INDIANAPOLIS — Buying surplus can save you money.
Once a month, Meredith Simmons uses the site Martie to pick out breakfast bars, snacks and more.
"It's things we would buy anyway. It's organic, it's all natural, it's limited ingredients," Simmons said.
The online retailer, which connected us with Simmons, partners with companies to sell off excess inventory at discounted prices.
"They definitely rotate (their selection), but that's kind of fun," Simmons said. "There's always going to be chips, there's always going to be popcorn. It's just a matter of what flavor and what brand."
Retailers like Martie are often called salvage grocery stores.
Salvage is the act of saving something.
In this case, Martie cofounder Louise Fritjofsson said it is saving food from the trash.
"We're a young company, but it's very exciting to say that we've saved 5 million pounds of food and products from going to landfill," Fritjofsson said.
Items can wind up on their site because of dated holiday packaging, discontinued flavors and puzzling planning.
"When you produce a new forecast, hitting that forecast is hard. And at one point, you need to make more space for new production that comes into the warehouse," Fritjofsson said.
If you prefer to shop in-person, there are a few options in the Indianapolis area that sell food for similar reasons. Barton's Discounts is northeast of downtown and Ollie's Discounts has two locations.
Food can also wind up in some discount stores because of nearing or past due "Best If Used By," "Sell-by" and "Use By" dates.
Those dates are made up by the manufacturer and not an indicator of the product’s safety. They are also not required by federal law.
Infant formula is the only food product required by federal regulations to have a safety date.
For baked goods, produce and deli salads that can spoil and are nearing their best by date, try the app FlashFood.
Stores including Meijer post these items on the app for purchase. Then, they're picked up in-store at a locker located at the customer service counter.
It's all about keeping food out of the trash, while saving you cash.