventory can be completely different from one visit to the next, which is part of the fun.

One week, you might find name-brand cereal, coffee, pasta, sauces, snacks, frozen foods, or organic products. The next visit could bring a completely different selection.

You might also come across seasonal products that regular supermarkets have stopped carrying, discontinued flavors, specialty foods, or familiar brands at prices that are hard to beat.

That unpredictability is one reason many regular customers treat salvage shopping like a treasure hunt. You can’t always walk in expecting to find a particular brand, but you might leave with several bargains you weren’t expecting.

What Are the Downsides?

The biggest drawback is that you can’t always count on finding the same products.

If you need five specific items for a recipe that night, a traditional grocery store may be a better choice. A salvage store might have four kinds of pasta but none of the sauce you need.

The selection can also change from week to week. Something you find at a great price today may be gone the next time you visit.

Some stores can feel more crowded or less organized than conventional supermarkets, too. You may have to spend more time looking through shelves and bins to find the best deals.

For many shoppers, the easiest solution is to use salvage stores for bargains and regular supermarkets for the items they can’t find elsewhere.

Grocery Outlet Is One of the Best-Known Examples

One of the most recognizable names in the discount grocery business is Grocery Outlet, Bargain Market.

The chain buys closeout merchandise, surplus products, discontinued items, and other deals from manufacturers and suppliers. Those purchases give the stores a rotating selection of discounted food and household products.

The selection isn’t identical at every location, and that’s part of what keeps shoppers coming back. A customer might find a favorite brand one week and something completely different the next.

Grocery Outlet isn’t exactly the same as a small independent salvage store, but it has helped make the idea of buying surplus and closeout groceries much more familiar to American shoppers.

Why These Stores Are Worth a Look

There’s a practical reason salvage grocery stores have stuck around: they can save shoppers money while giving unwanted inventory somewhere to go.

Food doesn’t always become useless just because a supermarket no longer has a place for it on the shelf. A discontinued package, excess inventory, or seasonal product can still be useful to someone who is willing to buy it at a discount.

For shoppers trying to lower their grocery bills, a salvage store can be worth adding to the weekly shopping routine. You just have to be flexible about brands and selection.

You may not find everything on your list, but you could find a few surprisingly cheap groceries that make the extra stop worthwhile.