The Shopping Nazi

Labor Day weekend is here. This is the last great of the Summer. I don’t know how you are ending your weekend, I am ending mine with a barabque. Yes, a family barabque with my family, and we are going to cook up something special.

The first step is get a recipe of something we never cooked before. We chose a barabque sauce that we saw being make on the Food Network by Sunny Anderson. I noticed that we did not have some of the spices needed. I put them on the shopping list and headed off to the store and pick them up.

Now I want you to note that I did not just go to the grocery store to buy just spices. The trip I took was my weekly shopping, along with some recon. I am constantly adding product, price and store to a database that I keep.

When I went to the fresh produce section and saw the that ginder was $2.48 for a decent size root. I nearly had a heart attack. I know it has been a while since I have bought ginger root, but I do not remember it being so expensive.

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Well I thought I would go over to the spice section. There I could be a small container of ginger. I could not believe my eyes, a little 8 ounce bottle of ground ginger was even more. It was$2.89. At that point I thinking Wal Mart had just mispriced their ginger.

I shifted gears to finish getting the other items I was going to get while I was there. I left Wal Mart and headed over to another grocery store that was on my way home. From knowing there prices, I didn’t really expect a whole lost less, but I want to check on the price of ginger. I was thinking that maybe I should invest in ginger and not gold.

The other store was Albertson’s. They wanted $4.99 for the same 8 ounces that was the same bottle Wal Mart wanted $2.89.  The fresh ginger root was a little bigger at the price of $2.48. Now Winco sell the same 8 ounce bottle of ginger for $2.02.

Later that day, I went online to see is there is some kind of price fixing being done on ginger powder and ginger root. I had forgotten how ginger has been used for centuries as a medicine. After doing some research, I found that I have been ignorant to the value and price of ginger root and all of it’s processed forms.  14 ounces of ginger root on Amazon sells for $8.90.

Bottom-line: Ginger is more than a nice spice to put in barabque sauce. It does have some health benefits. However, if I am going to use ginger in anything. The cost of whatever I am going to be making is going to cost a bit more.

When I went to get gas at a local gas convenience store, they had on the counter, next to the cash register,  packets of Tylenol and other pain relievers. I check my head. I did not have a headache.

As I was walking away, I looked back and noticed the price. 4 tablets in a pack for 1.98. That would make it about 50 cents each. Recommended dose is 2 tablets every  four hours.

I went down the street to a chain drug store. It was there I got a bottle of 50 Tylenol tablets for less than 14 cent each. The store brand of the same thing was almost exactly 4 cents per tablet cheaper.

The store brand is $2 cheaper than the name brand, for a bottle of 50. Unless it is an absolute emergency, I do not want to buy any Tylenol from the convenience store.