Finast is not a name that means anything to many contemporary northern New Jersey residents, but in 1975, having acquired the area Safeway locations the previous decade, they had a significant presence around this part of the state. This ad was valid for locations in Essex, Union, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties -- let's say the northern part of central Jersey and the southern part of north Jersey, or I guess you could say from roughly Newark to the beginning of the shore..png)
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Okay, maybe I'm just a food snob, but I don't know... something about the "Boil n' Bag Gravy & Meats" isn't particularly appealing. (That said, it's very common in commercial food establishments to get frozen bags of soups and sauces and boil them to heat -- many of those actually come out great.) This ad was a great find to preserve a little bit of Finast's history in New Jersey! Tomorrow we're going to see a name with a little more staying power than Finast. Stay tuned!
A more recent encounter with Finast for NJ was as Edwards' store brand in the early 2000's
ReplyDeleteOh, true -- I forgot about that!
DeleteIf I didn't see that this was for Finast, the font would make me swear it was a Pathmark ad!
ReplyDeleteI thought that, too! That font was pretty popular in the 70s.
DeleteIt sure looks like it! But yes, that was a very popular look at the time.
DeleteSeems the more common version of the "boil in bag meats & gravy" was the Salisbury Steak.
ReplyDeleteMuch like many frozen dinners, but just the meat/gravy, no sides like most dinners have.
Of course, this was also before microwave options were around generally, so heating in the bag was probably quicker/easier than using an oven like most dinners would have required.
Ahh - you make a really good point about microwaves, and that makes a lot of sense.
DeleteI worked at Finast (before it became Edwards). BillyGr has it correct. Banquet used to sell a similar product. Looking at the ad - I wish these were today's prices.
ReplyDelete