Almost a year (!!) ago, I posted about Keswick Price Chopper and their substandard meat. I was very, very annoyed with the store in particular and the whole Sobey’s response in general. A refresher look at that post can be found here.
Anyhoo, over the course of the year, our Price Chopper was re-invented as FreshCo. The store is nicer, brighter, cleaner and has a much better selection of products. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that they now accept internet coupons and price match (and beat it by $0.01, to boot), but how is the meat? In the grocery budget of a carnivore, meat is one of the most expensive areas to shop. But it is also one of those areas where QUALITY is a MUST. So, when I shop (for anything, but particularly perishables) I’m concerned with QUALITY and VALUE. In comment to my previous post, Kyle,who runs the FreshCo Keswick meat/deli department agreed with me that Price Chopper meat was crap, but said that their new supplier under the FreshCo brand was MUCH better. And he invited me to give it another try. A couple of other people also posted that they were happy with the meat purchased there.
So, this weekend I did it. And because I am a girl who believes in second chances (unless you hurt my kids, burn a book or f*ck with my chocolate – then there are no second chances, just a world of hurt ) and I am also a girl who believes in comparing apples to apples, I once again bought their stewing beef (price matching Metro, of course *grin*). And I once again went to Wal-Mart and purchased their stewing beef (price matching all the way). And last night I opened them up to divide them into packages for the freezer (because honestly, who eats ten pounds of meat all at once – blech).
Wait for it.
I. Was. Disappointed. Again. Dammit FreshCo and your false promised of quality and value. I really hoped and believed that it would be different this time. But no. The stewing beef I bought from your store that day was dirty with fat. As it had been when I purchased from Price Chopper. And ironically, the beef I purchased from Wal-mart, mecca of all things fat and American (one-in-the-same?), was lean and beautiful. Curses! But, you do not have to take my word for it. A picture is worth at least a couple of expletives – so, here is the photographic evidence:
FreshCo:
Wal-Mart
Now, before anyone gets jumpy, I bought more meat from Wal-Mart than I did from FreshCo, and these pictures were taken after ALL of the packages had been processed. Two trays from FreshCo and three trays from Wal-Mart. And that huge PILE of fat is from the two trays, while that itty-bitty scrap of fat is from the three Wal-Mart trays. Both packages claim AA or greater quality. The price per kilo is approximately two dollars cheaper at FreshCo, but you can see how much fat that you are left to deal with, which probably negates the price savings. Just for shits and giggles, I decided to weigh the waste. Here it is (imperial and metric – we’re all-inclusive around here!):
So, there it is. Disappointed again. Wasted time and money again. While 4.5 ounces of meat does not equate to huge monetary loss, it is a loss, and it does equate to my having to spend much, much more time in food prep in order to not fill my family’s bellies with all of that extra fat . 🙁
And for those of you who do not give a flying banana about meat and are just searching for FreshCo Keswick’s hours, I’ll post them, because I too know the pain of pulling up to a just-closed grocery store. And I’m here to serve. Because I’m super nice that way. FreshCo Keswick’s posted hours of operation are:
Monday to Friday – 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday – 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Overall, FreshCo is still a fairly good place to shop and if you know their price matching and coupon policy and use it to your advantage, you can boost your grocery budget by shopping there. I think it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway, because I love the sound of my own voice ;)) that for my family, I will continue to purchase meat elsewhere.
What about you? Any grocery store experiences? Warnings? Raves? Give us the head’s up!
P.S. If you’re not following along on Facebook, you’re missing out on some Keswick Blog musing.
P.P.S. We’ve also been known to Tweet on occasion – join in!
Yuck! Sorry you had another bad experience with the meat there.
Lately I’ve been avoiding the local Food Basics due to their ridiculously long line ups. Happens every time I go in and I hate waiting 20 minutes to “run in” and grab something simple (first world problems).
Also they don’t carry fresh herbs like basil (!) and cilantro.
LOL…sounds kinda shallow when I type it out. But it bugs me. 🙂
I know – Fresh Co meat was so disappointing (again)! Oh well, as I’ve been reminded before, live and learn (and it is becoming painfully obvious that I need to learn the same lesson a couple of times over before it ‘sticks’ – LOL!)
I hear you about Food Basics. They seem to choose odd times to schedule only one or two cashiers. I have limited my visits there as well. Oh – and kind of sort of related, a fellow who works in the meat department told me that he won’t buy FB meat and that he goes to Costco for his meat. I don’t think that I’ve bought meat at FB since. Good grief, my meat-shopping options are getting slimmer (although, somehow, I am not!)
And no. That doesn’t sound shallow to me at all. It bugs me to no end when stores that I shop in don’t have what I’m looking for on a regular basis. Especially when the things I’m looking for are not out of the ordinary or particularly exotic. Or, maybe I’m shallow too *grin*
Have a great one!