Day In The Life – Day Trip to Gladwin, MI (includes meat haul!)

Today didn’t turn out ANYTHING like what we’d planned! But we can wash blankets at the laundromat anytime, right?

I have mentioned before that we have about a dozen larger towns and smaller cities within an hour of where we live; Gladwin is one of them, though we don’t go there often. We go THROUGH often, but don’t actually stop to shop. Today, however, we wanted to go to a little store that has carried the dog biscuits our two like best, so Gladwin was as good as any of the places we usually to go.

Rather than share another video I’ll just do words and pictures this time :).

We started out at the credit union as we always do, as we like to pay cash for everything…it is our preference, when we are going to shop, to estimate how much we plan to spend and get the cash for it; this also helps us not to overspend. After that we started out at the “dog biscuit place”…

Lowmart is a great place that has lots of variety, and something different every time we go. They have everything from pet supplies and feeds to toys to housewares to tools to furniture…and many other things – lots of miscellany! A fun place to look around and spend some money.

We just needed a couple of things from Family Farm & Home: wood shavings for our composting toilet, and a hose to connect Myrtle to the pump. Quick stop, I waited in the car. We do like this store and if we need something that they sell we can always find one no matter which town we’re in!

We also stopped at Gladwin’s Family Fare. This is a rather large chain in central and northern lower Michigan that was known for many many years as Glen’s. I still think of it thus. The store in Gladwin is MASSIVE! We picked up a few things there that we needed, I didn’t do a haul but you can see the receipt below.

These are the receipts from 3 of the places we went:

When Pete and I were both eating low carb (2004-2017) we used to go to butcher shops and buy meats in bulk, rewrap them at home, and fill our freezer. We saved a lot of money that way. Since I’m the only one eating much meat (about 75% of my diet these days) now we had stopped doing that. But I have my own smaller freezer just for my meat now since I eat so much of it, and I typically buy a little here or a little there when I see it on sale. Today I was nearly out of everything though, so I wanted to stop at Lambert’s – really the best butcher shop I have ever been to! We’ve shopped there sometimes in the past as we were driving through and I always wanted to see how I did “stocking up” there, money-wise. Well today I found out! This was the most exciting part of the day for me, filling the freezer was always one of my favorite things to do, and while I didn’t fill it yet (I will talk about that later) I got most of what I will need for the next month+! So here we go with THOSE pictures….

I’ve seen this cooked up online by someone who is on the carnivore diet. It is nice because it has nearly as much fat as meat! I don’t have a slow-cooker but I braise my similar meats in a roasting pan in the oven and it always turns out tender, juicy, and delicious! Can’t wait to try this cut!
I had this sliced (free) into 1½” steaks and ended up with 14 steaks averaging 12 oz. and $4.72 each. A 2-month supply!
I’ve never cooked short ribs before (I elected to show the side with the price rather than the meaty side) but am looking forward to trying them. This little package is just the right size with which to experiment!
I LOVE DUCK!!! Duck and pork are my favorite meats. I rarely buy it because it is expensive. But this being my birthday month and all, I decided to splurge. This duck will feed me for the better part of a week.

These two items Pete bought for himself, he loves his seafood, and while he can’t eat poultry or pork, and only organic, lean beef occasionally, he does like to have fish or seafood 2-3 times every week!

They had some GREAT prices on some beautiful cuts of pork today, but I didn’t buy any, the reason being that we are having a pig roast here on Saturday. From what I understand, our pig will have about 100# of meat after it is butchered; we are expecting a couple dozen people here, and 3 of them – at least – don’t eat pork. The chances of having leftovers are pretty good, mostly likely. So I just picked up these two things to have in the freezer. (The one on the right is the filling for their mushroom-swiss brats, which they sell out of the casing as well as “sausaged up”.)

It does seem like there was something else, and I had to delete one of the photos I took because it was so blurry…but I can’t imagine what it was, now…

Anyway I didn’t get any chicken because I will buy my chicken from BillHilly as well as some rabbits (which Pete can also eat) for the freezer. (I buy all of my eggs from them too – BEST EGGS EVER!) BillHilly is also doing the pig roast…and some other things including the AMAZING chicken macaroni salad which is fantastic! I will be eating carbs that day, if only to eat some of that salad!

So with what little I had left in the freezer (mostly ground beef), plus all that I bought today, plus what is left from the pig on Saturday, plus the meats I buy from BillHilly, I should be good for my protein needs for at least a couple of months!

I had forgotten how much I LOVE shopping for meat!!! And we did pretty well too, averaging $6.64/lb. for high quality meats.

After all this shopping, Pete & I were too tired to come home and cook – even though we had tons of food. We still had to go to Harrison for something (that we couldn’t get in the end anyway) so we decided to just eat out. We’d never been to this pizza place and figured we’d go there; Pete could get pizza or a pasta meal if he wanted, and I could get a salad and a couple of meatballs if nothing else. WELL! They had quite an extensive menu, and we ended up getting fish baskets. I didn’t take pictures of our food (cole slaw, 2 pieces of fish, fries, and 2 hushpuppies), but I couldn’t eat all of mine so Pete ate one of my fishes and I left behind some of my fries.

GREAT FOOD, wonderful server, at a good price! Our two meals with a coffee and a tea were $27.something; $35 with tip. We will DEFINITELY go back!

Today was SUCH a fun day with Pete! We just love our time together! Since it will be such a busy week getting ready for Saturday we decided to get out while we could and it was great.

Once we got home I reorganized my meat freezer, repackaged all of my meat and put it away in there, put Pete’s fish and breading mix away, cleaned out the fridge to make room for the groceries, and organized that so that we can find things again. I am now sitting with my feet up, recovering, and feeling thankful for God’s provision!

2 thoughts on “Day In The Life – Day Trip to Gladwin, MI (includes meat haul!)

  1. What a beautiful time together! I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single word on this whole page. What a full day you had! Bless you. I think you MAY have to invest in another freezer for the remainder of the 100# of pork…but maybe Bill & Casey have spare freezer room you could use for awhile. Meats for the next couple of months??? I think maybe for the rest of 2023!!! In any event…thanks for sharing your day with us! Love sent…

    1. I do eat a lot of meat! At least a pound a day…but you are right, with the addition of pork, and some chickens and rabbits, I will have plenty! Plus Pete will be going out fishing now that it’s warming up so there’s that…you are right, now that I do the math hahaha! Pete uses the freezer above the fridge in Myrtle for his stuff, and the one in Junior is free too…we have actually been thinking about investing in a full-sized freezer so that we can buy meat “on the hoof” in the future too… I am so glad you enjoyed reading about our day, that was a big post and I don’t think most people would read it all LOL! But I know you are a loyal and beloved friend, love you too!

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