Admittedly, I probably write here more about consumer-related experiences that anger me than those that leave me feeling happy. It’s a shame I am not inspired to write more about positive experiences but I just do not have that many that are that are as outstanding as this one.
I want to make it clear that there are other companies with names similar to None Such Foods. I believe that there is an online store of some type that calls itself “Nonesuch” and also a company in the United Kingdom called “Non Such” and neither one of them has anything to do with the subject of this article.
It all started with mincemeat. When I was growing up my mother would occasionally bake a mincemeat pie because my father really liked them. Unfortunately for Dad, I really liked them as well so he always had to compete with me. I fondly remember the wonderful aroma that would fill the house when she had a mincemeat pie in the oven.
Mincemeat does not seem particularly popular or at least as popular as something like apple or pumpkin pie. I am the only one in my house that likes it and that includes when my two sons still lived with us. I am also the only one who likes it among the dozen or so people we usually have over for Thanksgiving Dinner. Consequently, I do not have anyone competing with me when mincemeat pie is around.
I kind of forgot about mincemeat for many years for reasons I cannot explain. When I moved out of my parent’s house and got married a few decades ago I just did not think about it much. Mincemeat came back into my life about eight years ago when I happened to notice it in Walmart during the holiday season. Naturally, I recalled how much I enjoyed it as a child and since my wife very much enjoys baking, she was quite willing to make me a pie.
What really struck me about mincemeat after I rediscovered it was how much I enjoyed it. There was no question that I enjoyed it more than I did when I was a kid and it seems like I enjoy it more each time I have it. Maybe itis because I only have it during the holiday season and that scarcity during the rest of the year makes it taste that much better.
Since it only showed up in our local Walmart during the holiday season, I would often buy three or four jars and enjoy them over the holiday season and save one jar to enjoy a few months later. Buying mincemeat during the holiday season became a new tradition for me and that lasted for a few years. All good things come to an end, right?
Last year I went out to buy None Such Mincemeat at my local Walmart during the holidays like I had been doing for a while and found that it was not in stock. I figured I might be looking a bit too early in the season so I returned a week or so later to find that it was still not there. So I checked back another week or so later and still was unable to find it. It was only a week or so before Thanksgiving so I more or less resigned myself that I was not going to have any for Thanksgiving. Still, I checked numerous other local retailers and was unable to find in anywhere.
So naturally, I decided to check online. You can almost always find something you want to buy online, so I was confident I would find it somewhere. What I discovered was not encouraging. Sites like eBay had plenty of it for sale but it was clear that only price-gouging opportunists that were selling it. With prices as high as $50 per jar, there was no way I was going to pay that much for something I was accustomed to paying about $7 for at Walmart. Something was obviously going on.
A little research revealed what the problem was. I’ll let Grok AI relate what happened:
|
The brand dates back to 1885, originally produced by the Merrell-Soule Company in Syracuse, New York, as one of the earliest convenience foods in America. It was acquired by Borden in 1927, becoming a staple under their portfolio for decades. In 2007, as part of a larger transaction, The J.M. Smucker Company acquired the None Such brand. Under Smucker’s ownership, the brand continued production but faced challenges, including reports of discontinuation of the popular condensed version (sold in boxes) around 2020-2023, leading to scarcity and high prices on resale sites like Amazon and eBay. This move was attributed to profitability concerns, as Smucker’s focused on optimizing their portfolio. Last year the brand was repurchased from Smucker’s by a group led by interests connected to its historical roots, forming or reviving Nonesuch Foods to take control. This buyback aimed to revive the product line, with plans to reintroduce the condensed mincemeat version around the 2024-2025 holiday season. As of October 2024, the brand is confirmed no longer part of Smucker’s, and Nonesuch Foods is actively producing and distributing the ready-to-use jarred version (27 oz), available through retailers like Walmart, Kroger, and Amazon, with the condensed format expected to return soon. The company’s website emphasizes its commitment to quality and tradition, positioning the buyback as a way to preserve the 140-year-old recipe amid consumer demand. |
I guess that explains why I ran into so much trouble finding it last year. Eventually, I discovered that the newly-formed company had plans to open an online store and sell their products online. That seemed like my only hope so I signed up to be notified by the company via email when their store was open. I was disappointed I was not able to find None Such Mincemeat for Thanksgiving but I had hope that I would be able to have it for Christmas.
Around the middle of December I received the email message informing me that the online store was open and that mincemeat was in stock but expected to go fast. I placed my order for two jars as soon as I saw the message. I paid $10 per jar plus $15 for shipping, which I did not think was unreasonable. I received it well before Christmas and was happy I was able to enjoy it for the latter portion of the holiday season.
Around October of this year I began to formulate the strategy I would employ to ensure I would be able to enjoy mincemeat for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had planned to visit a few of the local retailers early in November and see if I could locate it. I felt that Walmart would be the most likely to offer it but I checked a few others prior to visiting Walmart hoping I would find it somewhere in case Walmart did not have it.
