Kerrygold, President, and Tillamook are what I usually get. I think I’ve tried all the typical supermarket brands-- Land o’ Lakes, Challenge, Darigold, Danish Creamery, etc. Tillamook isn’t much more money than those, and I like it a little better. I don’t like Tillamook as much as I do Kerrygold and President. I’ve tried a few (Private Selection Grass-Fed and French butters which I don’t think are available anymore, Plugra) but I’ve never really surveyed the butters in the Kerrygold & President price range. I think i’ll be doing that over the next several weeks. I have a list of about a dozen or so I want to try. Costco supposedly has a Kirkland butter that compares favorably with Kerrygold, but i have no nearby Costco.
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Boomerang’s Chicken Classic Pot Pie - got it at Wegmans, $4.49, for a quick work lunch.
Looked OK coming out of the box after cooking; not quite so much after cutting in to it and tasting it.
Decent amount of chicken; some peas and carrots. Gummy filling, however (I’ll spare you the visual). Bottom crust gets cooked/baked surprising well in the little pan it comes in. But the flavor? BLAND. I added pepper from a packet I had in my desk (didn’t want to walk back to the kitchen with it) but even that didn’t help. It filled me up enough, but it will NOT be a repeat buy.
I just need to go to (local to me) Harrows Chicken Pies, pick up an individual pie, bake it at home, and then bring it in to work and reheat in the microwave.
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So, it was not ok Boomerang?
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
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Just a few more things I haven’t tried, yet.
First time I’ve seen Kinder’s frozen fries in the supermarket. I got Original Recipe with Garlic & Spices and Buttery Garlic & Herb which i think are the only two varieties offered. The packages say restaurant style crispy fries. Someone else probably makes these for Kinder, but the packaging doesn’t say. They’re a bit pricier than most frozen fries, about 1.5x per ounce than Ore-Ida Fast Food fries.
I also got some more salted butters to try:
Truly Grass Fed - 95% grass-fed from Ireland
Westgold - Grass-fed from New Zealand
Vermont Creamery Cultured
Instacart promised half-sours. Perhaps my shopper didn’t know better; the brand was correct. But classic half sours these are not. Way too much vinegar and no discernible garlic.
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Any vinegar would be weird in a fermented pickle, which has no vinegar at all.
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I tried Skylar Rae cherries yesterday, which have been available at Canadian Costco and Longo’s, a grocery store chain located in the Greater Toronto area and Golden Horseshoe.
I purchased mine at Sunripe, a small market in London, ON and Sarnia.
These Skylar Rae cherries are genetically distinct from Rainier cherries. My Skylar Rae cherries were nice and firm. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from Rainier cherries, by their taste or look. I didn’t find this batch any sweeter than Bing cherries or Rainier cherries. Sweetness could vary depending on heat units and other growing conditions.
They’re nice cherries. This batch was not any nicer than cheaper red sweet cherries, or Rainier cherries.
More discussion about Skylar Raes among the Canadian HOs here
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I’m sorry you’re having bad experiences with Instacart. When I worked for them I was probz the best shopper you could possibly want, and it inspired me to start my own local biz.
If you were any closer I’d be more than happy to shop for you 
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To be honest, I don’t think this shopper has ever encountered a half sour pickle in her life. They were listed ; that’s why I chose them instead of regular refrigerator pickles. I usually try not to Instacart shop for complicated stuff - it just doesn’t work. Wish they had specialists!
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Having encountered a kid working the register who didn’t know what a green bell pepper was, I’m not particularly surprised.
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I’ve had some (none recently) who would message me with pictures of things and ask what I preferred. Those days are long gone.
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I was always in contact with my customers, and still check in with my clients whenever there are multiple options.
But IC is another gig business that pays like absolute garbage & prioritizes speed over quality, so…not very motivating for the shoppers to put in extra effort, unfortunately.
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Understood. I try to coax better results by not making the amount of my tip dependent on the total of the order - so there’s no penalty for not finding something and refunding the cost. And I tip well. Doesn’t seem to have much effect.
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I see. And they weren’t good. Do not trust these hybrid pickles!
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And that speed ends up with them on their phones and not watching where they’re going when running with their carts, leaving said carts in the middle of the main aisles as they run down a side aisle to try and find an item, or worse, blocking the top of an aisle so both lanes of cross traffic can’t get around them.
It is not too much to ask of yourself or an acquaintance who enjoys fermenting foods, but it is probably too much to ask of a grocery store. A half sour pickle with vinegar makes as much sense as … wait a minute…it makes no sense! There are plenty of dills I like. I like Claussen, Sabrett, and McClure’s, but none of them transports my soul to a real kosher deli serving half sours and full sours.
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I think I may know a source, but it requires a special trip just for pickles. The first is a kosher supermarket (yes, we have at least 2 here - and one of them is the largest kosher supermarket in the United States). I’ve never set foot in it. The second source is the only fairly close NY style deli. Never been there either - it’s more to eat in than to shop in.
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I am more than a tad envious. Austin has, from time to time, had kosher delis, and allegedly one is about to reopen. Fortunately, several meatcentric places do have excellent pastrami, just not on sour rye with the right mustard.
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