I got a big shock this afternoon while shopping at our neighborhood Big Lots store.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Big Lots, it’s like a dollar store only bigger with a much wider selection of consumer goods.
As I walked quickly up and down the aisles trying to find a cheap, medium sized cooler, I suddenly came to a screeching halt when I spied out of the corner of my eye…
No it can’t be!
There in plain view on one of the main aisle end caps …
A prominent and very wide selection of Bob’s Red Mill Baking Supply Products!
I stopped and took this picture because it still hasn’t actually registered in my brain that this is indeed what I saw with my own two eyes.
Talk about out of place!
Nestled in amongst the cases of jumbo bags, boxes, and cans of ultra cheap, junky, no redeeming quality whatsoever, processed foods is this healthy selection of whole, grain based foods that appeals to Real Food Snobs like me!
Organic quinoa, old fashioned rolled oats, flaxseed meal, 7 grain hot cereal, even some gluten free pancake mix … bag after bag of stuff you would expect to find on an endcap at the healthfood store.  Such products are not typically found even at a grocery store (unless in the very small “healthfood section”) let alone a Big Lots (I consider Big Lots a step down even from the supermarket).
Granted, few of the products were organic and there was no arrowroot powder to be found (that really would have wigged me out as I had just picked up a bag of Bob’s RedMill Arrowroot powder earlier in the day at the healthfood store to whip up some grain free ginger snaps for the kids’ lunches).
From what I can surmise, this aberration at the neighborhood Big Lots means one of two things:
- The Southeast Regional buyer for Big Lots is a major health nut.
- Real Food is indeed making some serious inroads into mainstream America.
I tend to think the latter reason is most plausible. There is no way a buyer for Big Lots would put his/her career on the line ordering a bunch of healthfood type products to be displayed so prominently on the endcap of a main aisle unless a profit could reliably be made – no matter what his/her culinary predilections.
So, here I am, still in shock at seeing Real Food products in a budget conscious, stripped down, bare bones retail establishment.
Have you had a Twilight Zone moment with Real Food in an unconventional setting? Tell us about it!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
A little sweet tidbit about Bob from Bob’s Red Mill: My sister in law, who lives in the Portland, Oregon area has seen him on several occasions. Once on a field trip to the mill with her daughter, and other times at his Bob’s Red Mill Restaurant. He treats his employees with sweetness and respect and pays for his own meals at his own restaurant (and looks and dresses just like he does on the packages)! He told a story at the field trip about the history of his mill: He is a retired pastor who always dreamed of having an old fashioned grain mill. So he finally saved up enough money for a mill stone, which is the most expensive investment when it comes to starting a mill like his. After his business began to really grow, arsonists set the mill on fire! No on was hurt, but he was afraid the millstone would be ruined because heat will crack millstones–and he didn’t know if he could afford to start over with a new one. The miracle of the story is that as the upper story of the mill burned, it collapsed along with the huge bags of flours it contained, and landed on the millstone. All that flour insulated the millstone and protected it from cracking from the heat of the fire! Because of that little miracle, he was able to rebuild with the original millstone, and start over! She’s a fan of his restaurant and products because she not only likes the products, but because Bob himself is such a quality person.
Oh, that’s so cool! I’ve become so cynical lately and thought that he was probably just a figurehead for yet another greedy corporation. But if even half of what you said is true, then I’ll be very happy to support his company!
And, he has a restaurant? I’ll have to look into this. It’s probably no where near anywhere that I normally go, but it’s something to keep in mind. 🙂
I love this! I used to live in Portland, and frequently visit there as all my future in-laws plus many friends live in the area. We’ve been to Bob’s restaurant a few times (it’s really good!) but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man himself — I’ll have to look out for him! What a lovely little story about surviving the fire disaster — God sure is looking after sweet Bob and his mill! 🙂
YES! I read on a good-food-friendly-site (don’t remember where) a while back that Bob has had numerous offers to buy him out, but he won’t do it. He has already made a plan for when he dies (he doesn’t plan on retiring) that each share of the company will go to each employee, with the greatest shares going to the longest-employed. So, it will truly be 100% employee owned when he dies…
I grew up eating Bob’s Red Mill products. My mother shopped his mill in Oregon City from the beginning (then known as Moore’s Mill) and I am fortunate to live 5 minutes from the Red Mill Store and Restaurant. During my growing up Bob and his wife Charlee were fixtures in our community and always appeared in our little town parade “Milwaukie Festival Daze” in their antique car. I can tell you what you see is what you get. In 2010 Bob gave the company to the employees for his 81st birthday. Bob and his wife have partnered with Oregon State University, The National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR and Oregon Health & Science University to develop programs aimed at stopping childhood obesity, nutrition research and a program to promote science-based changes in diet, nutrition and health care. My niece who is six thinks Bob is a rock star and asked him to make a “Bob” ornament that she can put on her Christmas tree. I a nut shell WE LOVE BOB.
Thanks for the heads-up, today is my errand-day so I’m gonna stop by and check out if our Big Lots has joined the real food bandwagon too 🙂
I have a store about 1/2 mile from me and I never even go there, but tonight after work I am going to stop by and see what they have. I am in CT, so I don’t know if the products will be the same…As Kelli said above, you can get EVOO at Marshall’s also! (Don’t worry Kelli, I won’t tell either!).