Last Friday I went out on my mission to find None Such Mincemeat and was unable to find it anywhere. Walmart had their usual holiday baking displays in the store but there was no mincemeat to be found. I later checked on their website and found that they were selling it online for $21. Can you say price-gouging?
Well, my willingness to avoid be victimized by predatory pricing had not waned an iota so I was thrilled to return to the Nonesuch Foods online store to find that they were still offering it for $10 per jar. I paid $15 for shipping three jars, brining the total for each jar to about $15. More than I like paying after becoming accustomed to paying about half that at my local Walmart but the degree to which I enjoy it makes it worth it to me. I did not know it at the time but this time the experience would be even better than it has been before.
There is one thing that bothers me about the mincemeat I had been getting from None Such Foods: Corn Syrup.
I realize people have very different opinions about what is healthy and what is not but my wife and I strongly believe that GMO (“genetically modified” or “bioengineered”) foods have not been proven to be safe. The research we have done has convinced us that the stuff is best avoided and that is what we do. Except when I satisfy my mincemeat addiction.
I enjoy None Such Mincemeat so much that I have been willing to consume something that very likely contains GMO ingredients. I suppose I have been rationalizing and telling myself that having it a few times a year will not do much harm. And perhaps that is true. I found myself wishing every year that they would remove corn syrup from their mincemeat and use sugar instead. At the same time they would be honoring the original recipe since it was probably unlikely that corn syrup would have been used in 1895 when the product was introduced.
How do I know the corn syrup was from GMO corn? Well, these days the vast majority of corn grown in the United States is GMO corn and unless the packaging says “Non-GMO” you can be almost certain that any corn product sold in the U.S. is derived from GMO corn. I realize others believe it is perfectly safe to eat and I am not trying to start a debate on that subject. For those that chose to consume it I say, “knock yourself out” and I wish you all the best.
Despite that little splinter in the back of my brain reminding me about the corn syrup in my favorite mincemeat, I was happy to know I managed to snag my annual supply and eagerly awaited its arrival. Imagine my surprise when UPS delivered my package to my doorstep the very next morning! Less than 24 hours after I place my order! Granted, the package was shipped from just one state away but I was still impressed that they got it to me that quickly. But the best was yet to come!
As I opened my package with visions of mincemeat pies in my head, I allowed myself to fantasize a bit more about how great it would be if they had decided to remove corn syrup. Imagine my surprise again when I read the ingredients on the side of the first jar I unpacked and found that they had indeed removed it! It had been replaced by brown sugar and there was no sign of the dreaded GMO corn syrup anywhere on the label!
As happy as I was to see that, it seems things are rarely perfect. Although the absence of corn syrup as the second ingredient on the list was wonderful, another corn product remained. This time it was corn starch but it is listed way down towards the end of the ingredient list, which means it is one of the lesser ingredients and is surely in a quantity that amounts to much less than the corn syrup that was once part of the recipe.
None Such Foods would have the perfect product on their hands if they managed to remove the corn starch or at least replace it with a non-GMO variety. But, I don’t want to come across as unappreciative in light of the corn syrup exclusion so I want to make it clear that I am absolutely thrilled about that and I appreciate the company’s decision to do that more than they can know.
That is how its done right! I honestly do not know what led them to remove corn syrup from the recipe so I do not know if it was because customers asked for it. I’d like to think that was the case but it is possible that it could have been for other reasons. However, the reason that corn syrup is used in place of sugar these days is because it is cheaper and allows companies to increase profits. I’m willing to wager that a decrease in price for the consumer almost never results so it is done solely for the benefit of the company making it and as some of us believe, to the detriment of the people consuming it.
So, regardless of why None Such Foods decided to exclude corn syrup from their wonderful product, it appears to me that it was done for the right reasons. They certainly would not be saving money by doing it and it’s unlikely — with the ubiquity of corn syrup these days — that they did it because they could not get their hands on any of it. I have to believe that they did it either as a result of customer requests or because they wanted to be more true to the original recipe. And they did not raise their prices after they almost certainly increased their cost to produce it.
So massive kudos to None Such Foods for doing the right thing! Something that seems so rare to behold in this day and age. It makes me even more eager to purchase their products and I have a sneaking suspicion that it might taste even better to me even if the change in the recipe does not actually change the taste at all.
In closing, I hope that there are other mincemeat lovers like myself that find this article. I also hope that some folks will be introduced to a wonderful company that appears to go against the grain and actually does the right thing for the right reasons. I think they deserve to experience massive success for that reason alone and I sincerely hope that they do.
I also hope some people will learn that they can buy an outstanding mincemeat product online for a reasonable price and do not resort to buying from those greedy price-gougers on eBay, Walmart, Amazon and other similar sites. I know that both Walmart and Amazon (and certainly eBay) allow individuals to sell their products on those platforms so it is not necessarily Walmart or Amazon that is selling setting those ridiculous prices. Anything I can do to steer people away from those crooks would make me happy.
Leave a Reply