Thursday, September 14, 2006

What a Ripoff!!!

About a month ago, I was at WalMart and discovered they sold cheese curds. Now, in Canada, you could buy these and I absolutely loved them. Everywhere I have been, I have looked for anything similar but to no avail. They were quite popular in New Brunswick. I used to get them at the Foire Brayonne (excuse the poor translation from French to English!) festival every year.

Well, I was excited that WalMart was selling cheese curds, but shuddered at the price of a package - an 8 ounce package cost $6.99! But, I was willing to pay that, as I had not had these in a LONG time. I was a bit disappointed when I tried it; it wasn't the same as the stuff I grew up with, but it was good nonetheless...not $7 good, but good.

Well, a week or so after that, a friend and I (and all our kids) went to Topeka for the morning and stopped at a place called Grandma Hoerner's. They have some incredible applesauce there (it's candy applesauce - made with "red hots" candies - YUM!) and other great products, made right there on the premises. I noted that they sold the same cheese curds that I had purchased at WalMart...only Grandma's price was $4...same size package.

"Hmmmmpfh", I thought. I'll have to come here if I want more. WalMart ripped me off!




Today, we went to Alma. This is the home of the famous Alma Creamery where they make, you guessed it...those cheese curds. I wasn't expecting much, since the prices seemed so high. And you know what I discovered? WalMart is MAJORLY ripping people off! The creamery sold the curds for $2.50 a package. YUP. FRESH, too. So WalMart's taking over 100% markup. And I thought they were "where prices are ALWAYS low"...yeah, right. I also picked up an 8 oz package of cheddar cheese crumbles (great for salads) for only 99 cents. While it's not the CLOSEST place to us (about 15 miles away), I will definitely make that a regular trip - hit the Alma Creamery, Grandma Hoerner's, and the little winery in Paxico. Worth the trip for the gourmet foods, wines and freshest cheese around!

4 comments:

rennratt said...

Which section (in Wal-Mart) were the curds in? I nearly live there (sad, huh?), and have never heard of them.

I must find out what you are talking about.

When you lived in Maine, did you ever camp at Macdequac in NB? (pardon the spelling...)

Anonymous said...

I don't like cheese so I can't imagine sticking a CURD in my mouth....but I think that, yes, Wal-Mart rips us off A LOT.

:)

Sue said...

Geez, I can barely remember the cheese curds, haven't seen them in a dogs age....but Walmart, SOME things are good deals. OTHERS -- not so much...as in anything else you have to know what you are willing to pay for an item and I can bet that like you....some were willing to pay that amount -- at least once :) Love YA and Miss YA

Anonymous said...

Okay, now I feel like I'm really missing out on the whole cheese curd thing! Never had 'em before.