where not to buy breakfast cereal

So, I was coming home late on Saturday evening and needed some breakfast cereal for the morning. Due to the lateness of the hour, the grocery store was closed. My last hope was one of the two gas stations near the highway.

From my past experience, (you probably have the same kind of experience with this matter), breakfast cereal is not an area of strength for gas stations. Gas stations are good at: gas, soft drinks, potato chips and other snack foods, beer and the like. Cereal, breakfast cereal is sometimes found at gas stations but it is usually in very small and very overpriced boxes. And, the variety is usually limited to Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes and maybe Fruit Loops.

Sin embargo (however), knowing that the chances either station carried breakfast cereal were slim but also knowing that I needed what I was looking for, I pulled up, parked and went into the first gas station. I looked on all the rows but found only the aforementioned chips, snacks and soft drinks, no cereal.

Across the street was the second station and my last hope for something breakfasty in the morning. I entered and began looking and quickly spied a bottom row of 6-10 boxes of a wider than expected variety of breakfast cereal. Potential Jackpot!

Knowing that prices for everything are higher at gas stations, I looked for the price tag and confirmed that indeed I was going to pay the price.

A related thought then crossed my mind, again drawn from experience with gas stations and convenience stores' products, pricing and tendency to not turn over their goods as quickly as a regular grocery store might, that I should check the expiration date (sometimes called, euphemistically, the "best if used by date"). So, I looked for the date on the box of Frosted Flakes. Upon investigation, the price tag was covering the date. Being the curious sort (or suspicious / cynical / doubting / skeptical sort), I gently peeled back the price tag and found that the expiration date was June 2009. I gently pushed the price tag back into place and moved to the next box.

The second box of cereal (do not remember the brand) had a price tag placed in the same place, over the expiration date. While I was not completely sure the price tag placement was not just a coincidence, my first thought was "I'll bet they're trying to cover up expiration dates that are past". I gently peeled the second box's price tag back to find an expiration date of May 2010. While a full year closer to the present date, I was not interested in testing just how good for you old cereal can be and put the price tag bag where I found it.

Some people, at this point, would say to themselves "all their cereal is going to be old, do something else for breakfast tomorrow". Did I follow that sage advice? Of course not, where's your spirit of adventure. I still had several of boxes that might still be good (although, statistically, my odds were probably not as good as I thought they were). Moving along to the third box, which was Apple Jacks, a former favorite of mine and one which I still occasionally enjoy if I find it in the hotel breakfast buffet selection, I pulled back the price tag (which, as you have deduced was over the expiration date - three in a row, who would of thunk it?) to see that the cereal was good until June of 2011. SCORE!! (see, most of you would have given up before the success . . . see below).

Without a single reservation (okay, maybe I did have a little bit of skeptical wonder in my head), I pulled the box of Apple Jacks up, grabbed a half gallon of milk (which I also needed) and went to the register. Always being a helpful soul, I told the guy working the register that there were two boxes of expired cereal on his shelves. His reaction (or maybe non reaction is more apt) did not surprise me (but perhaps I should have higher expectations). He scanned the milk and the cereal, gave me the total and did not verbally acknowledge that I have even spoken to him.

The rest of the story is, when I had a bowl of the Apple Jacks, with milk, they were not the freshest cereal I had ever consumed nor were they the tastiest. My next act, just after breakfast was to throw away the box of cereal. While I consider myself to be on the financially prudent side, I was not going to worry about the sunk costs of that box of bad cereal. On Monday, I went to the grocery store and bought two boxes of very fresh Frosted Mini Wheats, with which I have been very happy (tasty, fresh, crunchy, sweet).

As a post mortem, I did call the gas station's headquarters and told them of my experience. A very nice lady named Maureen listened very patiently and seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened. She did pass the customer feedback along as within the hour, the owner/manager of the station called and asked me about what had happened, asking me to bring back the expired cereal for a refund.

So, if you did not already know NOT to buy cereal from a gas station, please let this be a vicarious experience from which you can learn.

Have a good one. KipK

asparagus

I like asparagus and feel that eating it is a good, healthy thing to do. I like it when it has been cooked until the spears are just a little bit crunchy. My most favorite asparagus are the thin ones.

While I enjoy and feel good about eating asparagus, I could do without the immediate side effect that follows. If there were a way to have the fun of eating asparagus without the side effect, the vegetable would be at the top of my list for good foods.

With respect to vegetables in general, I have always been a fan of most of them. When I was a kid (until I was about 22 or so and still a little bit now) I did not appreciate tomatoes. I thought they were awful, without even having to taste them. I could not see the appeal. I liked beans, potatoes, broccoli, spinach (due to Popeye's influence), cauliflower and brussel sprouts.

My feelings on tomatoes have softened to the point where I like tomatoes if they are part of a cheeseburger or if they are of the cherry tomato variety and are in a salad covered with Ranch dressing. I know they are good for me, but I still do not like them by themselves.

Other vegetables I have grown to appreciate are: mushrooms - when fresh and on a salad; onions - fresh on cheeseburgers, cooked on quite a wide variety of foods, particularly roast beef and potatoes.

Today, as part of the complementary lunch for a bunch of my colleagues and I, after completing a morning of Junior Achievement, we were served a chicken cordon bleu with asparagus (which was tasty).

This weekend and in the coming week, I hope to eat some healthy food that is good tasting. I hope you do too.

Have a good one. KipK

accomplishments in 2010

It's a bit on the late side, but I just read my second to last post, which was about my New Year's resolutions for 2010. With that in mind, here are some of my accomplishments or my impressions about the accomplishments:

gospel - I felt like I served and was a better home teacher this past year. I give the credit for that to my lovely wife, who sets such a great example with her visiting teaching that I have to do/be better just to keep her in sight.

reading 1 - I did read the Book of Mormon through again and was blessed with many great scriptural and spiritual insights for having made the effort.

reading 2 - I read many books in 2010, more than my goal and enjoyed almost all of them. There were a couple of books which I finished with effort as the writing was poor, the plot was lacking, etc (I kept hoping they would get better).

running - Jessica and I ran the Mardi Gras New Orleans Marathon together in February. It was a hard one, with Jessica getting injured about half the way through. On the plus side, I had a lot of talking time with her as we made our way through the miles and encouraged each other along the way. And, I was randomly chosen to be the King of the marathon (cool). That was most of the running I did, as a few weeks later, I had the Hallux Rigidus in my right toe removed in surgery. It took a couple of months to recover. I began to run again in the late summer/early fall.

golf - I had a good year and accomplished several goals. I finished third in the GACC with an average round at Turnberry (not Mentel as in the past) and a consistently good round at Champions, making up about 5 places on the golfers in my flight. One of the coolest things to happen was that a member of my golf league came and caddied for me on the final day, contributing to my success.
weight/fitness - interestingly, I did accomplish my goal of losing a little weight and will continue with those positive efforts.

My next post will be about my goals for the coming year.

Have a good one. KipK