# Where to find mincemeat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833 "2006-08-23T00:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/1 "2006-08-23T00:53:13Z")
I can’t seem to find American style mincemeat anywhere. When I was younger, we used to get Grandmother’s brand, that was available all year long. Now all I can find is a small, expensive Irish import that doesn’t seem nearly as thick and chunky as Grandmother’s is. I’ve been to Whole Foods, Trader Joes and all of the local (Boston area) grocery stores and I get told they either don’t carry it or only at Christmas. I’m really craving Racheal Ray’s Curry in a Hurry, which requires it, so I’m really want to find it. I tried googling it, to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/2 "2006-08-23T01:49:08Z")
> [@gfloyd](#): > > I can’t seem to find American style mincemeat anywhere. When I was younger, we used to get Grandmother’s brand, that was available all year long. Now all I can find is a small, expensive Irish import that doesn’t seem nearly as thick and chunky as Grandmother’s is. I’ve been to Whole Foods, Trader Joes and all of the local (Boston area) grocery stores and I get told they either don’t carry it or only at Christmas. I’m really craving Racheal Ray’s Curry in a Hurry, which requires it, so I’m really want to find it. I tried googling it, to no avail. My local grocery stores carry it year round in the baking aisle with all the pie fillings and the like. (I think it’s Grandmother’s brand, too.) My e-mail address is in my profile. If you want to figure out some way for me to ship you some, e-mail me. (It will NOT result in Curry in a Hurry, however! How about Curry in a Week Or So?) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/3 "2006-08-23T02:23:47Z")
What exactly _is_ mincemeat? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/4 "2006-08-23T02:28:25Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > What exactly _is_ mincemeat? From Epicurious’s food dictionary: A rich, spicy preserve made of fruit (usually chopped cherries, dried apricots, apples or pears, raisins and candied citrus peel), nuts, beef suet, various spices and brandy or rum. Old-time mincemeats included minced, cooked lean meat (usually beef) — hence the name. Most modern versions do not use meat. The ingredients are combined, then covered and allowed to mature for a month for the flavors to mingle and mellow. Commercially prepared mincemeat is available in jars in most supermarkets — particularly around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mincemeat can be used in many dishes including pies, tarts, puddings and cookies. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/5 "2006-08-23T02:58:30Z")
**gfloyd** , what are you going to do with the mincemeat. I’m just curious; I’m not with Homeland Security or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/6 "2006-08-23T03:09:18Z")
A few [English brands](http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=mincemeat&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=online&sa=N&start=0) are available. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/7 "2006-08-23T03:30:35Z")
Um, you’re in New England, right? Go to the baking aisle of nearly any Market Basket/DeMoulas and look on the lowest shelf. They sell it in jars and in boxes. I don’t know who makes the brand that’s jarred but Borden makes the boxed variety. Where in MA is there a Trader Joe’s? I’ve yet to encounter one in my travels. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/8 "2006-08-23T04:01:27Z")
Completely irrelevant trivial bit of info: Grandmother’s (brand) Mince Meat was originally manufactured in Natick (MA) all the while that I was growing up there. They’ve since closed the factory and turned it into condos. From the [Natick Historical Society’s website](http://www.natickhistory.com/business.html) : “Natick has had several food companies. Most notable is the Whipple Company established in 1899 by Harrison L. Whipple. Most famous for its “Grandmother’s Mincemeat” it was started in the back room of Mr. Whipple’s grocery store on North Main Street from a recipe of his grandmother, Mrs. Thomas Tuttle.” So that’s what happened to your mincemeat, **gfloyd** ; someone is living in it. ---
