Weekly Circular Store Shelf Mismatch

 

Grocery shopping did not go well.  As a kosher consumer, Rabbi of my shul, the Orthodox one, two Rabbis ago, now some 25 years ago, cashed in some friendship favors with the head of a local supermarket chain.  One store in the Jewish population center would create a kosher meat department, deli, and bakery.  As a result, those of us who once schlepped 45 minutes to independent Kosher butchers in our magnet city's Orthodox neighborhood, filling our freezers to capacity every couple of months, could now buy what we needed mostly for supper in a much more convenient way.  Supermarket business is notoriously competitive and at low profit margins. Having all the people with kosher homes shopping there to the exclusion of other grocers, made the friendship pay off for everyone. Well, not exactly everyone.  As local Kosher oversight committees around America made similar arrangements for their observant Jews, the independent kosher butchers closed their shops in all but the places of highest Orthodox presence.

I also had my transition, as did my Jewish community.  We have become older.  Parents of late teens and college kids at the start of the project became empty nesters.  Rabbinical transitions and animosities among key players took its toll.  Kashrut attracts older people.  As actuarial realities and sunbelt migration play out, there are fewer kosher consumers.  But those who remain, continue our personal loyalties to that particular store, despite a selection of beef and poultry far less diverse than it once was.  The misdeeds of Rubashkin's Agriprocessors ended economical kosher beef.  Its substitute suppliers keep us afloat with ground beef, cubes, and minute steaks.  I've not seen liver in years and briskets only near the Festivals when people make big dinners for extended families.  The deli has become a pawn as key people who truly have not been treated well by dominant local Jews, protect their turf.  Yet our loyalty to that store in that location remains firm.  I seldom make a purchase from the deli, deterred by expense.  Same with the bakery, which rarely offers anything baked in store for what I am willing to spend.  Indeed, the store's hechsher has the logo of the departed Rabbi, not the current mara d'atra of my synagogue.

What I seek out as specialty kosher for my basket, though, is a pittance of what I put in my cart each week.  The economics of food processing has made available every imaginable mass-produced edible with a factory-applied kosher insignia from one of several international supervision agencies.  My full cart has kosher, but not locally supervised.  The same packaged stuff available anyplace.  But I shop at the place where I can also purchase kosher raw beef and chicken, though I rarely prepare either other than for Shabbos and Festivals.  Even my kosher Thanksgiving turkey I buy someplace else.  My Rabbi and his supermarket CEO chum called it right.  Kosher brings loyalty.  So do better prices, which this store seems to have.  And top tier employees, where they seem to struggle.

Every Wednesday, the postman delivers a packet of supermarket advertising.  It contains circulars from about a half dozen competing markets, each of colored newsprint, about eight pages long.  I extract the one from my grocery, recycle the others.  I take it to the desk in My Space, extract a page from one of those 8.5 x 3.5 pads that I harvest from periodic non-profits solicitation envelopes, take out a pen, most commonly a red Flair pen, and begin my review of the coming week's supermarket promotions.  The page from the pad has a logo with lines for writing on the front, blank white on the right.   On the front, I note what I definitely will purchase. Either it's a deal too good to pass up, or I need it.  Typically that fills a little more than half the sheet.  On the blank reverse, I write those items that I will consider as I shop.  That list fills an entire column, then a third or so of the next column.  After I am done, usually two sessions spread over a half hour to get through all eight pages, I write on the front what must get because I am running low, irrespective of its inclusion in the weekly sale circular.  The circular and shopping list then get clipped together with a home on the far reaches of my desk until ready to drive to the supermarket.

Short essential list:

1. K-Cups; House Brand #36
2. Stovetop Espresso Maker
3. #2 Pencils which I buy each year
4. Papermate stick pens, which did not write last year
5. Spiral Notebook purchased each year
6. Chex Mix
7. Tastykakes

Essential has a context.  I have enough stationery.  My doctor thinks I snack too much.  Have enough coffee pods to last a while.  But my stovetop espresso maker failed some time ago from a deteriorating gasket that I cannot easily replace.  Essential becomes things I will eventually use which can be obtained at a price low enough that I will not anticipate a similar bargain in the near future.

 

I entered the store expecting to purchase little more than this, as I did not want to spend a significantly greater amount of time there to explore the much larger number of items on the back side of the sheet.  This store puts its advertised circular bargains right near the front entrance.  I put two boxes of Tastykakes in my basket.  Usually they have sale K-cups there, but not this week.  I wheeled my cart to the coffee aisle, taking a box of 36 for my cart.  School supplies just entering the Back to School season, though school will not reopen for another six weeks.  I found a minimal pile of spiral binders, wide rule 70 sheets each, my usual Back to School annual purchase. I put one yellow and one red cover in my basket.  No advertised pencils or stick pens.  A sign pointed to a supply at aisle's end.  None there either.  Looked at cereals and snacks without finding Chex Mix.  Wouldn't even know where to find the espresso maker, the one item that would add to my enjoyment.

Near the front door they keep a customer service area.  In this computerized era, the clerk can type in a number and find it.  I waited my turn, a short wait.  The young man greeted me, though he looked like his coffee break might have gotten overdue.  I asked him to get me a circular, then I circled from the ad what I could not find.  No pencils or pens in stock.  Chex Mix with the snack aisle, where it was not when I went back to look for it.  He did not even have the espresso maker listed in his store's computerized inventory but he told me which aisle it would be in if and when the store stocks it.  Rainchecks for pens and pencils.  No Chex Mix to be had.  And the Espresso Maker exists only on newsprint received by a few million households in my metro area, not in the store or even in the inventory of what the computer can affirm as present on site.  Rain checks have to be generated by their computer as it includes a UPC code to scan for the discount.  Phantom items like my desired stovetop device have no way in modern grocery retailing of providing me the discount, even if the item appears on their shelves past the expiration date of the weekly circular.

So basically, the best and brightest of the grocery world lured me into their store expecting bargains that they were not able to fulfill.  In my younger years, the 1970s or so, an age of emerging consumerism where people read Consumer Reports and watched interviews of Ralph Nader on talk shows, we called this Bait & Switch.  Advertise an item at a low price, not have it, consumer gets similar item at full price or does other shopping in store.  It was at the time part of strategy to squeeze a few dollars from each shopper.  Most merchants offered rain checks, handwritten vouchers to purchase the advertised item at the sale price later, but it required the consumer to wait her turn at the customer service desk.

Unavailability of advertised items still occurs, though no longer part of profit enhancing strategy.  Replacing it seems more the growth of businesses to massive proportions with centralization of shared tasks, dependence on technology which never runs glitch free, multiple satellite outlets, serving millions of consumers, all in a competitive but oligarchical environment with a few similar enterprises trying to make their branch store the one I find most attractive.  My grocer has hundreds of stores, but rather than being centrally owned, they are regionally owned and franchised by a central distributor.  Somebody has to decide what will go on sale in what region each week, tell that to the staff that advertises those decisions who prints and mails the weekly circulars.  Then somebody else has to secure a supply of those thousands of different products, obtain them from suppliers in an era where expected distribution does not always happen, bring the products to the individual sites, and record it for the clerks who interface with the customers to call up each individual item by current supply and location in that store.  Plenty of steps to break down, and as I learned, they do break down.  There was no Chex Mix even though the computer said there was.  

Sometimes the merchants can anticipate iffy supply.  The circular will say "where available, no rainchecks."  That way they can advertise Kosher Chicken everywhere but only stock the stores which have enough Jewish customers to buy enough of it.  Back to school, Valentine's Day, and Christmas have seasonal items which will run out and not get restocked as the targeted events pass.  But the items I wanted, especially the espresso maker, did not have that restriction.  Still, I could not be assured that my store will ever have it or that I can receive the advertised discount if it ever appears on their shelves.

