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WEGMANS CARVES NICHE FOR POTLESS POT ROAST

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Wegmans Food Markets here took advantage of the winter weather to feature "pot roast without a pot" at the cooking demonstration stations inside its meat departments.n January, it chose "old fashioned pot roast" as the featured meal, and merchandised the assembled ingredients -- boneless beef chuck roast, cut-up stewing vegetables, pot roast seasoning and flour -- together at the

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Wegmans Food Markets here took advantage of the winter weather to feature "pot roast without a pot" at the cooking demonstration stations inside its meat departments.

n January, it chose "old fashioned pot roast" as the featured meal, and merchandised the assembled ingredients -- boneless beef chuck roast, cut-up stewing vegetables, pot roast seasoning and flour -- together at the meat department demonstration areas.

The chain publicized the weeklong meal solutions program in its consumer newsletter and through its web site, www.wegmans.com.

"You'll find everything you need to make an old fashioned pot roast+and I do mean everything. Including the container to cook it in," wrote Wegmans' director of consumer affairs Mary Ellen Burris, who focused on the program in her column. "Scoop these up along with the recipe and free sample oven bag to make this old-fashioned meal for four to six people.

"Our recipe development chef in the meat department, Karen Sable, teamed up with the Reynolds oven bag folks to pull this together," Burris wrote.

While Wegmans typically concentrates on recipes that take up to 30 minutes to prepare for its meal solutions program, the recipe for the pot roast was a two-hour production, "so don't count on starting it after you get home from work," Burris cautioned. "The good news is that the preparation time is about five minutes, and then it can roast in its own juice until it's ready. You don't have to hover over it."

Wegmans also offered a more convenient alternative simultaneously in its meat department. It merchandised prepacked trays of roasts already dusted with flour and seasonings, along with vegetables, all inside the roasting bags. The recipe was included.

"Either way, you get to try this method of cooking a large, less-tender cut of meat with a free trial bag, courtesy of Reynolds," Burris said, giving a plug to its supplier partner in that week's installment of the meal program. The "trial bag also offered two more recipes, developed by the chain's meat department chef Sable.