Have you noticed the baking section in grocery stores is getting smaller? A lot smaller?

[NNN0LHI]

My wife sent me to the grocery store today to do the shopping. Went to look for a cake mix on the list and I could hardly find them. Used to be a complete aisle, both sides, was always dedicated to this kind of stuff. Baking stuff far as the eye could see. Now it is about 3 feet wide on one side with everything crammed together there. Anyone else notice this?

Don't people have time to bake any more? What is going on?

Don

[Denninmi]

1. No, they don't.

Very few things are done from scratch, or even from a mix. Manufacturers like it that way -- "value added" but for whom? I guess there is value in having more free time, but is it worth it in terms of the expense to your health down the road?

Around here, a lot of the grocery stores sell all kinds of superfluous crap -- patio furniture, flats of flowers, small appliances. Its a joke. Does every store have to sell every category of merchandise just to compete? We have a local chain of hardwares here in Michigan that is managing to stay alive against Home Depot, Lowes, and the recession, but they have shrunk their hardware selection down and now have a couple of aisles of food products in every store, including things like pies and other baked goods. Yeah, I know I think "hardware store" whenever I want to buy baked goods (actually, I bake my own the vast majority of the time).

Just another sad sign of the times, at least to me. But then again, I'm not "normal".

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Cake mix costs maybe $1.50-2.00.

Half a storemade cake costs $6.00 (half a ring, not even a whole half).

[gkhouston]

17. If you watch for the sales, you can get them for a dollar at Kroger. n/t

[Warpy]

3. People bake cake mixes on birthdays, maybe

but if both spouses are working long hours, splurging on a store cake instead of taking the time away from household chores that pile up in the best of circumstances is a good deal. Besides, you can get the kid's name on it while you wait.

People who are out of work might do a Jiffy Mix for half a dozen cupcakes but the big Duncan Hines jobs are too expensive when you add in the eggs and oil you need to add.

So offhand I'd say yes, there's much less of a market for cake mixes.

[trud]

4. Try buying flour, now that's a concept.

The baking section in the grocery store I shop at is fine. But I don't know that I've ever used a cake mix vs. flour, eggs, etc.

What is really annoying is the difficulty in finding good fabric for sewing. Most stuff is cheesy.

[Warpy]

11. Agreed on both counts

although I did use mixes when I was a kid and just learning how to cook. Eventually I discarded them in favor of my own superior efforts.

JoAnn has gobbled up all the indie fabric stores and turned them into housewifey crafting stores, catering to crafters and ignoring seamstresses. There is still a Hancock's in this town, but shopping online and hoping the fabric has the drape I want has been just about it for the last 10 years.

[Donnachaidh]

12. I used to be able to buy bread flour in 25 pound bags in the warehouse stores

Now they don't carry them (at least not at the one I use). However, they have the 3 pound containers of yeast. I asked a store manager WHY they carry the yeast but not the four and he just shrugged.

And forget trying to find Rye flour!

[gkhouston]

18. That's what's weird. The cake/cookie mix area is smaller, but

the variety of flour has grown. As if the people who bake bread don't bake cakes. :crazy:

[Coyote_Bandit]

5. Demographics are part of the issue

There are a lot more households with only one or two residents.

Often they don't want to make a whole big cake and then have to throw half of it out after it gets stale.

It is far less wasteful to make a dozen cupcakes or muffins or cookies.

[Retrograde]

7. Cake freezes well

especially if it's not iced. We'll make a spice cake or something similar every few months, and unless we're expecting people, cut off a few pieces for immediate use, then freeze the rest, usually in small slices so we can defrost a couple at a time.

Back to the original question re lack of cake mixes: I think people who are into baking these days do so from scratch - it's not really any more difficult than using a mix, assuming that you have the basics like flour, butter, milk, eggs and baking powder (or is it baking soda? I always have to look that up).