Retailing in America, at least stores, have earned the shopper's skepticism.  They invite you to get something at a good price that you cannot have, after making an effort to drive there, bring your own shopping bag, and looked on the store's shelves for more than you came for.  Electronic shopping doesn't have that albatross.  Circulars from Amazon do not arrive.  Even unsolicited pop-ups are rare.  People sign on when they know what they want to purchase, though the browsing options are ample and easy to use once a category gets selected.  Shoppers learn of discounts once ready to select.  A blue shirt may have a different price than a lemon yellow shirt.  I looked up the espresso maker, known in e-tailing as a MokaPot.  No shortages.  But not at the price my grocer advertised, either.  I guess, like some of our political candidates, they dedicate themselves to they/them but rarely to you.

Where I Choose to Shop

Target has taken a hit for dismantling their DEI program.  Traffic in their stores is reportedly down, including my local store.  But association is not causation.  Whenever I go to Costco it is mobbed, with a DEI program preserved despite governmental pressure.  But they are two very different consumer experiences.  Both stores seem to have people of similar ethnic distribution as employees visible to shoppers.  And the apparent diversity of the people shopping at each place does not seem much different, though Costco shoppers are drawn to items of larger price tag and larger quantities, while Target has more selection.  Costco employees are harder to find but always helpful once located.  Target employees are around but amateur kids from HS trying to meet car insurance premiums.  Mostly not helpful to me.  Has nothing to do with popular or unpopular sociopolitical stances and everything to do with the priorities that the executive who make key decisions place on their shoppers' experiences.

I have two staples where Target offers the best price nearly always.  Each supply lasts about two weeks, essentially forcing me to the store about ten times a year.  I go to the shelves, both in the pharmacy department, and carry the items to the self-scanner.  I rarely leave the pharmacy department.  There have been times when it seemed convenient to get other things.  I needed laundry soap.  My supermarket undercuts the price big time for the premium brand and significantly for the secondary brands and house brand.  I wanted to get some clothing for an upcoming trip.  Minimal shirt selection and shoddy stuff.  I needed a thermal mug.  They had them, not competitive in price with what I eventually bought.  One time I needed ammonia to clean some glass.  They had no ammonia, just chemical concoctions designed by mediocre chemistry majors labelled as glass cleaner.  When they have what I come for, I buy it.  Mostly what I find is less competitive than what I can find other places.  The people who work there do not make the corporation's wholesale purchasing, stocking, or pricing decisions.  DEI, which I agree has not been implemented in the optimal way, has no bearing on any of my experience.

I've largely deep-sixed other retailers, though with no malice.  Best Buy, Kohl's each too expensive.  Local Walmarts often unkempt.  What I've needed I find locked behind glass with no accessible employee with a key to show it to me.  Costco is fun to browse, but empty nesters really need very little in quantity.  Moreover, there is little need to stand in a long line behind full mega carts when I have one or two items costing less than $30.  

So what are my preferences and why?  Depends what I need.

The easiest for me has been my pharmacy.  I chose it years ago due to walking distance from my office. Now it's a short drive with convenient hours. Top-notch pharmacists.  Medicines always ready.  Fully cooperative with my Medicare Part D.  I almost never buy anything else at that supermarket.

Groceries are in transition.  Shop-Rite established a Kosher section in conjunction with my Rabbi.  It began as a personal friendship between the Rabbi and the Shop-Rite's chief.  Both retired.  The kosher service hangs on with a loyal volunteer, a person not treated especially well by the Dominant Individuals of my congregation.  Selection has deteriorated, especially in the beef section.  I rarely buy beef.  But for general groceries, I find things easy to find and discounted more than the competing stores seem to.  I now buy more at Trader Joe's.  My staples there are eggs, bread, seltzer, bananas, and Roma tomatoes, plus greeting cards as needed.  I always like being in that store.  More recently an Aldi opened nearby.  I like being there too, though it's price-dependent.  Kosher is not on their radar, though certified products are available.  I look at my outings there as a treasure hunt.

Clothing is more problematic.  I do not buy much now that I am retired.  For browsing, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and Boscov's.  All have more than clothing.  Things for my kitchen other than food tend to come from Boscov's.  Gifts for others from the other two.

My state restricts alcohol purchases to licensed stores.  Total Wine is the way to go, except for beer where a smaller store has a better selection from smaller brewers.  

I depend on the Home Depot, Lowe's, and a local hardware store for various things, but almost always know what I want to get before I head to any of these.  I have found Home Depot online preferable to going to the store.

My shoes have a difficult to find size.  Shoe stores display by style.  I much prefer display by size.  Amazon sorts this very well.  I also buy electronics and smart watches from there.  If I need a replacement part for anything, I can usually order it there.

At one time I purchased more Judaica and books than I do now.  Those are transacted online, and not very often.

Themes to how I seek stuff out?  If I do not know what I want, the places whose displays influence me seem to be Shop-Rite, Boscov's, TJ Maxx, and Marshall's.  The supermarket just has an immense array of items for all purposes, from good values in healthy eating to patio furniture to soil enrichment for my garden.  I read the ad each Sunday, make a list of must-get and might-get.  Despite a list, I still go aisle by aisle.

The three department stores must have a different acquisition system than Macy's or Walmart.  One month TJ Maxx will have Phillies caps and sturdy backpacks, another month grooming products that I had never heard of and a clearance on slacks.  Boscov's clothing has predictability.  The housewares and linens may reflect special deals that their buyers find on overstocks.  The selection changes significantly from month to month, as I found out when I needed to replace a toaster and steam iron.  I could not predict what brands would appear on the shelves.

To some extent, I find the surprise of what I might find appealing.  Target certainly does not have that.  I rarely need a salesperson to help, and most of the places where I shop really no longer have employees knowledgeable about what they sell, other than the Kosher deli guy at Shop-Rite.  Except for expensive items like major electronics, I don't miss the expertise that salespeople once had.

What I don't seem to care about is the political stance that the executives take.  These are mostly large corporations with dozens to hundreds of locations.  They are all going to hire a broad group of people in the stores.  They implement what somebody who I do not see decides.  So availability matters.  Target must have the two items I seek from them, as that is my only reason to go there.  I need to be able to find what I am shopping for.  Displaying by designer like the snooty stores sometimes do makes no sense when I prefer all items of my size sorted on racks by size.  And I've never abandoned my fondness for surprise, the ability to purchase something whose display makes me want it.  Those are fundamental retail strategy decisions which appear as shoppers browse but are made by a few people far removed from those shelves.

Each shopper probably has some blend of uniqueness and commonality.  Judging that probably explains why Costco has a lot of shoppers every time I go there while Target has fewer than the stockholders might like.  I think the DEI explanations are advocates pitching their own social preferences, not professional retailers dedicated to attracting customers.

Wardrobe Update

Years have gone by since I bought dress clothing.  I've been retired going on eight years.  In late employment, I almost never had occasion to wear tailored clothing, and didn't buy any, other than perhaps dress slacks made of synthetics, which I still wear.  My good suit fit adequately for my son's wedding and reception the following year.  I may have gotten invited to one other wedding.  For the most part, I only wear one of my two suits on the Holy Days.  Sports coats come in handy on Shabbos, two for winter, two for summer, and two that bridge the seasons.  The jackets have gotten snug when I button them, though I have almost no reason to button them.  Men at synagogue often forgo their jackets or their ties, though usually not both.  I typically wear a tie, with or without a jacket, because it sets Shabbos as the only occasion where I wear dress clothing.  And I still like the challenge of tying a bow tie, something always accompanied by a sports coat.

