they ran out of lean ground beef
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40193)
Canada
August 25, 2009 10:17pm CST
I have been shopping with my friend in the evenings since I cannot leave the house during the day time since I need someone to stay with my invalid husband and most work in the day time. So for the last three weeks I and my friend who has a car have done our shopping on MOnday nights. Now I love spaghetti and meat balls, and chili, and also macaroni casserole and I do not like that much fat in it, so I buy extra lean ground instead of the regular.
Well on Monday night, I got some pork and beef stewing meat, and decided to skip on the regular Mennonite sausage and get some Italian sausage instead (sale), but I had only one package of extra lean at home so I decide to pick another package and do you know what? All they had left was a club pack (that is large package) of regular hamburger.
I did not want something I would have to mix a lot of bread crumbs and still would have to drain, so I decided to go without.
So the question is, have you gone to the store expecting to get something and it was gone and it was near the beginning of the week?
3 people like this
13 responses
@horsesrule (1957)
• United States
26 Aug 09
Yes and it is kind of inconvenient too. I try to be flexible so I can change my meal plans but with 6 of us to feed, flexibility is not always possible so when the store is out of something, that is very bad. Especially when it was something that was on sale and I was going to buy enough for a couple of weeks.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157903)
• United States
26 Aug 09
In that case, although it was inconvenient, I would ask for rain checks, maybe even enough rain checks for two shopping sprees. Here, I would be able to get them, and I would use them. It is hard on a budget and menu for a family as large as yours is, so I would definitely make it easier on my own pocket book with the rain checks.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Sep 09
I usually buy stuff on special but right now I cannot get out that much since my husband is disabled and someone has to be with him 24 hours a day. I was lucky that we were able to go out together and get the meat later that week, but the next week we got company and had there not been any stocked up, we would have been in trouble.
I used to board with a large family and we ate a lot of casseroles, macaroni and cheese and it was hard to shop and get bargains and still eat healthy.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
26 Aug 09
Absolutly! This past weekend they had pork shoulder on sale and they didn't have any. Mind you the sale started that very day. They gave me a rain check but still very frustraiting when that was all I really went there for. Same with in spring I wanted the ground turkey that was on special and that was gone. GRRRR.....
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Sep 09
A few weeks ago, they had sliced ham on special, not the regular ham but the speciality ham like Black Forest and Old Fashioned. So I went on Monday, no ham. I went on Tuesday, no ham. It was not until Friday, that there was some available. I wish they would stock up on the sales items. Our flier goes from Saturday to Friday so I could not imagine some buyer from an institution or an old age home saying, "lets go to the local Superstore and buy up all the lean ground meat," but I do wonder.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
10 Jan 10
Here it was on the first day that the week started. We had to go down a couple of days later. Then they had it there. Oh correction. We went down first the next day, and the day after, and it was frustrating. I can understand being out the first day, but the next day? Maybe they did not want there to be a sale. I do not exactly love regular ground beef. It is too greasy.
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
20 Sep 09
If the store doesn't happen to have the lean beef, I'll just buy ground turkey instead. I always mix with venision, which is naturally lean, anyways.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
10 Jan 10
The trouble is there here ground turkey and ground chicken is more expensive, and we do not own a rifle to hunt venison, nor do we know a hunter that would supply us. I do love ground chicken and try to get it = I love it better then beef anyway but my husband has a fit when I get it unless it is on sale.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Sep 09
We could not go shopping until early earning, but it does tell you one thing. People do not like exactly the ground hamburger because of all the fat. But ate least when I ran out of milk in the middle of the week and had to pick some up, there was some extra lean so I got some extra then.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
5 Sep 09
cool - I've really had to work on the roomie - she used to go pick up the big "chub" of hamburger until I started working on her - its like - I don't CARE if it seems cheaper, it really isn't because the fat cooks out and then you have less... Before we started the diet, I had her turned around on that.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Sep 09
They used to that but now they grind it in a separate location and it is shipped out to the stores so that makes a difference. If it were cheaper, I would go to the local meat store, but then there is no nearby market where I could get fresh salads. They all go to the Superstore and some of it does not look that good.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Sep 09
I went later on the week and it was there all right, but they could have at least made sure they had a lot on MOnday because well the flier for the week starts on Saturday. I mean what do they do on MOnday at the grocers, toss coins to see how empty the store is going to be?
