Grocery Chopin

Onions

2012-02-01T13:32:00.002-05:00

I was just at Western Beef where they had a 2lb bag of yellow onions on sale for $0.79. I've never seen such a price. For comparison, loose yellow onions were $0.79 for 1 lb. That's what I call free onions.

Here is the best song I know about onions. It's by Lou Christie's sister. She's from Pittsburgh.

Healthy Ham Salad Recipe

2012-01-31T13:48:00.000-05:00

My brother posted this on Facebook.

People in New York don't seem to have ham salad. They're missing out. I love it, even the mayo kind. I love mayo though.

Dumpling Night

2012-01-28T11:37:00.000-05:00

Ridgely reminded me to have a dumpling party, so I am going to do that tonight. Yesterday I went to Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown and bought ingredients. (Then I walked around and now my feet hurt so much that I don't think I can get to Key Food to buy pork.)

I bought 4 packs of dumpling wrappers (which makes 160-200 dumplings I guess. $1.50 each), a big Napa cabbage ($0.59/lb) , a bag of bok choy ($0.99/lb I think), 2 8oz containers of white mushrooms ($1.19 each. What a deal!), 2 bunches of scallions ($0.50 each), a bottle of Squid brand fish sauce ($1.19), a leek at a price I forget, and maybe that was it. I was running late so I didn't get to peruse. I spent about $18, which isn't bad for getting to feed 10 people or so.

I have been thinking about fish sauce a lot lately. I use anchovies when I cook pasta a lot. Maybe fish sauce, which is made of anchovies, salt, and water, would be easier or cheaper. I'm going to find out. I have no experience with fish sauce though so I don't know what brand is good. I bought Squid because it wasn't the cheapest, wasn't the most expensive, had an ok color, and had a squid on it.

I think I might fill some dumplings with ricotta and spinach and call them raviolis.

Cheeses Christ! The Resurrection of my Pecorino Romano

2012-01-25T11:30:00.003-05:00

Know how when you have a lot of cookies, you put a slice of bread in with them so the cookies remain soft while taking moisture out of the bread, which gives its life up to become the stale waste instead? Well I hope you knew that because otherwise you probably have been eating a lot of stale cookies in your life.

Yesterday I made pasta (with hot peppers, onions, tuna, and capers--it was ok) and was grating some pecorino romano on it. I am down to the end of my block and it's getting hard to grate. While cleaning up, I dropped my cheese bag in the sink. Rather than get a new one, I decided to stick the rest of my block in my leftover pasta container. I wondered if it would absorb some moisture and become easy to grate again. (Note: I have brought cookies back from being too stale by using bread. I have made cookies moist after overcooking them by using bread.)

Today I tried grating my cheese. It was easy! You can take moisture out of moist foods and infuse them back into hard cheeses. I guess I will try this with bread next since that's what this whole post was about.

job

2012-01-17T00:36:00.000-05:00

My brother has an interview to be a stocker at a grocery store tomorrow. I guess we'll find out if this world is set up correctly or not. A grocery store that doesn't hire us deserves to go out of business.

Colavita crushed tomatoes got more expensive

2012-01-16T19:37:00.001-05:00

They've been 2/$3 at Key Food for as long as I have been buying them (and were 2/$3 at C-Town for a while when they started carrying them for me) but now they are 3/$5. I guess I'll adjust.

Rabbit Stock

2012-01-10T12:07:00.001-05:00

I made rabbit stock with the rest of my rabbit pieces and bones and some vegetables I bought at Jesus. It's pretty good, but it doesn't taste very rabbity. I bought Andrew a stock pot for Christmas and this was the first time anyone used it. (What a self-serving gift, eh?) It tastes like good vegetable stock though. I used all the celery you see, the whole bag of carrots, the onion, another red onion, the shallot, the fresh thyme, and the cremini mushrooms. And salt and pepper. The vegetables/thyme cost me $6. That seemed pretty good.

Now I have to figure out what to do with all this stock.

Rabbit Cacciatore

2012-01-04T21:14:00.000-05:00

For my birthday, my friends Bill and Gideon went to some place in Bushwick and picked out a rabbit for me by pointing at it and had it killed for me. Thankfully they answered yes when asked if they wanted to have the fur removed. I received this thing in a plastic bag.

