It didnt occur to me that the day after Easter might be a good time to hunt the supermarkets for marked-down bargain-priced lamb. The missus has developed a taste for lamb. I’m indifferent. Striated muscle tissue is striated muscle tissue. Beef, pork, chicken, whatever…if it’s meat and it’s cheap, I’m there. (Exception: Spam. Just not feelin’ it.) Anyway, I’m in the meat department trolling for bargains when I spy a 6# boneless leg of lamb about the size of a soccer ball. Organic, too. Price? Marked down to $6.99/#. I flag the wife..”You like lamb, what do you think?” She looks at the package and says that she’d like it, and that its a decent price, but thats still a good chunk of coin. Hmmmm. “Well, what would the price have to be where you’d feel that you absolutely must have it and cannot turn it down?” Thrityfive bucks, she says. I start looking for the meat department manager, and she takes off for the rest of her shopping. She likes a bargain as much as the next gal, but she doesn’t like the haggling process itself…maybe it’s awkward, maybe its embarassing. Who knows? But I figure the worst that will happen is they say no and thats the end of it. What are they gonna do? Ban me from the store? I catch the attention of someone in a white smock.
“You the manager?”, I inquire?
“No, Im the [whatever the term is for the person running the counter that day]. Can I help you with something?”
“I like this hunk o’ lamb, I was wondering if you could do a little better on it.”
“I dunno….”
“It’s a big hunk of meat for someone to buy. It’s already marked down to get it out of here but it’s just going to sit there. If you can do a little better I’d take it.”
She looks askance at one of the other employees. She asks him if the department manager is around. She’s gone for the day, he says. I smell opportunity.
“C’mon”, I cajole, “Take some initiative! Make a command decision!”
“How about $4.99 a pound? That’d be thirty dollars.”
“Done!”
She comments that in a day or two it would wind up going to the local food bank anyway.
The wife has been hovering an aisle or two over. I bring her the lamb and tell her of my glorious conquest. She is suitably, and properly, impressed. I bask in the accolades and praise. You know the scene in the gladiator movies where the guy rides down the main street in his chariot with flags fluttering, the crowds cheering, and a big panoramic sweep of the city celebrating? Yeah, it’s like that. I turn grocery shopping into a Leni Riefenstahl experience. (We could call it “Triumph Of The Grill”)
Not quite the coup as last years Meat Extravaganza, but still pretty good to knock what was originally $9.99/#, reduced to $6.99/#, down to the basement of $4.99/#.
I mention it for two reasons. The first, honestly, is that I like to brag about this sort of thing. :::shrug:::: Its childish, but I take immense satisfaction at getting a really good bargain. Secondly, there’s an important lesson here – it doesn’t hurt to ask for a better price and it often pays off. Yeah, it might seem embarrassing or uncomfortable to try and convince someone to knock a few bucks off a chunk of meat but, you know, I don’t have a problem with it. The way things are these days you have to be either pretty well off or way too self-conscious to just pay retail prices for things.
For the sake of providing this story with an even happier ending:
For some reason…maybe even the same reason as your wife(speaking of which, she did she get tired of trolls and shut her blog back down again already?)…I have never thought to haggle at the grocery store. Obviously, you would need to pick your targets, like you did.
Heck…I hate hagling at the car dealership…
http://www.kitlear.com
Sir, that is one *fine* piece of meat. In SW Oklahoma City, I think my wife and I are the only reason that our local grocer keeps lamb. We buy up *any* ground, chop, leg, or other cut that they offer. I took a hankering to it when I was in Iraq, and her father is a sheep rancher, so she’s all about it. But, 4.99/lb? awesome.
“Spam. Just not feelin’ it. ”
LOL.
I haggled at the car dealer for 3 months. None of the regular salesmen would even talk to me anymore. I would ask for the guy that they took the offers too. I am not sure of his title but for the first month or so they kept saying no and finally they brought me to him just to get me out of their hair. After that he was the only one there who would talk to me and even he would hide from me sometimes. I was a real dick and I’m suprised one of the salemen didn’t punch me but eventually I got a awesome deal.
what time is dinner?
I grew up eating lamb quite a bit; wish I could find a deal like that around here.
That lamb looks yummy. What did you stuff it with?
Parsley, shallots, onion, garlic, olive oil….outta the Julia Childs book.
Baby Weapon don’t need no herbs. Herbs is for chickenz.
“I turn grocery shopping into a Leni Riefenstahl experience.”
I do not use the term “lol” but I literally laughed aloud reading that. That is certainly how it’s done, sir.
Thank you, thank you….
Really an article about your Sunday dinner, try not being so “cutting edge” huh?
What caliber is the gun thats being held to your head forcing you to read it? Oh, wait…thats right..there isnt one!
Have you tried making Julia’s lamb curry with the leftovers?
No. I’m kind of a fussy eater and have found very few curries I actually like.
Haggling is a lost art. That’s why I enjoy a trip south of the border now and then… makes for good practice.
I hate haggling. If they price something too high for me I don’t buy it. If there isn’t a price listed I make one offer, then I walk away if they don’t want to sell at that price.
Same if I’m selling something, I price it at what its worth to me, if you don’t like the price don’t buy it.
Gee, I thought this was about survival, not your rather dull life or cooking. Not too self centered are you?
I guess my 14 year old duaghter better start reading this instead of me.
Maybe you can teach us all how to sew a dress pattern next?
Awwww…this is my sad face. Not.
LOVE this *steal*. Since the Meat Extravaganza, I’ve been looking for those big buys, too. Mind you, we’ve really only the podunk town grocery so the deals are infrequent. But your tale generated a freezer purchase (now pretty full) and returns to mind each time I am in the store.
However, I am NOT a good haggler. Negotiating is an art, after all.
And you stole that lamb, Sir. STOLE.
Auntie Commie don’t you agree there are many skills that go into prepping ? Skills such as canning, sight alignment and sight picture , land nav, mechanical maintenance and so on . Why do you think haggling wouldn’t be one of those skills?
Leave it alone, man.