An added benefit of getting free (or nearly free) food is the way it allows me to bless others. Our church has a food pantry, and like many in the country, there is more food going out than coming in.
As I mentioned, with the correct coupon, Bashas' has had free pasta for the past week. I had one coupon from my own paper and then bought 20 others from a seller on e-bay. Bashas', like most other stores, has a policy only allowing 3 "like" coupons per transaction to be doubled, so I spent a lot of time at the grocery store over the weekend. Sure, I could keep all 21 boxes, knowing my family would eventually eat them, but others need the food more. I kept some of the boxes for our family, but then was able to take several boxes to church on Saturday night. I already have several bags of food ready to go next week, as well. This afternoon I realized we have a pretty well-stocked pantry (ok, we don't have an actual pantry so I've turned the linen closet into one---who needs towels?) and started cleaning out more food to drop off on Saturday night.
If there is a deal on something I may not use, but know our church's food pantry or ACTS ministry to the homeless can use I will pick it up. We have several toiletry items we are "brand loyal" to because of allergies, but when toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, etc are free or nearly free I will pick those up, as well. We can't use razors nearly as fast as there are deals on them so those go, too.
The boxes of pasta, cans of beans, cans of veggies, etc I drop off may be out of my excess but they will be an enormous blessing to someone else.
What can you do on your next shopping trip to bless someone else?
Good idea, thanks for the reminder. :)
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