It seems the Grocery Embiggen Ray, the antithesis of the Grocery Shrink Ray, has struck Safeway Select ice cream and they’re offering up a whole two quarts, just like ice cream makers used to all do back in the old timey days. [More]
supermarkets
Potentially Boozy Kombucha Drinks Drive Whole Foods Yank
By 6.18.10
Whole Foods has removed all kombucha drinks from its shelves over concerns that it might contain elevated levels of alcohol. The supermarket was worried that, to paraphrase the great poet J-Kwon, “errybody in the fermented culture club gettin’ tipsy.” What’s kombucha, you ask? And why does the process of making it remind me of a certain Capri Sun pouch? [More]
Arby's Is Expanding To Supermarket Shelves
By 6.15.10
Although the Arby’s spokeswoman who talked to the website Nation’s Restaurant News wouldn’t give specifics, she confirmed that in the near future you might see “packaged Arby’s items” in your grocery store. Sadly, it looks like these will be food items and not giant foam hats. [More]
New Billboard Smells Like Steak, Sort Of
By 6.7.10
If you find yourself driving down River Highway in Mooresville, NC this summer and suddenly smell a vaguely steak-like odor, don’t worry, you’re not having a stroke. You’re passing by the billboard for Bloom, a supermarket chain that’s owned by Food Lion. The billboard went up last Friday and poots out a charcoal-and-pepper fragrance from 7 to 10 a.m. and again from 4 to 7 p.m. [More]
Customer Says Supermarket Sold Rotten Chicken With New Sell By Date
By 5.18.10
A woman in Brooklyn has accused a local grocery store of slapping a new “sell by” sticker over an expired one in order to unload some old poultry that was past its prime. [More]
Eat Organic For Cheap
By 4.19.10
Organic food is pesticide-free free of unorganic pesticides and saves baby unicorns from exploitation, but darnit if Whole Foods ain’t a pricey pack of provisioners. But there are ways to buy organic and still be frugal. [More]
Do You Trust Gas Stations To Self-Inspect Their Pumps?
By 4.14.10
Pennsylvania is considering privatizing its Bureau of Weights and Measures to save money, reports CBS affiliate KDKA. This would mean gas stations would be responsible for making sure their pumps gave out the right amount of gas, and supermarkets would take over the certification for their deli scales. A consumer advocate calls this a “fox in the henhouse situation” that would make cheating far too easy. [More]
Food Tampering Craze Hits Calgary As Copycats Join In
By 4.5.10
Maybe Calgary’s residents didn’t like being eclipsed by the Olympics, or maybe there’s just an awfully high number of bored crooks living there. Either way, the city has now reported 11 cases of food tampering, mostly involving shards of metal inserted into food items, in grocery stores across the city since January. [More]
Zero Nutritional Difference Between Campbell's "Healthy" Tomato Soups And Regular, Just Higher Price
By 3.5.10
A new ABC7 investigation shows Campbell’s “Healthy Request” and “Low Sodium” tomato soups contain the same nutrients and exact same amount of sodium as regular tomato soups, but they cost more. “Eek! Waiter! There’s a scam in my soup!” [More]
39% Of Bagged Salad Is Gross, Some Has Poop
By 2.25.10
As we told you earlier this month, sister pub Consumer Reports tested 208 bagged salads and found 39% had excessive bacteria, including fecal contamination. That means there’s poop in the greens. And now there’s something you can do about it. [More]
Is It Okay To Switch Out Eggs At The Supermarket?
By 2.24.10
Zachery says when he goes to buy a dozen eggs, he wants to make sure he’s not paying for any bad ones, so he opens the cartons and switches them out. He says a fellow shopper told him this was illegal. Obviously this fellow shopper is an idiot, but I thought I’d post Zachary’s question anyway just so readers can share their own supermarket QA methods. [More]
Ever Eat Chocolate Collon?
By 2.1.10
More prawn udang crisps? How about some Chocolate Collan? These and other exotic delights can be found in Steve Portigal’s Museum of Foreign Groceries. Zipping around the world as a product consultant, Steve snaps pictures of kooky food packages from foreign lands and uploads them to this Flickr set. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a craving for Pringles, Wild Consommé flavor.
Museum of Foreign Groceries [Flickr]
Whopping Salmon Savings At Albertsons
By 1.8.10
Charles spotted this fantastic salmon sale at Albertsons, which is aimed at those who take the phrase “a penny saved is a penny earned” to heart. The sign maker may as well have labeled it “Buy 399, Get One Free!” [More]
Giant Supermarket Wants To See Your Receipt After You Get In Your Car
By 12.23.09
Big box retailers checking receipts is old news. How about getting the suspected shoplifter treatment at a supermarket instead? Even better, how would you like having a security guard knock on your car window, and tell you that you’re on private property when you tell him you don’t have to show anything? [More]
You Must Buy Candy At Checkout
By 12.10.09
A group of candy makers, publishers, and others threw down some cash on a study to find out what the big impulse buys are at checkout counters. The not-so-surprising results: candy topped the list, at 30% of all purchases. Hey, it’s their money. [More]
Consumers Permanently Downgrading Brands They Buy
By 12.9.09
A new McKinsey report says that a large number of consumers who are switching to cheaper brands during the recession are switching for good. Of those surveyed, 34% said they no longer preferred the costlier products. 41% said that although the liked the better stuff, it wasn’t worth it anymore. Have you downgraded during the recession? Is the switch for good? Leave your thoughts in the comments. [More]
General Mills To Axe Product Lines, Won't Say Which
By 12.4.09
General Mills announced a chilling statement as it announced it will spend $24.1 million in restructuring expenses this quarter. [More]
Free Groceries Outweigh Coupon Shame
By 10.27.09
Impatient fellow shoppers huffing and puffing behind you are a small price to pay if it means free groceries. Slate dove into the world of hardcore couponing to uncover the secrets of the coupon all-stars. For instance, do you rock the Catalinas?