In the next month, I will have an event to attend, one best described as casual chic.  Maybe it's time to follow the advice of Abe Lincoln, who stopped at Brooks Brothers in advance of his major public appearance at Cooper Union.  I could alter what I have.  But the price of cheap suits, particularly those made of synthetics, has declined.  I could get suit separates, have a professional tailor do the jacket, the man around the corner alter the trousers, and have some new options for synagogue.  I already bought a new shirt for the travel, a short sleeve blue print on white background that can be worn anywhere.  

Buying clothing of this type has become a challenge.  I fall between sizes, as I have in the past.  Long gone are the Halls of Robert where my parents would take me to get something of polyester.  A man wearing a suit better than the one I was purchasing would put chalk marks on jacket and pants.  Then I would get back into my own slacks and shirt.  A week later a parent would drive me back to try the finished suit on, then never needing any adjustment, I'd take it home.  I would wear it until I outgrew it.  Earning and income and tailored clothing more expected than it is now, I would continue to buy the important items from a men's store.  Less important items would come from Goodwill, then get taken to a very talented nearby tailor if more than sleeve alterations were needed.

Those in-house tailors, or even measurers and markers to send purchases to an independent tailor, have disappeared.  I went shopping recently.  The megamall has a place dedicated to suits.  Their display in no way resembled the wardrobe staples that John Molloy taught American professionals in Dress for Success, now fifty years past publication.  Loud plaid, no.  Muted plaid perhaps, stripe perhaps, solid probably not.  Wool blends have gotten harder to find, as are people who work at the stores.  My default option has always been Boscov's.  I've even had their salespeople measure me, send the work to a contracting tailor, and pick it up.  Service discontinued.  They still have a big selection at a favorable price, though now nearly all synthetics as the fabric. I tried some on.  My usual size too snug.  The size above, not right in the shoulders.  No attendant in the department to measure me or at least tell me to buy a size up or down.  I had the cashier page a person who works in that department.  None came.

Finding a tailor to correct whatever I select poses its own challenge.  In this era of internet and websites, custom tailoring remains a cottage industry.  There are some near me.  Few reviews.  The rational part of me affirms that for as often as I wear a jacket, my current supply more than gets me by.  Have plenty of suitable shirts, ties, and adequately fitting slacks.  I could take one of my current jackets to tailor, see how he does and for how much, then decide on new clothing.  Likely my best option.  Or just use what I have, leave the button open, and accept snug, another rational approach.  Or I could get something at Boscov's and let him alter it. I'd have something that fits.  Versatile, but not wool.  And few places to wear it.  Looking more put together when I really have nobody to impress does not make much sense.

Maybe before the event, I'll have my hair and fingernails done instead.

Shopping Experience

Going to the store was once pleasurable.  When I had little money, there were treasure hunts.  When I needed something, I could find something suitable, then assess if the price justified a purchase.  Now I have ample money but need very few things. And not even want many more things.  My favorites of the various places I lived have largely gone belly up.  Korvette's as a teen, Sears and Venture in my St. Louis time, Filene's, Caldor, and Lechmere in my Boston years.  The Dry Goods, later morphed to Value City as an adult.  Now only Boscov's remains, a regional place rescued from bankruptcy, a place to find a treasure most visits.  And Marshall's and TJ Maxx, and Costco, all places designed to go exploring without a list. Walmart exists, but about to exit from my shopping destinations.

Walmart had been operational for 25 years before I discovered one near me.  Cheap, diverse items.  Nothing great, everything good enough, with a few favorites.  My local store enters with Mens to the right.  T-shirts, sometimes a hat.  Other clothing better at Boscov's or TJ Maxx.  Shoes, they often had my difficult to find size.  Always good enough for maybe three years.  Watches cheap.  Never had better gel pens than their Magnalites, which have disappeared.  Fishing, the place to be.  Unfortunately my last two ventures, one with a single target item, the other more amorphous, at two different locations did not pan out.  For Holiday shopping I roamed every aisle, picking one of a potential fourteen items, which I put back, not wanting only one item.  A short drive from there, Marshall's completed most of my gift purchases, and with a much more visually inviting store staffed by more impressive employees.

While repairing my home, I confronted a major misadventure.  Though some diligence and risk enabled me to complete the task, I could have also done it with a different tool.  Project done, I still considered getting the tool, as it was economical and versatile.  I drove to my Walmart, about nine miles from home, on a Sunday afternoon.  Men's section on the right.  A suitable t-shirt with my favorite logo got the better of me.  I walked onward.  Housewares.  Nothing that I needed.  Jewelry department, nearly empty.  Stationery.  Was looking for a multicolor Flair Pen set with the five colors I use for my daily planning.  They had other colors.  Fishing off in a far corner.  The plethora of rods that once lined a wall were now clumsily stacked in a corner.  Lures, sinkers, hooks not easy to sort through.  I came for a tool.  Its location was not obvious.  After sorting through some automotive products, I arrived at an aisle where DIY enthusiasts might shop for what they need.  Everything stood locked in glass cases.  Screwdriver, hammers, drills.  Everything that would be strewn around my junior high shop class tables needed protection from theft by Walmart.  I found four employees, wearing sky blue vests.  None had the key that would open the locked case where I could see the electric tool through the window.  None knew which colleague had the key.  None looked overly busy, though all declined my need in a polite way.  Finally, a lady in blue vest owned up to having the key.  She showed me the tool.  Box already open, looking like it have been returned by a previous shopper.  I asked the clerk its cost.  She had to look it up on her smart phone app.  Four dollars more than the online price I had looked up the week before when my home project floundered.  I thanked her, as she returned the tool to the shelf and locked the glass cage.  Then I still had to pay for the t-shirt.  I also have my favorite Walmart snacks that my path to the register will force me to cross.  Expensive, not suitably appetizing.

For a single item, I scan and pay myself.  What had been a dozen self-scanners on my last visit there six months ago had been winnowed to four.  Still, there were many fewer shoppers than a year or two ago.  I waited my turn, paid by credit card, insert only, no tap option, and proceeded to my Toyota with my new t-shirt and receipt.

Retailers seem to have a natural life cycle. Great idea to begin.  Customers catch on.  Parking lots fill.  Stores become less clean, hire whoever they can get at minimum wage, become visually less attractive, and as America learned from Sears and K-Mart, can never be too big to fail.  Walmart's founder Sam deserved every billion that he earned.  He provided a visionary shopping experience for customers, though maybe a bit heavy-handed with suppliers.  His proteges learned his Walmart Way, but forgot some of the elements of what the shopping experience in the individual stores should provide.  I do not know if Walmart will descend to K-Mart.  On my road travels, I can always depend on getting snacks there, or replacing a lost item or new battery.  Never big purchases. And in places like Idaho, there are firearms departments to rival Cabela's. It is unlikely though, that I will drive nine miles again to seek out who has the key to allow me access to what I should just be able to pull off a shelf to look at.  There are no unexpected treasures at the two Walmarts near me.  TJ Maxx, Marshall's, and Boscov's, all much closer, leave me more satisfied, even when I exit empty-handed. 

Fewer Hechshers

Seasonal Holiday Shopping.  After decades of doing this, a pattern has emerged.  Wife gets eight gifts, each of three children four.  To make shopping smoother, particularly for my wife, I've created categories.  Each person gets an edible.  It must be in a box that can be wrapped and mailed, though I have wrapped circular jars.  And it must be Kosher.  While the kids may have departed from this, any food that I give must be acceptable to me.

Gift treats come in a lot of forms.  Candy, jellies, sauces, coffee, tea, pastries with long shelf life.  National brands, those from the mega corporations, invariably carry a Kosher certification with a symbol that I recognize.  Smaller producers are less consistent, but kosher options are readily available, though less so this year and perhaps last.

