Since some of you had never heard of a bread store, I thought I'd talk about it a little bit.
My first experience with bread stores was in Alexandria, Louisiana. There was a Bunny Bread bakery off the main drive. The aroma floated for miles in all directions. It really is true, there is nothing like the smell of fresh-baked bread. There was a Bunny Bread Outlet in town but I never went there at the time.
Go even further back in my history to somewhere between the age of 3-4. After my parents got divorced we lived with my grandmother in a house not far from where I am now. Across the street from that house was the Borden Milk Company. I was fascinated as a child with the glass milk jugs (four in a crate) that came out of one opening in the building, followed the path on the conveyor belt to where the crates were loaded on Borden Milk trucks. I don't know if these trucks were home delivery or being delivered to the stores but I do remember that we did get home delivery back then. Because this was such a big and pleasant memory, I think my interest in company stores might have started here.
To continue, my first experience with bread stores was not until much later. I was quite a coupon cutter when my kids were little. They thought it was great fun for us all to sit at the table and cut the coupons out of the Sunday handouts and loved to see how much we saved. They were also great about taking a coupon for, say cereal, and searching the isle for the exact item. Bless their little souls.
Not until I had grandchildren did I discover my first bread store. I took some side road one day and there it was, a Mrs. Baird's outlet. It smelled like there was a bakery behind the store but the smell was not as strong as the Bunny Bread in Alexandria. One day I stopped and went in. I was amazed at the number of foods that were there besides loaves of bread.
Whenever I was in that area I would stop but it wasn't often. However, the grandson loved going there so when we could, we would pick out those odds and ends of breakfast treats (honey bun, donuts, pies). I never figured out the relationship of the bread store to the bakery. Was it made on sight? Was it day-old bread? Store returns? I never thought to google it -- now, of course, I google everything.
The Sunbeam Bread Store I go to now is easy to swing by on my usual routes. I even stop there when I am on the way to my grocery if I'm low on bread. I have never looked at the dates so I do not know if they are prior to or just past their sell-by date. I know that I have been very happy with the bread. It always seems fresh to me. I usually buy three loaves at a time and immediately freeze them. They are 75 cents a loaf with a 20 or 30% discount for seniors on Wednesday. If you compare that to the $2.25 or so you pay for a loaf at the grocery that is quite a nice bit of change in my pocket.
I do eat a lot of sandwiches just because they are easy. Tuna, egg salad, and pimento cheese are my go-to. I love pimento cheese on toast for breakfast. Strange, I guess. This may all come to an end with the Nutritionist/Diabetes Educator so I only picked up two this week - one white and one the mighty Nature's Own Life Double Fiber Wheat Bread.
By the way, when I looked for an image to share I found the Double Fiber for sale at $8.99 on one web site! That really makes me feel like I've saved compared to my 75 cents purchase.
Now, for the too-much-information part, Buddy usually eats some of the crust off my sandwiches. So Buddy got to try the Double Fiber bread also. Hahaha. Three times on one walk yesterday and twice on one walk this morning. Yep, it definitely works on dogs too. So, no, I won't be feeding him any more crust bits of double fiber.
Speaking of the goofball, I have been trying to teach him to roll over. He HATES it. He runs around in circles and barks at me. I'm going to have to find a really good treat to convince him to try this trick.
More later......
My first experience with bread stores was in Alexandria, Louisiana. There was a Bunny Bread bakery off the main drive. The aroma floated for miles in all directions. It really is true, there is nothing like the smell of fresh-baked bread. There was a Bunny Bread Outlet in town but I never went there at the time.
Go even further back in my history to somewhere between the age of 3-4. After my parents got divorced we lived with my grandmother in a house not far from where I am now. Across the street from that house was the Borden Milk Company. I was fascinated as a child with the glass milk jugs (four in a crate) that came out of one opening in the building, followed the path on the conveyor belt to where the crates were loaded on Borden Milk trucks. I don't know if these trucks were home delivery or being delivered to the stores but I do remember that we did get home delivery back then. Because this was such a big and pleasant memory, I think my interest in company stores might have started here.
To continue, my first experience with bread stores was not until much later. I was quite a coupon cutter when my kids were little. They thought it was great fun for us all to sit at the table and cut the coupons out of the Sunday handouts and loved to see how much we saved. They were also great about taking a coupon for, say cereal, and searching the isle for the exact item. Bless their little souls.
Not until I had grandchildren did I discover my first bread store. I took some side road one day and there it was, a Mrs. Baird's outlet. It smelled like there was a bakery behind the store but the smell was not as strong as the Bunny Bread in Alexandria. One day I stopped and went in. I was amazed at the number of foods that were there besides loaves of bread.
