Grocery Shopping and Deer Carcasses

Sundays are my day to go grocery shopping. Today was no exception. I got up with B (even though I have not been feeling well the last few days...hence the lack of posts) and went in to our local Kroger. We have a few grocery stores in our area, and a Super WalMart, but I have always chosen to shop at Kroger...I always felt it wasn't that much more expensive, and the fuel rewards sure were nice as gas prices were skyrocketing.

Today though, I was slightly disillusioned. I have been trying to be more frugal the last month or so when it comes to our grocery purchases...been clipping coupons and paying attention to items that are on sale. I'd love to one day be able to save more then I spend...but that day is probably a ways away. Anyway. I have been saving quite a bit when I have been shopping...around $50 every time, but I am still spending over $100...a week. For two people. That is WAY too much. Now granted I have been trying to stock my pantry (and freezer...we have lots of meat, bread, Gatorade and canned veggies), and trying to get stocked up on cleaning supplies...but I don't think I need to be in the $100 range every week. My goal is to spend $50 a week and no more. I have no idea how to get that low. But am thinking meal planning will be my next step. And sticking to only the things we absolutely NEED for the upcoming week.

So, why am I going on and on about this? Well, I was excited about the 10 for $10 sale at Kroger the last few weeks. Lots of stuff on sale. Like Gatorade. Today was the last day Gatorade was on sale, so I stocked up. I paid for my stuff (was unhappy with how much I spent, even though I saved so much), took it to the car and then went to Walmart to pick up chicken for the wolf pups. Well, on my way to get the chicken, I saw Gatorade in Walmart. I decided to take a quick price check. Well, wouldn't you know. Gatorade was $.98! And it wasn't on sale. $.02 cheaper than the sale price at Kroger! $.07 cheaper then the regular price.

Ok, so I know that $.02 is not a lot. But that makes me wonder how many other things at Walmart are much cheaper. And if it really is worth the gas savings to shop at Kroger. What do you think? Is it worth shopping at Kroger for the gas savings, or would Walmart save me enough on groceries that it erases the gas savings?

So you may be wondering why Deer Carcasses is in the title of the post. Well, that is something else that applies to being more frugal. We have to feed the wolf pups chicken (meat really, but bulk chicken seems to be the cheapest), and chicken and meat in general, is not very cheap. Especially not in the amounts we have to buy it. We have always known that a lot of people who have wolves feed them deer. We put our name on the deer kill list (for those of you who don't know, this is a list of people that they call when someone hits a deer on the road) a few months ago and never heard anything. B found out a few days ago that if we found a deer we could just take it as long as we notified the proper people, so we no longer had to wait to be called. Well, B comes home today. And he has a deer. Now I don't do well with dead things. Granted, I may be a "farm girl," but we never killed our animals or hunted. So that was not a part of my life growing up. I cry if I hit an animal on the road, and just don't deal well with death in general. So even though I was happy we had a deer...I was not too sure I wanted to be a part of it. I challenged myself to stay as B cut it and got the meat. It was not easy. I did not like the smell. I did not like to see the dead animal. But, at least it in his death, the deer was providing for another animal and not going to waste.

The wolves loved the meat. And from the deer, we got enough meat for them for the next 10 days. I'm sure they are going to like the break from chicken! :)