My usual source has been Marshall's which buys overruns and a nearby farmer's market.  Marshall's across from an even larger Costco has an enormous seasonal selection.  I have found many products where I used to expect that Kosher mark no longer have one.  Truly seasonal items like those potpourri of sweets in big container rarely do.  Neither do the regional hot sauces or some of the specialty candies that appear only for the Christmas season.  But what I have found this shopping interval has been the absence of certification from many items I had purchased in prior years.  If it is manufactured in Turkey, the Kosher ID has disappeared in the last year or two.  Belgian chocolates or other sweets sourced in Europe no longer carry an imprint on their box.  Italian edibles, once a sure thing, have become inconsistent.  The Far Eastern seasonal items no longer seem to carry certification. However, for year-round dietary staples, the Rabbi from the Orthodox Union still travels far and wide to inspect facilities.  Down Under maintains their certifications, often regional to New Zealand and Australia.  While there aren't specific African products, they would not be able to sell their chocolate, vanilla, or related commodities to the international conglomerates without attention to Kosher.

So why the paucity?  Over the years, from international sources, I've noticed that products that have Arabic ingredient lists often do not have the certification that the same product from the same manufacturer would have with English ingredient lists.  I often encounter those products in Dollar Stores.  But more recent decisions by the manufacturers to forgo a Rabbi's approval seems more questionable.  I understand smaller producers not wanting to pay inspection fees that international conglomerates would judge nominal, particularly when the Kosher market for those products is small.  The disappearance of what was from the European sweets strikes me as perhaps more a political statement.  

As I shopped, Marshall's had Baklava, Halvah, and Turkish Delight.  Jews happen to like these, as they are sweet and usually dairy-free.  I had never seen Halvah that was not Kosher before.  All products of Turkey or Greece, some of which I've purchased as gifts in previous years.  Same with the Belgian chocolates.  Shells or shapes usually makes a suitable gift for somebody on my list.  Always been kosher until this year.  

Perhaps I am too cynical.  Mass manufacturing processes change as factories become automated.  Maybe the production requires oils or greases or preservatives of animal sources.  But the regional nature of what used to announce itself as Kosher but no longer does, makes me wonder if this is one more global anti-Semitic expression.  Don't sell to observant Jews who are nearly all Zionists.  Or don't antagonize a much larger Anti-Zionist market throughout Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.

Perhaps somebody knows for sure if Kosher has been politically weaponized.

Pesach Shopping

Specialty foods selected, about $160 worth.  Not yet including dairy which has not yet been certified, eggs which Pesach recipes require in abundance, and produce which has a short shelf life.

For a few weeks I have been poring over recipes, some sorted by internet, others from my considerable cookbook collection.  Only two big menus to prepare, the Sedarim which have roughly the same dishes each night, and shabbos Pesach, the times when guests join us.  For all the effort, though, it is the availability of products and pricing that drive the final menu.  Matzoh boxes have become shrinkflation, sold in four pound instead of five pound boxes.  Still discounted, 50 cents for each one pound box after the coupon.  Five pound boxes still exist, but their discount plays out at 80 cents a pound.  I don't think I ever use more than four pounds during the Festival.  Oils are outrageous.  Even EVOO which does not require special certification no longer has discounted brands on the Shop-Rite shelves.  Dates were reduced in price, so I could make Sephardic charoset this year, or maybe both my apple and date varieties.  Turkey half breasts reduced so that becomes the Seder entrée.  Almonds and walnuts purchased.  Nut torte for desserts. Dried apricots too expensive and I did not see Sunsweet prunes so tzimmes for shabbos Pesach will need to be reconsidered.  Jarred gefilte fish unreasonable.  Frozen loaves are a better buy and taste better.  I got two loaves of different brands.  Did not get jarred horseradish.  I think I will grate my own this year, unless I have an unopened jar from last year.  Found a shank bone.  They used to give one to each customer.  Now $4.  I have a turkey neck in the freezer since Thanksgiving, but I really like to have the shank bone on my Seder Plate.   Overlooked chicken leg quarters which are on sale and I need for making soup.  Go back for those, but room in the freezer is currently a bit tight.  Matzoh meal in big package.  I use it all through the year, and it is discounted now.  One jar of fig jam, discounted.  And once a year I buy the evil soda, the bottles with the yellow cap indicating sweetened with cane sugar.  Dr. Brown's a better buy than Coke or Pepsi.  And seltzer, some plain, some flavored.  Mix the plain with wine.  There are many processed foods now, candies, and jellies.  This is the only time of the year when I can get kosher marshmallows, not just with a kosher gelling agent but kitniyot-free for Pesach.  Can't beat that.  And canned orange segments brighten the salads.  I make my own dressings.  Would not even consider Passover cereal, though my family got it as a kid.  And no advantage to matzoh ball or latkes mix.  So my only serious omission was overlooking the chicken parts for soup, which can be purchased later.

A friend plans to shop for her Pesach needs in a larger Jewish town, either at a kosher megamart in Baltimore or a smaller one in South Jersey.  I share her impression that the local offerings have waned a bit since the pandemic.  But I have enough for all meals I need to prepare during the eight restricted ingredient days.  Get chicken parts later.  Dairy gets its certification a few days before holiday.  Trader Joe's has the best price on eggs each year.   And they have premium beef.  And produce at Sprouts or Super G is usually of better quality than what Shop-Rite offers, though priced a bit higher.

A few days off from the markets now that I have most of what I need, then complete the project in the coming week.

Early Shopping

Hanukkah arrives the second week of December this secular calendar year, about average for its occurrence.  Thanksgiving appears almost as early as the American calendar permits.  My children will be joining us, one a long plane ride away, the other a short drive.  That gives me an incentive to get their Hanukkah gifts purchased, made, or otherwise obtained and wrapped before they arrive.  Three people, two female, one male, four gifts each making twelve.  The other eight for my wife can come later.  Not having to ship them allows me to spend a little more on the gifts themselves, as I've always worked within a fairly rigid budget since starting this tradition as a newlywed.  I start by making a grid of three squares.  Then, since I usually acquire a gift or two on summer travels, this year two, I enter them.  Next I decide where to shop.  For this project I like to think about the three people, what makes them unique, what might I be able to get them that they would not purchase for themselves, that stays within budget.  It need not be new.  The Goodwill store has things within holiday budget that would exceed price guidelines new.   And I try to shop at a few places that I would not seek out any other time of the year.

Still, I begin with an overview.  Alas, Christmas Tree Shops that I could depend on for at least one gift each has bitten the dust.  And Target and Walmart not quite right for the recipients.J

I started at TJ Maxx, the one near me, though the Marshall's/Home Goods a little farther afield has a far larger variety of options.  My son is a sports fan, so something with logo, his childhood team, not where he lives now.  Something edible always works.  So does something wearable.  And something for his use in the kitchen, as he grew up as my sous chef.

Daughter likes the interesting.  That will bring me to a Farmers Market, often one trip to Amish country.  Not much for jewelry.  Edibles not worth schlepping across America.  No liquids or sharp things for the TSA to confiscate.

Daughter-in-law likes cats and she likes writing.  And she has pierced ears.  And she has been to a lot of places, far more than I had at a comparable age.

And then wife.  Oy.  She has a birthday a few days before Hanukkah.

So on my first outing at TJ Maxx, leaving empty-handed but with ideas, I learned that I need to increase my budget slightly.  Sports logo stuff plentiful.  Kitchen stuff plentiful.  Cheap jewelry, not the best place to get this.  Unique crafting, a real zero.

My route home, small detour, exposed me to other retailers.  That complex, no.  Burlington Coat, easy to get stuff.  I really dislike the store experience.  Five Below, always good for one thing per person.  Supermarkets?  Not really.  Ulta, perhaps.  Dying mall, no. Lowes/Home Depot, usually good for one gift.  Goodwill?  Not yet.  Farmer's Market?  Already know what I want to get there, at least at the one near me.  Farther, there's a more extensive Farmers Market and a Ross which keep me within budget.

I still have time, but really want the kidlets taken care of before Santa brings up the rear at the Macy's parade.

