I gotta get myself to the eye doctor. I swear for a moment I thought your friends had ironic air purifiers.
mmm
I get the oddball jams and jellies at Vermont Country Store - worlds cheaper.
GermanDeli.com also ships in the styrofoam coolers, I have a bunch of different sizes from past orders.
I used to have an account with American Frozen Foods, we already had a good upright freezer and our saleshuman didn’t push anything on us. Reasonable quality food, at the time the local Agway was selling bulk frozen fruits and veggies [this was more or less pre BJ’s wholesale clubs back in the early 90s] They had excellent customer service - I wasn’t happy with the red snapper, it was a bit fishier than I expected and they traded it for something else with no problem . They also had prepared entrees, but I prefer getting the IQF meats and veggies and making my own.
What I like about this type of service [and I have heard people discussing it with the Omaha’s] is that it is portion controlled. I like very rare, hubby likes burnt to shoe leather, this way we don’t have to subdivide a steak, we each get our own.
How should I phrase this? For some people, you want a consumable gift. It can be awkward if the gift outlasts the recipient. Having to go to someone’s house and box up a bunch of stuff for disposal is no fun. I kind of do an actuarial calculation in my head and say, “Twelve filets, be gone in two months, maybe three, That’ll do it.”
It’s not the taste, it’s the name, and the visions it conjures up. Walking along the white sandy beach, big green waves rolling in, clambakes and lobster, and maybe picking some of those little plums…for people who want to, but will never get to go on vacation to Cape Cod, at least they have a jar of jelly made from the plums that grow there.
Might I interest you in the Billfish Nursing Home Bananna Gift Program? Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, three fresh ripe banannas will be delivered to a friend, relative, or other beloved one at their nursing home residence. Through the use of our state of the art obituaryscantronic software we guarantee that no more than three unused banannas will be delivered. If you sign up for our golden provider program we will not charge for any unused banannas.
There used to be (maybe still is) a business that advertised as a meat delivery service in the NY area. You’d order meats and those frozen vegetables, but you had to buy a lot in a minimum order. They’d deliver right to your house. But since the order was big, you needed a freezer, which you could buy from them. Turns out selling freezers was their primary business. You didn’t have to buy a freezer from them to buy the meat, but they were selling commercial quality freezers at a price substantially above the price of a typical home freezer. They had a variety of long term financing options and service contracts. The meat was a break even business for them.
Every year at Christmas I always get gifts from a lot of the specialists in town, sort of a “thanks for referring to us” thing. While they’re rarely personal, some are very nice. (I especially like the ones who send bottles of wine, because none of my colleagues drink.)
But others send these horrible candy gift boxes. They’re usually about $5 worth of shitty candy in very fancy-looking (but ultimately cheap) packaging. And because I get the same catalogs they get, I know that they’re exorbitantly priced.
I always think of what bourbon they could have bought me for the same price. “This cheap aluminum sled full of Ghirardelli chocolate squares cost the same as a bottle of Basil Hayden’s.” But they persist because all the specialist’s office manager has to do is submit a list of names and addresses and a credit card number and Christmas is taken care of.
I’d say OS gets a lot of its business the same way. It’s an easy gift to give when you don’t really want to put much thought into it.
These were called Food Freezer Plans, and were popular all across the country in the 1950s. A 1954 USDA report said they “offer more convenience than economy … purchasing frozen food by the plan resulted in little or no saving when compared with retail store prices.”
I guess having a “deep freeze” was enough of a novelty at the time that people didn’t question the need for a commercial unit. There weren’t consumer advocates all over the place, either.
Dear Lord - THIS!
If you are ever tempted to send someone a box of “Ribbon Candy” just pick up the phone and tell them you hate them. The end result is the same and you’ll save a few bucks (also applies to cheap-ass chocolate you get at Piggly-Wiggly for $10).
This whole thread is nothing more than casual interest for me, because i’m a vegetarian, but it seems to me that i could have come up with something close to this list without even tasting the meat.
A 10oz Wagyu boneless strip steak from Lobel’s is $63.
A 24-26oz Peter Luger USDA prime dry-aged strip steak is $55.*
An 11oz Omaha Private Reserve strip is normally about $50, and is currently on sale for $37.50.
A 10oz Lobel’s Natural Prime boneless strip is $48.
A 12oz Allen Brothers Dry-Aged Boneless sirloin strip is $47.50.
A 12oz Niman Ranch Prime boneless strip is about $38.
A Lobel’s 10oz USDA Prime boneless strip is $34.
A 10oz Omaha Boneless Strip Steak is usually $20, and is currently available for $15 (4 for $60) on special.
