dtremit

Macys seems to have a bunch of A-C on sale as well -- that same set (for $10 more), and a few other things: https://www.macys.com/shop/presidents-day-sale/Brand,Business_category,Home_categories,Sortby/All-Clad,Home,Kitchen,PRICE_LOW_TO_HIGH?id=169742 I'm tempted by this oval baker — it's not "real" All-Clad (one of their "accessory" pieces, which means made in China and I think not multi clad) but it looks like a pretty nice big pan for $50 https://www.macys.com/shop/product/all-clad-stainless-steel-15-oval-baker-pot-holder-set?ID=4877689&CategoryID=169742

Weirdly this machine has completely disappeared from VacMaster's site -- though it's still for sale at WebstaurantStore and elsewhere. Terrible reviews there, so I wonder if maybe it was a rebranded model that didn't work out for them. Pity -- the wide seal bar in a smaller, affordable machine was a very nice combination.

Those seem like they may cover every region they operate in -- given turnover these days, they may just be standing requisitions to cover turnover. Looking at the detail, their drivers deliver "up to 150 boxes per shift" -- if it's an 8 hour shift, that's almost 20 an hour! I would imagine they have some turnover given that pace...

Baldor is actually doing home deliveries in NYC, DC, and Boston metros now: https://www.baldorfood.com/baldorhomedeliverymap I have never quite been able to figure out their website (though I have not looked in a long while). It seemed like at any given time, 80% of the items packaged in "home" quantities were sold out. Instacart is a bit of a mess, but if you're careful it can be useful. Different stores have different pricing policies, and you can find them if you poke around a bit. A small handful have in-store pricing. Most around here are cited as "up to 15% higher" — but that's just the item prices, not any of the fees. That said, I may try them soon for some stores we haven't wanted to trek to since Omicron hit. We also are now in Instacart range for deliveries from Restaurant Depot, which is kind of intriguing. Some of the Instacart fees are avoidable if you're shopping for pickup -- obviously not a great NYC option, but honestly we prefer it a lot of the time here. E.g., Wegmans in-store pickup is run off the Instacart platform; the prices are indeed higher, but there are no fees of any kind beyond that. (You actually *can't* tip, which is frustrating).

I think the Misfits / Imperfects of the world probably result in a much shorter, and better controlled, path from farm to consumer. We have been getting a huge proportion of our produce from Misfits / Imperfect and local sources (mainly CSA and a few farm stands) over the past few years — and it's gotten to the point where I forget how short the shelf life of regular grocery store produce is. I go to find it in the fridge and realize it's gone bad before I ever thought to use it. Which of course leads me to buy less from those sources...

I'm wondering if they had too many issues with UPS / FedEx deliveries -- that article about Imperfect's issues upthread mentioned that something like one in four orders had some sort of an issue. Our Misfits orders come in packaging that's clearly designed for long shipping times -- thick insulation on the outside of the box, and for cold pack items, a secondary inner insulated bag with another cold pack inside. Even the one time our delivery was a day late, the meat we ordered was frozen. By contrast, Imperfect has no insulation for most of the stuff in the box, and the cold sensitive stuff just goes in a mylar bubble wrap bag with an ice pack. On a good day the bag is sealed, but more often it's half open by the time it gets to us. We get deliveries from their fleet of trucks, which are refrigerated — but any meat we order is thawed about half the time. Not sure if they used better packaging for common carrier orders, but if they were using the same stuff, I suspect they were doing a lot of refunds. As far as I know, Misfits doesn't have a fleet of trucks -- probably good for @Shelby!

One thing I have noticed with Amazon (we've done WFM orders but I'm guessing it's similar for Fresh) is that a lot of perishable stuff "flickers" in and out of inventory. E.g., they'll have an item at the beginning of the day, it'll be gone later, and back the next morning, presumably just due to normal restocking. Very frustrating, and leads us to order from them a lot less often than other places.

I'm curious if anyone has suggestions for useful supplies one might get from a homebrew shop, for modernist or other specialty cooking. I'm looking to buy some amylase and it seems to be the easiest way to get it at a reasonable price. The homebrew shop I'm looking at does flat rate shipping, so I figure I might as well pick up a few other interesting things to play with. Any suggestions?

I think there's just so many steps in the supply chain that right now, it's too easy for one of them to go wrong. A half-staffed dairy plant might choose to prioritize production of higher volume products like milk, or there could be a shortage on quart containers. Weirdly every Target around here has plenty of half-and-half (they're the easiest store for me to check online) -- but none of our warehouse clubs seem to have normal chicken thighs.