The day after my birthday I already had plans. Same for New Year's. The next day, Ravi invited me over to eat lamb. I was starting to fret that this bunny would go bad. So I cooked it yesterday even though Bill couldn't make it. He can come eat leftovers if he's less tortoise and more hare about this whole thing.

First I studied this Saveur guide to butchering a rabbit. The main differences between their guide and my rabbit were that I still had a head on mine, I still had organs in mine, and they have sharp knives. They also give instructions like "then remove the bones from the leg." Easier said than done!

I decided to make rabbit cacciatore. I thought it was familiar, but later I realized it only sounded familiar because I used to watch so much Camp Candy. The other rabbit dish I could think of, hasenpfeffer, is thickened with the blood of the rabbit, according to wikipedia. I didn't need all that. Yes, I use wikipedia for recipes. It told me what goes in it so I do it. I decided to serve it over polenta with a salad and some bread. Into my cacciatore I put 2 red onions, 8 oz of quartered button mushrooms, a green pepper cut into chunks, a thinly sliced carrot, a can of whole canned tomatoes mashed up a bit, a few glugs of whatever wine we were drinking, as much turkey stock as was melted and pourable by the time I wanted to add turkey stock, garlic powder (I thought I had real garlic around but didn't), and herbes de provence that Callie gave me for Christmas. I should have added more salt. It tasted significantly better when I salted it and the rabbit didn't taste as much like chicken.

In the end, it looked like this. Not bad.

I know it's impolite to ask how much something cost, but I really was curious about how much a rabbit goes for so I could think about doing it again maybe. So I asked. Gideon told me about $30 for that rabbit. "I'm not worth $30!" I recoiled. But I liked the stewing aspect of the meal a lot so maybe I will stew some cheap meats. I will stew eggs. (Bill and Gid also got me eggs.)

I still have the bones and organs and the meat I couldn't get off the bones so I think I'll make stock tomorrow. I got Andrew a stock pot for Christmas and I guess I will be the one to break it in. I don't let things go to waste much. I'm also probably better at making stock than I was butchering an animal.

There should be a lemon law.

2012-01-04T20:59:00.002-05:00

Outrageous.

$1 for a lemon at the Gristede's on West 96th St.

Oysters! Mussels!

2011-12-30T16:17:00.002-05:00

Food Bazaar has a sale on oysters and clams and mussels. The oysters and clams are $4 for a dozen. They're usually $5 this time of year, and that's still cheap. You can get 2 lbs of mussels for $2.49. If you're lucky enough to know someone who got an oyster shucker for Christmas, you should buy a dozen and drop by his house. And realistically, if you're reading this, you know someone who got an oyster shucker for Christmas.

No groceries for me

2011-12-20T10:59:00.002-05:00

I can't buy any groceries until I'm in Pittsburgh. They'll go bad.

But watch out! I am going to hit the roof when I see the price of limes. And pecorino romano.

I do have to go to Brighton Beach to find some kvass today.

Citrus

2011-12-08T19:00:00.001-05:00

I'm going to develop a signature non-alcoholic drink for a dinner party I'm hosting next week. And I think I need citrus.

I got a grapefruit, a pink grapefruit, a lemon, a lime, a juice orange, a tangerine, and 2 clementines. That cost me $2.60. I'd hate to see what Giant Eagle would want for that. I got every citrus they had except the navel orange.

Great Beer News

2011-12-04T13:38:00.001-05:00

Baltika Extra Lager is back at Western Beef. The bottle is redesigned, but the price is still $1.88 for 51 oz. of 8% ABV lager.

Some Good Deals at Key Food

2011-12-02T15:55:00.001-05:00

Orange juice was $1.69 for a carton, so I'm going to drink some screwdrivers when the sun sets. Colavita crushed tomatoes are still $1.50. C-Town charges a premium for them. The Key Food tomato sauces were 3/$1 and I want to make chili soon so those will be good. Eggs were $1.79, which is an ok price. It beats C-Town. Giardinera was $2. Rice is $1.49 for a pound. The 2 pound bags are $2.99, so I think I'll just save myself the penny and let them store the extra pound for more. That's penny-wise AND pound-wise. Milk is $2.69 for a half gallon. I have no idea if that's a good price. I can never run for president because despite buying milk and having a grocery blog, I don't know the price of milks.