Barely Looking

Very few things in recent years bring me to my state's concentration of shopping places.  There's very little I need to buy other than replenish food periodically.  Clothing I have in excess, winter and summer, though I just invested in a good pair or New Balance cross-training shoes and a new whiteboard, both supplied by amazon.com.  And I bought new deck furniture from local stores this summer.  For my trip to France I got a new camera online and from local stores two cross chest security bags.  But I need very little in the way of stuff.  Within a few minutes drive I have a Target, TJ Maxx, and Lowes plus a small hardware store that always makes it easy to get the little things for the house that I need when I need it.  Home Depot and Walmart are a little farther.  The best place to buy wine is near the Home Depot, while the best place to buy beer is next to the small hardware store.  I no longer carry a Costco membership.  Eating out is a rarity, and when I want breakfast or a slice of pizza, places a short drive from me are adequate.  

I almost never find myself in proximity of the main gathering of retailers, mostly when I donate platelets.  To be fair, some of the places near there are sufficiently unique and of interest that I consider stopping there before heading home, just a short extra drive from my usual highway entrance.  A Vietnamese market had opened, a place I would tour one time to see what they had.  For sure, things I could not get near me, but very little suitably Kosher.  And there is the region's only Cabela's where much of my fishing supplies come from.  Some off-price high-end outlets, Saks now gone, Nordstrom's hanging on.  A few places to consider eating, hoagie place, milkshake place.  And a Container Store, a place of inspiration though priced above what I am usually willing to spend.

So I had completion of a platelet donation, ending just at lunchtime.  Coffee and Oatmeal cookie in the Blood Bank's canteen satisfied any appetite for lunch, even a good hoagie or cheap but large Costco pizza slice.  Opted for Cabela's, just a brief tour.  I had not been there in maybe a year.  Easy to get to.  Ramp back to highway home just past their entrance.

Not many shoppers in their parking lot.  Entered.  Hunting on the left, fishing and camping on the right, clothing on either side of the center aisle.  I don't need anything, though a sufficient discount would create some interest in another pair of jeans or cargo pants.  No good discounts.  Good deal on Bass Pro Shop logo mesh baseball caps, but I already have a surplus of baseball caps.  Decided not to look at the game fish in their aquarium, nearly all Kosher with fins and scales.  Right face, then continue the perimeter.  If I needed, or even wanted, another fishing rod/reel combo, they had some.  Did not look at hooks or lures at all.  Glanced to my left where they keep the camping supplies as I headed to the door.  Still no interest in lunch, no interest in storage ideas for my home.  Got on highway.

Didn't need anything.  Didn't want anything.

Some Shopping

 

Went to the stores, Shop-Rite for serious and large food purchases and then some early browsing for Hanukkah gifts, which I like to have at least selected, if not in hand, by Black Friday.  Two very different experiences, resulting in relatively erroneous impressions of how voters might respond to their shopping realities, as voting proceeded while I shopped.

Food has definitely gotten expensive.  And for people in retirement like me, counting on our IRAs, their value has headed south while the need to spend some of those funds has moved higher.  Shop-Rite issues a weekly newsprint ad that arrives unsolicited in the mail but is duplicated online.  I read it, note what is on sale, then create a shopping list from it.  Easy.  I also try to create menus for the near future from those ingredients, much like the super chefs of Iron Chef had to make the most of the ingredients mandated for them at Kitchen Stadium.  Not easy, but both manageable and something of a personal challenge.  Shop-Rite puts the items on the front page of their weekly circular right at the entrance to the store, so things go in the cart quickly.  Others things notably discounted go at the end of aisles.  Experience at navigating their store has a big advantage.

Not all items have inflated in price equally.  Produce remains seasonal, despite farming becoming global with fruits and vegetables imported from the Southern Hemisphere whose farming seasons differ from mine.  You still have to get the products from there to here, with transportation now more expensive and less reliable.  So fruits and vegetables still peak with the seasons, reflected in part in price.  Apples approaching season, down tick in price, uptick in menu presence as Thanksgiving approaches.  Meat has gotten expensive, even though produced domestically with animals fed things generated on American farms.  Kosher meat, my personal exclusive for religious reasons, has limited availability, limited selection, and approaching a prohibitive price.  Still I found four chicken breast halves notably reduced.  They come in pairs, but easy enough to re-wrap each individually at home and freeze.  Makes four shabbos dinners if we eat alone.  

Processed foods pose more of a pricing challenge, some explainable, some not so easy to rationalize.  I like making lasagna.  Noodles on sale, frozen spinach economical, block cheese which I shred about what it usually costs, jarred spaghetti sauce cheap and often on sale.  Cottage cheese above budget.  Have no explanation why, particularly when its shelf neighbors sour cream and cream cheese remain within acceptable price range, even discounted one brand each week.  Butter very expensive.  Yogurt with stable price.  Cake mixes discounted.  Staples of flour and sugar, each requiring factory processing and packaging more expensive than I've ever seen them.  Soda eliminated from diet for health reasons but at prices I've not seen before. Yet seltzer, which is flavored rather than sweetened, has shown stability of price across brands.  Interestingly, fish has become my go-to protein.  Now harvested in bulk and packaged at sea.  Sold frozen, keeps forever, just pull a couple of fillets to thaw the day before needed and nature supplies its version of fast food.  Per meal price OK, per pound price has stabilized after an acceleration that predated our current food inflation.  Cookies, cereals, and other items where the packaging has more nutritional value than the product have exceeded what I am willing to pay, though selected items are always discounted by the store each week.  In order to make these, producers create marketing and R & D teams to develop just the right sensory and packaging experience to lure the consumer at maximum price.  To do this, they often assemble an ingredient list that is both extensive and global.  This makes these products highly susceptible to price and availability fluctuations of individual components and the vagaries of transportation needed to get all this stuff to central factories so that all ingredients are available at the same time for production.  These packaged goods prices seem highest of all.  I am sort of at the mercy of mini-challots, now about $5 for a package of six, or three shabbos dinners, though I could make my own.  Alas, my own attempts at mini-challot have not gone well, and probably not worth the effort for a small savings.  

Consumers may divide into two camps.  There are people like me, probably a minority, who adapt their diets to price and availability. This may be the human default, as our hunter-gatherer ancestors really had no other option.  Changing shopping preferences comes as a challenge.  Giving up convenience foods may even generate better health.  And then there are people who like their products, will pay what is asked, and maybe find a whipping boy for their displeasure, be it the store or the elected official, neither of whom is truly responsible, though each is accountable.  Our food inflation exposes oodles about markets and supply.  It also reveals, perhaps, more than we would like about some of us as people and our collective willingness to adapt.

Non-perishable Hanukkah shopping went differently.  My list now totals twenty items with a need to stay within budget and to be able to ship items to remote locations.  While I judged it premature to purchase, there was no shortage of what I could purchase.  As the Eagles are currently undefeated, anything with their logo has inflated, likely based on consumer demand and licensing fees.  But grooming supplies, stationery, stuff with a cat logo, apparel accessories, petty edibles like candy, and things to make the kitchen friendlier seem to have avoided the dramatic price increases so obvious at the supermarket.  

As I approach Thanksgiving, where food splurges intersect with personal traditions, I probably have only a few perishables to add to food obtained yesterday.  I have created the menu and can anticipate the blend of challenge and joy executing it.  That same two weeks, and likely a little more, can be diverted to selecting gifts, thinking about the personalities and likes of the four individual recipients, that will enhance their own festivities without undue extravagance on my part.  

Boscov's Non-Profits Day

Periodically our regional department store Boscov's runs an important promotion.  They call it Friends Helping Friends, and each time I subscribe.  Basically a charitable organization enrolls and sells discount cards for $5 each.  They keep the $5.  Purchasers go to Boscov's on the designated day where they purchase what they want.  The card has three bar codes with discounts of 25%, 15%, and 10% depending on the department of purchase, with some announced exclusions.  Clothing gets a big discount, other stuff less.  And at the bottom of the coupon, the purchaser enters a raffle for a $1000 gift card.  

