Saturday, November 13, 2021

Mrs. HM Has A Bone To Pick With The Chicken Salad

You might recall that I used to get the chicken salad sandwich from Country Mart's cold deli section. It came on a croissant, with a side of grapes. Mmm. It was delicious. Then I didn't see it for a while. I bought their croissants in a four-pack from the bakery section, and made my own chicken salad at home, out of baked boneless skinless chicken breasts, to eat with red grapes I bought at Save A Lot. Still delicious, but not exactly the same flavor profile.

Mid-week, before I returned for deli salads and was highly annoyed with the slacking deli workers, one of whom gave me the stinkeye for no reason... I again found my chicken salad at Country Mart! Only it wasn't on a croissant. It was in a container with grapes and apple slices.

 
I glanced at the price, which was $7-something. Fair enough. A Dairy Queen Honey BBQ Chicken Basket is $6-something. A Whopper Meal is $10-something. This chicken salad would make two generous sandwiches on the croissants I already had. So I bought the chicken salad.

When I got home, I put it in FRIG II. The date was good for three days, and I had two salads that I was planning to eat for the next two days. When it was time to open and eat my chicken salad, I tore off the label to get the lid off.

Wait a minute! That chicken salad meal was priced BY THE POUND! The cost of the chicken salad was $8-somehing per pound. Do you notice anything fishy here? I did NOT have almost a pound of chicken salad. I had some chicken salad, and SOME HEAVY FRUIT! 
 
The salads are not priced by the pound. In the section of the label marked WEIGHT, it's listed as "1". As in 1 unit. Which I think this chicken salad should be. All the containers have about the same amount of chicken salad. The fruit may vary a bit. I think there should be a standard price for a tub of chicken salad with fruit.

Oh, I'd buy it again. I just think their method of pricing is akin to the Devil's Playground shooting their meats full of saline to increase the weight.

No. I do not plan to raise chickens again, and pluck and butcher them to make my own chicken salad.

7 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

You can file a complaint with the state Dept. of Agriculture. My husband used to work for the Weights and Measures division. This is the sort of stuff they check out.

River said...

I also think there should be a standard price for the salad and fruit combo. Are you sure you don't want to go into the chicken plucking business? Farmer H could sell the excess chickens at his storage locker, bags of feathers too for pillow stuffing, or maybe for tarring-and-feathering those who might steal from the sellers there.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
Oh, no! What if my chicken salad is taken away FOREVER! Or what if somebody finds out I'm the whistleblower? I might get SILKWOODed! If you still haven't see the movie "Silkwood," you need to take some time out of your couch-lying, bon-bon-eating sessions and do so! It's NOT something you could show the students at school!

***
River,
Heh, heh! I have no doubt that Farmer H could find a way to sell every part of the chicken, even the CLUCK!

Sioux Roslawski said...

I think I saw Silkwood when it came out in the theaters. You remember what that kind of experience used to be, don't you? You know, where a bunch of people sat in a large room, next to each other--strangers--and breathed the same air... in and out, in and out...

I've seen it several more times over the years. A great one.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
It's so sad that the younger generation has missed this classic. The Pony has no concept of a "Silkwood shower."

I really miss the theater experience. Especially the bottomless popcorn and DIET COKE! But not the big-headed people who came to sit in front of me after I'd arrived 30 minutes early to PICK MY SEAT (heh, heh).

River said...

Bottomless popcorn and diet coke? As if the giant buckets aren't enough?
Silkwood is one of my favourites.

Hillbilly Mom said...

River,
That bottomless offer was such a bargain! Depending on which of us went, we definitely got our money's worth.

If it was Farmer H and me and both boys, we let them have it first. They wanted it as soon as we got there, and were usually done by the time the movie started, and eating their CANDY. Which I usually bought at Dollar Tree and smuggled in my purse. Then Farmer H and I would refill the tub and the sodas (new straws, of course).

If it was me and my mom and The Pony, we had to hold the tub just right, because The Pony wanted to soak his side with butter. My mom never wanted any refreshments at the movie. HOWEVER... I'd ask if she wanted me to get a refill on the way out, and she'd say, "Well, since it's free, I could take it home with me." So she got a full tub of popcorn, and a fresh Diet Coke (new straw, of course). She'd be munching away on that popcorn all the way home, and then put it in baggies to enjoy for a couple days.

I think the casting of Silkwood was perfect! From the three leads to Thelma and the shady Cher boss at work, to the union dude. Oh, and let's not forget the corpse beautician!