@GardenGerty (157903)
• United States
26 Aug 09
I have seen stores run out at various times from what I wanted. I do a lot of shopping at WalMart Super Center and they were out of a lot of things all over the store for almost two weeks it seemed like. I think they were re doing their modulars and kept everything in the back. It is best not to settle for something off in your diet. In my town, I would have just gone to the other grocery chain a Krogers group called Dillons.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Sep 09
The trouble is that Safeway is a few blocks away from the Superstore and I cannot be away from my husband that long. A friend of mine usually is with him when I am away because he is not well and it would not be fair for him when we and his wife are shopping together. So what happened is that later on that week, we were able to pick up some lean ground when we ran out of something else. That time my husband went with me in his power chair, but he cannot go out for that long, and then we can only take enough to carry in two bags.
@laglen (19759)
• United States
26 Aug 09
I have noticed this alot in the last year. I live less than a mile from Walmart so go there about 3-4 times a week. I have found on Monday they have no dog food, still none on wednesday and so on. I think it has a lot to do with price, they dont want to tie up too much money on stock and a lot more people are grocery shopping, eating out less and cooking from scratch.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
10 Jan 10
That could be it. We find that when the flier comes out, and the next week starts on Saturday, we find that the sale stuff is not on yet and not only that when we get to the store, the sale sign is not on and in the case of well lean and extra lean beef they sort of look almost the same. And our store is crowded most days of the week anyway. Also in the evening, the half price bin is usually empty except for what no one wants, i.e. fancy breads and pies, and vegetables and salad stuff you have to make into soup and eat as soon as you get home. I think it is because our store is so cheap and there is a lot of ethnic food there, plus what you say people are now cooking from scratch, that they have not gone into the demand yet.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
26 Aug 09
I have not been surprised with a shortage like you have but I've gone after something that they have decided to no longer carry. It seems that every item that I really like doesn't last for long!
I'm glad to hear that you have a ride to the store, I seem to recall that you used to walk nearly everywhere. This will come in handy when it snows!
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
10 Jan 10
It sure does. If the shortage had been at the end of the week, I would have expected it, but when the sale started. Did not like that one bit as I had to go down the next day and the day later until it came in. Another thing was a while later, they were out of honey ham deli meats, and I had to go down later in the week to get that as well. Not only that when there is a sale, they are supposed to put a sign where the sale stuff is or tell what is on sale, and they do not do that until Tuesday or Wednesday. They are supposed to put it on at the beginning of the week, that is the previous Saturday. So there are two days when people who did not take the flier with them lose out and have to pay the regular price.
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
26 Aug 09
A few times but it caused me to try something new. I guess if you have your heart set on something and it isn't there then you have to compromise.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Sep 09
I did have some stew meat,and chicken, and ssusage, but I do shop once a week, and I like to vary it. Also I cannot eat that much potatoes or fried meat, i.e. ssusauge and regular ground beef is too fatty, steak too expensive, and I do not have a grinder. The meat did show up later on that week, and I did have a little in the freeze but it was on sale.
@nijolechu (1842)
• Canada
26 Aug 09
Whenever I see something that is on sale and go to the store. The clerk just tells me they run out of it. It totally sucks that they ran out of it on the first or second day of a week long sale. But the store does still give me a raincheck. I haven't experienced a day where the store ran out of beef before.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
10 Jan 10
When we used to shop at Safeway, they would always give me a raincheck, but then they never ran out of stuff on the first day. It was usually around the fourth or the fifth. But with Superstore, they would run out the first day or they would conveniently forget to put the proper labels on the sale stuff. It was frustrating when we wanted to buy deli packaged meats and we would see on the flier it was .88 a lb and then when we came and saw the packages it was $1.99 a lb so we would have to get something else instead. That is, because by then we had run out and were tired of deviled egg, grilled cheese, tomato soup or salmon sandwiches,
@weebit_43229 (25)
• United States
26 Aug 09
Typically if the grocery store I normally shop at runs out of something (which is extremely rare at ANY time), then I go to the next store down the road for it. Otherwise I make a change in plans. If they don't have extra lean beef... why not try ground Turkey instead? It is very very lean, and has a similar flavor to extra lean beef :)
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Sep 09
Except in Canada, the ground turkey is more expensive. I have not checked the nearest meat store, but it is small and does not carry that much and the other large store is past the next shopping center. Easy if you have a car, hard if you have to walk and have one of those insulated bags. If both stores were in the same shopping center as they are in the other part of the city I could just go across the street, but I do wish the lean ground turkey or chicken was cheaper.