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. Frozen cake

(or bread for that matter) that has been thawed is not the same as freshly prepared cake (bread). Not saying it's bad mind you. It isn't - and cake does freeze reasonably well. But it is different from freshly prepared cake.

Soups and stews (and broth) are about the only foods that I prepare and cook with the intention of freezing a portion for consumption at a later date. Freezer space is an issue - as is the problem of remembering to use the frozen items before they get dried or burned in the freezer.

I generally prefer to eat freshly prepared foods. And that is true of desserts as well as main and side dishes.

If I am going to bake then I'm far more likely to prepare a dozen cupcakes or muffins or cookies than to bake a cake - even a small cake.

I do have several cooking for one or two cookbooks - and those have a variety of recipes for small 6 to 8 inch cakes. I've tried some of the recipes and they are very good. I suppose I could use a mix to make small cakes - but there's really no point in that if I only want a few portions and no leftovers to freeze.

And then there's pie. I can mix up a batch of pie crust, roll it out and cut it to size for several mini pies and then store it in the refrigerator for a period of time - or freeze the uncooked dough. It's a more efficient use of my time. It is also far more versatile. It can become quiche or pot pie or fruit pie or custard pie.

[kestrel91316]

6. Baking SUPPLIES aren't profitable enough to bother stocking. The stores

want to sell much higher profit margin items: already baked goods.

[theHandpuppet]

9. Even the variety of cake mixes seems to have gotten smaller

I love old-fashioned spice cake but only one of the stores in my area still carries the mix. And frankly, I find that already-made cakes in the store are coated with frostings that taste like grease!

[Denninmi]

10. Most grocery store bakery items are terrible.

Made to maximize profit margins, with artificial ingredients. Most have very little flavor. The "goo" inside of jelly doughnuts, for example, has little flavor and very little resemblance to fruit filling. Cakes are pretty flavorless, too, just gobs of sweet, flavorless frosting atop flavorless crumb.

[gkhouston]

19. You know those Hostess fruit pies?

I was in my thirties before I realized that was a commercial attempt to duplicate my mom's fried peach pies. The gulf between the two is so tremendous I just didn't associate one with the other.

[supernova]

13. Yes, it's noticeable

The only mix I've ever consistently bought was brownies. I used to know how to do them from a family recipe, but after a while, it became too cakelike for me. I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I tried recipe after recipe but I just didn't have any brownie mojo! So I turned to mix.

I've always make cakes, quick breads, and other things from scratch, though.

Since being laid off in 2008, I've gone back to baking though. I'm much more of a bread baker now. Luckily whole paycheck sells flour in the bulk bins here. We did get one of those 3lb yeast cakes at Costco. I keep my bread consumption to a minimum, but the SO really likes it.

edit: I have bought ready made bakery items when I was short on time and had promised to bring something to a gathering. Single, working, and baking from scratch don't really mix on weekday nights.

I have noticed one thing that sells well are the customized decorated cakes for birthdays, anniversaries, and so on. Grocery stores seem to be well equipped for that task.

[blaze]

15. Awesome brownie recipe!!!

Seriously good: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/06/dulce-de-leche/

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Around here they're not that small, but...

they are shrinking.

Ask around and see who bakes any more. When I was a kid, my mother baked all the time, but how many mothers have the time these days? Or the interest or skills? Maybe a load of cookies or cupcakes for the school bake sale or birthday parties, but that's about it.

I see some "hobby bakers" like me, but hardly anybody baking bread, cakes, pies, or whatever on a regular basis for family meals like it once was.

And, ummm... diet fads have taken their toll on baking, too.

[NNN0LHI]

16. When I was a kid, I baked all the time

It was the only way I could get any sweets. And I liked sweets a lot. My mother was too cheap to buy any prepared stuff except for the occasional package of Pin Wheels cookies, but there were always a bunch of cake and frosting mixes around.

Didn't take me long to figure the baking trick out.

Don