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Gift baskets at the grocery store

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ANDREA GALABINSKI Manager Shawn Chase prepares items for a gift pack at Lawhon’s Grocery & Meat.
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The old-fashioned grocery store also helps to promote local citizens and causes, such as Jeff Schmidt’s hot sauces, with a portion of proceeds going to local animal shelters.

While flowers may fade and chocolates can add pounds, many in the area have said giving a meat package as a present is a great gift, especially in this economy.

Local Lawhon’s Grocery & Meat, a store that has been an institution in the area since 1976, puts together meat packages ranging from $25 to $90.

Many have bought the store’s pre-packaged bags for loved ones, for everything from Valentine’s Day to birthdays.

For $25, you get three pork chops, one pound of lean ground chuck, two charcoal steaks, one pound of all-beef hot dogs, two pork steaks, one whole chicken and three chicken leg-quarters.

For the deluxe $90 package, you get four Delmonico Steaks, three slabs of baby back ribs, four chicken breasts, one three pound chuck roast and one pork tenderloin.

Other packages range in between.

One local woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, bought her friend the meat package for Valentine’s Day. “He loves to cook, and money is tight. To have meat in the freezer is like comfort food,” she said.

Lawhon’s Grocery & Meat is a place many go to find a good-old-fashioned butcher.

Lawhon’s owner Larry Belanger, with co-owner wife Laurine, said the idea of the meat packages came about years ago when many complained about shopping after a rough day. “By buying a package, that gave them some freedom, to go home and have all different things ready to go.

“We actually do have many people that give them (the packages) for gifts. We have six different packages total.”

Others come in during season to be good house guests. “When guests visit their parents or loved ones, they can take home a package,” he said, so meals are a plenty.

Manager Shawn Chase has been at Lawhon’s for eight years. “People get the packages all the time for gifts , like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and Christmas. They like that we can cut everything to order — thicker, thinner, whatever.”

He enjoys his job. “The owners are great, we have a good location and all the people that come in are friendly.”

Breakfasts are also very popular there. “Every day we have biscuits and gravy, and an assortment of breakfast sandwiches,” sad employee Carolyn Davis. “We also have our own homemade sweet tea.”

Lawhon’s Grocery & Meat is at 9491 Bayshore Rd. in North Fort Myers, just east of I-75. It is a little hard to see — look for a Marathon Gas Station sign, and they are in that plaza.

They are open seven days a week, Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information, call 543-1255.