Crazy priced food

[SLB]

Oh, I didn't even think of that (foolishly); I thought it was some twee thing.  Perhaps this Fairway has a particular market need it's meeting, which of course I've got no problem with.  I do wish the prices were more reasonable.

Edited April 4, 2016 by SLB (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Honestly, even when I was purchasing these some of these convenience items, that I was quite delighted to find, I wondered if the check-out clerks were thinking that I had more dollars than cents sense, if you know what I mean.  

 

 

Edited April 4, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Deryn]

Sometimes I have found that purchasing the pre-cut items is a money saver (the time or effort is not really that much of a concern to me right now but can be for the ill, the elderly or even just for some in excessively busy households). If I have to buy a whole (insert favorite large vegetable or single package of vegetable of any kind - which is more than can be used in x # of days). I have too often found that, living alone, I have had to throw out half of whatever it may be, especially if it is only required/desired in a smallish amount and/or rarely. So, I have paid the higher price for pre-cut x, y or z or a mix of all on several occasions now and don't mind at all.

 

If I could get that mix you pictured - which I have never seen - the price would have been at least what is on your package or higher - but a small bunch (and I mean really small) of parsley runs over $3 alone, and whole white button mushrooms are usually more than $4 for 8 oz. These days I buy dry shallots if I can get them rather than onions in bags because I find they keep longer (onions already keep reasonably well I know but I can't use a whole bag in the time it takes for them to begin to rot here it seems) so for me they justify a price close to what I would pay for a small bag of onions ($4 plus) because there is no waste. I can buy individual onions (and sometimes do) but if all I need is half an onion the rest also may be thrown away. My compost bin is full enough with expensive ingredients being returned to whence they came.

[ElsieD]

Along the same lines, when I first joined Costco, I bought a lot of stuff in their super duper sizes because I could get twice as much for the same money I would spend at my local store.   Vegetables rotted, dry goods got stale and had to be turfed, and we could not  eat refrigerated items by their best before date.  Baked goods languished in the freezer collecting freezer burn.   I finally realized that buying in bulk was not  necessarily a  money saver.  I still shop at Costco but am much more selective about the bulk items I buy.

 

[Chris Hennes]

Honestly, although I don't personally buy pre-sliced vegetables, some part of me thinks it's great: if it gives someone busy or handicapped the opportunity to actually cook dinner instead of having frozen pizza, Mickey D's, or a TV dinner it's a net win. It's more the packaging waste that concerns me most of the time. You can't win them all, I guess...

[Deryn]

One small point I forgot to mention about pre-cut vegetables, particularly applicable I think to the mixed packs, is that one must be careful to check for 'freshness' (as much as one can when they are enrobed in plastic wrap). Of course too, cut vegetables aren't going to hang around in your kitchen as long as the whole ones would in most cases, so, for me, they are only bought for 'same day' use. At some stores, I just won't buy them at all because I think they deliberately use the vegetables they are about to dump and hope the consumer won't be able to tell. That concern is the same one I have about any meat or fish that has been 'pre-marinated'. It usually IS about stretching the 'best before' dates (not really customer 'convenience' or making something 'gourmet') and, to boot, they charge more than they would for the fresher unadulterated stuff.  

Edited April 5, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[Shalmanese]

21 hours ago, liuzhou said:

And who in the world books into a 5-star hotel and suddenly thinks, "I really got to buy some overpriced salt before I leave!"  Regular, local sea salt costs 3元 and I can buy the Maldon stuff for 45元, if I so choose. I tend not to.

I suspect a) local Chinese who are making a trip to the "big city" and want to bring something fancy back home to show off how worldly and sophisticated they are and b) some weird loopholes involving what can and cannot be expensed meaning anything bought in the hotel store winds up being on the company dime.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

8 hours ago, SLB said:

The goose prices are wild, but at least it seems like an adventure (of a sort).  

 

Admitting that I do not purchase food in this format ever, this photo (taken in good ole NYC Fairway) is the kind of food-form that makes me think the apocalypse is upon us:

 

 

I mean.  It's not like I haven't made a meal out of stir-fried onions and mushrooms.  But.  But.  I mean . . . for five bucks???

 

Anyone else notice that the parsley has not even been chopped? That's the hardest part to me. If I were buying that package of veggies because I was trying to avoid chopping, that would be a problem. That said, it would probably make a lovely topping fried up in butter and then splashed with a little soy sauce for some good steaks. One would have to get past the dirty appearing mushrooms first though. I'm getting older and weaker too. I love mushrooms, but the pre-sliced ones are never cleaned, and until I'm decrepit and half blind, I'm not eating or serving dirty mushrooms. 

 

@DerynI usually only cook for two nowadays, and have thrown out many partial onions that weren't used right away after cutting into them in past years because I didn't want them stinking up my refrigerator. I got an idea from some very cute and very overpriced containers I saw for sale in an upscale produce department that were shaped and decorated like an onion for storing partially used onions. I immediately thought of the sour cream and cottage cheese tubs I save for food storage and I haven't wasted an onion since. The plastic these dairy containers are made of is specially formulated to keep odors out, but they also keep them in. I've kept cut onions up to two weeks in the fridge this way. It has also improved my cooking because I'm never tempted to use too much onion in a dish just to avoid waste, or leave it out because I just need a little of it.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Thanks for the Crepes
Add a response to comment on page 3 (log)

[Martin Fisher]

I have nothing against sliced/diced/chopped or whatever vegetables per se, it's the PRICE (which is what I thought this thread is about) of some of it!!!

