WE WENT PASSOVER SHOPPING

We have now shopped in three different stores for Passover goods. We went to Pathmark in Englwood, NJ, and we went to Brach’s (a kosher supermarket) in the Five Towns of Long Island. In between, we also picked up a few items in a Waldbaums in Queens.

There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that we scored free matzah- twice in fact. What we are going to do with ten pounds of matzah no one knows. Especially as we tend to mostly eat Shmurah matzah only. Hmmm, maybe we can donate the matzah!

The bad news? Prices, prices, prices! We have compiled a list of five different meat items and checked with different friends who shop in different stores. Everyone seems to be groaning at the increased cost of kosher meat. One baalah bustah informed me that she picked up a roast and when she saw that it was marked $75, she put it back down again- real fast! We bought two smallish roasts this week, and they averaged about $45 each. Usually, up here in the Northeastern quad of the USA, we can also score almost free turkeys this time of year. Not this year, apparently. We did see one store selling Empire turkeys at 88 cents per pound. So far that is the cheapest price we have seen.

Back in the good news department: We always have trouble figuring out which way to cut certain roasts. So this time, we asked the butcher to show us which way to cut it. He suggested that next time we are not sure which way to cut, to just go ahead and do one slice. Taste it. If it is tough, it was cut on the wrong side. Sounds good to us! No more tough million dollar roasts at our table!

Brach’s in the Five Towns had a huge display of Hollywood brand safflower oil for Passover. We much prefer not to use cottonseed oil (it is really not good for you), peanut oil and soy oil are not options, and olive oil is not good for baking in a cake! Grapeseed oil is probably the best, but it is hard to find around here. So, safflower it is. And, as we said, Brach’s had a tower of them!

Passover cakes remain one of the great mysteries of our time. How can they sell a cake three weeks before Passover and it is still fresh for the holiday? Just how much preservative do they put in those $20 cakes? Oh, wait a minute- we have tasted those cakes: With most of them who would know if they are fresh or not??

It is hard to remember how little there was to buy for Passover when we were kids. Now it seems that we can almost have it all- even for Passover. And why not? But, as always, shop with your wallet in mind!
(RJR)