"Complimentary" Cookies
Posted by ButterscotchAware402@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 52 comments
The GenX sub pops up in my feed sometimes and I just saw a post there about Brach's Pick-A-Mix which triggered memories of the Voortman's Cookie Hut and the "complimentary" cookie my mom would give me while grocery shopping.
My grandma always had a cookie jar full of these. I can still smell those windmill cookies.
No_Custard_6481@reddit
Omg you don’t know to ask for free slice of ham at the deli? I still do it before I buy. As kids in Germany, they always gave us bologna.
My son used to steal apples from Walmart. He would run while I was getting the cart over there. He would be munching on an apple by the time I would get to them. It was so embarrassing. I went to the produce employee and told them sorry. They said they had been seeing him do it for years. They loved it bc he loved it. They also said most of the apples get thrown in the trash. I asked him if I could have one too. He said no, that’s stealing. It didn’t bother me bc I had my own apple in my purse. lol.
nvmls@reddit
In NY they give you the first slice after showing you the thickness most of the time, it used to be always.
No_Custard_6481@reddit
That used to be my favorite part of shopping. I still ask when I go to the local deli.
impliedapathy@reddit
These and (this is older) the bulk candy aisle that let you get individual pieces for a coin on the honor system. Even had a little coin box with a lock. Haven’t seen either in a hot minute
trustme1maDR@reddit
The windmill cookies! My mom was obsessed! I thought they were so boring 😫
FoppyRETURNS@reddit
My mom had me stealing cookies left and right from A&P because I was in the "cookie club." 💀
JoshSidekick@reddit
Stealing? Next you're going to tell me grapes aren't free either.
FethB@reddit
Ditto, but Wegman’s for me
trevourmeyer@reddit
This is yet another thing that vanished after Covid. 😕
Bulky_Pop_8104@reddit
I haven’t seen one of these since the 1900s
red286@reddit
Every time someone says that, I'm thinking like 1903, not 1997.
sanityjanity@reddit
Honestly, I'm ok with that. Naked cookies being handled by strangers has got to be a food-born illness vector.
The Pick-a-mix candy was at least wrapped.
FoppyRETURNS@reddit
The cookies helped our immune systems
Dont_Burn_The_Books@reddit
You can almost see the fecal matter from here. lol
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
I can’t imagine it can be worse than antipasti counters.
ButterscotchAware402@reddit (OP)
The ones near me were gone about 10-15 years before Covid except for one very large, very popular grocery store in an affluent suburb of where I live so I didn't go often but when I did, I definitely got some.
edasto42@reddit
This isn’t a universal thing and in all of my years have never come across something like this.
thepatientwaiting@reddit
Me either. Maybe regional.
brokenman82@reddit
When I was a kid Kroger had a ‘cookie credit card’ that my mom would give us. My brother and I would run over to the counter and they’d give us a free chocolate chip cookie. It ruled
lavasca@reddit
We had that at Vons in southern California!
mylocker15@reddit
Mine was from Safeway and I would love to find it now. Do you honor this 40+ year old scrap of moldy paper? You do? Score!
Also I remember we got it at the brand new Safeway which had a florist, a bakery, and you could rent a movie there. These days that Safeway now looks like the rest except smaller and dingier and it is the oldest one around. I feel so old.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
When I was little I used to get a free cookie at kroger. It was great!
They did away with that by the time my son was born, but there was a local store in Houston called Phoenicia, and they'd give my son a free cookie if we came by the bakery.
JamieC1610@reddit
We lived by a Harris Teeter when my son was little. He got a free cookie and balloon most visits and they usually had a free sample of cheese out in the deli.
The local grocery store by us has a basket of free fruit for kids to pick something from, but I don't think the Kroger nearest us does anything.
brokenman82@reddit
The Kroger I go to puts out bananas and apples for kids
Jokierre@reddit
Reminds me of the Brach’s kiosk. I’d always snag a few cinnamon gummy bears.
fenway-fan1982@reddit
Voortman Gingerbread Men remain a beloved holiday staple for me. And their double chocolate swirl cookies were frequent post-grocery shopping (A&P) treats if I behaved. Love 'em.
Just_Me_79@reddit
Publix had a cookie club, you could get a free cookie each visit to the store, it was great!
Subject-Hamster-1798@reddit
You still can!
Just_Me_79@reddit
That makes my snarky, cynical heart very happy to know! :) I don’t live where Publix exists anymore, and haven’t in a long long time, but I still have fond memories of that store (and still miss their custom subs!), odd as it sounds lol
Subject-Hamster-1798@reddit
It’s nice to know some things don’t change.
SenorWeird@reddit
My kids are pissed when I go to Publix for a quick stop without them.
They turn into Jay Sherman in his last episode of The Critic: "Oh man. I coulda had a cookie."
Just_Me_79@reddit
🤣🤣🤣 the cookie disappointment is real!
sidneyjoy@reddit
I’ll take the almond shortbread please.
cibolaburns@reddit
Is that the one that is piped in a ring? That’s my fave.
sidneyjoy@reddit
It had ridged swirls with a hard almond glaze, that one?
cibolaburns@reddit
Oh dang. If these things aren’t self serve at Bulk Barn anymore where does one procure these things.
sidneyjoy@reddit
Google voortmans almond cookies. They sell them in packages now.
VinylHighway@reddit
I have never seen these in my life
the_kid1234@reddit
What made those windmill cookies so good? Were they almond/ginger snaps?
Specific_Hamster6778@reddit
The one grocery store we went to had this, but it wasn't our primary store. I loved getting those cookies as a kid.
Our current grocery store has a cookie club with a punch card. After 10 free cookies, they get a free donut 😀. My kid loves getting the free cookie 🍪.
ChaucersDuchess@reddit
We never had free cookies or pick a cookie here, but we had Brach’s pick a mix candy at the Commissary on base.
PlagueDrWily@reddit
My dad has a sweet tooth so whenever he did grocery shopping, there would always be junk food in the cart - these were some of his favourites, especially the ginger cookies shaped like windmills.
ButterscotchAware402@reddit (OP)
The windmills were my favorite, too. I miss that smell.
tultommy@reddit
They still sell most of the voortman's cookies. Just not individually like this. Honestly I see them in the bargain bin more often than not.
yaykat@reddit
The open cookie box at the counter in the bakery!!
nvmls@reddit
Our grocery store had a free kid's club where you would go to each department for something. Customer service counter for a balloon (adults got free coffee), bakery for a cookie, the toy department for a little junk toy. On your birthday you got a coupon for a free desert of you ate at their little diner place.
mary_engelbreit@reddit
we had one of these in Tennessee in the mid 90s at the grocery store where I was the cashier
Adept_Pie3546@reddit
Looks like Woodmans
Anyone-9451@reddit
We stopped for a while due to Covid but brought the free cookies and free bananas back quite some time ago (Kroger)
MuffinMatrix@reddit
Never seen such a thing in my life.
Closest would be the cookie rack at Whole Foods.
lobaybliss@reddit
I had seen them on the shelf packaged but that not the same lol
Accadius@reddit
For us it was carter’s IGA that would give us free cookies while mom shopped. They went out of business in like 2003 or so though. Now there is a reptile pet store in the building after it was vacant for 20 years.