Cache in on fabulous — and frugal — factory finds

Cache Valley is a land flowing with milk and honey. You can taste it at the local dairies and food factories and see bees working in a hive at Cox Honeyland. At Gossner Foods and Pepperidge Farm, you can nibble free samples or buy discounted "seconds." Bluebird Chocolates and Aggie Ice Cream offer sweet nostalgia for former Utah State University students. The Cache Valley Visitors Bureau has even made up a list of some of these food finds for tour groups (www.tourcachevalley.com).

Summer is a great time for a food run. The weather's a little cooler up north, and you may already be headed to the Festival of the American West, Utah Festival Opera or Bear Lake. On the way home, you can stop at the roadside stands dotting U.S. 89 between Brigham City and Willard (also known as the Fruitway) for fresh-picked raspberries, cherries and peaches.

I took a food-finding road trip to Cache Valley, and where possible, compared prices with what you'd find in local supermarkets. Here's what I found:

• If you like to buy in bulk, have lots of freezer space or are planning to make a ton of grilled cheese sandwiches in the near future, you're in luck. But if you just plan to buy one 15-cent Creamie or a 49-cent FatBoy, it's not worth the time, gasoline and hassle.

• Factory "seconds" can be irregular-shaped, broken or otherwise not up to standards. Don't expect perfection.

• Plan on at least three hours from the time you get to Cache Valley, so you can navigate the busy traffic, peruse store shelves and compare prices. Add nearly two hours more if you're traveling from Salt Lake City.

• Bring a large cooler to protect the cheese, ice cream or chocolate from the summer heat during the ride home.

Cox Honeyland

Cox has been selling honey since 1929, and it also supplies the honey sold at the Trappist Monastery in the Ogden Valley.

Hunks of fudge are on display at the store's front counter. You have to work your way past a lot of gift-shop knickknacks to the back of the store to find the glass-enclosed beehive and the jars and buckets of honey.

Fun food find: Small, straw-like honey "sticks" are laced with herbs, such as ginseng and echinacea, for 25 cents each.

As far as bargains go, there is a shelf of crystallized honey sold on discount. Crystallized honey is opaque rather than clear, but this is easily remedied by melting it over low heat. An 8-ounce bear-shaped bottle, regularly $2, is discounted to $1.60. In comparison, an 8-ounce jar of Miller's honey in Salt Lake supermarkets sells for around $3, and generic brands are $2.39. A notice on the door lists bulk honey specials: three 7-pound pails for $37.50, a 12-pound bucket for $22.80 and 60 pounds for $104.

Crumb Brothers Artisan Bread