You CAN buy tickets at the door!

Win this $300 Albertsons gift card in our free raffle!

It will be possible to buy tickets to Frugal Festival Food! tomorrow at the event, though you’ll have to wait in line. We strongly suggest getting tickets in advance through Goldstar.

Come hungry! There will be lots of free food from Libertine (bacon-wrapped tater tots), The Stand (chili and dogs), Albertsons (CA-grown fruit), and Yozen Frogurt (frozen yogurt).

We have more than 100 Raffle and Door prizes worth $3,000 waiting for you! Come at 11 a.m. when the Festival starts as the door prizes are first come first serve!

The FREE FOOD SWAP starts at 11 a.m.

Kids are welcome! We have face painting and chalk coloring ready for ya!

There is limited free parking at the Festival (or park across the street at the mall).

SEE YOU THERE!

Frugal Fest in the News!

Tune in 7pm Friday to see me on NBC!

Frugal Festival Food! is all over the news!

The Bargain Hunter column in the LA Daily News wrote us up, as did NBC LA’s The Scene. LA Weekly had something to say and so did yesterday’s Yelp email!

Listen to CBS KFWB later this morning, at about 10:30 a.m., to hear me on Money 101 with Bob McCormick.

Tune in Friday, June 24, at 7 p.m. to see me talking about the Festival on NBC 4!

Everything you need to know about Frugal Festival Food!

Free food alert! Munch on Libertine’s bacon-wrapped tater tots, chili and dogs from The Stand, CA-grown fruit from Albertsons, and frozen yogurt from Yozen Frogurt.

We have more than 100 Raffle and Door prizes worth $3,000 waiting for you!

The FREE FOOD SWAP starts at 11 a.m.

Tickets are $5 with a canned good and include a high-quality Envirosax swag bag that is worth $9 before it’s stuffed with goodies!

Kids are welcome! We have face painting and chalk coloring ready for ya!

There is limited free parking at the Festival (or park across the street at the mall).

We’ve got a lot planned for you, including an Early Bird Raffle, a coupon class, and more. You won’t be late with this timeline of events.

Test your coupon know-how in our Coupon Challenge to win a $300 gourmet gift basket from Albertsons and Shortcuts!

If you missed the online recipe contest, you’ll have a chance to submit an original recipe at the Bargain Babe table at the Festival!

The Festival supports the LA Regional Food Bank.

Get your tickets now!

Swag bags are here!!!!

Free swag bags at Frugal Festival Food!

Swag bags arrived!!! Our Envirosax nylon bags are super swanky and alone sell for $9, but they are free with your $5 admission! (Bring a canned good for the $5 ticket, otherwise admission is  $10.)

You’ll get your own swag bag when you arrive at Frugal Festival Food on June 25 in Canoga Park. They come in five colors: red, forest green, chocolate, sage, and kelly green.

Each swag bag includes:

• A $25 gift card to Restaurant.com
• One raffle ticket (check out the raffle and door prizes)
• Special recipes from AllRecipes.com
• Plus coupons, recipes, and more!

Our $15 VIP tickets already SOLD OUT.

Get your tickets now!

Parking situation at Frugal Festival Food!

Parking map at Festival

There is limited free parking at Canoga Park High School for Frugal Festival Food! guests on June 25.

To park for free, enter on Vanonwen where either of the black arrows are shown in the picture at right. We will have a parking attendant guiding you in. These two lots will hold about 50-70 cars.

The Festival is about 200 feet north of the parking lots. Look for signs and volunteers guiding you to the entrance.

If the two lots at Canoga Park High School fill up, which we expect them too, you can try parking on the other side of Vanowen at the mall, which is also free. Apparently, teachers park there all the time with no problem. But make sure to read any posted signs to make sure you can leave your car there.

Frugal Festival Food…ONLINE!

For the first time ever, Frugal Festival is ONLINE!Credit: Baddog_/Flickr

Last year, many of our readers outside L.A. were disappointed they couldn’t make it to the Frugal Festival. This year, we are happy to announce the first ever Frugal Festival Food ONLINE!

For those of you who will not be able to join us June 25 at Canoga Park High School, you’ll be able to partake in online activities similar to those going on in LA. If you’d like to do both, fabulous!

The ONLINE Festival will have daily lightning giveaways for an entire week where you’ll be able to win books like Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half by America’s Cheapest Family, Poor Girl Gourmet by Amy McCoy, Gluten-Free on a Shoestring by Nicole Hunn and many, many more.

Psst… these are the same books that will be door prizes at the LA event on June 25, so you won’t be missing out on all the fun (though we never figured out how to offer face painting online).

Other prizes in our raffle include $25 Restaurant.com gift cards, coupon organizers from The Coupon Wallet and AllRecipe.com memberships!

Start looking for your tastiest frugal recipes now because you’ll have a chance to be included in the first ever Frugal Festival Food eCookbook! To win a copy of the cookbook and win the raffle prizes, all you have to do is submit your favorite original recipe and the story behind it.

It all starts June 13, two weeks before the actual event, so stay tuned for Frugal Festival Food ONLINE!

Frugal Fest is NOT a clothing swap!

Frugal Fest is NOT a clothing swap - it's about food! Credit: ugod/Flickr

Enough people have asked me if last year’s clothing swap was happening again at this year’s Frugal Festival that I wanted to clear the air.

THIS YEAR’S FRUGAL FESTIVAL IS NOT A CLOTHING SWAP!

Instead, it’s about saving money on food by:

• coupon clipping
• using solar ovens
• deploying grocery store tricks and strategies
• exchanging recipes and coupons
• making savvy nutrition decisions
• and lots more!

Join us on June 25 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Canoga Park High School, 6850 Topanga Canyon Blvd. near Westfield Topanga Mall for all of the above, plus:

• free face painting
• free lemonade and otter pops
• fresh fruit tastings from Albertsons
• a coupon challenge contest
• 136 FREE RAFFLE PRIZES WORTH ALMOST $3,000

Get your tickets now!

NEW LOCATION FOR FESTIVAL!!!!

Frugal Festival Food! has moved to a new location: Canoga Park High School!

Heads up! Frugal Festival Food! has moved to a bigger location to accommodate more than 150 advance ticket sales! Our new location is:

Canoga Park High School
6850 Topanga Canyon Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 91303-2399

Here is a map. The new location also has two parking lots, allows us to have indoor AND outdoor space, and is very close to the 101 freeway.

Everything else is pretty much the same. Awesome raffle prizes. Free food. Lots of ideas to save money on food.

Get your tickets now!

VIP tickets sold out!!!

VIP tix sold out! Credit: fester_Franz/Flickr

Our 50 VIP tickets to Frugal Festival Food! have sold out in record time. Regular tickets are still available for $5-$10. The cheaper tickets are if you bring one or more canned goods for the LA Regional Food Bank.

Regular tickets come with a sweet reusable bag stuffed with goodies.

Get your tickets now!

Free high-end reusable bags at Frugal Festival Food!

Get a free $9 Envirosax with your $5 Festival ticket. That's a steal!

Our swag bags just got a MAJOR upgrade thanks to our partnership with Envirosax, a company that makes sturdy reusable bags that last 5-10 years! Each Envirosax Greengrocer bag, pictured above, retails for $8.95. But you’ll get one FREE with your $5-$15 ticket to Frugal Festival Food! on June 25, 2011.

Plus, your sweet reusable bag will come with:

• A $25 gift card to Restaurant.com
• One raffle ticket
• Special recipes from AllRecipes.com
• Plus coupons, recipes, and more!

Get your tickets now!