Yeah, and forget about chumros like waiting for the new chometz from after Pesach (no lasagna noodles this year, whereas last year they had them and I also can’t buy the ready made graham cracker crusts or the premade pie crusts in the freezer section) and also for us folks who only eat a few of the hechsherim available it’s not always easy to find the stuff. My daughter i still looking for cinnamon raisin bagels like her grandfather z”l used to buy when we would visit the U.S. We started making our own cream cheese last year with pretty good success. I actually found cream cheese with a B’datz Eida Chareidis hechsher recently. It was a little stiffer than what I make (probably don’t let it drain long enough) but for the cost, I’ll deal with a little bit of a looser product.
Actually, as far as lox goes, I heard that there is a store on Beit HaDefus near Gutnik that makes the stuff and all of the other smoked fish products. I was told that you could get lox trimmings for 20 sha”ch a kilo, which is a tremendous price. I’m actually going to be not far from there next week, so maybe I’ll stop over and see what’s available. If it’s true, it would make an awesome lox spread with homemade cc, no?