# Is there anything more difficult to find in a grocery store than Velveeta? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383 "2017-04-13T15:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/81 "2017-04-14T20:31:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Great sauce - not BBQ, but spicy black pepper smokehouse. So peppery and smoky? I’m trying to get a sense here of the flavor. It sounds like a peppery barbecue sauce. (I’m not trying to be a dick–I’m just trying to figure out what is meant here by the description.) ETA: AH, nevermind. I ordered it so I’ll find out soon enough. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/82 "2017-04-14T22:28:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My wife was baking a cake recipe she’d found in some gourmet magazine, which featured gold and silver “balls” as part of the frosting, made from fondant and [dragees](https://nuts.com/images/auto/510x340/assets/cf18382892823cfe.jpg) (a.k.a., the little gold and silver BBs that you used to put on Christmas cookies when you were a kid). Thank you. We now could all be one step closer to winning Final Jeopardy, if we could [dredge](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dragee) [up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag%C3%A9e) the answer in time. This all is an enjoyable trip, [Velveeta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velveeta) onward, through a 10,001 item supermarket, and I have been wondering when we would meet [Herb Caen](http://www.chicoer.com/article/ZZ/20140111/NEWS/140119498). For those reading this revived thread in 2032, or if our [shelf life](https://www.reference.com/food/shelf-life-velveeta-cheese-abdda9dcfec167ef) is longer than Velveeta’s, [here](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Herb+Caen%22+Velveeta) is a perhaps still-valid link. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/83 "2017-04-14T22:44:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So peppery and smoky? I’m trying to get a sense here of the flavor. It sounds like a peppery barbecue sauce. (I’m not trying to be a dick–I’m just trying to figure out what is meant here by the description.) > > ETA: AH, nevermind. I ordered it so I’ll find out soon enough. 🙂 Bwah-ha-haaaa. It’s a tasty hickory smoke sauce with a heavy hand on the black pepper. No sugar or molasses or such. No tomatoes. Just brown, smoky, peppery goodness. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/84 "2017-04-14T22:56:54Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Bwah-ha-haaaa. > > It’s a tasty hickory smoke sauce with a heavy hand on the black pepper. No sugar or molasses or such. No tomatoes. Just brown, smoky, peppery goodness. OK. I do a barbecue sauce that sound somewhat like that, though I’m guessing not quite as peppery. I’ll be curious to check it out. Was something like $15 with shipping and handling, but it does say “barbecue concentrate” on it, so hopefully it’ll go far. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/85 "2017-04-14T23:00:36Z")
It’s pretty intense stuff. I use about a quarter cup with oil and other stuff to coat chicken or tri-tip. A jar should see you through at least four or five recipes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/86 "2017-04-14T23:09:02Z")
I’m looking forward to it, being a black pepper lover. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/87 "2017-04-14T23:49:18Z")
I considered starting a thread like this several months ago. There are several items that I often have trouble finding. 1. Lard is sometimes in the refrigerated case with the margarine and butter but sometimes in the same aisle as the Crisco and vegetable oil. 2. Jars of ice cream topping (hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, etc) are sometimes in the ice cream aisle (or at the end of the aisle) and sometimes in the candy aisle and sometimes in the baking aisle and sometimes in none of those places. 3. Honey is sometimes with the sugar and molasses and sometimes with the pancake syrup and sometimes neither. 4. Bouillon cubes should be in the soup aisle, but often aren’t. 5. Cans and jars of sauerkraut are sometimes with the canned vegetables and sometimes with the pickles and relishes. The plastic bags of sauerkraut are in a refrigerated case but good luck guessing which one. 6. Candied fruit and dried figs and dates should be with the raisins (if you’re lucky enough to find the raisins) but often they’re off in some random location you’d never think of looking in. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/88 "2017-04-15T00:20:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > ETA: AH, nevermind. I ordered it so I’ll find out soon enough. 🙂 Damn the both of you. So did I. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/89 "2017-04-15T00:20:17Z")
