Tag Archives: bargains

Bargain beef – its whats for dinner

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I have to remind myself every so often that not everyone cares or is interested in what’s going on with the Beta Site. Sure, there’s a lot of folks here who are kinda living vicariously a bit…and I’m happy to feed that. But there’s also a contingent that are probably tired of hearing about it, so I need to remember to post about stuff other than the Beta Site.

Todays noteworthy event was scoring more ground beef at 50% off.

My job requires me to do bank deposits daily. When I’m out running that errand I usually make a fast pass through ALbertson’s to check for remaindered meat. It’s paid off pretty well over the last several months.

Prices rarely go down on ..well..anything. And ground cow is still one of the most versatile animal proteins I can buy. Meatloaf, hamburgers, spaghetti sauce, tacos, etc, etc. Plus..who doesn’t like beef?

As it turns out, my other favorite animal protein – chicken – can be had by the case at WinCo for something like a buck and a half a pound if I dont mind getting a plastic sack full of 40# of boneless/skinless chicken breast. True it is probably the least flavorful part of the chicken, but I almost always just wind up turning it into stir fry or chicken tenders anyway.

I’ve never regretted having a freezer full of food. In my entire life I have only had one freezer failure and that was about twenty years ago. I’ve been much more careful about those sorts of things.

And, of course, you never know when, for whatever reason, trotting down to the supermarket for some 85/15 may not be in the cards. At that point youre living offa whats in your freezer and fridge and hopefully you’ve loaded up. Since Im a cautious sort, and never know when the next EOTWAWKI (personal or national) is coming, I always stock up when I can find these sorts of bargains.

Here’s a truth that you can absolutely bank on: before the big EOTWAWKI happens you will face many smaller, personal ones. You may be in one right now. What do they look like? Job loss, divorce, medical emergency, foreclosure, busted transmissions, leaky water heaters, tennis-ball-swallowing dogs, vulnerable loved ones, home invasions, unexpected expenses, 2am phone calls, and a thousand other crises that mean nothing to everyone else but are paramount to you because they are happening to you.

And when that personal EOTWAWKI, with its accompanying financial spiral, hits your life, it’ll be nice to not have to worry about things like groceries while your frantically trying to keep whatr you have left as you scramle to get your life back on the rails.

Bargain – T3 Gear…sitewide 50% off

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Got a notice in email of a 50% off sale at a vendor I like. Passing it on to you guys.

A small shop that makes a couple items that I very much like. The first is their T3 Bolt Bag, an ‘active shooter’ style bag. Carries spare rifle mags on a removable panel, has pass-through on either side of the bag to access a holster, and is lined with velcro for things like mag pouches and whatnot. I have one of these for each ‘ready rifle’, and it holds mags, a Glock, spare mag, Stop The Bleed Kit, and a few other niceties for when bullets start flying. I’ve got one for the AK, AR, and HK91. At 50% off, these are a good piece of kit.

Other item is this buttpack. Used in conjunction with a ‘battle belt’ and suspenders, this is a nice way to carry essentials in the field. It also has D-rings so you can use it as a sling bag, but it really shines as a buttpack. Again, at 50% off…totally worth it.

I’m passing this along to you guys because I find these two pieces of gear to be quite handy and well-thought out. I’m getting no piece of the action on this, so my motivation to pass this along is strictly out of ‘satisfied customer’.

Discount code is: THISISNOTADRILL

Age come on apace

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Liberace, back in the day, sued a tabloid for implying that he was gay. (And, of course, he was but back then it was a secret. A poorly kept one..I mean, look at the man…but a secret nonetheless.) So Liberace sued and won a judgment against the tabloid. When asked if the stress and spotlight of the scandalous trial was upsetting to him, Liberace famously said “I cried all the way to the bank.”

Fast forward to the other day when I was hitting the bargain meat bin at Albertsons…which I do every day on my lunch hour since they are nearby. So I found a half dozen pork tenderloins marked down 50%. Ok, protein is protein..lets head to the check out. The guy working the till asks me how old I am. I ask him why he needs to know. Turns out, the first Thursday of every month is ‘Senior Citizen Day’ with a 5% discount. Apparently their threshold for senior citizen is a rather low bar and I qualified. So, on one h and, I’m pretty jazzed about getting 55% off on bargain meat, but on the other hand I’m pretty annoyed that I look old enough that someone would ask me if I’m a senior citizen.

I cried all the way to the deep freeze.

CostCo Lithium Batts *

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Was up at CostCo picking up some more lithium AA-batts at lunch. The price tag for the batteries had the dreaded asterisk (“*”) after it’s price. What does that mean, you ask?

SO, what this means, is that once the supply of Energizer lithium AA-batts at this CostCo is gone…theyre probably gone for a while. So if youre local, and you want lithium AA-batts (which you should use in all yhour critical devices), you need to hustle thee down to CostCo and snag the last few 18-packs that are there.

