Newspaper Food Advertising Gone Wild

[David Ross]

This week when I was scanning the local grocery store newspaper inserts I came across this odd looking special on mushrooms-

I sort of snickered at the thought of the people in the advertising department, (and possibly the produce buyer), who sadly mispelled the name of one of nature's most wonderful mushroom, the "Chanterelle." (Either the supermarket spelled it right or the French have gotten it wrong for centuries).

But aside from the mis-spelling in the name, look closely at the price, $5.98 a pound. Really? And on closer inspection, "Save up to $4.00 a lb." Really, really? You mean that the full price of the fresh Chanterelles would only be $9.98 a pound? Heck, we can usually only get fresh Chanterelle's at one organic market or the Farmer's market and they usually run upwards of at least $20.00 a pound. And that's a good price.

As you can imagine I raced to the store. I wasn't sure what to expect since I was so amazed that fresh Chanterelle's would be sold in a grocery store at that price point. I wasn't disappointed. I got just under two pounds for $10 bucks and change. A steal. The guy next to me was grabbing them out of the display as fast as I was. I told him I couldn't believe the price in the ad, (and the price on the tag at the market). He said it's been a good mushroom season locally and there are gobs of Chanterelle's in the woods.

Have you ever come across Food Ads Gone Wild? Prices either so low, or so high, you just couldn't believe it? Have you ever been surprised that a premium cut of beef, a rare seafood or a wild mushroom was advertised in your local Newspaper?

[dcarch]

buy a dehydrator if you don't have one already.

I would buy the entire inventory and dry them.

dcarch

[heidih]

I have neighbors who live to find these deals. It often happens with a glut of berries. They rush over, grab them and come home to jam.

[David Ross]

buy a dehydrator if you don't have one already.

I would buy the entire inventory and dry them.

dcarch

Thank you so much for the tip. I hadn't thought about that. I'll get over there tommorrow morning and scoop up what I can!

[ScoopKW]

The local Albertson's once advertised Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque (apologies for not bothering with the accent marks today -- just got out of the dentist chair) for the sale price of regular non-vintage Perrier Jouet.

I bought every bottle. I think it was 40 bottles all told. Savings of around $3,000. That was a good day.

[heidih]

The local Albertson's once advertised Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque (apologies for not bothering with the accent marks today -- just got out of the dentist chair) for the sale price of regular non-vintage Perrier Jouet.

I bought every bottle. I think it was 40 bottles all told. Savings of around $3,000. That was a good day.

That one must take the cake. Wow!

[kayb]

The local Albertson's once advertised Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque (apologies for not bothering with the accent marks today -- just got out of the dentist chair) for the sale price of regular non-vintage Perrier Jouet.

I bought every bottle. I think it was 40 bottles all told. Savings of around $3,000. That was a good day.

That one must take the cake. Wow!

And somewhere, an Albertson's manager got fired over that one!

[andiesenji]

You don't need a dehydrator to dry mushrooms. They will dry nicely at room temp, just put them in wire colanders and place them on a newspaper (to catch the spores that will drop out) or if you don't have wire colanders, you can dry them in a mesh bag - like the ones made to launder lingerie. Just hang them where they will get plenty of air and put something under them because the dark spores will stain whatever they land on.

(I have a small stain on a granite counter where I left a crimini mushroom for several days - something was hiding it and when I found it the mushroom was dry but it had left a "spore print" behind.)

P.S. This happened to me with jumbo shrimp (which I don't eat but friends do) I saw these huge tiger shrimp in the case priced at 3.99/lb and bought five pounds from the friendly clerk. Somebody obviously left off a digit and the skew number wouldn't scan so the guy just weighed them and printed out the unit price and total price with a number that did scan and when I checked out no one asked any questions.

I gave them to my neighbors.

Edited October 22, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[David Ross]

You don't need a dehydrator to dry mushrooms. They will dry nicely at room temp, just put them in wire colanders and place them on a newspaper (to catch the spores that will drop out) or if you don't have wire colanders, you can dry them in a mesh bag - like the ones made to launder lingerie. Just hang them where they will get plenty of air and put something under them because the dark spores will stain whatever they land on.

(I have a small stain on a granite counter where I left a crimini mushroom for several days - something was hiding it and when I found it the mushroom was dry but it had left a "spore print" behind.)

Thanks for the tip. They're drying on a wire rack over a cookie sheet, (covered with newspaper), as we speak.

[dcarch]

"---You don't need a dehydrator to dry mushrooms.---"

Spokane air can be very humid.

dcarch

[heidih]

The local Albertsons had beef roasts on sale at $3.99. The ad said that with a minimum purchase of 4 pounds one automatically got all 3 vegetables below. They stacked the vegetables outside the meat case. 5 pounds of potatoes, huge bunch of celery, and pound bag of carrots. The meat manager was chastising his employees for telling people it was all 3 until we slowly walked him through the ad language. The managers had been told otherwise verbally.

[Mjx]

"---You don't need a dehydrator to dry mushrooms.---"

Spokane air can be very humid.

dcarch

Here (in Denmark) it also tends to be really damp, and I've seen friends string them on lengths of thread, then hang the thread-fuls of chanterelles in a dry corner, which seems to do the trick nicely.