Math Lesson

A week ago last Friday as I was hauling the baby and my daughter out of my car, this service truck pulled up in front of our driveway. Two thoughts of why they would be there ran through my mind: 1) Maybe this is just like one of those suspense movies where all of a sudden I have to throw the kids back in the car, slam the car in reverse, and run into the truck as I back up into the street and race off for my life because they think I have something they want (Think "Enemy of the State") or 2) They're selling something.

Wouldn't it be my luck that it was #2.

It was one of those "we-sell-meat-by-the-box-so-you-get-an-amazing-price" type of meat trucks. Too bad for them I had already been swindled 11 years earlier by Colorado Meat Company (which if you remember, ended up on an evening episode of "Dateline" because of the way they were ripping people off-it was that bad). So when Joe and Dave stepped out of the truck and asked me if I eat meat, I said, "Rarely". Well, that got Joe salivating over the idea of a challenge and he started yanking out these boxes of meat explaining that they just "wanted to go home", but had to get rid of all this meat and would I be interested if I could get a discount? I explained that I was on a tight budget (gesturing toward my two little ones as if to say, "These guys are really expensive") so thanks, but no.

Joe really liked a challenge because that got him talking even more about how he could sell me this meat for an amazing price and where did I usually buy my meat...yadda...yadda...

Meanwhile, the three-year-old is starting the "c'mon, Mom" tug on my arm while I'm precariously balancing holding the car seat, the diaper bag, and my laptop.

Joe is opening boxes and spreading out vacuum packed meat on the sidewalk and Dave is playing bad cop to his good cop- "I don't know if we can let it go for that price" kind of thing.

Long story short- they had me at "Filet Mignon".

I was so proud of myself. What was first 6 boxes of meat for $389.00, was now $100.00 for 4 boxes of meat AND I could choose any 4 boxes I wanted. So I grabbed the Filet Mignon, the Flat Iron Steaks, the Rib-Eyes, and the Burgers and headed into my house. (Running back out to grab the baby in the carseat who was still on the lawn).

I'm not a big meat eater, but I had visions of Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon in my head. Yum.

So I get in the house, empty a shelf on my freezer and start unpacking my $100.00 treasure.

Here's the set up for the Math Lesson. As I'm unloading $100.00 of meat and putting it in my freezer, there's this little thought forming in the back of my mind. This doesn't feel like $100.00 worth of meat.

What do I mean? I mean if you go grocery shopping enough you learn what a pound of meat feels like. You learn what a quarter pound of meat feels like. I can tell you that these steaks weren't even a fraction of that.

So I look on each box to see if the label shows the net weight. Sure enough, it does. Each box weighs anywhere from 2 to 2.5 pounds. I had bought a total of 11 pounds of meat for $100.00. Rounding down, that was about $10 per pound.

You know that sick feeling you get in your stomach when you realize you've been robbed? That's how I felt. We just simply can't pay almost $10 per pound. Not when I can go to Costco. And how was I going to explain this to my husband?

Luckily, my husband jumped into action, called Dave and said, "Come back and pick up your meat and give us our check back."

And it all worked out.

So here's the math problem of the day:

Which is the better deal? 6 boxes of meat for $389.00, or 4 boxes of meat for $100.00.
See below for answer.

Answer: Neither. Either way it's a rip off.