 

Taking opportunities where I can

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Every workday I do a bank deposit for my employer. Conveniently, there’s an Albertson’s grocery near the bank, so after I do my deposit I do a fast run through the meat department at Albertson’s looking for remaindered meat discounts. Today was a good day:

Organic Angus 85/15 ground beef knocked down by 50%. That puts it to $4.99 per pound. And its already in convenient easy-to-stack one-pound vacuum-sealed bricks. Well, I guess I’ll take ’em all. Contacted a friend to see if they wanted me to pick some up for them, so I’ll be spreading the good fortune around a bit. Still gonna have about 30# to tuck away in the freezer.

I got a similar deal many years ago, but back then it was $1.50 per pound. But that was 15 years ago before inflation worked its magic. Because Im a numbers kinda guy, I price compared against CostCo.

CostCo has 88/12 at $5.79…about 13% more than the remaindered stuff from Albertson’s. But its in bulk and needs to be repackaged. So, yeah, worth the effort…IMHO.

Considering inflation and other economic uncertainty, its not a bad idea to take advantage of these sorts of opportunities when they arise.

Its a sad state of affairs where $5 a pound is considered a bargain for regular hamburger meat.

 

D’oh Canaduh

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Minding my own business. not (purposefully) hurting anyone, and B. sends me a text asking if I would be interested in this:


Well, geez, man….I don’t know. I gotta figure out what it is first. Alright Google…show me what you got. “1305 21 102 8445-0004 7.62mm” returns a few images, including this one:

Hmm..Appears to be Canadian 51’st State-ish. Interesting because if it was from Canuckistan, shouldn’t all those markings be in French also? Or, maybe this stuff predates that bilingual nonsense.

I usually am hesitant to purchase this sort of thing because you never know what storage conditions this stuff was in. However, sometimes its a risk worth taking.. especially if the price is right. So, I made an offer and I’ll pick this stuff up later.

By the way, the .30-06 ammo I picked up in the above-mentioned post was made in 1959 by FN and had been stored sealed in those nice .30 cal cans for almost 60 years. And it all shot flawlessly, and, as I recall, virtually all the tracers lit up. This simply confirms that quality made ammo, packed and stored well, will last indefinitely.

I still have several battlepacks of 7.62×51 sitting on the shelf, so this will be a nice addition. I’ll need to see if there’s anymore where this case came from.

 

“Ammo cans”

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So, as I’m reorganizing things, I am discovering that there are a lot of small items that need to be corralled into one place in a somewhat protective manner. For example, my stash of Aladdin wicks, mantles, and burners. Or my stockpile MALICE clips. Things that are numerous enough to need to have their own dedicated container, but not so large or heavy that they need a steel ammo can dedicated to them.

So, for giggles, I hit Facebook marketplace and figured I’d look for some discount ammo cans. No joy. But…I did find some plastic ammo cans in two different sizes that would suit my needs. In for a penny, in for a pound….how many to buy? Well, stuff is always cheaper in bulk. I’ll take 300.

And thats how I wound up with an IBC tote cage full of plastic ‘ammo cans’. They had ‘half height’ ones in addition to the .30-cal-size cans. So, I figured I’d split it 50-50 and wound up with 150 of each. Are they as durable as a steel ammo can? Of course not..theyre plastic. But, theyre waterproof and perfect for organizing the things on shelves in my basement…batteries, first aid supplies, waterproof notepads and pens, water filters, etc.

Got into them cheap enough that I’ll give a bunch away to the local LMI for their own storage needs. Even then, I’m probably going to have way more of these than I actually need but it’ll be nice to be able to get some things nice and neatly packed away for that upcoming Rainy Day.

Link

Glock 17 Gen3 cop trade-ins $300

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AimSurplus has a bunch of LE-tradein Glock 17’s on the block. $299 ea. for Gen3 17’s with night sights and in original case. One mag.

Since I have plenty of Magpul G9 mags here, I wasn’t concerned about the guns coming with only one mag apiece. A $300 G17 will always grab my attention. But cop guns are notorious for being beaten up aesthetically while being mechanically good. Ordered three and they showed up yesterday:

Absolutely excellent condition. Night sights still have plenty of glow. Barrels need a cleaning at the chamber end as there’s a lot of fouling on the feed ramps, but thats five minutes with Hoppes and a q-tip. I ordered three, which came out to $17.51 to ship for each gun. That puts my basis as $317.51 for each very clean G17. Strong recommend.

They still have them in stock as of today, so if you’ve got a buddy with an FFL, or you’ve a LGS who does reasonable transfer fees, I’d say  jump on this deal.

Someone will ask why Gen3 when there are trade-in Gen4 and Gen5 out there. The Gen 4 made some changes to the ejector/extractor, I believe, that caused some problems. Gen5 is alright I suppose but interchangeable backstraps aren’t a thing in my world. The Gen3, IMO, is the best version of the Glock. In fact, Glock still makes the Gen3 for various agency commitments.

I see this as an opportunity to grab yourself an ideal pistol at a bargain price. Passing the info along to you guys, do with it what you will.