WFDT 5/31/23: Always bring a scale when you grocery shop

Friends,

Great news! Uncle, who had taken ill this weekend, is to be discharged from hospital tomorrow. To celebrate, I decided to thaw a tenderloin and top it with a snow crab butter sauce.

We have several Snake River tenderloins in the freezer, thanks to overflow from Uncle's kitchen. His clients seem to think that Snake River meat is of high quality. It is not. Its use to me is done out of necessity, as we did not have any other steaks. This one weighed about four pounds.



As Mother was at hospital today, she allowed me to borrow her car, so I drove to Sam's to get the snow crab. Halfway there, I realized that I had forgotten my scale, which I always bring when grocery shopping. Rather than waste gas, I decided to brave it without the scale.

Sam's freezer section produced a five pound box of self-described "jumbo" clusters. On the back it said there were approximately 16 serving sizes inside, with a serving size being 3 ounces of snow crab meat. It was on sale for $50, so I bought it.

Martha Stewart recommends defrosting snow crab legs rather than steaming them from frozen, so I obeyed her. As I waited, I snacked on dehydrated shitake mushrooms one of Mother's friends brought us. She said she purchased them from Costco. They were edible but hardly worthy of purchase.





While cleaning the crab, which took an hour, I noted to myself, "These crab seem quite empty." My suspicions were proven true when I tared the scale and weighed the meat. Even though I am a meticulous cleaner of crab, the final weight of the meat was just 22.19 ounces. It was a devastating realization. I then weighed the shell and byproduct to ensure that I had not been a bad picker. It only weighed 25 ounces.



Sam's Member Mark had cheated me. I was quite upset, but rather than let it ruin the meal, I contacted Sam's by their online chat system. After a five minute chat of mostly pleasantries, Sam's employee Alejandro was so kind to issue me a refund.

It was then time to ask God to bless the food and eat. The trio of filet roasted in the oven, snow crab in butter, and baked potato was pleasant. I would have preferred Sam's prime filet grilled, but this was wholly satisfactory. Mother was unable to join me, so I had to eat the entire tenderloin and 22 ounces of snow crab by myself, which did indeed fill my stomach.



Let this be a lesson to all: bring your scales when you grocery shop. Grocery stores, even Sam's, are not always going to give you what they promise. Rather than be shocked and disappointed, weigh your food products before purchasing.

Yours,
TulaneLSU