I need very little, but made a small list.  My nylon parka with its Houston Rockets logo served me well for decades.  Zipper getting difficult to use, but serviceable.  Maybe look at a replacement.  My last black leather belt disconnected from its buckle.  Look at a new one.  I broke my good fleishig salad bowl.  See what they have.  And I have a few airline trips looming so maybe a new carryon case if the price is right.

Stores since Covid have been mostly empty, with people like me drawn to amazon.com or walmart.com or specialty online retailers for furniture.  They don't seem to have as much stuff on the shelves or on display when I roam their aisles, perhaps supply chain issues or perhaps a credit crunch that limits what the retailer can borrow to purchase from a wholesaler.  Salespeople can be hard to find, particularly at Boscov's.  Since this store has registers scattered in the various departments instead of the more common unified checkout, finding a place to pay for what you want to take home sometimes needs some effort just short of a hog call to see who comes.  But I can look at what I want to get, check for defects, make sure most things fit, see what the luggage compartments would be like to use.  And when I shop in stores, I rarely encounter a lot of people.

Yet everyone loves a bargain, even when only the illusion of a bargain.  When I got to Boscov's this time I had to park farther from my customary entrance than usual.  Despite this, I encountered fewer shoppers than expected.  With my coupon in my shirt pocket, I checked the winter coats.  Apparently technology of fashion has passed me by, as my current ski parka remained faithful for decades.  No team logos.  Even nylon with puffy fill has given way to a more canvas-like fabric on the majority of the coats, but I still found some similar to what is being replaced.  Hoods no longer zip off, at least on the ones in my price range.  Pockets adequate.  I picked one in navy, priced at $40 discounted to $30.  Then the belts.  I really liked my infinitely adjustable black belt, but the buckle separated.  I assume they no longer carry them because of similar quality issues.  Boscov's has a sponsored house brand for their clothing, usually a best buy.  My size for a belt is a medium, which they call 34-36 inches.  When I get specified sizes, 34 usually fits better than 36, but for an item discounted to $12 this is a low risk purchase.

My state has a no plastic bag law, so consumers bring their own or purchase a paper bag at the register, or since I usually only buy one or two things, I just carry it out with the receipt in hand, to show the attendants who now monitor the entrances.  No go for Boscov's.  Everything goes in a container.  My coat did not fit in their paper bag, so they put it onto a hanger, which I really neither need nor want, then draped the kind of thin plastic that becomes a smothering hazard over it, much like the laundries do.  The lady at the register stuffed the belt into the plastic, tied the bottom, and I was on my way.  To the car, place the reasonably protected new garments into the trunk, then return to see what's on the second floor, where the discounts were only 15%.   No suitable salad bowls.  Their carryons came in two genres, cheap and expensive.  Even with the discount, the expensive exceeded what I wanted to pay, and the on display selection far less than I had seen in other places and a pittance of what is offered online.  Cheap they had a lot of, but for a single one time purchase, I'd rather spend the extra $50 and only have to buy a small suitcase one more time.  I already know the cheap ones either have something break or be replaced by new technology, which is why I am buying one now, even though I do overnight travel infrequently.  Returned to elevator, then car, empty-handed from the second floor.

So it worked out well.  Hadassah got $5.  Boscov's got customers who got a bargain and might want to come back for something else on a day without discounts.  I got a coat and belt.  And Boscov's reinforced its reputation as the last department store that is not part of an international conglomerate.  It still has a presence unique to our community and its shoppers.

Buying Stuff

Need a few things, could use a few others.  With that in mind, I drove to Walmart which seems to have the best price on methylcellulose pills which one of my doctors recommended I ingest two each morning.  I saved a bit over Walgreens, though would have gotten a better price purchasing in bulk online.  Still, with 200 tablets, I should be good through the end of the calendar year.  My supply of fleishig utensils has dwindled.  Walmart seemed a good place to boost the supply.  Their offerings came in two genres, a house brand for minimal cost and Oneida at more significant cost.   The packaging allowed me to touch the metal which was better with the established brand but not three times better.  Yet it lasts forever.  Deferred the purchase.  Later in the day I looked at what Boscov's offered.  Only name brands, three of them.  Oneida too expensive.  Pfaltzgraff an excellent price and reasonably sturdy.  Farberware, my go to for cookware, seemed a little flimsy.  Deferred purchase.  Look online for better price on Oneida.  I have a special guest coming and really need to upgrade the fleishig flatware.  

Some air travel on the horizon.  With the cost of checked baggage approaching excessive, and the TV travel swamis all advising packing light, it seems time to replace my deteriorating carryon.  I looked at what Marshall's had.  And now Walmart.  They come in hard and soft.  If I carry them, they should avoid harsh baggage handlers tossing them to each other while Sweet Georgia Brown plays in their background.  Soft sided allows better cramming.  However, the selection of hard plastic cases exceeds those of soft options, so there must be a reason for this imbalance.  I looked at each.  Some had very low prices, probably for a reason.  Swiss Gear and American Tourister had higher prices.  It's a one-time purchase, with three airplane trips anticipated within the coming twelve months, so getting a known brand may be wise.  I opened a few.  Soft ones suit my packing style better, but maybe my packing style is really as dysfunctional as the experts on TV imply.  Looked at Boscov's later.  Again, divide by costly and cheap.  Once I know what they look like, I could go back online and pick one.

Can't go to Walmart without looking at fishing.  Fall lends itself to some peace and quiet at a pond, even if the fish don't find my lures edible.  Nothing that I wanted to get.  Came home, though, with a poncho to keep in a nook in the car door and with some creme filled chocolate cupcakes with kosher certification that I probably should never eat.

For the most part, if I really need something, it's probably better to get it online as long as the total price exceeds the free shipping minimum.  This may be why there aren't a whole lot of people at Walmart or Boscov's and the amount of merchandise on display seems less than it once was.

Forgot Shopping List

As inflation boosts prices, I've gotten to a more purposeful trip to the grocery about once a week.  The weekly ad arrives at midweek.  I read it usually the day it comes, marking what I want to get and what I might purchase, then create a mental sense of what I might like to do with what I bring home.  On Sunday, the ads from the circular take effect, so I log onto the Shop-Rite site and mark onto my electronic card what coupon requiring goods I might like the shopping card to recognize.  Then pick a day to go there.  Before I go, I return to the circular, putting what I am definitely planning to buy, including things I need not in the weekly ad, onto the left column and the maybes into the right column.  And so I did.

When I got to Shop-Rite, though, I had left the list on the kitchen table.  I could have gone home to retrieve it but took my chances at letting visions of the products on the shelves prod my memory.  Turns out I did very well without the list in my personal possession.  Only missed one item on the must list and considered all from the right column.  Not bad.  And I didn't deviate a whole lot from what I had intended, though a reduced half turkey breast is hard to pass up even if it forces me to make something else bulky from the freezer for shabbos.  I now purchase with what I plan to use it for in mind.

Hot dogs on sale.  Didn't need them as I already have some but they last forever.  Vegetarian beans on sale, not part of circular, but now I have two, maybe even three suppers.  No lettuce, always throw it out.  Yellow squash becomes accessory to shabbos dinner.  Scallions and red pepper and cucumber become salad for shabbos dinner and beyond.  Pretzels and corn chips become munchies.  My new desk lamp from IKEA could use a modern LED bulb, also on sale.  Added a multivit to correct borderline low iron on my last lab results.  Won't neglect the GI investigation but it gives me a fighting chance of returning as a regular platelet donor.  Some berries and Luigi's Water Ice for pareve desserts.  Everything purposeful, but sale price directs the purpose.  Best way to go in time of rising food prices.

