Budget-Friendly Bites: Cowgary Commute - Stampeeeede!!

It's that time of year when the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth livens up the city of Calgary. A few weeks ago, Calgarians and other Albertans in K-Country and the South were struck with the flood of 2013. Many popular areas in central Calgary were flushed out with river water including the designated Stampede grounds. While things didn't look too good for the Stampede, the mayor of Calgary promised his citizens that the show would go on. With commendable efforts of the CPS and EPS, Calgary has recovered quite well. The Stampede was able to carry on with its Chuckwagon Races, Rodeo, and other cowboy inspired festivities, with the exclusion of concerts that were to take place at the Saddledome. Great work to everyone for lending a hand to our neighbours! Remember that organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross and Tim Hortons are still collecting donations to support the flood victims. :)

P and I were able to make it down to Calgary for the opening weekend of the Stampede. We enjoyed all sorts of things from hotdogs and mini donuts to people flying around on jetskis to ferris wheels and fireworks! It turned out to be a great day on Saturday when we went to the grounds despite the rainy forecast. It did rain for a little bit in the early evening, but it was while we were inside watching Superdogs, and when we came out, it was even sunnier than before! Talk about good timing, huh?

P's friends were nice enough to spare us a free lunch from Fhat Dawgs! We got a Japanese (fried onions, dried nori strips, mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce) and a Mexican (fried onions, bacon, tomatoes, jalepeno sauce, and mayonnaise). It was pretty good (but probably not very good for me)!

Anyways, the purpose of this post is not to go on a cutesy gush about my amazing weekend, but to tell you all that not everything is outlandishly priced at the Stampede! This is where the budget-friendly business starts. Across from the South entrance to the Saddledome is the Agriculture area where you can see all kinds of farm animals like pigs, sheep, baby chicks, and horses. 

In the midst of it all is THIS - A Milk 'n Cookies vendor. For the "say what!?" price of $1, you can get a 250 ml carton of white or chocolate milk and...

A wagon wheel! (We must have looked a little bit crazy upon leaving the place. P and I were getting milk and cookies for some friends too, and I had 6 small cartons of chocolate milk in my shoulder bag. The 6 wagonwheels went in P's camera bag. What do you store in your purse??)

Another amazing find with less than a million calories! While casually walking past all of the crazy deepfried pickles and deepfried cheesecake and barbecued turkey legs, P and I found a vendor just across from the West entrance to the Saddledome!

Hidden Valley was looking to promote its salad dressing, so for the "say what what?!" price of $1, you could get a tupperware container of freshly chopped and mixed greens (grape tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and cucumber) along with a plastic fork, and a packet of Hidden Valley dressing! What's even better is you get to keep the brand new tupperware container, and it comes with a little tupperware cup that click onto the inside of the lid for future snackings requiring sauces or dressings! 

P and I most definitely took advantage of these awesome deals, but we also haaaad to have a bag of those little donuts (each) because come on! Stampeeeede!!!

-M

(Thank you to P for the awesome way-better-than-from-my-cell-phone-camera pictures!)