The Texas BBQ Forum

That's about the kindest word I can use, and certainly not the one I want to. Gotta follow the rules though.

So here's the situation; you can't get decent beef or pork at ANY of them. I think I've mentioned this in passing in other posts. Costco is the only decent non-butcher shop meat in the city. Every time we try to buy from a grocery store, the meat has turned brown and been recolored with blood or food coloring. Usually I catch it before I get home, occasionally it's hidden well though. Nothing annoys me more than a ruined dinner when I have to take the rib eyes back because they're bright red on one side and dark brown on the other.

Even the local "premium" grocery store that actually bills itself as a 'Farmer's Market' is bad now:







That from Sprouts. Raley's and Safeway are just as bad:



I could post pics all morning, but I'm sure you all get the idea. Everything from high end steaks to meat I was going to chop up for fajitas and found the center brown and rotten.

I'd call the health department, but they're a joke in this county. There was a convenience store near a former job. We all used to go over there to get snacks on break. Everybody knew buy only non-perishables though. Their orange juice was literally brown, and even their jerky sticks were moldy and soggy in their packages. They proudly displayed their health department inspection form though saying they passed with flying colors.

Big Bummer, none of them are perfect but ?so far? our HEB doesn't a satisfactory job for me

OldUsedParts wrote:Big Bummer, none of them are perfect but ?so far? our HEB doesn't a satisfactory job for me

Ranting nature of original post aside, I figure every grocery store is gonna slip up occasionally. We're all human after all. This is just BAD inventory management and greed though. It's always like this. I'd expect it from discount grocers too, but the 3 I named are supposed to be the top of the pyramid, kinda like Kroger was when I was in Georgia.

The REALLY bad part with Raleys... The regional warehouse is a mile away from the store. They could take just in time ordering to a whole new level at that store. Their meat also comes from Harris Ranch, which is the King Ranch of California. You'd think the ranch would want their name undamaged by this.

Yikes.....

Obviously we have different chains. Though my eyes popped at the prices. Lamb here, IF you can find it at all, hovers around $20/lb.

So many supermarket chains have closed within the past few years that it's alarming. But we had to learn where NOT to buy meat (chains that rhyme with King Kullen, and Aldi), where the meat might be okay, and where there's a good chance of it being decent. Pork doesn't seem to be a problem here.