Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

Went grocery shopping this evening and, to my delight, the local supermarket had a half dozen shopping carts up front with “75% OFF LOWEST MARKED PRICE” signs hanging of ‘em Well! Nothing gets my curiosity piqued more than the chance to get a bargain. As expected, it was mostly after-Christmas sale stuff. Lots of chocolate Santas that I wisely ,but reluctantly, took a pass on.

75% off? Don’t mind if I do…..

So, I started spelunking through red-n-green foil cupcake holders, red-n-green food coloring, and all the other Christmas-y themed stuff and, to my delight, spied this:

Why, it’s Sterno. The favored drink of hardcore alcoholics and an excellent fuel source for low-level emergencies and indoor cooking use. Being the smart fella I am, I did the math….$6.39 x .25 (since its 75% off) = $1.60. And since these are two cans to a pack, thats $0.80 per can. Schweeeeet.

Well, at that price wouldn’t *you* have cleaned them out too?

The grocery checkout guy was a little mathematically challenged…he thought 75% off meant that these cans were half priced. :::facepalm::: Then he realized his mistake and that 75% off meant you multiplied the price by .75 to get the new price. :::double-facepalm::: By consensus, a claculator, and a bit of peer pressure we managed to get the correct price although I think he genuinely didnt understand how that price was arrived at. No biggie…I got what I wanted and, for me, thats all that matters.

I’m tellin’ ya, man…a Folding Stove, a couple cans of this stuff, a few bottles of water, a canteen cup, and a buncha freeze drieds would all fit in a 5-gallon bucket and give you some nice options in a crisis. Seal up the bucket and you’d be watertight, airtight, crushproof and ready for anything…just tuck it away and wait for the hurricanes.

Man, I love me some awesome bargains!