Coconut oil doesn’t live with all the other oils. It prefers snuggling up with the popcorn on the other side of the store near coffee. One big store had all its gluten free food in one section near the door. Very convenient; I could shop really quickly. Then the store was rearranged and the gluten free food was scattered all over the entire store. I changed stores. And I’m still looking for capers. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/90 "2017-04-15T00:42:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Damn the both of you. So did I. 😃 Any additions to silenus’s curated hot sauce collection for 2017? That Yellowbird Serrano sauce has become my default hot sauce. (At first, it was their habanero, but over time, the green one grew on me.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/91 "2017-04-15T01:15:13Z")
Last year I added Dexter Holland’s [Gringo Bandito](http://gringobandito.com/index.php#News) to the rotation. It sounds like a vanity sauce slammed together to satisfy a musician’s whim, but Gustavo Arellano devotes a healthy amount of pages to it in his book [Taco USA](https://www.amazon.com/Taco-USA-Mexican-Conquered-America/dp/1439148627). Good stuff. I still live on the Yellowbird Hab though. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/92 "2017-04-15T05:58:36Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > The Velveeta at my store is on an endcap by the dairy case next to the yogurt. I only know this because I buy yogurt almost every week and I stand there by the Velveeta display while deciding what yogurt flavors to buy. > > Someone upthread mentioned Hershey’s syrup. It’s with the tea and hot cocoa between the coffee and cold cereals at my store, because that makes perfect sense. > > I had an adventure just today trying to find baking soda. I figured it’d be in the baking supplies aisle with the flour and sugar. Nope… it was in with the oils and vinegar and salad dressings. 😕 I only found it because the bright orange box caught my eye. Maybe the stocker only knew baking soda as what you add to vinegar to make volcanos. Or clean sinks. Thus, like peanut butter and jelly, they should be shelved together. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/93 "2017-04-15T13:47:25Z")
I’ve gone on Velveeta quests, I use it in mac & cheese too. I once found it sitting high atop the meat counter (not even on a _shelf_, just on top of the display case). It couldn’t have been more randomly placed. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/94 "2017-04-15T14:01:51Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Was something like $15 with shipping and handling… Amazon has it for about $25 a six pack. > [@silenus](#): > > Damn the both of you. So did I. 😃 Bwah ha. And ha. Happy to have the stuff around to suggest. It was a lesser world while it was gone. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/95 "2017-04-15T16:42:46Z")
> [@Whatever4](#): > > \ And I’m still looking for capers. Look with the pickles and olives… at least that’s where I find them. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/96 "2017-04-15T16:57:57Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Amazon has it for about $25 a six pack. The best I found was $27 for a 3-pack, and I didn’t want three. Plus there were shipping charges on it, and mine was $15 inclusive. The six pack I can find is $50. I just wanted the cheapest, single bottle I could find. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/97 "2017-04-15T17:01:29Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The best I found was $27 for a 3-pack, and I didn’t want three. Plus there were shipping charges on it, and mine was $15 inclusive. The six pack I can find is $50. I just wanted the cheapest, single bottle I could find. It comes and goes in pricing. I buy that, and boysenberry jam, in six or so packs and the price varies from around $3-4 a jar to $YuckFoo, sometimes within days. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/98 "2017-04-15T17:15:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > We need an app for this. > > Seriously. > > Home Depot’s web site tells you if an item is in stock and gives the aisle for a specific store. > > Big grocery chains should do the same. > > An App that let you choose the store. Enter cereal. And it says aisle 3A Lowes stocks the Velveeta next to the spackling paste. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/99 "2017-04-15T17:57:39Z")
Store cashier here. I know where everything is, mostly because I know the category of every aisle. Our standard answer to “Where is (whatever)” is “If we have it, it’s in aisle (whatever).” If I really know where it is (about 50& of the time), I give very concise directions “A silverware tray? Aisle 2, in the back on the left.” It’s very impressive, and I used to wonder how people did that. In other words, get them in the aisle. They’ll probably find something they’ll want to buy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383/100 "2017-04-15T17:59:23Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I had an adventure just today trying to find baking soda. I figured it’d be in the baking supplies aisle with the flour and sugar. Nope… it was in with the oils and vinegar and salad dressings. 😕 I only found it because the bright orange box caught my eye. Yeah, that makes no sense because who puts oil or vinegar in their fridge to eliminate orders? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-more-difficult-to-find-in-a-grocery-store-than-velveeta/784383.md?page=6)