Re: Corned Beef Brisket (and a mild rant)

On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:16:42 +0000, Jill McQuown wrote:

I love corned beef brisket.  Unfortunately it is only available in
grocery stores around St. Patrick's Day.  This is why I try to buy three
of them so I can stash a couple in the freezer to cook later in the
year.
>
This is actually a mild rant about those grocery store "loyalty" cards.
I went to my usual supermarket (Publix) yesterday.  They advertised
corned beef brisket priced at $4.99/lb.  They don't require a "card" to
get that price.  Unfortunately, they only had one left.  I bought it and
put it in the freezer.
>
This morning on my way to work I stopped at Food Lion to buy a couple
more and fortunately they still had a few.  But Food Lion requires what
they call an MVP card to get the same price as Publix ($4.99/lb.).
>
I paid just over $19 each for two of them at Food Lion.  Both slightly
over 3.5 lbs.  If I hadn't used the Food Lion "card", it would have cost
me $23 more for the two briskets.  It says so on the receipt.  My
question is WHY?!
>
This is what I don't understand about those loyalty cards/apps.  Let's
pretend I was visiting friends or family from a place that doesn't have
a Food Lion [insert other grocery stores that require loyalty cards/apps
to get the best price].  I'd have no reason to have their "card".  Let's
further pretend I decided to go to this grocery store to buy a corned
beef brisket to cook for my friends.  Is there any logical reason why I
should have to pay $30 for a corned beef someone with the *card* could
by for $19?  I can't think of a single reason why they are allowed to
price gouge someone simply because they don't have a store loyalty card.
>
Jill

These days, corned beef is just plain weird. It's full of holes. This
could be caused by injecting water and other substances into the meat or
it could be caused by improper handling i.e., freezing the meat is done
too fast or too slow. Maybe it's caused by some sort of bovine
neuromuscular disease or alien cattle mutilation.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sHdh7SduUmu9P24f7