Thursday, March 15, 2012

Bakery Outlet: Frugal Treasure or Rip Off?


Today, after reading & reading about the wonders of bakery outlets, Emerson & I finally ventured to our local Hostess Bakery Outlet.  I admit, I went in with extremely high hopes of dirt cheap baked goods, cereal, & more. Unfortunately, I didn't find the cheap confections I had assumed I would. 

Here's what I did find:
  • A very clean little shop--The store was set up nicely, with cute, tiny carts, & very pristine, orderly shelves.  
  • A rather limited selection--There really weren't all that many options & I only found a few loaves of whole wheat bread.
  • Prices weren't what I would consider outlet--In general, all of the bakery prices seemed just as high as regular retail.  With the exception of packages of a dozen whole wheat hamburger buns (meant for restaurants), everything was higher than Aldi's prices.  For instance, plain bagels at Aldi are $1.49.  The outlet had plain bagels for $1.79.  
Our local Dollar Tree doesn't have a set day in which they get their baked goods, which makes getting consistent deals difficult, but I think for now I'll stick to trying to get our whole wheat bread for a dollar & supplement with baked goods from Aldi.  

It was worth a shot...

1 comment:

  1. Yeah I've not always been too impressed with day-old bread stores. Occasionally I'd find a ok good deal but nothing outstanding. We dont eat many bakery or bread products, but when we do - it tends to be during a major holiday (think hotdog buns at 4th of July, crescent rolls at Thanksgiving, etc) & those items tend to be on sale at my regular grocery store anyways.
    Maybe "back in the day" those day-old bread stores might have been a bargain, but not so much nowadays.

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