I mean, c'mon, $7.00 for a pound of squash! And it didn't even look fresh!

It's absurd!

Edited April 9, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

mean, c'mon, $7.00 for a pound of squash! And it didn't even look fresh!

That lack of freshness is part of the reason it's expensive. Squash keeps relatively well when left whole, but the moment you chop it up its shelf-life goes from a week to a day. So I bet they have to discard a lot of it. It's the reason herbs are so expensive to buy, even though they grow like weeds. 

[DianaB]

Prices of basic products outside their usual market have often been exorbitant. I recall years ago when it was rare to find instant coffee in France (but very easy to get excellent ground coffee), a French lady staying in the Parisian hotel we were at coming to breakfast each morning with her tiny jar of Nescafé. We were intrigued, the hotel normal coffee was good. She would have staff bring her a cup of hot water into which she would add her granules. Having never spotted instant coffee in French supermarkets we went out looking, at the time (80s) the only place we could find Nescafé was Fauchon, a luxury food shop in the centre of Paris. I don't recall the price but I do remember that we were no longer surprised that the lady kept her tiny jar close to her person.

 

Like @Deryn we sometimes buy pre-prepared or packaged vegetables because there are only two of us and we only have opportunity for one meal at home most days. In years past I avoided such goods on grounds that the higher prices were ridiculous. However, taking into account the value of what we were throwing out just because we couldn't use it while it was fresh, I don't think the price difference is that much. We grow as much as we can which reduces waste further, especially with salads but of course not everyone has a garden or good enough health to deal with home growing. 

 

Setting aside Costco and similar, it seems to me that ordinary supermarkets here push quantity over quality. We are inundated with 'buy one get one free'. I recall an occasion when I wanted one pastry (breakfast on the go) but the supermarket had one of these offers. The check-out lady was really upset that I wouldn't take a second. I said that I would,I would donate it to her for her break. That didn't happen, the lady said it wouldn't be permitted. I found that really sad.

[Martin Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

That lack of freshness is part of the reason it's expensive. Squash keeps relatively well when left whole, but the moment you chop it up its shelf-life goes from a week to a day. So I bet they have to discard a lot of it. It's the reason herbs are so expensive to buy, even though they grow like weeds. 

 

Chopped or spiralized to order would make more sense in several respects.

The butchery department customizes at no extra charge.

There's no good reason to gouge.

 

BTW, chopped yellow or red onions were also $7.00 per pound!!! 

[Chris Hennes]

4 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

Chopped or spiralized to order would make more sense in several respects.

Yeah, I wonder if any supermarkets offer that service. Has anyone ever seen it?

 

I'm still not convinced there is any gouging going on here--they have to cover their costs.

[gfweb]

What is amazing is that the majority of pre chopped buyers are perfectly healthy looking and in no need of assistance chopping.

 

Perhaps in NYC with its ultracompact kitchens there is no room to store veg...that might make this sort of thing viable

[Martin Fisher]

9 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Yeah, I wonder if any supermarkets offer that service. Has anyone ever seen it?

 

If they don't, they should.

At the grocery I mentioned above, there are folks in the 'sushi' area adjacent to the produce section fiddling with vegetables and such all day long.

Edited April 5, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Deryn]

17 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

Chopped or spiralized to order would make more sense in several respects.

The butchery department customizes at no extra charge.

There's no good reason to gouge.

 

BTW, chopped yellow or red onions were also $7.00 per pound!!! 

 

Yes. That does sound expensive, even in today's overly 'expensive' world. And it seems that is a price YOU would not pay. Some however obviously would for all the reasons they/we have discussed here. For some of us, some of the time, whether we like the price or not, it is justified.

 

gfweb - Compare the price of these pre-cut vegetables to the cost of a Blue Apron package which comes with pre-cut vegetables, with even smaller quantities wrapped separately at a much higher price per ounce I reckon - and people still apparently buy those. So .. it is all relative and dependent on individual needs and preferences.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[Martin Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Deryn said:

That does sound expensive, even in today's overly 'expensive' world. And it seems that is a price YOU would not pay. Some however obviously would for all the reasons they/we have discussed here. For some of us, some of the time, whether we like the price or not, it is justified.

 

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I thought the point of the thread was discussing products that we, as individual forum members, find priced 'crazy.'

It's obvious that SOME folks don't care about prices for various reasons.

 

If my posts are off-topic I'll gladly delete them.

 

[Deryn]

I don't think your posts are 'off topic' at all. I just think that if all we are talking about in this thread can (and probably should) go beyond that to why some do or don't think a particular product is outrageously priced ... no? I acknowledge that the people who have posted pictures of or mentioned products they have found in their area think those products are overpriced (they made that clear) but if it ends there, there is no conversation.

