Irish Ridge

Miller’s Dented Discounts

Irish Ridge

When you don’t live with your husband, and you both have jobs with different hours, time together is precious. So most Tuesdays, after I teach an online class, Dane and I make a little trip together.

We’ll take the dogs for a walk, run any chores that need to be done (grocery shopping, bank, post office), and then we’ll head on up to Irish Ridge. The sun is out today, making it a good day for Amish shopping!

The winding drive from the valley where I live to the ridgetop is spectacular, with plenty of farms and animals, Amish buggies, and the delightful sight of children at the Amish one-room school playing at recess. The views alone are worth the trip, but we also appreciate the money we’ll save there. With grocery prices steadily increasing over the past year, we’ve had to be more conscious of what we buy and how much we pay.

We often stop first at Irish Ridge Sales (S977 Irish Ridge Road). It’s on the south side of Irish Ridge and looks like a typical Amish home, but you’ll notice a small sign and many cars and buggies pulling in and out.

This store has every farm, garden, and animal product you’ll need. Above the checkout counter is a large sign listing the current offerings and prices. Everything they sell is on display, but if it’s a cloudy day, you might want to bring a headlamp to read labels; there are no electric lights in an Amish store. Dane loves the collection of gloves, from winter gloves to waterproof gloves to his everyday chore gloves. He gets them all there and saves money.

For me, getting the big blocks of sawdust for my Duck Hall here makes sense. They absorb better than the chips I’d been using, plus I save a few dollars per bag. The same with my duck feed, sunflower seeds, and cracked corn.

Next, we drive farther east and pull into the large parking lot of the Scenic View Bulk store (E11817 Irish Ridge Road). Here I load up on cinnamon, chia seeds, walnuts, dried beans, boxes of stick matches, Spanish peanuts for Dane, and even soap! Their homemade bars of soap are a $1.50 each and smell terrific. Our favorites are lavender, milk & honey, and spearmint. We have a stack of bars in the bathroom cupboard, and they make the whole bathroom smell nice. I also like getting their pink Himalayan salt and bulk Epsom salts.

Look for the three large wooden cooler doors to the right of the cash register for the best pepper jack cheese you've ever had. The big bricks of butter, which we slice into four sticks when we get home, are worth the trip in themselves.

During the warmer months, there’s a bakery next door, open on Fridays and Saturdays. Get there early! There’s often a line out the door, winding into the parking lot. We took my family there the day before our wedding. After that visit, daughter-in-law Natalie kept saying, “This is the best day of my life!” Yep. The donuts, pies, and baked goods are fresh, sweet, and inexpensive.

Miller’s Dented Discounts (490 Miller Road) is next. Watch for the white sign on the north side of Irish Ridge Road and turn into their long gravel driveway. Stop when you see the cars, buggies, and porta-potties.

Grab a cart and take your time. We’re always amazed at the abundant sweets, like Super Sugar Crisp, Hershey’s chocolate bars, Payday, and Reese’s peanut butter cups, as well as every type of cookie, chip, and cracker you can imagine. But we go right to the canned cat food, just $0.35 a can, and the bags of Blue Buffalo dog food and other big brands for less than half the price of the bigger stores.

Other great deals include packages of toilet paper, dish soap, nuts, and even Benny and Joon’s favorite brand of bird seed. Hidden among the convenience products of instant Quaker oatmeal and boxes of Life cereal are gems like cortisol cream, Crest toothpaste, Diamond roasted almonds, and Undercover dark chocolate quinoa crisps.

It’s all a matter of luck with Millers. I’ve tried going on different days of the week, thinking I’d get there when a big truckload of goods was delivered, but there seems to be no rhythm or reason; the choices are simply better some days than others. Miller’s produce store and greenhouses are currently closed for the season.

Every day is a good day on Irish Ridge, but don’t try to shop on a Thursday (when they’re closed for weddings and funerals) or on a Sunday.

Inside Miller’s Dented Discounts