Whenever I was in that area I would stop but it wasn't often. However, the grandson loved going there so when we could, we would pick out those odds and ends of breakfast treats (honey bun, donuts, pies). I never figured out the relationship of the bread store to the bakery. Was it made on sight? Was it day-old bread? Store returns? I never thought to google it -- now, of course, I google everything.
The Sunbeam Bread Store I go to now is easy to swing by on my usual routes. I even stop there when I am on the way to my grocery if I'm low on bread. I have never looked at the dates so I do not know if they are prior to or just past their sell-by date. I know that I have been very happy with the bread. It always seems fresh to me. I usually buy three loaves at a time and immediately freeze them. They are 75 cents a loaf with a 20 or 30% discount for seniors on Wednesday. If you compare that to the $2.25 or so you pay for a loaf at the grocery that is quite a nice bit of change in my pocket.
I do eat a lot of sandwiches just because they are easy. Tuna, egg salad, and pimento cheese are my go-to. I love pimento cheese on toast for breakfast. Strange, I guess. This may all come to an end with the Nutritionist/Diabetes Educator so I only picked up two this week - one white and one the mighty Nature's Own Life Double Fiber Wheat Bread.
By the way, when I looked for an image to share I found the Double Fiber for sale at $8.99 on one web site! That really makes me feel like I've saved compared to my 75 cents purchase.
Now, for the too-much-information part, Buddy usually eats some of the crust off my sandwiches. So Buddy got to try the Double Fiber bread also. Hahaha. Three times on one walk yesterday and twice on one walk this morning. Yep, it definitely works on dogs too. So, no, I won't be feeding him any more crust bits of double fiber.
Speaking of the goofball, I have been trying to teach him to roll over. He HATES it. He runs around in circles and barks at me. I'm going to have to find a really good treat to convince him to try this trick.
More later......
Hi, I'm new to your blog. I do remember the milkman left a metal crate with four glass bottles of milk on our back porch. They had little paper caps on top to seal them. When each bottle was empty, Mother would set it it back into the crate on the porch. I think the milkman came weekly. We lived in the country so I don't remember bread stores growing up. However, as an adult I discovered Wonder Bread Outlets, which my husband's aunt jokingly called the "used bread store." The bread was at quite a discount. It also had packaged pastries. Re: coupons - I've tried to use them, but I don't think I am really good at it as it's always a start and stop event with me. Enjoyed your post here, took me down memory lane. Mary in VA
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading this I was reminded of a bread factory I went by on my way to work in the early '60s. Ohmygod, did that smell GOOD. I love bread and just googled bread stores in my area. We have three all of them downtown where I'd never go. Love learning new things. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOur bread stores like this we called the Dead Bread Store. But they were Sunbeam mostly because we had a Sunbeam factory in town. When we were young and very poor in our first apartment we went there for bread, pitas, cupcakes. Yes they may have been a bit older but always good. Nothing was stale or bad and we could never figure out why they could sell it here for so damn cheap. I loved a bread store! But having sugar doesn't all that bread make you have a spike in insulin? And double fiber - you are a brave woman!
ReplyDeleteLol. Buddy didn’t need the extra fiber I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe bread store here is a treat but the bread is more expensive than you pay for it.
Haha! Poor Buddy. We give our dog pumpkin every day with similar results.
ReplyDeleteWe have a bread store nearby that we used to frequent when the kids were little. We went through a lot of bread then. It definitely helped our budget! I bet that 2x fiber bread would be approved on a diabetic diet. The fiber would probably help slow down the bread in digestion and keep your blood sugar from spiking (unless you put jam on it, of course!).
Have a lovely weekend, Barbara!
There's nothing better than the smell of fresh-baked bread...unless you can't get away from it. One of the offices I worked in for about a year was in a business strip center and right next door to a Subway sandwich shop. I think we shared some venting as we could REALLY smell that fresh-baking bread. It smelled SOOO good at first. But after a month or so of it 8 hours a day, I was over it. :)
ReplyDeleteJust Googled bread store and none near me. Penalty of rural living I guess. We don't have a bakery either and I do miss that lovely smell.
ReplyDeleteBarb, I love bread but rarely eat it for various reasons. I really enjoyed the nostalgic flavour of this post. The older I get, the more appealing the past becomes. Have a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteWe have a bread store in town and I believe it’s bread that’s about to expire, but still good/safe. We don’t eat much bread, but that’s quite the savings! Poor buddy....we’ve all been there a time or two.
ReplyDelete