On the way to Sonora, I stopped in McDaniels at the Knotty Pine Family Restaurant for some lunch. My grilled chicken sandwich (on Texas toast, a first for me) was $3.00, aka HALF the price of a Quizno’s sandwich. It feels weird to tip 67%, but Edna, the waitress, brought me so much water that I deemed it necessary. She was also very helpful and discussed the fate of Knotty Pine’s excess food for quite awhile. The owner has five dogs, to whom he brings leftovers and food scraps daily. Edna also brings leftovers to her dog, but she supplements his diet with dog food.
The Knotty Pine
Once we arrived in Sonora, I noticed a store called “Family Salvage Grocery.” Images of my dumpster diving, bread salvage mission came to mind, and I stopped there to chat with Donna, the owner of the store. She’s lived in Sonora her entire life, and, until several years ago, had a factory job. However, when she got laid off, she was forced to find a new profession. Rather than start at a different factory and have to work her way back up to her former status, she had the idea of opening a salvage grocery store.
She orders damaged, recently expired, and other undesirable foods from large chains like Walmart and Kroger. The stores ship her the salvaged foods in boxes. Each shipment is freighted to her, and she has no idea what will be in the boxes until she opens them. Dented cans of beans, expired rice cakes, and crushed cereal boxes were among the foods that arrived this week, and the store’s aisles were lined with Sonora residents taking advantage of the deals.
“I love how cheap this store is!” I overheard a shopper exclaim as I was browsing the aisles.
I love how the store diverts food from the landfill.
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