Little Debbie again

Back in October 2007 I posted on how Little Debbie snack cakes had risen in price from .25¢ to .35¢

Well...

Bank and car company failures are no real indication of the trouble we're in. A lot of that is probably created by the government, unions, and their own ineptitude. But when Little Debbie snack cakes double in cost in little more than a year, we know the economy is in trouble! Yes, that's right. Take notice. You'll be paying .50¢ soon if you're not already.

Reflections on...Dinner on the Ground

Another book on Sacred Harp will soon be available, this one with a little different twist. The University of Nebraska Press is publishing A Sacred Feast: Reflections on All-Day Singing and Dinner on the Ground by Kathryn Eastburn. It will be available in March (you can order it now). According to Kathryn, "It's a beautifully produced, colorful book about the vitality of Sacred Harp singing communities around the country and about being a stranger entering that community and the hollow square." Each chapter features a different singing and ends with recipes.

From the University of Nebraska Press web site:
"With curiosity and humanity, she tells the story of a community of people held together by the most powerful of bonds—tradition, song, and food. She writes in elegant, crystal-clear prose, and it is a pleasure to be transported by her all across America to gathering after gathering, learning and celebrating as we go.” — Richard Goodman, author of French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France

Attention Little Debbie fans

Over the past 20 years or so, I've been buying "Little Debbie"* snack cakes. During this period, individually packaged snack cakes cost .25¢. While candy and other brands' snack cakes soared to .79¢ or .89¢ or more, Debbie stayed put. Drinks consisting of sugar, water, coloring and little else rose to $1.19 and up. Debbie held her ground. But inflation has finally reached into the pockets of us poor working-class snack cake purchasers -- Little Debbie snacks have gone up to .35¢. Now I don't blame Debbie, she's a sweet gal. What surprises me is that the McKee Foods Corporation has been able to prosper while holding the price down for this long! I'll still be buying Little Debbie snacks and hoping for 20 or so years of Little Debbie snack cakes at .35¢.

As a matter of trivia, according to the Little Debbie website, their top selling items are:
1. Swiss Cake Rolls
2. Nutty Bars® Wafer Bars
3. Oatmeal Creme Pies
4. Fudge Brownies
5. Honey Buns
6. Zebra Cakes
7. Devil Squares®
8. Fudge Rounds
9. Star Crunch® Cosmic Snacks
10. Chocolate Cupcakes

* The "real" Little Debbie is the granddaughter of company founder O. D. McKee.

How to find a fresh Reese's

One of my many weaknesses of the flesh is the Reese's Peanut Butter cup. Like Odysseus and the siren's song, I must often lash myself to the "mast" to keep from perishing (exiting the store with one).

BUT I don't like old nasty dried-up Reese's. They've had all the "cute" commercials about how to eat a Reese's, but where do you get the REALLY important information? In all these years I never known or thought about how to pick a fresh one. I've tried thumping watermelons to pick out the best ones (my record is not that good), but didn't know the Reese's test. A young checker in Kroger's taught me a lesson and saved me from buying a dried-out one the other day.

It's the packaging, stupid. Yes, the packaging. Test it to see if the "air" is sucked out of it or if it has air in it. If the package is kind of puffy like being filled with air inside, it's fresh. At least that is what she said. And right now I'm on a roll. 100%! Since that morning, I've gone five-for-five. Nothing but fresh!

P.S. -- this is not meant as medical, professional or personal advice; buy Reese's at your own risk; blogger not responsible for how this information is used.