Sunday, July 18, 2010

Scant Supplies at the Store

Note to self: Do not buy raw garlic at Walmart.

A store may carry a particular item. But if there's almost no shelf space dedicated to that item, and if that item is very hard to find, tucked as it is in a weirdo spot, and if there is only a handful of it available, that's probably a good indication that the item is not exactly fresh.

I was noticing the same thing at Woodman's and Piggly-Wiggly with regard to frozen veggies. As more and more people buy Steam-in-the-Bag vegetables, there's less call for plain old boring frozen vegetables. As fewer people want to buy the boring frozen veggies, less of that is produced, and it becomes an "odder" item, and the price goes up. That'll be dandy for those who like insta-foods and want to spend little time in the kitchen.

But for those of us who prefer buying whole foods, unprocessed foods, it's getting harder. It would be really sad --and expensive-- to see simple foods and basic ingredients (that used to be considered staples in everyone's kitchen) become specialty niche items.

4 comments:

  1. Agreed!! Actually, though, stores like Whole Foods are becoming pretty popular so some of us must be buying the minimally processed stuff. Of course, I don't know about you, but there's not a Whole Foods anywhere close to us.

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  2. I always thought frozen vegetables WERE insta-foods . . . ?

    I hate those steam-in-the-bag things. Over-cooked and always with some sort of seasoning or flavoring. I'll season my own vegies, thank you very much.

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  3. I do sometimes buy the individual servings of steamable veggies - when they're on a "10 for $10/ get the 11th free" sale at Meijier, because if I toss a bit of cheese on top, that's a good lunch for me.

    But Susan, I've noticed what you're talking about. I really have to SEARCH for plain old large bags of basic frozen veggies. Same for staples like spaghetti noodles and plain rice. Everything is half-way prepped already.

    I have never been able to locate garlic at Walmart. I'm amazed you found it!

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  4. I had to ask a clerk where the raw garlic was. It was below knee-height, tucked under a display of something else, on a shelf that was about 6" wide and held a variety of other things that must not have a high turnover rate.

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