My girls ae just starting to lay again. I know I would feed my family first, then sell extra. Perhaps that is why eggs are not available yet.

They probably have eggs by now. It's been a couple weeks since I was there, and I know most of what they sell comes from the same companies that produce goods sold at other natural food stores, but since I know they're not getting really good bulk wholesale pricing (only one store, albeit a big one for this area), so they're probably not anxious to keep a really big stock of refrigerated perishables on hand anyway.



They aren't likely to get quick restocks when an item is low or sells out quickly either, since they don't use the internet for ordering. They might still be doing some ordering by mail, although they probably order by phone too - but even that's not convenient, since the phone is usually either in an "Amish phone booth" (usually looks similar to an outhouse) or in a barn, set faaaar away from the house, often located on the border between Amish farms, so they can all use it, but wherever they have their phone, it's not going to be at all conveniently located to call for quick restocking. Anyhow, due to what we'd consider difficult restrictions (they're used to it), I doubt they get shipments often enough to keep things like that stocked up all the time, especially if dozens of customers show up the same day and buy the same item.

The labels hat really irritate me - other than those calling themselves "Keto" are the labels on bacon packages.

Some call their product "thick cut"
but only after I have bought the product and opened the package do I find the bacon isn't "thick cut" at all - it is WIDE cut.

So irritating.

I long for the days of real butchers, talking to a real person behind the counter, and knowing what you are getting. I can barely remember those shopping experiences as a very young child.

Everything is about convenience and trickery now.

That brings back wonderful memories of the small local grocery my parents shopped at. Even when a modern (mid-60s) supermarket opened nearby, my parents stayed loyal to Joe Smith's Sunset Market. I loved going with my dad into the meat locker to get our beef (they would buy a whole cow & it was stored in the store's meat locker).

My parents did that too Bonnie, it was a small store with a good butcher and we came home with all of those white packages and filled up our freezer. It was hard to get meat where we lived. I do remember asking my parents if we were ever going to eat anything else besides beef though

lol

My mother snuck in rabbit !! Said it was chicken with a straight face !! And I remember cleaning what felt like 50 pounds of steamed crabs with my mother. Once was too much.

I hate all the waste from meat packaging..... the foam board and the plastic. Pure trash. Paper was burnable or compostable.

One reason I love my new state - we haz butchers! It is a fun drive through the country to get to one that we love.

We love being able to buy a quarter/half cow at a time, even now have a parishioner we buy from. We know the person feeding and caring for the beef we eat

No sneaking in of rabbit in our family - my parents had a commercial rabbitry. At it's peak we had at least 60 does. That's what can happen when a hobby gets out of hand.

I'm with you about the waste in packaging. I don't know who came up with the Styrofoam trays, but I'm tired of them. I need to buy my beef from a farmer - we are in cow country, so I can. Just haven't gotten around to it. Buying small packages at the grocery is way too convenient.

The last time I brought a lamb to the butcher the cuts were wrapped in a heavy plastic baggie, and the wrapped in butcher paper coated in plastic.

A friend tells me how years ago the villagers in Poland got together to butcher one animal and share the fresh meat. No packging.

There is a local butcher near me, but they proudly proclaim that all their beef comes from Iowa, which to me screams CAFO corn-fed beef, so I never shop there!

Supporting small butcher also opens the door for them to add grassfed.....

I wonder about hidden ingredients in labels.

My wife got some simple truth tart cherry juice and she said there's no sugar on the label. Sure enough, ingredients seem innocuous:

Filtered Water, Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate.

But I wonder about the juice concentrate, if they're pulling a fast one over on us. Hidden vegetable oil?

The same with peanut butter. A couple brands I have bought and the ingredients are spartan:

organic dry roasted peanuts, salt

But how are they roasted? What kind of oil is used? Is vegetable oil used? Another potential fast one. A few books I've read warning to avoid roasted nuts due to the types of oils that are / could be used.

I seem to remember (please correct me if I'm wrong!) that some ingredients that are GRAS don't have to be listed on the label. Hopefully that is no longer true.