in memoriam: to be (dis)continued

i seriously hoped i’d catch a break after leaving champaign where it seemed, especially in the last year or so i lived there, that every new or newly-discovered food product that i ended up loving ended up being discontinued or simply not stocked/carried anymore where i shopped. there was the bbq ketchup, the hot mayo, the basil and pine nut tofu, the cheese bread, the spinach and artichoke rigatoni, the unos pizza (frozen). . .i can’t remember what all else.

since consuming things there are no longer in code, that have long passed their “use-” “best-” or “better if used by” dates has never been an issue for me, provided the item wasn’t a store specialty (i.e., something they made in house), i’d wait a couple weeks and then start hitting hard the big lots, aldis, or dollar generals hoping that the discontinued stuff would come in, allowing me to stock up on the stuff i no longer had access to. so yeah.

some time ago i ran across this no-bake dessert bar mix at the walmart on north ridge and the stuff was amazing! holy cow! 3.76 a box but it tastes just like a reese’s. being that it’s not technically a reese’s combined with the fact that it’s more expensive and involves more prep time than a regular old reese’s made it that much better. i picked up a couple boxes then, no-baked them, consumed them and went back for more thinking that if they were most excellent when prepared as recommended, they would be that much better if i added to the mix ground espresso, caramel, butterscotch and so on. they were even more excellent then—but to my mind adding ground espresso to anything (pecan pie, marinade, frosting, etc.) makes it better, adds depth, flavor.

the first time i encountered the empty shelf on north ridge, i figured (more than this, i hoped) that this was a good sign. the shelf tag was still there, so i guessed it was just a popular item. the second time i encountered the empty shelf on north ridge, the shelf tag was gone and i was not feeling so optimistic.

having spent the past three or four months checking everywhere (target, small grocery stores, dollar general, online places) for the mix, i was getting to the point of acceptance. then again, maybe not, as i had one box left and wasn’t going to use it till i had stocked up again.

so yesterday i went to the walmart on 40 to return a phone and figured that i would make the pointless run down the food aisle that has the cake mixes and frosting. nothing. but then, right in front of the phone section, on a shelf that looked like it might be clearance-y, i see them. eleven or twelve boxes in all. i load up the front, "for child" part of my cart. noting that the mixes were all “better if used by” the end of oct or start of nov, i began thinking that however great it might be to spend 40-some dollars on the mixes, it would be more excellent still to spend 20-some dollars on the mixes since they were out of code.

lesson one: finding someone to both eager and willing to help you at walmart is not as hard as i had suspected.

lesson two: just because the whole out of code thing isn’t an issue for me doesn’t mean that’s true for others--especially when they know you know they know they are selling you food that's out of code.

so, after telling me that the mixes were “too past code for them to feel comfortable with the idea of selling them to me” (note: and this was at any price apparently, cause i would have happily paid full price--or even more than full price--for the mixes at that point), they thanked me for helping to clear the stock off the shelf, apologized for the inconvenience and sent me on my way.

i was so close—eleven of them in the front of the cart and all. driving home i counted off the months on my fingers: nov. dec. just two? that’s really not that out of code.

and now i’m sitting around waiting for betty crocker to respond cause my mom is always telling me to get involved, to voice my opinion, that people won’t know how you feel or what you think unless you speak up, that maybe writing letters or making a phone call can change things. i emailed general mills this am to inquire about the mix and their plans to market it again. in my email i mentioned that i am not the only one (not based on what i’ve found on myspace) who felt strongly about the deliciousness of the product.