You know that Vermont Country Store catalog that comes in the mail around the holidays? It has a section of products that are hard to find, maybe even weren’t available for years, called Brands From The Past. Crazy night creams, curlers, lipsticks, walnut-flavored candies. Every time I read that section, I think how it’s kind of sad to get old and have your favorite candy, makeup and so forth not even made anymore.
These days, a walk through a grocery is making me feel old.
What I’m looking to buy aren’t really weird things. I’m not going into my way-back machine and seeking Chuckles gum drops or Leggs stockings in the original egg container or the penny candy of my childhood.
And I’m not talking about things like thimbles, which you used to be able to buy everywhere but now have to find in a crafts store, because people just don’t use thimbles like they used to.
What I want and can’t find are Fordhook lima beans (not baby) and plastic sandwich bags that fold over (not zip).
These are no longer available in any of the five markets where we generally shop. They have not been available for months. Not one store employee knows why, and no one else in the world seems to care. I’m alone in my quest, and I’m giving it up.
The beans, whatever. We don’t eat much frozen produce; we will live. But it’s weird because the baby lima beans are really disgusting and I think it’s strange that those would be available and the Fordhook ones are not.
The bags — I know I should be doing the waste-free lunches for my kids, but let’s be honest. There isn’t a really perfect system. I always used a cheap, generic, fold-over plastic sandwich bag, but those have been gone off shelves for months.
I don’t want to zip closed a sandwich bag. It frankly takes too long. It takes about as long to zip a bag shut as it does to make a sandwich. The goal in morning, pre-camp or pre-school lunch making is to be fast. ASAP. And the time and extra plastic that goes into making those zips for a peanut-butter-honey sandwich seems like too much. It’s like a showy amount of waste.
For now, I’m using a wax-paper sandwich bag. It feels more wholesome — wax paper feels very retro. I can fold these, no zips. But they cost more, and they are a bit hard to find.
I’m left wondering if the random things I look for are just that — random — and if I should take it all as a sign I’m growing old and obsolete. Or if maybe others can’t find the things they are accustomed to buying.
Maybe it’s because the stores are so busy stocking things like 50 different types of gross-flavored potato chips, and 25 kinds of rising crust frozen pizzas, and pre-made salads and pre-cooked bacon.
Tell me: have you ever not been able to find a product you were used to using?
