Shoppin' Amish

If you don't already know, I live in "Amishland". In Indiana there are Amish communities scattered here and there, just like in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I live just on the edge of several of these communities. The benefit is terrific produce stands (no pestisides! good soil! great prices!), wonderful cheese, brown eggs from free-range chickens, hand-crafted furniture...and..."dented can" stores! Yesterday, Regan and I hit both a produce stand and a "dented can" (aka discount grocery) store. Regan always likes checking out the "barn cats" and horses (and buggies and horse carts, too!). I like how super friendly and helpful the Amish "entrepreneurs" are. Oh, and the prices are always low (another plus)!

Despite the name, "dented can" stores usually don't have products in dented cans (or crushed packaging), or foods past their expiration date, but sometimes you do run into both dented cans and salad dressing dated three months ago. What I like is spending $25-$30 for a box full of pantry items! The stores also have fresh produce,baked goods (the one I go to has a whole Pepperidge Farm section), a frozen food section, and sometimes, a deli with meat and cheese. One of the quirks of these stores is that you never know what's going to be on the shelves. Sometimes I go back to get more of an item, and it has disappeared.

Sometimes, you hit gold, like these great items I found yesterday! Starbucks ground coffee for $2.99! I only bought four bags this time, and threw them in the freezer. The Snapple green tea  was 50 cents a can, so I bought quite a few. The coolest thing I found was the "veggie" Kraft macaroni and cheese (69 cents a box). According to the package, the pasta is made with cauliflower - I can't wait to try it out!

The other great thing about driving out to these Amish businesses is the exposure to other ways of living that my daughter is getting. She sees kids riding horses and swimming in ponds. She can tell the difference between cornfields, soybean fields and wheat fields.  She has watched men bale hay and plow with a horse team. And she loves to see baby animals, like calves, colts and piglets. And how proud am I of her when she picks out her own canteloupe from a farm stand and lovingly carries it back to the car as she urges me to hurry home so she can eat it!