Basically, the only steaks in the list that don’t fit with the price=quality hierarchy are: the Omaha Private Reserve strip, which is close to $50 ($37.50 on special) for an 11oz steak, and is also at the bottom of the list; and the Luger, which is relatively cheap (on a per-pound basis) but is at the top.
As i said, i’m no meat expert, but i’m also not especially shocked that meat costing around $100 a pound is generally in the Highly Recommended list.
- Note the size. Luger seems to specialize is massive cuts, unlike the other retailers listed. I don’t know enough to say whether or not there is any tradeoff between size and quality in cases like this.
Omaha.
Conjures up Marlin Perkins sending sidekick Jim off to get eaten by a lion, or eaten by a chimp, or eaten by a gazelle, etc.
I wonder just what type of meat is really in those coolers.
Yes, they do have them.
At work, I am continually amazed at how many people have mink/fur coats, pretentious handbags, etc. Then again, since I’m in business to fix shoes I’m totally OK with their status symbol accessories that they pay me to keep in top condition.
For certain ethnic and socioeconomic groups such displays of wealth are still important.
Nah, they had the prices, and it didn’t fall into a price listing. Here’s the list with prices:
Highly Recommended
Lobel’s Wagyu Boneless Strip Steak ($68/lb)
Niman Ranch New York Steak ($22/lb)
Coleman Natural Boneless Strip Steak ($14/lb)
Peter Luger Strip Steak ($29/lb)
Recommended
Lobel’s Boneless Strip Steak ($34/lb)
Allen Brothers Dry-Aged Boneless Sirloin Strip Steak ($35/lb)
Generic Supermarket Choice Boneless Strip Steak ($10/lb)
Not Recommended
Omaha Boneless Strip Steak ($25/lb)
Omaha Private Reserve Strip Steak ($45/lb)
Omaha steaks are trash, absolute garbage. Their burgers are okay…their filets, ribeyes and strip steaks are awful. I would never buy their crap again.
ETA: Already asked and answered.
Fair enough.
I just realized, too, that i used the wrong Niman Ranch steak. I used the boneless strip in my list, but i should have used the Porterhouse, which is considerably cheaper on a per-pound basis, to conform to the original study. I missed this because the Niman Ranch website has no listing for “T-bone,” and in Australia, where i grew up, the term porterhouse is rarely used.
Also, the Coleman Natural website does not seem to list cuts of beef, just packaged items like hot dogs, pork ribs, chicken breasts. Does Coleman still sell steaks?
I live in Omaha, and drive past the headquarters of Omaha Steaks on my way to my office. I buy all of my meat at a small butcher shop three or four blocks from there. Even the local grocery stores all sell better meat that anything Omaha Steaks can send.
I love (hate) the vans that drive around selling frozen meat. Had one accost me in the driveway in Florida asking “do you like good food?” and other such BS, wanted to sic the dog on him. Back here in Baltimore, it’s Capitol Meats and they’re even more aggressive , had one come on to my construction site and accost my volunteers, dropped his steaks in the dirt! Bet he sold them later.
If I could find a local farmer that did that, I would be all over it. Beef cattle ranches are somewhat rare in Los Angeles.
I have heard that the way to get the most awesome beef ever is to win a 4H auction on a whole cow, and have it butchered. Problem is I haven’t been able to find one of those around here either.
Well shucks… this made me laugh so hard my John Deere hat fell off. I live in one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, and it happens to be in Indiana. There is a $50 million dollar performing arts center a few miles from my home… I guarantee you that there are more mink (or sable, or chinchilla) coats than down parkas around here. Our downtown has more art galleries than tractor stores. At least 6 that I can think of in few blocks in a town of roughly 50,000. I can be at the Bentley/Rolls dealer within 20 minutes from my doorstep. I know more people who drive Porsches than Chevrolets. Go to your nearest mall (including the Mall of America) and look and see if it mentions the name Simon… if so, they (the owners) live in Indiana. Ever use voice mail? The guy who invented the technology for that lives on my way to work in Indiana (his house has been featured on MTV Cribs)… right across the street from the house/estate owned by the Lucas family… as in Lucas Oil Stadium… it is just down the street from where Jimmy Irsay lives… he owns an NFL team.
Saying that “absolutely nobody has them” may not be totally accurate. I don’t own either, but I would guess I know more people with minks in Indiana than own down parkas. Actually, I just remembered… my wife has a mink that her mom passed down to her… I don’t think she has ever worn it, but she has one… doesn’t have a down parka though.
Sorry for the hijack… we’ve never purchased Omaha Steaks (we can get wonderful Prime beef at a local butcher) but we have received some as gifts. They were ok, but the dry ice was the best part.