Contemporary Retailing

As I get older, retired, and transformed to an empty-nester, not only do I need very little but much of what I already have is surplus.  Need for dress clothing minimal.  Need for food less than I purchase, as my scale recently confirms.  Yard care contracted out.  Don't know how to use the electronics that I already have.  At one time I liked to putter around the stores to see what's there, or during Covid peaks, as an excuse to put myself someplace other than My Space.  More recently, I shop for groceries, keep up with medical maintenance, and get what I need for the personal pleasure of gardening.  When I exchanged seasonal clothing, I made note of a few replacement items, knew where to get them, and got them.

Partly to find a cooled place in devastating heat, partly to get me out of the house, I gave myself tours of some shopping centers, a regional anchor mall, a local Farmer's Market that rents space to small independent merchants, and two general merchandise places nearby that I used to tour and usually found a thing or two that I didn't really need but deceived myself into thinking I wanted.  Not at all as I remembered the mall and discount department stores, Farmer's Market much intact.

At the mall, once the modern Main Street gathering place that had to put limits on teenage access, traffic was pretty minimal.  Some stores in prime shopping time had entrance barriers, either about to be closed by their parent franchises or unable to find enough sales clerks.  How many mattresses can they really sell?  How many jewelry stores does it take to make all unprofitable?  Macy's bunched their clothing by brand.  I don't shop for brand.  If I need a shirt, show me all the shirts, like Amazon and Walmart do.  Only the Apple Store had significant interest, and even there much less than what I remember.  As I popped into a few places, the clerks, mostly school age kids funding their degrees or their cars a few bucks at a time, seemed eager to greet anyone, even somebody like me that might be of their grandfather's generation with little interest in style.  Most of the hallway kiosks had been abandoned.  There's not enough massages or cracked screen demand to justify the mall's fees.  If I really need anything, or even want anything that I don't need, Amazon is a much more efficient way to explore.  Now that covid has kept us home, we don't need to spend money to impress anyone with our style or hint at how much discretionary money we have.

It's hard to demote places like Ross Dress for Less or Big Lots.  I nearly always find a baseball cap or kitchen gizmo or discounted snack that I shouldn't be allowed to eat, which I purchase.  Not this time.  Inventory diversity has largely tanked.  Ross still economical, Big Lots not at all.  Even the Farmer's Market, dependent on niche presence, has lost traffic.  I assume the Spanish-speaking people will seek out the Hispanic market, and I'm a sucker for the two Chinese stores that sell discounted kitchenware and tools.  I found just the right sunglasses to slip over my glasses and bought two clamps to do a home project.  I cannot imagine the very attractive Western store really selling those ten gallon hats and cowboy boots and sterling belt buckles to the mostly lower income people who stroll by.  I just don't see any of these things anywhere in the places I frequent, so the store must be a display for a mail or internet commerce presence.  Price of pizza slices went up above what I was willing to pay.  Other places with food somehow do not display a health inspector's report.

Both at the high end and at the low end, stores are less of a destination than they once were.  Though I don't need or want anything, there probably are still people who do.  Just not those things from those sources.

Use It Up

As grocery prices become annoyingly high, though fortunately for me still within my means, some of the irrationality of my selections appeared.  I can no longer squeeze all the frozen items into my freezer.  With shabbos dinners made in bulk and marked down Kosher meat too good  a bargain to overlook, I will not have to add to shabbos dinner possibilities for a couple more months.  As much as I like preparing elegant meals, they are really all targeted occasions.  The rest of the suppers come from quick meals.  Fish is really nature's fast food.  They come mostly in packages of two servings.  Easy enough to thaw a tuna steak, put the other one in a freezer bag.  Vegetarian phony meat, when on sale make quick suppers as do fish sticks.  They take up room, though.  Whole chickens and turkey half breasts make multi-meals, usually shabbos or even for our rare guests but occupy a lot of freezer space.  And I have my specialties:  spinach lasagna and macaroni and cheese in the manner of Horny Hardart.  Not fast food at all, but each good for four meals, including two taking freezer space.

A request from the USPS to supply food to the local food bank took me to my pantry.  More pasta than I will use, canned beans which I will eventually use, single serve applesauce that will be there a while.  Rice and barley last indefinitely.  Packaged couscous in its various forms supplements shabbos entrees.  Baking is a pleasurable hobby, but it comes in -spurts.  Cake and brownie mixes have gone on sale faster than I can use them, so a couple of these went to the food bank.

The Iron Chef always started with an ingredient that became multitasked as a reflection of the guest chef's expertise.  I probably ought to do less shopping but have a more immediate destination for anything I get.  Apples on sale become Apple Walnut Pie.  Bricks of cream cheese at 99 cents each should become cheesecake the same week that the bricks are purchased.  Frozen vegetables become spinach lasagna before occupying excessive freezer space. I need to change my thinking from what's a good deal to be used some day to what would be a good meal before my next trip to the megamart.

Replacing Stuff

This week I accumulated something of a petty shopping list, as things have broken or gotten used up.

1. Flossers:  To get myself to habitually floss after tooth brushing, I've replaced extended floss with individual flossers.  This has kept me on track 100% of the time.  They come in packets of 60-90 either from the Dollar Store or Shop-Rite.  They travel well.  But every few months they run out
2. Bread: Usually no shortage, though in anticipation of travel I used up virtually all that I had.  As part of my weight control initiative, a very successful one, I've gotten more selective about what bread I purchase.  Trader Joe's offers the best, either pumpernickel or sourdough as the sliced bread, a package of bagels, a package of English muffins, and occasionally pita, with mini-challot for shabbos that they discontinued so I now have to get someplace else.
3. Coffee Creamer: My desire to lighten coffee has gone through phases.  Milk works well but has a short shelf-life.  Sometimes I will get heavy cream for something else and splash the leftovers into coffee.  For a long time, I would get liquid creamer which lasts a long time.  I like the flavoring, don't like the pre-sweetening.  What has worked best for me has been powdered creamer which I can get at the Dollar Store.  It lasts a long time.  In a pinch, I will save a packet or two of powdered creamer from an airline or fast food and store that, but Dollar Store seems to offer the best combination of price, convenience and utility.
4. Lasagna Pan: I forgot to oil it, leaving a burnt on coating that even steel wool could not remove.  Cleaning it became more trouble than it's worth.  Just get a new one.  Measured it as 9x13 inches.  There are 10x14 inch options, but I think commercial lasagna noodles seem to be cut for the smaller size.
5. Headphone: These cost about $5 each and break.  I sat on my current pair.  The earpiece coating dislodged, which I glued back.  However, it was the side that remained intact that no longer transmit sounds.  Do I need them?  While ear buds tend to be my preference, earphones with a microphone work better for Zoom sessions.
6. Coffee Pods: I like to have two different kinds, even though I have plastic baskets that will allow brewing in my Mr. Coffee ersatz k-cup machine from any bulk ground coffee if it's not too finely ground.  Now that I am a Costco member again, I get a good buy on bulk coffee as the daily baseline.  The second often comes from the Shop-Rite promotion the week I am there or from the Christmas Tree Shop which discounts boxes ranging from 42-96 pods depending on brand and flavor varieties.  For Melitta cone or French press I will treat myself to higher end bulk coffee.  For K-cups, I go cheap.
7. Redeem B&H Gift Certificate:  I received this for my birthday.  After puttering on their site episodically I decided to redeem it for a movie camera costing just the right amount, applicable to my desire to try creating a YouTube presence.  I went to redeem the gift card and the camera I had my sights on disappeared from their selections.  I'll give it another go next month.

Shopping Rounds.  One and Done.