**Author:** ![Analogue\_Skywalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Analogue\_Skywalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Analogue_Skywalker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/9 "2006-08-23T04:01:55Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Where in MA is there a Trader Joe’s? I’ve yet to encounter one in my travels. Cambridge MA Mass Ave Central Sq right by corner of Portland and Mass. if memory serves ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/10 "2006-08-23T11:44:34Z")
We never did go to Market Basket. I just don’t like the ones near me, as they rarely have everything I want, so it didn’t cross my mind. I’ll check today and feel much the fool then, but I’ll have my mince meat, so I’ll be happy. What do I use it for? Well, as I mentioned, making Curry in a Hurry. It uses mince meat and curry paste to make a very good tasting, if not authentid, dish. My old Irish grandmother used to make what she would refer to as mincemeat, which was a layer of mince meat between two thin layers of pie crust, baked and dusted with powdered sugar. My mother makes it sometimes, but is down to her last jar and isn’t happy about it. They stocked up at Christmastime. If you live in New Hampshire, the closest Trader Joe’s might be the one I frequent, which is in Tynsbough, across the the Pheasant Lane Mall (so it’s in Nashua for all intensive purposes). There is also one right off 128 in Burlington, MA, near the mall. ---
**Author:** ![Mithril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mithril/32/3517_2.png) [@Mithril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithril)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/11 "2006-08-23T13:14:09Z")
> [@Analogue Skywalker](#): > > Cambridge MA > Mass Ave > Central Sq right by corner of Portland and Mass. if memory serves Also one on Mass Ave in Arlington, and another on (I think) Memorial Drive in Cambridge - where that big computer store is whose name I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/12 "2006-08-23T14:46:07Z")
Last fall - probably in October - I was looking for mincemeat. Oh, I remember - my wife’s family is Canadian, so we were having a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner and I wanted to make a mincemeat pie. I went to, like, six grocery stores - nothing. No one had it. Everwhere I asked, they said they only carried it from mid-November through Christmas. :mad: I guess the Southerners around here are not known for being that fond of mincemeat. Or being fond of Canadian Thanksgiving, maybe. I would have ordered it online somewhere, but I waited until the last day to look for it. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/13 "2006-08-23T17:17:53Z")
My late mother-in-law would make a huge batch of old-fashioned mincemeat, with pulled beef, for the church rummage sale every year. People stood in line for the quart jars, and they’d be gone as fast as the cash could change hands. She always kept a couple jars for mince pies at Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/14 "2006-08-23T17:58:04Z")
> [@Mithril](#): > > Also one on Mass Ave in Arlington, and another on (I think) Memorial Drive in Cambridge - where that big computer store is whose name I can’t remember. That one is one of the three in Massachusetts that sell “two buck Chuck”. [Here’s a list](http://www.traderjoes.com/locations/search/MASSACHUSETTS.asp) of all the Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/15 "2006-08-23T18:03:20Z")
The Stop and Shop in Brigham Circle (Boston) has it, last time I checked. They do NOT keep it with the other pie fillings. It was in the – let’s see – frozen kids’ toys made of meat aisle, as I recall. It was pretty intuitive to find it. Not. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/16 "2006-08-23T18:04:37Z")
Cross & Blackwell (Canadian?) used to make mincemeat in a jar. Been years since I shopped for it - I’m the only one in the family that would eat it (English Grandmother). I got it at a chain called “World Trader”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/17 "2006-08-23T20:09:24Z")
Do you mean [this](http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/3584481.html) kind of mincemeat? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/18 "2006-08-23T21:11:07Z")
… > [@me](#): > > This year I am thankful for… > > …the fact that this nutso season will eventually end. > > So last night after work I decided to go shopping for just plain everyday groceries. While there, I decided to pick up a few things I’d need for Turkey dinner, so as to spread the misery out over a few days instead of concentrating it all into one day. I decided to initially address the problems of pies and sauces. So I hunt for cranberries first. Produce aisle? Nope. Frozen food section? Naw. Seafood? Hey, you never know. But no. > > But seeing as I was already near the baking aisle, I decided to hunt for the elusive and cunning mince meat filling. Aha! I’d found the pie fillings. Let’s see–pumpkin, coconut cream, apple, lemon. No mincemeat. Banana, orange, lotus blossum, motor oil. Still no mincemeat. Blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, snozberry, huckleberry, tomsawyerberry, prune. Prune? Yep. Prune. A far cry from mincemeat. But yeah, prune. > > So I decided that the aisle had beaten me, and that I’d go crawling to customer service for help. After waiting in line for the cigarettes-for-paychecks crowd to clear, I finally approached the almighty service wench. I triumphantly bellowed my noble request: “Mincemeat pie filling?” She looked at me as if I had made my request in Venutian. I decided to switch to English and annunciate my request more