How to Get a Discounted Product By Cancelling!

I learned something today! On a regular basis, I receive at least 50-100 emails from different sources. Most I can weed out as advertisements and offers that I don't want. The others are selected items I follow because they pertain to my business.

Lately ... as most of you know, I have really been focusing on my website www.TheStorageChef.com where I have Food Storage ideas, Action Plans for Emergencies and also my 72hr Kit guide.

So today, I get an add from the Space Bag people ... you know the storage bags where you vacuum out the air and have a secure waterproof container for your items. The offer was not only for the standard $19.95 for an order AND a second ... but 3 orders for the $19.95.


I'm thinking, well, I was going to get some anyway for my personal 72hr kit for the clothing to make more room. I do try to catch all the fine print and I know that they are making money by upgrading when they talk to you. I decided to order online so I wouldn't have to actually battle the phone operator for the order.

I dutifully declined the three attempts to upgrade and enter my credit card info ... then comes the kicker! I knew it was coming, but I didn't expect it to be shipping that cost as much as the product! I'm talking a full $19+ ... making my order double what I wanted to pay!

I was already past the point of no return ... they had already gotten my number. BUT to their credit, they did allow me to print the page with a customer service number for changes, cancellations, or just questions. I did have to wait for 30 minutes for the paperwork to process ...

I called an hour later to cancel and never even talked to a real person. The automated call was channeled through a process that kept offering me a discount of some sort ... first an upgrade to faster delivery, second a 20% discount on the product (a whopping $4), and I kept pressing "0" for decline ... finally the last offer was to remove all shipping costs and refund it back to my card. Well ... that was what I wanted in the first place.

So the moral of the story is to stick to it, decide what you're willing to pay. It is better for them to sell the product and eat the shipping. The end result is ... I get my 3x the order for $20 and no shipping. I don't have to go find the product at the store ... even though I know it's there.

I wonder how much extra we spend when we could have had it at a lower price?

Warmest Regards,


Chef Tom Heintz

Boy Scout Camp - Waterworld Experience

I am amazed at how fast time flies! It has already been 2 weeks since my adventure with the Boy Scouts. We visited Lake Ozette on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. What a fabulous place!!!

My first time at this location, I was asked to come along and do the cooking for the 24 people that were attending. This was to be a boating activity that would be from Monday through Saturday and our camp site was in Ericsons Bay ... beautiful warm watered spot with a view to rival any park I've ever been to. The camp was only accessible via boat ... and we were more than prepared for that!

With 6 small kayaks, 2 snark sized sailboats, a aluminum skiff with outboard motor, a larger sailboat with cabin, a outboard ski boat and to top it all off, a jet boat with a 454 inboard. It actually looked like an invasion from sea as we finally got everyone to the shores ... about 3 miles from the boat ramp and ranger station.

We did have an outhouse to work with ... something we hadn't planned on, but were grateful for. No tables, but that didn't matter either since I have pretty much a complete kitchen setup and one of the other leaders brought 2 tables for our use.

 

Since we were water bound, everything had to be ferried to the location ... so I needed to go light and only took what was necessary. AND because there is always a threat of bears, the food had to be strung up in buckets at night ... so we made runs from the ranger station where we had a trailer of food (with a freezer) to hold our fare.

So a morning trip needed to take place to procure all the food for the day ... plus the reassembly of the food stores from the bear buckets and the extra that we stored on boats anchored in the bay. As it turned out ... we probably wouldn't have needed to do anything with the food when it came to animals ... with that many boys running around ... and that many men snoring at night, there were no signs of critters even in the area! With the exception of a squirrel who obviously hadn't had any human contact for a while and chattered at us from the nearby trees.

We had a grand time ... I stayed pretty much on shore and feed the mosquitoes quite liberally ... along with the others. I finally resorted to funneling smoke from a smoldering fire through my cooking canopies to reduce the incessant critters. Many of the boys looked as if they had contracted small pox ... but with cans of bug repellent, we did the best we could.

Once again, no one lost weight ... and all had a great time.

Warmest Regards,
Chef Tom Heintz

Girls Camp 2011

 

What a great opportunity I had this past couple weeks! I was invited to cook for a great group of girls ages 12-18 at a local State Park. The group is the LDS Port Angeles Stake (Mormons) and their camp was 4 days long. They created the menu, bought the food and delivered it ... all I had to do was provide the crew and do the cooking! 

I almost felt like it was cheating ... but when you're doing it on a volunteer basis, I just smiled and did my job.

My partners were Dan Ramberg and Debbie Gilliam and we cooked up a storm. Everything from Steaks on night one to deep fried turkeys on another. We even had funnel cakes and cotton candy from a professional event vendor! The amazing thing about it is the help I received from girls and staff alike.

