Spam is booming

[charlie]

The pink gelatinous kind, that is. Hormel is busting 7-day double shifts to fill demand. If the sudden popularity of congealed pig offal isn't a sign of the times, I don't know what is (I'm not finicky or a snob, Spam is just one of those things my mouth has never recognized as food).

In a factory that abuts Interstate 90, two shifts of workers have been making Spam seven days a week since July, and they have been told that the relentless work schedule will continue indefinitely.

...

Hormel declined to cooperate with this article, but several of its workers were interviewed here recently with the help of their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 9. Slumped in chairs at the union hall after making 149,950 cans of Spam on the day shift, several workers said they been through boom times before — but nothing like this.

...

Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm.

“We’ve seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans,” said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain, in an e-mail message. “They’re real belly fillers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/business/15spam.html?_r=2&sq=spam&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=all

Meanwhile in South Korea, ramen is booming:

The economic woes are helping sales of instant noodles called “ramyeon,” which typically cost about 68 cents a pot. Sales rose 38 percent in October compared with the same period last year, according to the 24-hour convenience store chain FamilyMart. Shares of Nong Shim, which makes the nation’s best- selling brand of ramyeon, gained 17 percent in the past month.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a4jSWOUWE.iU

I wonder how Spam is selling there. Korea is one of a handful of places where Spam enjoys a decent reputation. You can buy actually multi-can gift boxes of the stuff and the recipient won't get mad at you.

[Joe the Liberal]

1. I never liked spam either.....

I had it when I was younger and I hated it then and I hate it now, it just tastes awful to me.

[charlie]

2. The odd thing

is that at $2.80 a 12oz tin, it's no bargain. That's about $3.70 a pound. You can get more chicken, pork, fish, and some cuts of beef for that. I guess because it's such concentrated awful you've got to dilute it in stir fries or somesuch, it seems like it goes farther.

[Chisox08]

3. Spam has a long shelf life

and its versitile it could be used breakfast lunch or dinner. People are stocking up just in case they don't have a job next year at least they have something to eat.

[charlie]

4. True

The stuff does keep forever, I hadn't considered that. And if it does go bad, who can tell? :)

[yy4me]

8. Believe me, if it goes bad you really cannot tell. When I was in

college about a million years ago, I used to have, among other cheap eats, fried spam sandwiches.
One day, just before leaving school to go home for a short break, I had a quick sandwich. Got into a borrowed jalopy for the ride, started to feel sick during the drive. Just made it to the house, violent stomach pains, threw up in the bathroom(thank heaven I made it that far) and passed out. My Dad told me I was out for 15 minutes or so. Don't remember that part but I do know I was sick for the next several days. I can't even look at a can of that stuff without getting queasy. It's been about a million years now and I will never forget that feeling.

I would never even pick up a can to read what they put into it. To me it was my one and only case of food poisoning. Perhaps there was a puncture in the can; who knows what grew within all that
molded pork product stuff.

I don't think I have ever bought any meat product that comes in a can since then, and we're talking 47 years.

[charlie]

10. Ooog

Just the thought of being sick on Spam makes me squirmy.

No meat in a can sounds like a sensible rule. I can't think of anything I'd miss and plenty I'd be happy to avoid, like Vienna Sausages.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Check to make sure it doesn't have a green tint to it, ya never

know where the suppliers have been...

[Submariner]

6. You guys just don't know good eatin'

Spam teriyaki sushi.....YUM!

[Catch22Dem]

7. I love Spam, but I don't consider it cheap

I can get a pound of hamburger or turkey sausage for the same price as a can of Spam.

[Johonny]

19. I like it too

[RebelOne]

9. I'm a vegetarian, but even in my meat-eating days,

there was no way that I would eat Spam. It disgusted me even as a carnivore.

[Marrah_G]

11. I do not understand why- other fresh meats are FAR cheaper.

As for the Ramen- There have been weeks where Ramen was the main food group :(

When you have to stretch 20 bucks to last a week....6 for a buck is a good deal.

[comtec]

15. Ramon (or cheap noodles) AKA... meat extenders!

Ah yes the hay-day of college poverty.
Easy to look fondly now but back then every PENNY got used!
I'm not a bad cook, and learned to be frugal from my grand mother who lived through the depression of '29-35.
My grandfather was a master carpenter at MGM - whom my grandmother married later in the depression) so there was food on the table.
But before they met, my grandmother really knew how to stretch a dollar.
I learned a lot of my stinginess from her (that and growing up lower-middle class. Not POOR... but not rich by any stretch) and my mom.

I know how to stretch a budget rather well - not that I do a good job right now, I'm in a good job, and my wife also has income.

but I still grab things on sale, and only buy something i absolutely need! (or want so badly I get stupid LOL)

We have a small plot (11x5m) behind our house we plan on putting a small green house and do our best to grown some veggies and maybe some hemp of flax, and learn how to make cloth ourselves. I'm not bad at sewing, and my wife is ok herself.

Point being, we will need to become more self sufficient. We aren't going to be hit as bad, as hard, as fast as the US is, but we're not foolish either.

We bought what toys we want, before the price really goes up, and we're preparing for some really bad years, saving money etc.

We might buy some gold and silver coins for stable currency, but I don't think it'll get that bad here in Europe.
The Netherlands has already done the rapid, and responsible thing in completely nationalizing ABN Amro (now royal dutch ;)) bank.

However ,it's always to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

[calico1]

17. Don't forget a lot of people can't cook.

And many people are under the impression that any canned meat is cheaper than fresh.

I am grateful I learned to cook at an early age. Also learned to cut up a whole chicken, which is usually cheaper per lb. than chicken pieces.

[M155Y_A1CH]

12. No cooking required

It's like C-rations in that you can eat right from the can.
Big benefit if you're homeless.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. I'm going to gag.

Growing up my mother used to make me Spam sandwiches with Sandwich Spread (basically mayonnaise w/relish mixed in with it) on white bread for my school lunches. To this day I cannot stomach any three of them.

[Alter Ego]

14. Meat should not make a SCCHHHHLLLLUPPPPP sound

when it leaves its packaging.

I get a can of this stuff every year as a joke from my parents.

[LanternWaste]

16. Spam, jalapeno peppers, mayo, and bacon sandwiches for dinner tonight

Spam, jalapeno peppers, mayo, and bacon sandwiches for dinner tonight followed off by store-brand fruit-rolls ups for dessert!

I am obviously a culinary elitist who cares deeply about what goes into my body.





Actually, I like Spam.

[Kalyke]

18. I'm allergic to pork, so I don't know what Spam tastes like.

However, I doubt I'd want to try it - :puke: