Sid Post

Thanks, those look good. Yes, I am open to both. The house makes it reasonable for eggs and milk and a "make at home" option. I have considered that a few time but, getting good quality flour locally has been problematic so, I generally opted for things like Krusteaz or Kodiak occasionally. Camping/backing/hiking, I really need a complete 'all-in-one' option for simplicity and practicality though, I could add some of that powdered buttermilk powder or similar things to a batter.

I have been Googling pancake mixes on the "error'net" but, so many are obviously driven by advertising kickbacks and promoted reviews, I really haven't gained much from what I have read. It started when I stumbled onto a Pearl Milling 'premium' pancake mix that isn't in production any longer, at least for the time being, due to various supply chain constraints (suspected). For convenience, I am thinking complete "just add water" pancake mixes for convenience but, I'm not opposed to adding an egg or milk for something special at home. Cost needs to be reasonable but, not "Walmart friendly" either. I like Buttermilk pancakes and I would like to try some Buckwheat pancakes. All-in-one mixes are important for camping and hiking What are my better options?

If weight and bulk aren't a problem, that sounds like a good solution for pretty cheap.

I have a bad cheap cooktop that doesn't heat evenly which is a secondary thought because I do have cast iron and heavy stainless pans to use. My real quest is to find a "flame tamer" or whatever you want to call it for use on a camping stove that is a bit of a blow torch. I'm not looking to cook gourmet meals but, I also don't want a have scorch marks and raw ingredients either. I think I want an aluminum disc a ~1/4" thick but, I am receptive to other materials as well. The smallest I need is a 5" diameter and the biggest is 7". TIA, Sid

Regional availability is a good start I guess.

I found some South of Waco, TX which was >$2.50 a pound. Better than nothing I guess. I still don't understand why Coarse or Kosher salt is so expensive and in short supply. I would like to find some Diamond Crystals myself but, Morton Kosher would be good too. Still a little surprised about such low availability online. For example, Walmart and Target around me has nothing except really expensive pink Himalayan salt crystals. Some Diamond Crystals or Morton's Kosher for $1/lb sounds good right now!

I'm in East Texas and can find normal iodized table salt everywhere pretty cheap but, Kosher salt is AWOL. Why is Kosher or Coarse salt so hard to find? The online sources I found all want pretty high shipping rates on salt >$0.25/oz. What is going on these days with coarse Kosher Salt? TIA, Sid

They stopped US Mail service here in Texas where I live. I drove into town and bought some groceries without any issues. 😢 My new headphones and headphone amp are sitting in Dallas for two days now so, no high quality music from my cellphone until after this weather moves through. After the cluster@#$%! from last years ERCOT failure, people locally are acting like the next ICE AGE is here and all the "dinosaurs" are going to die.

At least you got a refund. Mine wasn't refunded even though it was insured but, that is a story for a different day on a different forum. I did score the pot I wanted on Amazon that was out of stock at Fissler.

A lot of products with the SAME ingredients taste really different. Bread and Beer are two obvious ones to me. Beer brewed with the German Purity law have the same base ingredients but, in my experience over there vary in taste and mouth feel significantly. German bakeries use common ingredients but, the variety of bread is enormous.

Regarding Walmart generally and Walmart.com specifically, there is no pasta available from "Great Value", "Sam's Choice" or, Barilla Collezione though I saw some Tortellini once on the shelf. The "LOCUSTS" seem to really scarf up all the pasta round here in East Texas.

Regarding the size, with a lot of the Italian imports I see different sizes available with Bucatini. Regarding Barilla, I find it to be better than Skinner and American Beauty but, that is like saying I prefer it to the pasty glue we had in grade school! With a ~20 cent premium over the common mass market pasta brands I guess my expectations are a bit high. To be honest, in back to back personal tests of Barilla and Great Value (Walmart store brand) I find so little difference I'd call them the same personally. Taste and texture to me of these two is basically the same and Great Value is about 40 cents cheaper on a 1lb box.

I'm looking forward to a trip to a town at 45 minutes away to go to a Kroger store and buy some of the pasta so highly recommended here.

There aren't any Safeway stores in my state. Sounds like it might worthwhile to see if I can find some when I go to see my sister in another state.

Any comments on Colavita versus De Cecco versus Kroger Private Selection? Those are the main "premium" brands in the <$4 range that I have reasonable access too (reasonable quantity, reasonable shipping, or reasonably close). I looking for quality at a reasonable price. Assuming they were all three the same price, which would you get and why? Is one better for long noodles and another better for shapes? I'm probably going to get a few shapes in addition to a few long noodle shapes to "test drive" and I want to focus on the better options initially.

👍 Yep, trying to avoid mushy overcooked spaghetti from the common grocery store options. Overly watery mush (random store brand pasta with Prego/Ragu might as well be in a blender jar with a straw) is terrible IMHO.

Fusilli Bucati look interesting. I have tried the braid and various twists which work pretty well in salads and soups but, with sauces I find them a bit irksome on the plate. Farfalle, shells, and elbows also work pretty well for something like Mac'n'Cheese. Cavatapi (sp?) is one I tried once in some soup which was a fun shape but, a bit messy with the soup. I'm looking for a noodle to work better on a plate with a thin sauce. For more meat based sauces, I like a heavier noodle. The "hollow spaghetti" shape looks like a good choice for this application, though short hollow spirals might be a good option too.

Thanks! The Kroger Private Selection looks really good and is definitely on the lower end of the price range. Bronze cut and Italian makes it a really good option for me right now. Their Gnocchi looks really good too!

What is the difference between these two? Apparently, Bucatini is in short supply because some wackos think they make great straws! 😯 Then "Big Pasta" got US Customs to block the importation of one brand because they didn't add enough "iron" to their pasta to be legal for importation from Italy! 😲 Looking for some good pasta, I came across Colavita in these two styles as I don't want flat pasta or one of the other shapes. It looks like these names are used interchangeably but, they are different pasta shapes. How are these different from each other? Is the hole size different? Is one thicker than the other? In the $2~$3 per pound range, where do I get good "dry" pasta? What brands and shops are the better ones to shop at? Amazon can hook me up with 20 pounds of Colavita for a reasonable price in today's inflated market but, other brands and sources might be a better option. I am looking for quality pasta, not cheap mass-market pasta from the local grocery store that carries bland mushy Skinner and American Beauty. TIA, Sid

Thanks @lemniscate ! Hong Kong style Coffee Tea sounds interesting.

Thanks @MokaPot ! Random Chai tea and Chai coffee drinks never really caught my taste buds. Not good, not bad, just not memorable. I'm not a big Mocha drink guy either. I'll probably try some Lychee drinks next time I stumble into a random Asian grocery store when I go to Dallas and maybe a few random options from in the aisle. At the moment I'm into French Vanilla espresso based drinks but, my taste buds are getting burned out and are ready for something else.

I'm growing tired of "Starbucks" type coffee things and want to try something different. I generally like Asian things so, Boba or Bubble tea seems like a good thing to try for a change of pace. I tried some British tea which really wasn't drinkable until I added milk and it went from bad to really good. At that point, my personal bias against milk in tea went away.

I live in a rural part of Texas so, this sort of tea isn't available to me. What's a good way to try it at home? What would I need to buy to make it myself? Or is this available as a canned drink like coffee from Starbucks and others?

OK. Maybe it is just transportation related then. Some of the Japanese kitchen products I'm looking for are not available where I shop and the ones in Japan on eBay have really expensive shipping costs.

There are a few on Amazon but, they are hard to find thanks to obscure search 'names'. COVID impacts also seems to have stopped production or, at least exports of this brand.