Pure juice pricing Several months ago Mr. Tidbit noted the introduction of (of course) pomegranate blueberry to the line of extra-expensive "enhanced juice" blends from Minute Maid. The "enhancement" in that case is vitamins B12, C and E, choline and DHA. At several stores, that and Minute Maid's four other enhanced juices rang in at a startling $4.39 per 1.75-liter (59-ounce) bottle (60 cents per 8-ounce serving), a height previously unseen in the major-brand juice business.
Not unseen anymore. Welcome Tropicana Pure, in a smaller 1-liter (33.8-ounce) bottle. At the same stores Tropicana's pomegranate blueberry version (which, like Minute Maid's, is actually a blend of three cheaper juices and those two) -- without the "enhancements" in the Minute Maid product -- sells for $4.49 -- a breathtaking $1.04 per 8-ounce serving.
There are six other flavors. The three versions of orange juice, in 54-ounce bottles, sell at those stores for $4.49 (64 cents a serving). Mr. Tidbit can't help wondering why Tropicana chose the name "Pure" for this extra-expensive line of juices, when its regular chilled juice ($4.19 at those stores for 64 ounces; 52 cents a serving) is called "Tropicana Pure Premium."
Meals of chili Until now mankind has had to make do with 10 kinds of Hormel chili in 15-ounce cans and a few of those varieties in microwaveable tubs. Now Hormel brings the waiting world three kinds of ... wait for it ... Chili Meals: Chili'n Penne (chili, no beans, with penne pasta), Chili'n Mac (macaroni, beans and beef in tomato sauce) and, oddly, Chili'n Spuds (chili, no beans, with diced potatoes). All are in 10-ounce microwaveable trays, "ready in 90 seconds." At one store Chili Meals cost 51 percent more per ounce than 15-ounce microwaveable tubs of Hormel no-beans chili and 80 percent more than Hormel no-beans chili in cans.