clearly. “Mince. Meat. Pie. Fill. Ing?” The unoiled cogs in what passed for her brain slowly began to turn, albeit slowly and with great grinding sounds. “Miss me pie fielding?”, she chawed like the bovine she was. “Mince meat”, I replied. “Oh, OK”, the answer finally dawned on her. “Bakery.” At last, an answer I could use! I spun on my heels and set a course for the, uh… > > Bakery? Wow. It became clear that this was to become a quest of epic proportions. I felt like one of King Arthur’s knights, set out on a holy quest for suety goodness. > > I turned back to face the customer service dragon. Raising my shield and drawing my sword, I spoke a magic incantation to the fell wyrm: “Miiiiiiiince meeeeeeaaaaat piiiiiiiiieeeeeee fiiiiiiilllllliiiiinnnnnggg.” The beast parried with a Phone of Slaying, and spoke these foul and devish words: “Ramon to customer service. Ramon to customer service. Ramon will know what you’re talking about. Ramon knows all.” > > A strange hush fell over the store. I was about to be visited by Ramon. Apparently this was a singular honor. Mere mortal customers rarely had the good fortune to elicit a visit from the Great Ramon. The very rocks whispered that Ramon could find anything. If they had it, he knew where it was. I’m betting he could even locate prune pie filling, by gum. Angels sang. The heavens opened and beams of Holy Light shone down upon me. The Almighty Ramon had at last arrived. > > I have to say I was a little disappointed. Ramon was maybe five foot nothing, weighed maybe 90 pounds soaking wet, and was a little–well, weird looking, ya know? I swear his teeth were made out of masking tape. > > “Mincemeat pie filling?” > > That’s what I asked. Or thought I did. Ramon’s masking tape teeth curled in a quizzical expression. Oops! Silly me, from his expression I had accidentally asked for the recipe for plutonium. I decided to rephrase: “Mincemeat pie filling?” The great Ramon deemed to bestow on me the wisdom of the ages. In his deep, reverent, and yet somehow whiney voice he intoned the following magical phrase: “Miiiinz meeeeen pyyyyye fleeeeeem.” > > Things were not going well. > > Utterly defeated and humiliated, Ramon surrendered and called over the store manager. “This man is looking for miiiinnnzz… uh, this man needs help.” > > I once again made my request, this time to the store manager. His answer was “Ah, of course, right this way. Wow! I know something Ramon doesn’t know!” He was positively beaming. He led me back to an aisle I’d seen before, and proudly pointed to–you guessed it–prune pie filling. > > “Uh, sir?” I asked. “I tried that once already. It didn’t work that time, either.” I could tell he was exerting all of his psionic powers to get the prunes to transubstantiate into mince meat. Let’s just say it wasn’t working out spectacularly. > > So he called for Ramon and asked him to bring forth the Holy Tome of Jarred Goods. While we waited, I asked the manager where I might find the cranberries. Yes, I like to live on the edge. “What kind?” asked the manager. “Fresh. Or frozen. Doesn’t matter.” > > Apparently I had stumbled across the magic phrase, the mystical glyph of evokation. The manager lit up like a firefly and said “AHA!”, or “Eureka!”, or “Pass the ketchup, my back itches!” I really don’t remember, because I was distracted by my quarry. Following the manager’s pointed finger, I saw, there through the cobwebs, guarded by Shelob the Giant Spider, on the bottom shelf, two dusty jars of miiiinz meeeeen pyyyyye fleeeeeem. At long last! My lovelies, I have found you! I swear it was only three feet to them, but my running for them may have resembled my running across a field towards a lover, my arms outstretched, in slow motion, with sappy Burt Bacharach music playing. > > Victory! > > As we headed for the cranberries, I decided to check the expiration date on the jar. It may well have gone bad in 1942, after all. But good news. The expiration date read “OCT/14/2007 11:26.” Now, I don’t know if that’s AM or PM, but I’m willing to take my chances. > > At long last we reached the cranberries. Or so I thought. We were in the snack food aisle. He pointed out the Craisins. You know, raisins made from cranberries. For a moment I mulled over the possibility of reconstituting them in water so I could make a sauce. But no. Bolstered by my recent coup over the pie situation, I decided to press on. “Fresh?” I asked. The manager apologized and led me back to the produce aisle, from whence my quest had originated. And there they were. Cranberries. Bags of them. Cleverly hidden behind the mince meat pie filling display. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-find-mincemeat/369833/19 "2006-08-23T23:50:52Z")
Victory is mine! Okay, so I am a little excited, but I found some. I only had to go to two Market Baskets to find it, but I did. They had three different brands, a variety of flavors, including my favorite Grandmother’s brand. Thank you all for helping me. Curry in a Hurry for dinner tomorrow 🙂 .