Every year they do this and I've been a part of it for quite a while ... they have their spiritual aspects and personal bonding with each other. I think I realized that I had perhaps overdone it when I was FORCED to drink one too many rootbeer floats! Even I had to admit I'd had enough food!

We fed about 80 girls and 20 staff, 3 meals a day. One of the comments that I repeatedly heard at the end of the week was "I thought you were supposed to lose weight at camp ... not gain 5 pounds!". I take that as a compliment to the cooks!

Great weather also improved the attitudes with a rain free week ... finally the start of Summer in the Pacific Northwest! Temps were up in the 70's ... which is low compared to the rest of the country. We also enjoyed the beautiful Fort Townsend State Park just outside of Port Townsend, Washington.

Warmest regards,

Chef Tom Heintz

Birds ... You Got to Love em ...

My office is in a building behind my house. I love having it close because all I need to do is slip out my bedroom door, cross the deck and step into the back apartment building that we've converted into a craft room, office and shop. I'm in the back with 3 nice windows that allow me to see the forest and my back yard. I sit in my office 6 days a week working on my websites and lessons for my students.

I noticed that in this new area we live in, there are a lot of birds ... maybe because of the time of year ... it is July, but a lot of variety have been flying around in the trees in the back.

So I began thinking ... How cool would it be to create a feeder that would allow me to watch the birds!

I know nothing about feeding birds ... except that you put feed out and they eat it.

So went into the shop area of my building and found an old tripod used for landscaping in years past. Found a thin piece of plywood an screwed it to the top of the tripod. Then I placed it just outside my window and piled on the birdseed that we inherited from some friends.

I watched and watched to see if there would be any takers for the free meal ... a few days went by and I was still wondering if anything would happen.

Finally a dragonfly landed on the platform ... I know he wasn't there for the food, but I got pretty excited!

After about a week, I saw my first robin ... I almost called my wife at work!!! Since then ... it's been about a week and a half, I've seen a bird on there every morning ... today, I saw two at the same time ... then I saw one run the other off. Perhaps that explains why I only see one at a time ... but I knew it wasn't the same bird each day.

I put it out there on Facebook to another chef who is feeding birds in his backyard and he reassured me that it takes a couple weeks for them to find the feeders. So I am encouraged.

Another development has been the nesting of a couple swallows in the peak of my back building. I can see them from my deck ... and the diligence of the parents to feed the now fat little babies that are constantly squawking for food ... the parents have a full time job flying around ... getting food and filling the open beaks ... you can tell when the parents are coming because they all stop making noise and the mouths open! They are constantly pushing each other around for attention to get the next fast food stop.

My wife and I had just finished watching them when she started laughing and exclaimed "I can't believe it ... we've become bird watchers! I think we're getting old!"

I have to admit that I actually thought about getting a bird book to see what kind of birds I could spot from my desk chair!

Go figure ... maybe I am getting old!

Warmest Regards!

Chef Tom Heintz

Emergency Outdoor Cooking

My wife reminded me that I hadn't done a blog for over a week ... also suggested that I cover something on Outdoor Emergency Cooking. I actually was considering a different name for this post ... "Turd Burgers" ... although it sounds a bit crass, the name came from the appearance of the food ... not the makings or the taste.

It all started when we first moved up on the mountain. We figured we would get a little more snow than those in the valley ... but being so close to the ocean was also a consideration. We woke up morning ... late as I recall ... because the power had gone out. It was also snowing ...

It kept snowing ... and so lightly that our 2x4 railing on the deck accumulated over 14" of snow without falling off. There was even barbed wire with 5" on top ... just consistent, light, fluffy snow.

The problem was that there were too many trees with heavy limbs and they were breaking off rather than shaking off with the help of the wind ... there wasn't any. So we were without power ... along with the other residents up there.




Our neighbor was kind enough to plow out a path for our 4x4's with his bulldozer, but we were left without means to cook ... at least normally, most people would be without means to cook. I have a complete outdoor kitchen that runs on propane ... that works fine as long as it doesn't get too cold.

So we got the BBQ going and upon checking our bread supply, we discovered that there were no hamburger buns available ... BUT an ample supply of Hot Dog buns were in the drawer ... so thus was the creation of our first "Turd Burgers". Basically Hamburgers in the shape of Hot Dogs ... only they lacked the distinctive texture of a wiener.

They were pretty tasty ...

The power was out for 5 days that winter. Thank goodness for wood stoves, propane burners and a covered patio to work with!

Warmest Regards,

Chef Tom


This week we are on OutDoor Cooking - things outside the kitchen & Patio for  The Daily Serving