Hard to Find

We used to have 5 & 10 Cents stores, WT Grant, Woolworths, Kresge's, all gone or absorbed into larger entities.  If you needed something, they had it.  The closest we have now are neighborhood hardware stores, perhaps, but most of our errands get done at mega stores, from groceries to home maintenance to big discounters.  They have a lot of things on display though rarely those petty items you buy infrequently or at low cost.  I needed, or really wanted more than needed, a few items this week, either not finding any or struggling to find something ideal.

Being a newly dedicated treadmill walker, my ankles and calves started getting sore.  I cold use some soothing liniment, maybe a generic BenGay. Lidocaine infused potions with markups reflecting their medicinal value appeared regularly.  At one time I could get a tube of muscle rub with just oil or wintergreen or menthol at a Dollar Store.  No more.  Not even the more chemically supplemented standard BenGay.  The best I could find was a juiced up generic BenGay with a lot more than pleasant fragrance for a lot more than a dollar.  I bought a tube.

I have two grooming locations, the bathroom next to my bedroom and the powder room downstairs.  I keep hair preparation at each, though not the same stuff.  They come as aerosols which I have as plastic bottle sprays both places but metal aerosol only upstairs.  Some require wet hair, which I keep upstairs as that is where I shower.  For the dry hair, there are cremes like Brylcream, greasy kid stuff like Wild Root, and liquid Vitalis.  Ointment stuff downstairs, liquid upstairs.  I wanted to get an ointment for upstairs but those classic cheap hairdressing like the barber offers at the end of a haircut don't seem to be on anyone's shelves.  There's expensive stuff like Crew or Panama Jack, those trendies, but not a bottle of Wild Root or tube of Brylcream to be found.  

I bought some hand sanitizer, a liquid rather than a gel.  It came with a pour bottle but would do better as a spray.  So I looked for a couple of spray bottles.  I know they exist, because the barber uses them, home cleaners like 409 have them, they are used to spray plants with home designed nutrients.  But none at the Dollar Store or a few other places.  I could have bought some spray cleaner at the Dollar Store, emptied and cleaned out the bottle, and then I would have one.  I found an old one in a closet at home, already empty, and used that.

Facial tissues used to be more commonly used than they are now.  I have a crushed box at home.  Hotels offer tissues in dispensers, sometimes part of a wall unit, sometimes as a free standing metal or plastic container.  No luck finding one of those.

All these items exist at Amazon.com but since they are small purchases, the shipping cost exceeds their value.  I will just use the final dry hair dressing downstairs.

Making Shop-Rite Purposeful

An expedition to Shop-Rite.  $176, the most I have spent at a single outing other than Pesach acquisitions.  To be fair, 10% of that went to a 42-count box of omeprazole and the cart overflowed primarily due to deluxe packages of paper towels and toilet paper.  Most everything else was on sale, with my only real splurge a container of kosher-certified good parmesan, something useful and hard to find sometimes.  And there is also what I did not get.  No yogurt. Other than Shop-Rite brand, which they did not have, yogurts have all gone Greek style.  Not that I object to Greek style, but I think $1 a container exceeds what I am willing to pay.  No squishy bread.  Pay a little more for the good stuff at Trader Joes and eat less.  No soda.  Gallon apple juice on sale, goes great heated and spiced. And ration on snack food.

Basically, as I pushed my cart through each aisle I thought partly what's a good buy and partly what might I do with it.  Big sale on poultry.  An Empire chicken cut up would supply the Doro Wat I've been meaning to make.  Turkey half-breast might last until Thanksgiving, but it makes an easy shabbos dinner.  Chicken leg quarters make great soup followed by stir fry.  I got a lot of fish.  Great salmon steaks reduced by half, repackaged to single pieces for easy dinner.  Gorton's fillets on sale, easy dinner.  Frozen tilapia perfect portions, easy dinner.  Tabachnick soups, easy accompaniment.  Pierogies, easy dinner.  Lasagna on sale, though the spinach and cottage cheese I need for it was not.  Macadam's chunk cheese which I need on sale, got two.  Frozen phony meat, easy dinner.  Frozen vegetables on sale.  Might live out of the freezer for the next two weeks.

As I used to beat on patients for dietary discretion, my own downtick in weight with little effort started with how I approach the supermarket.  Ban potato chips and commercial cookies.  Restrict bread.  Do my own baking.  It starts with the supermarket.  Now I seem to be moving past weight control to enjoying my kitchen and what I can do in it.  Everything I bought I can turn into a meal, mostly good meals, with reasonable attention to the time needed and the post meal cleanups.  This also starts with the supermarket.  Won't have to go back for a while, except for perishables, whose purchase I minimized.  The merger of better nutrition, more enjoyable meals, and a little extra time to do other things not related to food.

Bored and Prosperous

Covid-19 has greatly diminished the number of places we can go.  For much of the spring I would go to a state park, fishing gear available, and have some solitary time casting into the pond, reeling back and calling it a day when my line snaps after the hook latches onto an immovable object.  Or I planted my garden.  As the summer became more humid, air conditioning became more essential, though I made two trips downstate to the beaches.  More recently chores, not the moving ahead type, have gained traction.  I edited a book for a friend, repaired a driveway crack, and sent my July and August tzedakah donations on time, all productive things and transiently satisfying, but all done at home.  I needed to get away, and do when I go to Shop-Rite or Trader Joe's.  I have no interest in coffee shops, dining out, or picking up a slice of pizza or a hoagie for lunch.  I tour Boscov's, TJ Maxx, and Marshall's near me, sometimes the New Castle Farmer's Market, but like Georgy Girl, I'm always window shopping but never stopping to buy.

My fortunes may have changed this week.  I needed a putty knife to repair the driveway.  Best price and easy was the Dollar Store, which has remained open since the start of the pandemic as they sell food.  Not being in a hurry and knowing where they keep the putty knives, I leisurely traversed each aisle.  Total charged to Visa:  $21.   Other than the two putty knives I didn't really need anything.  But it's school supply orgy.  I had to get multicolored pens, ball point and liquid gel styles, I can never have enough ear buds that break within a month but for $1 they break no faster than those from Five Below for $5.  Needed some flossers, saw bandanas, two for a dollar, that would make for adequate Covid-19 protection, or at least not get me thrown out of places.  I can be a real sucker for Dollar Store snacks.  But in keeping with attention to weight, I limited this to one box of granola bars.  No creme filled cookies, chips, candy.  Interestingly, a lot of the lower priced edibles that I would expect a hechsher did not have one, like sugar wafers or boiled peanuts or some of the mincakes.  No loss.  I also did not pick out a birthday card for my son, but I still have time.  What they offered for 50 cents or a dollar just did not match my concept of what the recipient might find amusing.

Shabbos came and went, followed by a productive Sunday morning at home.  I needed to get away again, this time opting for Walmart.  Wending my way through the aisles, starting with mens wear, I came across Phillies and Eagles logo face masks, sold in packages of two for $14.  I could use a new face mask, and was planning to go back to Boscov's soon to get one that looks like a cat's face for $5.  I really don't want to spend $14 on myself for something like this, but since I am visiting people in St Louis soon, I would be willing to spend that much on a gift that they cannot find there.  Later, I found masks ordinaire, $4 for two, which I bought for myself.  I'm a sucker for back to school but more restrained since retiring.  I started recording at the end of each day three favorable occurrences on the back of my daily plan.  Maybe it would be better to record this in a marble notebook.  For 50 cents I can't go wrong.  And I got a dozen pencils too.  I looked at expensive stuff, taking a liking to desk chair but I did not see a price or an unopened box.  I don't need a desk chair.  I don't need to replace my keurig maker, but if I did, they had one for a good price.  They also have the best price on licorice, one strawberry, one black.  Walmart's probably a better place for me to bring a credit card than Total Wine.  I feel a little more fulfilled knowing I could get anything I wanted but restrained in what I chose to buy.