Sweet Snack Sunday ~ Seasonal Surprises

Sunday was a very busy day.

  With work, shopping and people coming over for dinner, I didn't have any time to squeeze in baking a snack for Patrick's lunches, but I DID stop at one of my favorite places to pick up random treats and food: Big Lots.  Have you ever been to a Big Lots?  Its like a mini Walmart.  The cashiers are slow, and its crowded, unorganized, and full of random crap.  I usually stop there for superglue or storage containers, but I find the best treasures in the food department.  For some reason, they seem to get all the shipments of seasonal food once the holiday has passed, especially lunch or snack type food.  The best part is that you can bring them home on the cheap and, usually, no one will even know the treat they're enjoying is post holiday specific. "But what if the food is expired?" you say.  Stores are legally not allowed to sell expired food, and most of this processed stuff lasts for months, even years on the shelf.  Lucky for me, they won't make it past a week at my apartment.

This box contains twelve Poptarts and cost only $1.80  The back of the box has directions to "make your own cardboard Thanksgiving turkey pin", but the individual packages inside are completely generic and don't expire until August.  The Christmas Pringles came in a six pack for $4.50 with the expiration date of February 2013.  The cans say Pringle Bells, but Patrick will never know because I'll be dividing them up into sandwich bags.  The award for BEST find goes to the two boxes of Holiday brownie mix for .70 cents each--.70 cents!  I have until the mix expires in October.  All I have to do is omit the Christmas sprinkles when I bake them.

Another great stop I made was at Target.  Everything left over from Valentine's day was on clearance for 70% off.  I was surprised by how many things considered Valentine's Day themed didn't really have anything to do with the holiday at all.  This little glass french press comes with coffee in a gift set.  Patrick has a french press at home for coffee and loose leaf tea, so now he can keep one at work (I will go ahead and consider this part of my sweet snack this week, since he'll be taking it to work to use on his lunch breaks).  Something else I am excited about is a can of  'Cake Graffiti.'  Inside the aerosol can is red liquid icing that can be applied to dessert like spray paint.  I also grabbed a chocolate apple and three very cute gray felt baskets.  These small storage baskets rang up at only .30 cents a piece.