Heavy Duty Mayonnaise

[Lance]

A few months ago I went looking to see if I could find a place I could get a better price on bulk, raw chicken. We currently go through roughly 1 40lb. case a week which we get for between 59¢ and 75¢ a pound depending on the market. This is good, human-grade chicken but we use it for raw feeding our 4 standard poodles. Though I will admit, some of it occasionally goes on the grill. I actually posted on Facebook a while back that Cyndi and I had resorted to eating dog food for dinner and a couple of friends familiar with our then current situation got concerned. Most of our friends know about our raw feeding though and have had dog food here themselves.

As it turned out, I learned we're already getting a great price and I should just be happy with it. But that's not what this is about...

During the course of my research I found a company, Gordon Food Service. They are a restaurant and hospitality supply but they also have numerous store fronts that will sell to the public too. There is one of them a mile and a half up the road from us that we drive by numerous times a week. I never knew what it was though. I always thought it was a health food store.

So we went there a couple of months ago and checked it out...

This is my new favorite place! If you happen to have one of these near you I strongly recommend you check it out. Though I do realize there are only a few board members, only one of which is still active, to whom this applies.

It does have a bit in common with the big box stores like Sam's Club or Costco in that you can't get a small anything there. They have larger packages of everything. The bonus is the price and the quality. They have a lot of their own brand items which, in retail, are generally cheaper, inferior rejects from name brand producers. But not here!

Let me use peanut butter as one example. Back when I was a kid my uncle would occasionally bring home "Government Peanut Butter". It came in the big, #10 cans and was far superior to anything you could buy in any store. It was made from surplus crops that the government bought from farmers to subsidize them, processed, then distributed to the needy. (ETA: My uncle was a civilian superintendent at a U.S. Army armory where these food distributions took place. Occasionally there were left overs that they could bring home.) There was also Government Cheese... I used to love that stuff but you couldn't, and still can't, buy anything close to it in taste and quality.

Until now. The GFS peanut butter is every bit as good as that. And the price? Again, let me give a comparison. At retail you can find a 3lb. container for $10. At the big box stores you can find 2 40oz. (5lbs.) jars shrink wrapped together for ~$12. The GFS peanut butter comes in a 5lb. jar for $8.29. So a far better product at a far lower price.

Ever hear of Heavy Duty Mayonnaise? I hadn't, but we needed mayo the other day so I checked GFS' offering. A 30oz. jar of Hellmann's at retail goes for $4.00. Or you can get 30lbs. at Costco for ~$27. GFS had 1 gallon for $7.29, so 4 times the quantity of retail at less than 50% more. I just broke it down to 4 smaller jars and put it away. Mayo keeps for ever even unrefrigerated so we have a good supply. And I discovered after getting it that it was "heavy duty", which, s it turns out is "restaurant quality". It's thicker than regular mayo and has a stronger flavor. If you LIKE mayo you will LOVE this stuff.

They have round beef in 10lb. tubes for $29 that is wonderful. $20 for 10lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Lots of other stuff.

So why am I going on and on about this? I don't know... I guess I'm bored. But Enzo, if you've never been to GFS you should really check them out.

[MM_Dandy]

Well, I guess that means that you guys will never move out this way anymore. Or, at least, not unless GFS expands this way.

[Heid the Ba]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmayonnaise.

[Lianachan]

I'm now sitting here wondering how long it would take me to get through a gallon* of mayonnaise. Depends what I use it for, I guess.

* Either yours or mine.

[Lance]

A 30oz. jar lasts us from 1-3 months, sometimes more. Making egg, potato or macaroni salad like we occasionally do reduces that time greatly. And we could give 2 jars away and still be ahead of the game on price.

[Enzo]

We have three GFS stores in the Lansing area. Maybe a fourth? If you want a GIANT size of something, there they are. If you don;t want to go online, it is reasonable for spices. The full pound size of MSG versus the little ones from the store. When the wife makes her mustards. Though more recently she just orders gallon jugs of powdered mustard seeds. Wring interacts with them professionally.I used to buy large jars or ground cumin there for my chili.

My upscale sister likes to cook, has the whole subzero kitchen and stuff. ANd so my brother in law got into it, and now he likes to cook for us. fancies himself a chef. So I went to GFS and got him a nice chef's toque and a chefs jacket. Good place to find a large stock pot.

ANYone in the USA has seen the green bean casserole recipe, it is on product container labels and is a semi tradition at Thanksgiving. Essentially fill a casserole dish with canned green beans. I mean one COULD prepare raw string beans, but that would be just too TOO, don;t we think? Then dump in a couple cans of cream of mushroom soup. Stir all that together and throw in a medium oven a while.

Now the topping. You can buy off the shelf these cans of "fried onions". Little crispy onion flavored bits. We spread some of those across the top of the casserole to add some flavor.



Well, I think they are tasty right out of the can, and you can get a mighty big can there.


Cool place, yes. It is a sort of convenience store for restaurants and commercial kitchens, REal restaurants will use a commercial supplier, but if they run out of something... And then there are the ladies at the church running some kind of dinner, it is a one stop for them.

[Lance]

REal restaurants will use a commercial supplier, but if they run out of something...

That is actually their main business. Big trucks from big warehouses delivering to restaurants. The store fronts are an addition to that. There to fill in the gaps so to speak. And the way they work the price; restaurants pay the same prices as retail customers but they accumulate "points" which get redeemed for cash back later.

[tubeswell]

Llance your series of portraits reminds me of something

[Lance]

Llance your series of portraits reminds me of something

Oh come now, please tell us.