Chicken? Good deal or not?

Just around Christmas, I bought a nice whole local chicken. It was on sale at Superstore for $6.39/kg or $2.90/lb for you non metric people, which, I feel was a good price. I lucked out, however, because it was marked down 30% off that because it had to be used or frozen in the next 24 hours. Love a deal.

I took said chicken home, and placed it in the freezer until yesterday. Last night we had that wonderful chicken for supper with some wonderful guests and we have lots of leftovers for meals this week.

As the chicken was defrosting, I noticed something very interesting with the label. The moisture from the chicken was causing the label to become transparent and to lift off. There, underneath the label, was another label! I quickly grabbed my camera to document what was happening. Here is said chicken prior to second label.

After peeling off the label, here is what the other label showed.

It's the place where the chicken comes from and the price that Superstore bought it for. Look at the difference and the mark up from the price they paid, to the price that I paid! Amazing isn't it? Three times the price. They didn't have to do much with it either as it came bagged and everything. All they had to do was place their label on over it. My good deal didn't seem like much of a good deal anymore.

I felt bad for the local farmer. Here they were only paid $1 per pound and I was charged $2.90 per pound. So today, I called the farmer to see if they sold to the general public and what the cost would be. These are free range and local birds too. The farmer told me that they do sell their birds locally at the farmers market and they are $2.75 a pound. More than what Superstore pays them but less than what I paid at Superstore on sale.

So the moral of the story is, do you know where your meat comes from? Can you get a better deal by buying local?  Can you get an even better deal by contacting the farmer locally? Can you get a better deal by going together with friends to buy in bulkIt's worth it to check it out and see where you can get the best deal.

Enjoy your day!

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