Deal or No Deal?

My father likes deals, especially when it comes to food. My mother has made jokes about him feeding us by giving us the free Sunday Sam's Club samples. I grew up knowing we would probably never go out to eat unless we had a coupon...or sometimes in special circumstances a gift certificate. This is unless we went to a buffet (and if was his choice, preferably a Chinese one). You see at a buffet, you don't have to tip and you get your money's worth of food, according to him. Heaven forbid you pay $20 for a meal when you only get ONE piece of meat and maybe two sides. Let's not mention how he feels about "little daughter" and my mother's buffet eating habits. Apparently we don't meet his "money's worth" standards, so he much prefers to have my big sister as his dining buddy.


Since my parents moved to Kansas, my dad has discovered what may be the best thing that has ever happened to him: Dillon's grocery manager's specials. What is this you might ask? Well at this particular chain of stores, certain food that is either going to be out of date soon or perhaps they have a lot of is adorned with a little yellow sticker indicating a deep sale price. Much to my mother's dismay, this causes him to come home with random things like a cup of black forest surprise or an abundance of random flavored potato chips. The sad thing is that sometimes, they have to make special trips to the store JUST to see if he can find any of these treasures with the stickers.


I would say that both my sister and I have picked up a few of my dad's frugal food shopping skills. My sister is queen of the bargain and also a coupon clipper. But me, I can recognize a deal when I see one. I don't go out of my way, but I sure do take advantage of sales if they are there. Do I need four wheels of Laughing Cow cheese or two containers of feta? No, but they were buy one get one free...and hey, I like cheese!


At least they don't expire until next year

Quote of the day: "Life is the greatest bargain, we get it for nothing."