Rant #3,901: Shopping A-Z

As prices shoot up due to the war we are in in the Middle East, shopping has become a real pain in the butt.

For me, this is normally a happy time to do food shopping ...

Because the pre-Passover shopping period is upon us.

During Passover, observant Jews cannot eat regular bread, we have to eat matzoh, and we are prohibited from eating any products that are not Kosher for Passover.

No bacon, no pork, none of that stuff.

So right now, we are right in the middle of the Passover shopping period, leading up to the eight-day celebration that begins on, of all days ...

April 1, April Fools Day, at sunset.

The reason this year isn't as happy a shopping period as other years is because prices are sky high, and I mean, sky high for Passover products too.

Matzoh is ridiculous.

A box of matzoh, which used to cost about $3, is now $4, $5, $6 or even more--and that goes for the Kosher for Passover variations like egg matzoh, too.

All other products have gone sky high, too, so I am not finding it that much fun to do this shopping this year.

That does not mean that I won't keep Kosher for Passover.

In spite of the annual "Matzoh Stomach" malady--where eating matzoh makes you feel like you have a perpetual bowling ball in your stomach--I will eat matzoh like it is going out of style this holiday, as I always do.

Availability is another thing.

Gone are the days that you needed to go to one supermarket to get all of your Passover goods.

So far, I have had to go to two and three stores to find what I want--whether it be matzoh, UBet chocolate syrup or macaroons, and honestly, some stores have absolutely nothing--and I mean absolutely nothing--for Passover this year.

And some stores perpetually have nothing.

I went to one local store last year to look for gefilte fish.

I asked a worker in this particular store about it, and she replied, "What's gefilte fish?"

No, that store isn't on my Kosher for Passover list this year, although yes, I did go in there to see if things had changed.

Not a chance.

Also, I have found one, single, solitary store that has Passover Coca-Cola, the variety using real sugar and not corn syrup.

The price is about $1 more than the regular soda, so rather than buy two or three bottles like I normally do, I just settled for one bottle this time around.

I am not paying more than $10 for three bottles of soda, no matter how good it really is.

And then we have chocolate matzoh ...

My wife and I have been to a couple of stores looking for this delicacy, and we have yet to find a single box of this stuff, whether in dark chocolate or milk chocolate.

I love chocolate matzoh, even better than macaroons, which we found in great supply no matter where we shopped.

But chocolate matzoh ...

What's the deal with that?

I will still look around ...

It isn't Passover without chocolate matzoh sitting there waiting to meet up with your mouth and stomach.

I did see something new this year.

Not that I would buy it--I am happy with UBet chocolate syrup--but the classic Bosco brand now has a Kosher for Passover syrup--

But it is not chocolate, it is vanilla.

I had never seen this before this year, and while vanilla syrup isn't bad, it is not chocolate.

And while I am not a chocolate fiend, nothing goes better in milk than UBet ...

Of the chocolate variety.

I have not yet seen Kosher for Passover Temp-Tee cream cheese, so couple that with the absence of Kosher for Passover chocolate matzoh, and I am not a happy camper right now.

And let me add, for the first time that I can remember, the Kosher for Passover matzoh boxes have a different design, more snappy, more modern, and more to catch the eye of the younger folk who might be purchasing this stuff, maybe for the first time.

I saw this the other day, and I really had to do a double take, because the box design hasn't changed one iota for generations until I saw what I saw.

Potato chips are plentiful, and there are the usual candies and other snacks that go with the holiday.

But where is Kosher for Passover chocolate matzoh?

It can't be impacted by what is happening overseas ...

Or can it?