Year: 2009 (Page 7 of 20)

A few days ago I bought a two-pack of Kraft Grated Parmesan cheese. Each jar is 16 oz, and I was getting 2 for $7, so I thought it was a very good deal. Wronnnng! It wasn’t until I’d open a jar that I realized the cheese expired Oct. 6th. Now, I realize that Grocery Outlet sells items that are close to expiration date, but 2 weeks? For a packaged cheese product? Who in the world can possibly consume 2 pounds of grated cheese in 2 weeks?
Yes, my bad – in the future I’ll check expiration dates very carefully. But also Grocery Outlet’s bad for selling such products.

*Update* My blog entries are automatically forwarded to my twitter account, and one of my followers there is Grocery Outlet. Well, they looked into this matter and they are sending me a couple of coupons for the cheese. They will also make sure that, in the future, they will split up containers and lower the price on items, as they get closer to the sell-by date. This makes a lot of sense, I’d have bought one can for $3, but not two for $8 so close to the sell-by date.
Anyway, I’m impressed at how Grocery Outlet dealt with this issue.

Grocery Outlet is selling a branded tin that includes a 20-teabag package of Twinings tea (Lady Gray or English Breakfast) for $3. This is actually /not/ a good deal – as you can often get said package for $2.50 on sale at the supermarket – but I ran out of tea so I bought it. I think I can use the tin for crafts (or to hold craft supplies), so it may be worth those extra 50 cents I paid for it. But I’m not at all surprised that that particular item didn’t sell well at regular stores.
I also got Kellogs Cocoa-peanut butter puffs for $1 for a box, Haagen Dazs Hawaiian Lehua Honey & Sweet cream ice cream and Zambeedo Creme de chocolat ice cream. Both are $1.50, I think. I actually liked the sweet cream ice cream quite a bit. It has an amazingly creamy texture, and a nice, light flavor. There isn’t much honey to speak of, but when you get some mixed in with your ice cream, it’s quite nice. I’d buy it again. The same cannot be said about the Zambeedo ice cream, which leaves *much* to be desired. First of all, it was melted and re-frozen (a not unusual problem with frozen products at Grocery Outlet), and second, it had a very, very light flavor, not at all chocolaty. Again, it’s no wonder this product ended up here.
Finally, I got a 2-oz bottle of McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract for $3 (it sells for $11.50 at Safeway). Alas, once I got home I realized that it contains corn syrup (?!!), so I won’t be buying it again. Maybe that’s why it’s not selling well at the regular stores?
And that’s about it for now.

Grocery Outlet is selling a 1qt carton of Land o lakes heavy whipped cream for $1.50. Safeway usually sells their 1 qt carton of Lucerne regular whipping cream for about $4.50 – 5.50, so this is quite a bargain. HOWEVER, the expiration date on the cream is 9/22 – which means that it’s only good for the next 10 days or so. But if you want it for something right away, it’s a good deal. As for myself, I’m making strawberry ice cream now, and I’ll figure out what else this weekend.