I usually try to keep things light on this particular blog.  If I want to vent about something, I’ll often do it on my main blog, where I feel freer about swearing and sharing my opinions about religion and politics.  However, since many people reading this blog are regular commissary patrons and I know for a fact that people in the Stuttgart area have had their issues with the commissary, I’ve decided to write my commissary vent on my travel/food blog.

Behold…

Bill bought this cream at the commissary because we needed half and half…  The commissary didn’t have any, either.

Interestingly enough, I see it comes from China!  Why the hell are we here in Germany, land of Milch Tankstellen, getting dairy products from China in our commissaries?

I went to pour this into my coffee and noticed nothing would come out.  In fact, the inside of the box of cream appeared to be solidified.  Perhaps it had turned into butter?  Or something else?

And… produced in February 2016, but expired last month.  No wonder.

I couldn’t take advantage of the nutrition in this box of cream because it wouldn’t pour into my coffee cup.  However, it did give me a reason to start the day off fortified with Bailey’s Irish Cream.

 

We usually try to buy most perishable stuff at our local grocery store.  We find that the quality is almost always better and the prices aren’t prohibitive.  But Bill was in a hurry and, actually, when he can find American half and half, I kind of like it (as long as it isn’t spoiled).  This experience gives me pause, though, and makes me think we need to stick to stuff with a very long shelf life.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had a commissary vent, by the way.  When we lived in San Antonio the year before we moved back to Germany, we used to use the Randolph Air Force Base commissary a lot.  One time while we were shopping, I ran across this.

This is supposed to be pepperoni.  Scary, isn’t it?

 

Bill took it to an employee who kind of cringed, then shrugged and took it away.

These kinds of issues certainly make a good case for patronizing grocery stores on the economy.  I’ve been eating commissary food for most of my life, but the quality does seem to have taken a downturn in recent years.  What a shame.