Pass the Butter Please

On Monday, I was at Kroger doing some much needed grocery shopping.  With coupons in hand, I headed over to the dairy section to pick up some butter.  I had a coupon for 50 cents off of one pound.  Now, you'd think butter is butter but I like to purchase the Land O'Lakes brand. I've tried the Kroger brand, and what I don't like about it is the whole pound comes wrapped up in one piece, rather than individual sticks, and well, it just wasn't working for me. 

So, I approached the butter shelf and saw a little yellow price display saying that the butter was $1.88!  I looked at it as if I was seeing the ghost of butter past.  Clearly, something was wrong.  I looked next to it and saw the Kroger butter was on sale for a $1.79, almost enough to make me buy it.  But when I saw the Land O'Lakes butter was marked at $1.88, I got excited.  I promptly pulled out my Kroger flier I had brought from home.  I frantically thumbed through pages, not once, but twice to see if this was advertised.  I didn't want to load up my cart, only to get to the check out and find out I was mistaken and then have to say "never mind."  Hmmm....no mention in the flier.  I stuck my nose right up to the little yellow price display and read "Land O'Lakes Butter".....okay, that part was good..."one pound"....okay, still good...."savings of $2.41."  Jackpot! I decided that I was interpreting the price correctly and then proceeded to squeal with delight! Especially when I realized that this was some sort of  "secret sale" Kroger was having on butter.  Then I wondered, what could be wrong with this butter. Why is it so cheap, and how old is it?  Not that it would matter, because butter can last forever.

So, at first I put two or three of them into my cart.  Then I thought about it some more and what a great deal it was and ended up loading 7 boxes of butter into my basket. When I got up to the check out aisle, the cashier said to me "ohhhh, you found the butter?"  I exclaimed with glee "yeah...isn't it great?"  and we began to talk about the price of the liquid gold.  She said one other woman had come through her checkout line earlier with the same discovery.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking...butter, oh my god, that's so unhealthy.  So what.  I don't eat a lot of bread, but when I do, I want butter on it. This is why I eat a lot of  fiber and take fish oil vitamins, so I can eat butter! You know that old commercial that claimed "I can't believe it's not butter?" Well, I can, because margarine is too yellow and tastes like crap.  My grandma would be proud of me.

When I returned home and unloaded my groceries, I called Aunt Mary to let her in on my secret sale I had come upon. That way, she could stop off at Kroger on her way home from work.  Aunt Mary and I LOVE it when we find a good deal on something.  We are constantly trying to the work the system in our favor of getting a little something extra off the price if we come across minutely damaged goods when we shop.  That's why we love Home Goods.  I can't tell you how many times we shopped there, found something we really liked, and said "too bad it's not damaged" (like we are).  We both believe, however, if you find a good deal, then stock up.

One time, Aunt Mary came across whole tenderloins on sale at Kroger.  The Kroger she was shopping at happened to be out of them, or perhaps she wasn't pleased with what was left to choose from. Anyway, she headed up to the customer service counter to ask for a rain check. Anytime tenderloin goes on sale, it's a good deal.  So, she wanted to make sure she would be able to purchase enough, in case I wanted to get a couple too. When the woman asked her the quantity she would be wanting, Aunt Mary told her 14!  Fourteen!  Fourteen frickin' tenderloins!  The lady must have looked at her like she was a secret shopper for Ponderosa restaurants.  Who buys fourteen tenderloins in one year, let alone one trip? Nobody, but the point is, she could have if she needed to.

I know I'm going to buy seven butters over the course of the year.  On Monday, I saved over $17 buying them at the sale price, and it freezes, so what's the problem?  Other than the fact I looked like a cholesterol crazed, artery cloggin' maniac.  As Ed said this morning, "we have a freezer full of heart attack!"  

Aunt Mary called me last night to say "thanks for the butter tip."  She bought ten! I only bought seven.  Needless to say, you know where you can find me this afternoon.