Digital coupons, good beef, and other stories

Most all grocery stores have a weekly ad showing their bargains, usually on Wednesday; that lasts for seven days.  I check all of those out, looking especially for the meat specials.  Ever since Covid hit, bargains have been fewer, and far between.  

We do a lot of our shopping at Walmart, but I don't usually buy meat there.  I watch Hy-Vee and Price Chopper for those; usually Price Chopper has better sales.  For years I've seen both these stores have digital coupons, but I had no idea how to use them.  Right before Thanksgiving, they had Oscar Mayer bacon for $4.99 a pound package; however, I could have gotten two bucks more with a digital coupon.  Try as I might, I could not see any way to get that coupon.  I finally decided to be brave, go to customer service, and let them see my ignorance.  The guy there was about 18 years old by his looks, and rather than tell me how to do it, he did it himself and said that's how you do it.  I could not figure it out at all, and felt like an idiot.

Finally I noticed at the bottom of the page on the Price Chopper website there is a place to type a question and get an answer.  That person told me that the easiest way to secure those coupons was go to their website with my Price Chopper card and sign in.  I was told exactly what I should look for, and where.  Honestly, it's still a bit hard for me; I think they deliberately don't make it easy.  But with a little time, I get the job done!  And that bacon is STILL $2.99 with a digital coupon.

Speaking of food, everything I see about beef is that it is only going to be more expensive.  Tyson Foods is closing plants down one by one.  Last night we were talking about that and how the meat at stores just isn't the same as what you get from a farm.  I said, "I sure would like to have good beef again, like we could get at the butcher shop where you worked in 1970."

Then we talked about how expensive that would be.  You pay for a cow (or 1/2 or 1/4 of a cow) and then pay the butcher for his work, too.  It is definitely much higher than what you buy on sale in a grocery store.

Some of you may remember my blog entry about T-Bills; you can find that entry HERE.  Well, I have a couple of $1,000 T-bills, one of which is due in early February, 2025.  That probably wouldn't be enough for a whole cow, maybe even not enough for half a cow.  But maybe a quarter of a cow?  There's just the two of us, we don't need a whole cow.  Remember, you pay the farmer, then pay the butcher; that's their living and their right.  Wouldn't it be nice for two old cronies, each with one foot in the grave, to have the best beef we can get in our dotage?  And luckily, we are here in the country with farmers all around us.

Cliff is going to talk to some people and see what we can do with some of our money.