 

I would bet that in every era (prior and future) there have been, and will be, items that have been priced higher than what the average person could either afford or would find palatable. But some will always buy no matter what the price is apparently. And yes that leads ultimately to 'normalization' if enough people buy at the inflated prices - and then the price for everything goes up over time. Price is determined by what the market will bear. Such is (unfortunately) 'life' and 'human nature'. We could implement total government price controls (has been done even in western societies before, for certain items) and keep all prices everywhere exactly the same - and stifle innovation as well in the process. Otherwise, I am not sure what the answer is (other than people refusing to buy at what they think is a price that is too high - which is the prerogative of every individual).  

Edited April 5, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[PattyO]

I, too, hate to throw food away, but there are only the three of us for one meal a day, so buying large quantities of anything (that can't be frozen) usually ends in waste.  As far as chopped vegetables go, if I only need enough to prepare a certain dish, I go to the salad bar and see what I can use from there.  Cheaper than pre-packaged, and probably fresher.  Of course, the grocery store has to have a salad bar (and a good one at that), which is pretty common around here.

[Martin Fisher]

I was back at the store this morning.

I asked about custom chopping, slicing, dicing, spiralizing, etc. of any fruit or vegetable in the produce section.

The answer was... 'Sure, $6.99 per pound for any and all.'

Stuff at the so-called 'salad bar' is $8.99 per pound.

That's crazy and outrageous in my opinion. 

Edited April 12, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

That's crazy and outrageous in my opinion. 

 

I kind of agree but it's called capitalism. If people are willing to pay it, and they must be or the supermarkets would ditch it, then that's the way it's going to be.

 

It is the same here in good old communist China. You can buy beef for 15 doodahs/ 500g and carrots for 5 doodahs/500g or you can buy prepared beef and carrots for 15 doodahs/500g. You get about 100g beef and 400g carrot.

I'm sorry but anyone willing to pay 15 doodahs for carrots is insane.

[Martin Fisher]

14 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I kind of agree but it's called capitalism. If people are willing to pay it, and they must be or the supermarkets would ditch it, then that's the way it's going to be.

 

I'd call it crazy people paying crazy prices.

 

I get that some folks may 'require' the convenience for health reasons or whatever.

I worked with the disabled for years, including the profoundly disabled; my Mom has Multiple Sclerosis; I have other family and friends with issues. I, myself, have issues where I wonder if, some days, I'll be able to make it to the end of the day.

So I do 'get it.'

None of the folks I know in such a situation are well off financially, quite the opposite.

Reasonably priced conveniences would be appreciated.

 

Edited April 12, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[liuzhou]

8 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

I'd call it crazy people paying crazy prices.

 

I get that some folks may 'require' the convenience for health reasons or whatever.

I worked with the disabled for years, including the profoundly disabled; my Mom has Multiple Sclerosis; I have other family and friends with issues. I, myself, have issues where I wonder if, some days, I'll be able to make it to the end of the day.

So I do , 'get it.'

None of the folks I know in such a situation are well off financially, quite the opposite.

Reasonably priced conveniences would be appreciated.

 

 

I don't disagree, at all. I have issues too, as do members of my family. But the people I usually see buying this stuff seem to be generally healthy, but often overweight. Nor do they appear particularly financially over-endowed , but that is just my, no doubt prejudiced, take. Many disabilities are not visible.

 

All I'm saying is that if the supermarket chains weighed the meat and priced that, then weighed the veg and priced that (including their chopping costs) and aggregated those costs, then maybe it would be OK. But they tend to bung everything together, weigh it and price it at the cost of the most expensive ingredient which they pile on top of the cheap stuff to hide it.

Edited April 13, 2016 by liuzhou
typos (log)

[IowaDee]

Okay, this is crazy priced but in a good way.  We  sometimes shop at a cool little store run by local Mennonites.  It is called Dutchmans and they do have a website I think.  The fun in going there is the hunt for the surprise bargains you may find.  Last time it was beautiful avocados for a dime, juicy limes for a nickle and fresh pineapples for a buck each.  Yesterday that had 2.2 pounds of Ile de France Brie for $2.99!  Yes the entire wheel for that price. Maybe not the best brie, but at that price, damn good.   The great deals are not advertised so it is like a treasure hunt around the entire store.  

[scubadoo97]

On April 5, 2016 at 8:32 PM, ElsieD said:

Along the same lines, when I first joined Costco, I bought a lot of stuff in their super duper sizes because I could get twice as much for the same money I would spend at my local store.   Vegetables rotted, dry goods got stale and had to be turfed, and we could not  eat refrigerated items by their best before date.  Baked goods languished in the freezer collecting freezer burn.   I finally realized that buying in bulk was not  necessarily a  money saver.  I still shop at Costco but am much more selective about the bulk items I buy.

 

I had joined Costco when they first opened but found I spent too much on food that went bad.  Fast forward to about 5 yrs ago and I rejoined.   First thing in my cart was a Foodsaver vac sealer.  Solved that problem.  No freezer burn, mold or having things go stale.  One of my first things to seal was a half an avocado.  After 3 weeks there was not a spec of discoloration.  It looked like the day I cut it.  I was sold!