As voting time approaches, the price of edibles will likely sway its share of voters. Not all prices rise uniformly. The steepest are those related to intellectual property, followed by those highly processed products that require ingredients from around the world available at the factory for assembly or mixture. Candy fits both criteria. Hershey's has distinct recognizable brands, as does its few competitors. Chocolate, coconut, sugar all need extensive transit to get to central Pennsylvania or wherever else Hershey and Nestle have built their facilities. That can make for an expensive Halloween. I don't have that many kids come to our front door, but those who seek a sweet need to get one.
Each week I look at the supermarket ads, which invariably promote packaged candy in their weekly circulars. Very high prices this year. My GoTo place for packaged candy has been the local farmer's market which has a variety store at one end. They sell Hershey products, though an unpredictable assortment. When they cost $6 if you buy three, I would get myself a bag of chocolate nugget variety pack, KitKat, and Almond Joy. As prices rose, $6 became $7 for three bags, still undercutting the supermarket. I used that as an excuse to stop purchasing any for my own use, but for Halloween, that's a best buy. Slight glitch this year. The market only opens on Friday and Saturday. Our Yom Tovim this season all include Fridays and shopping on Shabbos I gave up long ago, unless traveling. After getting my biennial car inspection and registration renewal, I made a small detour to a Walmart not far from the state's DMV. No bargains on candy there either.
I am a very proficient kitchen maven. My Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies in the style of Frog/Commissary, two pioneering Philadelphia eateries of my young adulthood, always bring favorable reviews. I make about four dozen at a time. Not that hard with modern countertop appliances. I made a batch about a year earlier for my synagogue's project to feed folks down on their luck at a soup kitchen. I also made rugelach for another session, roughly the same number. Ghosts and goblins and witches would find either of these tasty and unique. Alas, people have become less trustworthy in the current generation. As a grade schooler doing trick or treating, lots of families put some baked goods and loose candy in small goodie bags to distribute, along with a penny or two for the UNICEF cartons. The charitable redemption of a basically problematic holiday is long gone, as is the stature of the UN Agencies. In my children's day, medical facilities started offering free x-rays of the holiday loot to detect surreptitious razor blades or paper clips inserted into fruits or candy. For decades now, most parents will discard anything in a child's bag that is not factory wrapped. I understand.
While the Hebrew calendar this year is unfavorable to shopping at the Farmer's market, it is also the year of my biennial bifocal update. Best buy has been Costco. The discount from what the chain opticians charge more than offsets the membership fee. In addition, I get to shop from their megastores until the membership runs out without renewal a year later. As an empty nester, a prosperous one, I really don't need anything edible in the quantities that Costco purchases require, nor do I really need any stuff. Not electronics, appliances, furniture. Close to nada, though a clothing item attracts me as does some often expensive food delicacies like lox, herring, and kosher-certified cheese. But Costco is open every day. The bulk packaging can expand my options of what to offer costumed kids. Maybe candy. But maybe something of greater nutritional value. Oat bars, lunchbox-sized pretzels, granola for some of the older children who can handle the almonds. Their goodie bags or repurposed pillowcases need not return home with zero nutritional value. I might even pay a little more to fill those bags with something tasty but worthy of feeding to a child.
Most of my infrequent visits to Costco have a purpose, whether bifocal purchase, eyeglass frame repair, or I just want a cheap slice of pizza or a sundae. That does not preclude browsing. So the kids get something for them, I get some delicacy or related splurge for me. The salvage of Halloween.
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