When buying food from Big Lots be sure to check the expiration date. Usually the stuff is soon to expire.
Ah, that could be the catch right there! I was thinking it had to be too good to be true!
Can’t you just freeze it though?
The expiration dates on all food packaging is actually the half life of the product unless it says use by, instead of best by date. Yes freezing is a way of extending lifetime. If you live in a part of the country that does not have something you want. Make a friend or two around the country on Facebook and ask them if they have it in their area. If they do the cheap 2 pound mailing box is the way to make your money work for you. Real Maple syrup in my part of the country cost over 100 bucks a gallon. I get it from a friend in Tennessee who’s dad makes it shipped for about 27 bucks a gallon shipping included. I do the same with lots of products. See the internet can be a money saver too!
While it’s good news for grain-eating customers who can currently find those products there, it’s probably not good news overall. Big Lots is a close-out store. They buy inventory from stores going out of business and from companies discontinuing a particular product line. It is not at all unusual to find real food products at Big Lots–I’ve found Lara Bars there super cheap–but you have to grab them when you see them since once they are gone they are gone.
I get my organic EVOO at…wait for it…TJ Maxx! It’s in the gourmet food section and I can get it for half the price of EVOO in the grocery store. I don’t tell anyone though, because it’s always a very small selection and I want it for myself hehe 🙂
Yes, I saw a bag of chia seeds at TJ Maxx recently. And I think maybe quinoa.
This is not exactly what it seems. Big Lots is a not a normal retailer that purchases products from the manufacturer/distributor and sells them. They purchase closeout items that other retail stores can’t sell at super cheap prices, and sell them at their stores cheaper than their original retail price.
The selection of food they have is not so much them looking to sell more ‘real food’ products, it’s that more ‘real food’ products have not sold at the normal retailers and are thus left for closeouts.
I still think its excellent though, and if they carve out a niche in the area, it would be a good thing. I always find good stuff in the International aisle at my local Big Lots.
This is very true, Andy. Sam’s Club does that very thing which is why you can’t get the same thing twice, as a rule. I don’t shop at Sam’s or wallyweirdworld but people who do are always complaining about Sam’s because they find something they like at a decent price and the next time they go out, it’s gone and the store never carries it again, most likely.
But this Bob’s stuff is probably nearly ready to expire, which is why it’s being sold so cheaply. When I saw that sign for $3.99 I nearly lit out for FL myself (and I don’t fly). The cheapest we can get the tiny bags of Bob’s Red Mill stuff around here (and that includes anything in his line) is $7.99 and upwards. I never buy his stuff if I can help it. I buy from MtRoseHerbs.com for things like organic arrowroot. Our health food stores have other great buys on steel cut oatmeal for much less than Bob’s charges. I want to be healthy and organic as much as the next person, but I’m not going to spend myself into oblivion to do it, nosirreee.
Sam’s isn’t a close-out store. It’s inventory–like Wal-Mart’s–changes based on what is being purchased by customers and whether or not they can find a cheaper source for a similar product. There are occasional seasonal closeout items, but most of their products are pretty consistent. Big Lots has no consistency at all. It’s different every time you go–especially in the food aisles.
Christmas Tree Shoppes in the Central PA area carries these products.
Oh my! That is MUCH weirder than my Big Lots experience! LOL
Wow that is wonderful! I am in the Northeast. I wonder if the Big Lots near me has them? We do have a discount food store in our area that carries what I consider a fairly wide selection of Bob’s Red Mill.
@Allison, you can see from my picture that the price was pretty amazing too. $3.50 for each bag. That included the big 2 lb bags of rolled oats. They weren’t organic though, and Bob’s Red Mill does have an organic version of most of it’s products from what I’ve seen.
I know for a fact they carry them in the Northeast. My brother can’t have gluten so she buys the gluten free all purpose flour and other gluten free products there. I’ve seen other organic products there before also. I know that Aldis also carries some organic packaged foods. Most places I know of carry at least some red mill products.
She as in his wife lol.
Hi Sarah,
This is great to hear! I’m in Japan (my husband is stationed here with the Navy) and our on-base commissary is just awful. We have such limited selection, but recently I began seeing more and more of Bob’s Red Mill products popping up. I was actually a little skeptical, simply BECAUSE they were being sold at our lousy store. It’s great to hear that you trust this brand, because I have been using them for several months now. When we first got here (October 2008) there was almost NO healthy food choices, but in the last year that has changed dramatically. They now have an entire section of gluten-free products, the majority of them from Bob’s Red Mill.
So I think you’re right! If they’re showing up at our commissary and at your Big Lots, we may have some hope in this fight. But I really can’t wait to move back to the US where I can get REAL milk (at least for now)!
Now that is definitely a Twilight Zone Real Food moment … Bob’s Red Mill at a commissary in Japan!
Commissaries all over the country as well as those supporting their bases overseas are known (within the past 3-5 years) to have some organic foods such as organic frozen fruit (my husband is retired and will still load up on Cascadian Farms fruit and Muir Glen tomatoes), organic, canned tomatoes, and gluten free products. Having lived overseas, it would’ve helped a lot if they’d provided this 8 years ago. We spent a lot ordering from Azure for dry goods.