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Glad to catch up on the Safeway casserole debacle on my return,very interesting posts.
Wonder if Safeway have enjoyed the free publicity we have been giving them?
It almost made me want to pay them a visit to have alook see, but went to Morrisons instead.

Thanks Trudi. Excuse me for saying so but a thought 'a little kurt' was a small German!!

Safeway have respnded and it's about as sterile as a Dettol wipe. To quote:

"Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, I do not have any further details on the casserole pot. I would advise that, if you are unhappy with the pan, you return it to the store. They may be able to forward the details to our supplier for further investigation".

"I am sorry that I am unable to assist further on this occasion". (Safeways Customer Services Department).

Oh well, back to the drawing board. Think I'll give up now.

Thanks Trudi. I am not really after my money back or an exchange. To be honest, the pans are still quite useful for cooking on the hob top, and with the tokens they are cheap enough to not worry to deaply. All I am trying to argue is a point of principle, and that is to call something a casserole pot implies that it is for use in the oven.

I have e-mailed Safeway and asked them to have a look at this link and for their comments. It will be interesting (if they respond) to see what they have to say.

Mind you, good luck to those who do wish to take it a bit further.

Well I have just been round to my local Safeway, I don't use it much because it is a small store so I normally go to Tesco which is much larger, but my daugher works at the local Safeway when she is home and a few of my old schoolfriends work there.

So I asked one of the old schoolfriends who also works front end or customer service, if they had had any problems over the casseroles.

She told me that several people had mentioned that they wouldn't buy the casserole because a casserole should go in the oven, but they have only had one person buy a casserole and then take it back, but they exchanged it, no problem.

Well all, that's what I will do. I will e-mail Safeway today suggesting that they have a bo-peep at all the correspondence and seek a response. They may not be able to resolve the problem but they really should accept that common conception is that a casserole is an oven cooked dish. Will report back on this one.

As an aside, I am a culinary novice, so can someone tell me what the difference is between cooking in a light pan e.g Safeways and a heavy pan e.g. Le Creuset. Many recepies state 'use a heavy pan'. Why?

AMEN SHARNE!!!! I've wondered A LOT lately what happened to the customer always being right. Actually, I've QUOTED this phrase a couple of times in the past week! Possibly, we're just dealing with a load of people who've never been taught the concept (i'm feeling older than i actually am!). When dealing with customer service issues, i'm often left feeling that a villiage somewhere is devoid of its' idiot!!! I agree, trudi...i wonder what they'd think and how they'd respond to all of these posts!

I wonder how many of Saveways staff if surveyed would agree that a casserole is generally cooked in over.

It may be an old fashioned concept, but what happed to the customer always being right? By the amount of comments on this thread it is more than one customer.

I don’t shop in Saveways, I don’t have a local branch, and don’t know about this token/voucher scheme. But it appears that more than one person has been miss lead.

I think I may have been confusing in my last post, what I was trying to say was, that to my mind, and I think most of the population, that a casserole goes in the oven, a saucepan or frying pan goes on the hob.

I doesn't really matter what you cook, how long you cook it for or what the original meaning of the word is. Modern day perception of a casserole is something that one uses for cooking food in an oven.

The only problem is that it does say clearly on the collector card that this is not the case with these particular items. I really do hope that enough people are complaining so that something is done, because I have to say that under normal circumstances if I bought something and then found out it was not suitable for the purpose I had bought it for that the retailer would be good enough to exchange it for something suitable, or refund the money, well at the very least give me a credit note.

I think Huggy that you really do sum up what the problem is. Safeway say its a Casserole and 99% of all household users would expect to bun g it in the oven! I really do think its time for one of the so called celeb chefs or even Safeway to throw thier two penneth in the casserol e, wrong, sorry pot, on this one. Come out, come out wherever you are!!

hi everyone...i've just thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread! i agree, casserole leads one to believe it can be put in the oven...i didn't find out what happens though as a few swear words escaped me when i took the darn thing out of the box and realized the bloody handles were plastic.
Mama...funny enough, i have one book of 25 ready to go in tomorrow and one book OF FOUR!!!! You're welcome to them if you can somehow tell me where to send them! Missed chatting with you while we were away...hope you all had a lovely holiday season!

The point is your average Safeway punter is going to assume that a casserole can be put in an oven and are therefore being misguided. I was delighted when I bought my 'casserole' as I had always wanted one but didn't want to cough up for a le creuset and thought this offer a bargain. I am now left with an extra pot that I didn't really want and which cannot go in the oven. I feel ripped off!!!

Is it ok for me to still use my "saucepans" for boiling potatoes or other veg, oh and rice or boiling an egg? or do I have to have seperate pans for all thse jobs? Golly I would need at lot of different pans. I don't really make that many sauces as such, so I hope it is ok. In the past I have bought saucepans for all these uses because that is what I thought I could use them for...........but if the definition is different I am now concerned.


Oh and I just remembered, isn't Casserole the pet sheep of the Kennedy family in Neighbours?

:devilish:

Well my sleeping tablets say "may cause drowsiness" and firewood bought form the garage says" Warning may be inflamable". Gosh I hope so!