One of my funniest work travel memories was visiting a client in Richmond during a ~4" snowstorm. I was staying in a hotel next to the client, but ended up working with them over WebEx because they couldn't drive in to the office themselves. While eating breakfast the weather person on the TV news was trying to explain why cars lose traction in snow (friction, etc) — never thought anyone would need that explained to them! Lovely thing you are doing with the homeless lunches -- I am sure they are very much appreciated!

Ah, so it stays in the machine! I was trying to figure out how on earth you'd snap the lid on.

How are you able to pull a vacuum in a Rubbermaid container? I'm having trouble imagining how that works...

Wait — Walden Local Meats has cheap stock bones?! I would have signed up ages ago if I'd known that! (They are actually very local to us — we live about halfway between their warehouse and their butcher shop in Boston.) Looking at this thread in their forum they seem to have pork leaf fat available too, sometimes. @Annie_H — you mentioned postponing your box — can you see what's available as specials before you do that?

Another thumbs up for this — when we were in a city condo, we had an upright freezer with a similar 2'x2' footprint that made our lives much easier. Basically was like an extra tall dorm fridge. For our space the chest freezer wouldn't have worked as we couldn't have put anything above it — so we were really glad both options were available. When we sold out and suburbanized earlier this year, one of my first purchases was the largest upright freezer I could find 😂

I mean, the "standard" model (the Anova Precision Cooker) has gotten slightly better while staying at roughly the same price. I don't think the MSRP on the pro makes much sense, IMHO.

Sadly only 15% for the APO (which is slightly less than the discount last month). Amazon appears to be matching the prices on the circulators, at least in the US.

I’ve made way too much of a Japanese curry that I think might make a good filling for meat pies. I’d like to make a crust (top and bottom) and freeze small pies for baking later. But I’m not sure what kind of crust to use, or how to prepare it for freezing. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Bake Off, but I was thinking about using a hot water crust. But I’ve no clue if that would freeze well. Does anyone have advice to share?

I have been thinking about those two processors as eventual replacements for my KA when it dies. On the one hand, all the other Breville stuff I own is beautifully made, and the mini chopper for their stick blender I have works great. I also really like the attachments. On the other hand, it's nearly twice as expensive, and doesn't seem to really be rated better by most outlets. The other factor that I learned to be cautious of with the KitchenAid is replacement parts availability -- chances are, the plastic bowl or blade will go out before the motor. This happened to me with the KA — the safety interlock inside the bowl handle broke — and it took me months of searching and cost $100 to get a replacement. The Cuisinart has been in production so long that the chances of being unable to buy a replacement are really slim. I have no idea whether Breville will have replacement parts available in ten years.

Perhaps this has changed, but it looks like Blackwell's now includes US delivery in their prices (which seem quite competitive). (No mention of who the shipping carrier is, though here in the Northeast I've found that things sent via UK Royal Mail sometimes arrive faster than USPS.)

In the realm of "probably don't need this, but couldn't resist," this creme brûlée set: (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) I absolutely hate removing ramekins from water baths with tongs, so I think the frame for this will be helpful. The pan it comes with is a standard 8x8 cake pan, so it's not really a unitasker other than the wire frame. And it was $12ish.

We get these in the "U-pick" for our farm share — they're related to tomatillos, and when we have too many I have been known to make a quick fruity salsa out of them. But as you say, they're also great to just snack on.

I think a lot of the shelf-stable shortages are actually shortages of packaging, rather than product. So it may be that Aldi's apple juice bottle is out of stock...

It strikes me that, for longevity, it might well be better to go with a standalone range where at least the electronic controls are at the back — no chance of water spilling on them, at least, and probably much less intense heat than at the front.

This article in the Atlantic had a similar thesis, and noted that contrary to what you'd expect from the news, imports into the US are actually at an all time high. I suspect this is also true, if only because in our highly vaccinated corner of the country, we've seen way fewer shortages than people seem to be reporting elsewhere. Less panic, so less panic buying. I was inside a grocery store yesterday for the first time ever (to get my booster!) and there was almost nothing out of stock. Some sparse shelves in dairy (sliced and shredded cheese, and certain brands of yogurt) but nothing else missing that I could see.

I may have jumped the gun on the shipping carrier complaint. Our Misfits box sat in a warehouse 5 miles from our house for twelve hours the day it was supposed to be delivered, and when it hadn't been sent out for delivery by 5:30 I thought for sure it was going to be delivered late. My previous experience with LaserShip has been pretty bad, so I assumed the worst. To my surprise, they loaded it on a truck at 6PM and it was here by 8, with all the meat still frozen solid. Significantly better experience than I've had from Imperfect recently.