Monday, June 27, 2011

Stocking Up Our Food Supply At MaineSource

 Nice clean store and parking lot!

A big part of saving money for me is growing my own food in our garden. But I can't grow everything, obviously. So the grocery stores are a must for me also. The prices have skyrocketed so much this year that I have to stick to a plan to get through each week. I shop at the discount grocery stores, even though I wish I didn't have to.

 Produce is available in bulk!

For the past couple of years though, I have been shopping at a local restaurant supply store, MaineSource Food and Party Warehouse. It is about 30 miles or so from my home and well worth the drive. If you live in the Binghamton, NY area, you most likely know where it is. In case you don't, it is located at 1018 Upper Front Street, Binghamton, NY 13905-1204. Their telephone number is: (607) 723-8200.

Good buys in the produce department!

Do I save money by shopping there? Yes! I do. Not only that but I am able to get top quality meat, produce and other food and products for a very good price. MaineSource does not have any membership fees so anyone can shop there. Especially with the gas prices, it saves me money by stocking up and not having to drive to the store ten times a week to get something for supper.

 One of the meat aisles!

If you are trying to stock up by buying in bulk then this is the place to shop. They sell large packages of meat, such as ground or roasts of Angus beef. The ten pound bags of chicken breasts are what we usually buy too. You can also get bags of the chicken breast tenderloins, wings, drumsticks or thighs. Their prices are lower or comparable to the discount grocery stores, but the meat is higher quality.

 Rolls of Angus Beef!


The ground Angus beef does not have that greasy feel to it when you handle it raw. The burgers you make from it are incredible! Ask my husband! One large roll is about ten pounds. Two rolls gave us 10 quarts of ground meat plus about a dozen man sized burgers. If you have a freezer, you can put up a good amount of burgers for the future. As you know if you are a regular reader here, I can all my meat.

 So much available here!

Everything is available in large quantities so you can really stock up there. I am not growing tomatoes this year due to the late blight mine had last year. So I bought some of the large cans of tomato sauce which are 6 lbs 10 oz. each. Then I plan on canning them into pint jars. I did that last year and it was great. You can do that with any of the larger cans of tomato products or vegetables. I do it all the time now.

 The dairy case!

Dairy products is one thing I cannot store as I do not have a freezer. But for anyone buying for their freezer they have larger amounts of cheese, butter, ice cream and even frozen vegetables and food. Processed frozen foods are available also. I don't use those types of food so I can't really tell much about them. They have recently added a deli counter and have rotisserie chickens available there too. Everything is so clean and neat there.

 Their bag says it all!

I must tell you how the manager came right to me when I started taking pictures in the store! I think he thought I was taking pictures for some other reason. I assured him that I was a blogger and was going to write a very favorable post about their store. I hope this meets his approval, though I doubt he will be reading it. Didn't seem like a blog reader to me!




Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2018



This post was NOT an advertisement for MaineSource Restaurant and Party Warehouse. They did not ask me to write this post or paid me in any way. They did not give me free food or anything else. I wish! I am just a VERY happy customer.  ~ kat 

7 comments:

Marie said...

Awesome! Looks like they are only in New York though! What a bummer!

katlupe said...

I am afraid they are available in NY and PA. You may be able to find a restaurant supply store in your area though. They usually are selling top quality foods because restaurants need excellent food or no one will come back.

Joan said...

I love, love, love reading about your life! Did I mention that I REALLY LOVE reading about your life? Ohhh, yes, I did! The thought did occur to me when I saw all the pictures that you took that somebody who worked at Mainsource Food & Party Warehouse was going to get suspicious -- and sure enough the store manager did. Even though he did not seem like a person who is a blog reader, I hope that he does read this post, because you wrote a very interesting and favorable review about Mainsource Food & Party Warehouse -- and the store manager should be delighted with it! I know I was! I really did love reading this post! Oops, I'm repeating myself! Well, you get the point!

katlupe said...

I am hoping he does see it. I posted it on their Facebook page! Thank you for your comment Joan, I know how busy you are. I appreciated your help today!

Steve Ross said...

Kathleen,

I am an avid reader of your posts on our FB account!! Now I will follow your blog and hope you will post your blog to our FB on a regular basis.

The store manager did his job to question you regarding taking pictures. He also did his job by allowing you to continue and use in the great write up.

As you mentioned, our core is built on offering restaurant quality food at warehouse pricing. But the core is deeper regarding the cleanliness of our stores, the customer service offered to be superior, and the merchandising to be outstanding. And, oh by the way, we feel our pricing is a good thing as well.

I would love to offer you a personal tour of our warehouse faciltiy and store. I think you would be amazed at our Maines culture as it applies to taking care of our customers and guests at all levels or the organization.

Please feel free to email me or call me personally at anytime. Thanks for writing this piece and being a valued customer and guest at our MaineSource stores.

Steve Ross
VP MaineSource Food & Party Warehouse
steve.ross@maines.net
607.723.3350

katlupe said...

Thank you Steve for reading my post! I would be thrilled to post my blog on your FB page. And to have a tour of your warehouse and store! That would make another outstanding blog post for my blog.

I try to show my readers who are really into stocking up by buying in bulk, other ideas rather than just shopping in the discount grocery and dollar stores. They have to stretch those dollars, and that can be done at your store.

Thank you,
Kathleen

Paula said...

Kat, it is the second time you mentioned this warehouse since I moved to the States. Do you know that ever since you mentioned it first I wanted to go there? Up to know I havent found anything similar around me. Time for this warehouse to expand further South! Like Virginia ;-))) I am truly truly happy for you! Your wit, wisdom and willpower takes you were you wanna go! Love you