Grocery Haul - It's Been a Hot Minute

It has been at least six months since I have done any major shopping at Sam's Club or Azure Standard or anywhere for that matter. It was definitely time to place an order at both places. We picked up our order from Sam's Club after my appointment on Friday in the city. 

There were a few things that we could only get if we had them shipped, so I have placed an order to be delivered along with a modest Azure Standard order that I will pick up. I had to go inside the store to pick up a few things that I wanted to hand pick myself. The store was packed. I think that some people we panic buying. It sure looked like it anyway. The line to get to the eggs was deep. I was in and out in short order because I knew what I wanted and where it was. I maneuvered through the store and around shoppers with ease. 

I did notice that there are less options available, again. Mayonnaise was one of those items that I had to order. What store doesn't carry Kraft Real Mayo? They only had brown beans in 12-pound package, and I wanted black beans. They are carrying smaller packages with less options these days. This seems to be the new trend. If stores like Sam's are not going to carry large bulk items, what is the point? 

I also noticed that they were low on most meats, eggs and milk. Milk was definitely not bargain at all. I didn't peruse the whole store because I just wanted to get out of there asap! Bread flour was another item that I had to have shipped along with the black beans and mayo. I haven't been able to buy bread flour at Sam's for several years now. At least I can have it shipped.  

When I tried to put peanut butter in my cart, the only option I had was to have it shipped. I was certain that that couldn't be, and I was right. I was certainly wrong about the mayo. The store had plenty of peanut butter and it was on sale for $2.00 off. I bought two. I think all in all that I went over my budget by $10 and this was one of the reasons why. Dang sales!

It was also time to buy meat. Ugh! Beef has really shot up in price, so Number One Husband decided that we would purchase a whole beef chuck roll and hand trim it into the cuts we need. This made the price $5.98 a pound for premium cuts of chuck. I also purchased a 10-pound roll of ground chuck at $4.38 a pound and a boneless leg of lamb for $4.98 a pound.  

Hand trimming a chuck beef roll coming soon.

I ran into the Walmart that was next door, also packed, to pick up cabbage, bell peppers, Romas, and celery. I was only able to find four Roma tomatoes that were decent enough out of the miniscule amount that they had to offer. They only had three heads of cabbage that were well formed out of the seven heads available. I really needed four, one for soups and stews and three for preserving. The bell peppers were okay, and the celery was good at a great price of .96 cents. 

Fermenting whole cabbage heads coming soon!

We topped off the tank and headed back into the mountains. It was good to get home, but then I needed to get everything put away before the Sabbath started. Getting an almost 23-pound chuck roll and a 10-pound roll of ground chuck to fit in the refrigerator along with everything else was no easy task. 

Until we process the meat, the fridge is just going to be bursting at the seams. I cooked up the rest of our old eggs from the refrigerator and fed them to the chickens. They were getting dried out, so I made the hens and the raven very happy this morning. 

I started the process of organizing the freezers this morning. This time of the year I am able to use our antique propane and kerosene refrigerators that we have in the shop as freezers. They give us additional freezer space in the winter months without using any fuel. I carried out extra items from the inside freezer to our makeshift winter freezers this morning to make room for 38 pounds of meat. This should give us enough freezer space inside the house for the chuck roll and the ground chuck. 

Once the meat is processed, I will finish up re-organizing the fridge and the freezers. It's a good thing that we are not picking up our Azure Standard order for a week or so. I should have plenty of time to process our first haul. 

Happy Day!

Mrs. Smith