The end of this discussion cannot be what the dictionary says but what we the punter generally think. For me I want sleeping tablets to make me sleep and wood for the fire to burn.

I also expect a casserole to be just that a casserole not a handleless saucepan with a lid.

The fact that a casseroloe MAY be cooked on the top 9 out of 10 people who answered my survey said: it MAY also be cooked in the oven. Top answer. Can you have a casserole that is not oven proof? Our survey said:

Wack wack!

Sorry Safeways control goes to the consumer. Re market your product as a handless saucepan with lid.

Goodness next we will be saying Cadbury's make chocolate...

I quoted the EB on the root of the word 'casserole' to show what it meant originally. As with many words of french origin the original meaning has been lost in the sands of time and the evolution of the english language. (Even in french it has lost its meaning!).
I get every day in my e-mail 'Word of the day' which gives the meaning of a word and its common usage, it also gives the etymology of the word showing how the meaning has changed over the centuries. Very interesting.

Hello Ian.

You have started me off again...

Your description states " A heavy metal, glass or earthernware dish with a tightly fitting lid used for slow cooking of meat, vegetables, etc."

Er, heavy metal the Safeway casserole ain't. So is it not a casserole? Dum.de.dum de dum de dum....

Doesn't help me with my lack of coupons. :C

No sorry Ian, just joking. Thank you for that.

Hi all,

According to the International Dictionary of Food and Cooking (Peter Collin Publishing, 1998), a "casserole" is:

* A heavy metal, glass or earthernware dish with a tightly fitting lid used for slow cooking of meat, vegetables, etc.
* Any food cooked in a casserole
* The trade description for one-dish, in-flight meals prepared by commercial companies for airlines

It also says that "to casserole" is:

* to cook slowly a selection of ingredients, meat, vegetables, etc., usually in the oven but possibly on the stove in a dish with a tightly closed lid. The food is normally served from the casserole dish.

I hope this helps.

All the best,

--
Ian

Well, no response from the top dogs (chefs) yet so I suppose that they are stearing away from this one. I reckon that in the absence of any definitive answer the only thing to do is declare it a draw.

MammaChef, I have got tickets for Ascot so we will easily recognise each other in the Royal Enclosure. My partner will be wearing a 'pan hat' as well, but with a few trimmings (burnt egg and bacon fat).

Still I await the next Safeway offer, cutlery (but do not cut with it!) or crystal goblets (please do not drink from them).
Sorry Safeway, just a bit of fun. I am still a loyal customer.

Steaming with anger for not having enough and for next offer Gaye :D:

but the fact that I have collected so many frying pans in 3, would you believe, yes indeed folks, 3 sizes, means that I have 3 different hat sizes to suit all of my family. How posh will we look at Ascot if we go. Yes please, drool away lesser beings (those without 3 sizes of safeway frying pan hats) :P

Can you believe it - someone is selling the frying pans on e bay!!
There is a handwritten note on the stand at my local branch in large letters stating the casseroles are only suitable for use on top of hob - so cutomers have obviously been telling them.
Lindsay save your remaining coupons, maybe you can use them for the next offer if there is going to be one. Steam off the collectors card and stick on the new collectors card.
Think the fry pans and woks are excellent quality anyway.

Having read the 'debate' thus far on the Safeway 'casserole' dishes....I felt I had to stick in my tuppence worth! Having worked in r etail for many years....and had customers pontificating about the Trade Description Act.....I have decided that since we have to in effect B UY the so called casseroles ( adding extra money to purchase )....are we not then entiltled to a refund....as the goods were not suita ble for the purpose in which they were sold???????

Robert

What an Encyclopedia says and what is custom and practise are two differing things. However, I checked the dictionary for Marmite and it says caserole but hey I live in Italy not France maybe the Italians are bonkers as well??

I accept that a casserole can be cooked on the hob but it is custom and practise for 9 out of ten home cooks to bung it in the oven.

Thats what matters me thinks?

From Encyclopedia Brittanica:
Main Entry: cas·se·role
Pronunciation: 'ka-s&-"rOl also 'ka-z&-
Function: noun
Etymology: F rench, saucepan, from Middle French, diminutive of casse ladle, dripping pan, from Old Provençal cassa, probably ultimately from Greek kyathos ladle
Date: 1708
1 : a dish in which food may be baked and served
2 : food cooked and served in a casserole
3 : a deep round usually porcelain dish with a handle used for heating substances in the laboratory.

Therefore my guess is it you pays your money and makes your choice as to what a casserole really is. I do see in french adverts for kitchen ware saucepans described as casseroles. Referring to another writer, a 'Marmite' is a vessel to use in an oven and is the shape and probably the origin of our Marmite jars.

Thanks Rustie. Yes, have sent GFL an e-mail and will update on any feedback.

I am not seriously gunning for Safeway. If I thought that they were no good I wouldn't be shopping there, pots & pans or no pots & pans . Just that I do believe that if they have got it wrong they should be big enough to say so, as I will if I am wrong. Perhaps on this one there is no right/wrong answer.