It's payday! Finally!
I can't believe I survived the past 2 weeks on $160. Considering $100 of that went to gas money (bleh), I think I did pretty well. It feels good to have a little breathing room again.
Anyways, you're probably wondering what the food geek deal I got was.
It all begins with one of my favorite periodicals:
Anyways, I've been on the hunt for one of their top rated items - a Tramontina 6.5qt enameled cast iron dutch oven. They say you can pick it up for about $40 - but I can barely find it, much less for $40. Sometimes I'll see it online for like...$60. Anyways, it's not their very top rated, which is a $240 Le Creuset - which I can do without. So I've been hunting for this thing, thinking about all the delicious French onion soup and beef stew and no-knead baked bread I can make in it.
Turns out, it's Wal-Mart of all places that has this for $40. Using their new snazzy find-stores-with-this-in-stock feature online, turns out 3 of the 18 or so Wal-Marts in a 50 mile radius have this thing. So, I made a resolution of heart to get up early this Saturday morning (as it was after payday) and suck it up to drive the 18 miles to this fabled Wal-Mart, largely to reward myself for all the no-spending I've done in the past 2 weeks. All this work for a dumb pot.
Anyways, while I was running some errands during lunch today, I drove by a Wal-Mart - one of the ones the site said was "OUT OF STOCK". Figuring I had nothing to lose, I pulled in and beelined to the pots. And there it was. Glorious and ugly green, my darling pot sat so lonely on the shelf, the last one remaining amongst its diminutive 3qt siblings. Ecstatic, I grabbed it and nearly dropped it on my toe. No, not because it was heavy, though it is pretty heavy. It's because I caught a glance at the glaring red price tag under it that said - "Clearance $30.00".
I made out like a bandit. Take that, uppity Le Creuset. I don't need your stinkin pots.
If you're looking for a dutch oven, ransack your Wal-Marts and leave none of your faith in their online stock checker thing. The Tramontina one that I got is a great deal, even at $40. If you can't find that one, there's also a Lodge one that's $50 - it's also regarded highly by Cook's Illustrated. The handles are bigger (which is super useful with such heavy pot), the knob on the lid is better, but it's only 6qt instead of 6.5qt. But at least you get a choice of color, other than the 80's retro green.
February 1st, 2008 at 07:19 pm 1201893540
February 1st, 2008 at 08:12 pm 1201896779
February 1st, 2008 at 08:24 pm 1201897446
I have an old LeCreuset that I bought at an estate sale for 50cents, but it needs re-enameling. I wonder if anyone does that?
Its beautiful blue color makes me happy to see it--even in the dishwater.
Let us know how this one cooks; enquiring foodgeeks need to know.
February 1st, 2008 at 08:55 pm 1201899338
February 2nd, 2008 at 05:13 am 1201929205
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February 4th, 2008 at 07:17 am 1202109423
February 5th, 2008 at 07:27 am 1202196476
(i'm only mentioning this because we have no walmarts here!!!)