Val Is Annoyed With Save-A-Lot Brats

I like to buy our meat at Save A Lot. Especially when Hick plans to grill. They have their own butcher. It's way better than Walmart meat, and usually better than 10Box. Much less expensive than Country Mart. So I braved the 50 mph winds on Friday, to make sure I didn't have to fight for the handicap parking space on a weekend.

My goal was to pick up some steaks for Hick and The Pony, and some bratwursts for all of us. Save A Lot makes their own. None of that prepackaged stuff. We like the plain version, but they always have other kinds as well, such as cheddar, jalapeno, and the hard-to-find apple.

The bread and buns are just inside the door, along the front wall as you go in and start toward the produce section to the right. I grabbed two packs of hot dog buns. I really like their store brand. Not dry and crumbly like some of the brand names. The meat section is along the back wall. 

I found some nice New York Strip steaks for Hick and The Pony:

They DO love their steaks! Something else caught my eye. At first I thought they might be filet mignon, a favorite of Hick. Upon closer inspection, I read the label and discovered they were pepper steaks:

They looked pretty good, and I could include them in the 5-for-$25 deal when I got the bratwursts. We always send home leftovers with The Pony, and it's easy to toss a pack in the freezer for Hick to grill for us another day. No need to let a deal go to waste.

Imagine my dismay when I got down to the pork section of the cooler and found NO BRATWURSTS! Well. What I found were LABELED as brats. But they were NOT BRATS!

What in the NOT-HEAVEN? I suppose somebody forgot to order the sausage casings this week! I've bought these sausage patties there before, and we've grilled them. They're good. But they are NOT BRATS! Still, I needed something tasty for us to grill. So I got four packs. Two of these plain versions, and two of the BBQ flavor I hadn't seen before.

Of course this meant I had to go back up front, past the registers, to put back the hot dog buns and get hamburger buns. So clever, aren't they, trying to make you buy something you don't need by forcing your bread selection before the meat! I paraded right past the registers, over past the door, wishing an employee would rush me for shoplifting! Nope. I guess they figured I still wouldn't be to my car by the time police arrived, heh, heh. I pushed on to the bread and picked my buns. Then back around to pay.

I'm really annoyed by those Save A Lot brats.