Pretty much my experience also.
One thing I will not do is shop around. I’m not a chick and I don’t enjoy shopping (no offence to women who don’t either!).
So to go from store to store all day to find the best price is not something I’d normally do, let alone when potentially sick people could infect me (the Walmarts and grocery stores around here are still bustling with people).
So unless a store lets me know their prices, I ain’t going... I’ll stick with my little super Walmart that’s not as crowded in the early morning.
I’m out in the country with lots of land. I don’t have any animals but I’m thinking about a calf or hog...
I agree with you, with the possible exception of if a store across town had bargains like ribeyes at $3 or $4 less per pound than my regular grocery store.
Doesn’t happen often, but if it does, I’m there. :-)
I do the shopping because my wife sucks at it. Can’t pick meat out and likes small shiny packages of stuff. Microwavable single serving stuff. Easy button stuff.
I have browser tabs pinned for the food ads so I shop around before I leave the house. Usually end up going to two stores on two different days as they’re in two different directions and 40-50 mile round trips. Now that we have a freezer, I won’t have to go as often so I’ll just shop the really good deals. I don’t buy meat from wallie world. In fact I don’t buy much there. I never buy their store brands. I don’t like conglomerates. Competition is good. Too big to fail is bad. Imagine walmart getting into financial trouble. Largest employer in the US. You know they’d get a bailout.
Just got 12 acres fenced in here, mostly hilly woods. Not enough for cattle so I got meat goats and will be getting some small breed of pig. Kunekune or Mangalista or a cross of them. Incubated some eggs last year that I got from a neighbor so we’re getting three eggs a day now from the hens. I’ll probably take 1-2 goats a year for us and the rest will go to the sale barn. Goes for close to $3/lb in the Spring due to Easter and ramadamadingdong. Goat meat is about like venison. Very lean and just slightly milder. Hate to think I’ll be feeding muslims though.
Got a garden going this year. Skipped it last year. Increased it this year to 1000 sq ft. We’re not huge veggie eaters so a good portion of it is some of the cheapest stuff you can buy. Taters and Onions. Will be doing pole beans, maters, bell peppers. Already planted cabbage, lettuce and mini salad greens. Wife and I do like our salads. Bought some sweet corn to try and grow. Oddly enough, one thing all four of us like is greens. Spinach, collard, mustard, turnip greens etc. I didn’t think to grab any. I think I have some old seeds somewhere.
Even without a crisis, food is just getting expensive. My son is 18 and daughter 16. Beef prices have tripled since they were toddlers. Wife and I used to have ribeye night every week or two. Haven’t done that in a long time and the beef here in MO isn’t near as good as Ctrl FL which is odd considering we’re surrounded by beef cattle farms. All the good stuff goes to the East Coast I guess. I did get some grass fed short ribs once here that came from a cattle farmer. Really good flavor compared to feed lot finished, store bought.