They had buttermilk for either $2 or $2.50. Trader Joe's has it for $1.69, same brand. These buttermilks all expired yesterday or in 3 days. With prices like that, no wonder they have no turnover. With no turnover, no wonder they have prices like that. Not my problem--I'll wait til I'm at Trader Joe's.

Oysters for Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:35:00.001-05:00

GQ taught me to eat oysters and drink champagne before Thanksgiving dinner. And so when I head off to Krys and Quentin's later today, I am going to chuck oysters with a butter knife and open the André and do just that.

Food Bazaar has had pretty good oysters every time I've had them. The price went down since I last looked too! Maybe they're in season. They're only $5 for a dozen. I bought 2. I got 3 lemons too. I like oysters with lemon juice and a dab of hot sauce.

In Pittsburgh, 2 dozen oysters cost $28. I guess there are some advantages to living on the coast.

Tesco Uses Slave Labor

2011-11-16T22:25:00.001-05:00

In America, at least our stores pay their employees.

Britain's Shame

Key Food Saw Me Comin'!

2011-11-16T16:32:00.001-05:00

I just glanced at the weekly circular and saw that C-Town has Barilla pasta for $0.86! I overspent to the tune of $0.14/lb yesterday. Now I have to go to C-Town and buy enough to bring my average cost lower.

The new pasta norm

2011-11-15T20:33:00.001-05:00

I went to Key Food today and stocked up on pasta because Barilla was 5/$5 (must buy 5 and have the card). I got fettucine, linguine, medium shells, gemelli, and penne rigate. Lesser sales only offer spaghetti, elbows, ziti, penne, and rotelle, so I stocked up on diversity.

I thought back to my first year of this blog, back before I forgot the password. I used to be outraged by pasta that cost a dollar. In this post called Giant Eagle Really Sucks written on Christmas in 2006, I said I only pay $0.50 or $0.67 for a pound of pasta. (Giant Eagle has its charms. I hope they hire my brother. They could do a lot worse than hiring from a family of grocery lovers.)

Ricotta was on sale for $2.99 for 32 oz. It's hard to find ricotta at a decent price anymore, so when I find it, I buy it. It made my toast good last night, but now I'm out of bread. I didn't like the price of any bread at Key Food. I got some sugar free preserves (only the sugar free kind was on sale: $1.99) and ate it with a ripped up bagel and peanut butter I got from Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's peanut butter reminds me of why I like preservatives. I really dislike their peanut butter.

Trader Joe's Always Does This to Me

2011-11-14T20:51:00.001-05:00

I went to Trader Joe's today because I had to go to Manhattan. I spent about $26. I bought olive oil, canola oil, a can of cannelini beans, frozen peas, frozen broccoli, frozen spinach, frozen asparagus, gorgonzola, buttermilk, and beer. Everything was a good price and so I spent more than usual (I rarely spend $20 on a single trip.)

Yet I still don't know what to eat for dinner. I might drink olive oil.

This afternoon before I went, I tried concocting a meal of rice, broccoli, sardines, soy sauce, and hot sauce. Unfortunately for him, Dylan dropped in while I was cooking it, so I fed him some.

Update: Toast!

Key Food's Pre-Thanksgiving Circular is 10 Pages!

2011-11-11T16:22:00.001-05:00

I like Fridays because the new circulars come up on the grocery sites.

My local Key Food

It's instant coffee, not instant gold

2011-10-26T18:49:00.000-04:00

I went to Associated to get some instant Cafe Bustelo coffee. I can find it for $4.99 when it's on sale or $5.49 when it's not. At Associated, it was $6.39! So I left and went to Key Food for it.

At Key Food, I bought eggs that were $1.69. They were $1.25 at Associated. So I still came out ahead.

Balsamic vinegar ketchup.

2011-10-26T12:46:00.000-04:00

Heinz is going to make balsamic vinegar ketchup.

And they are going to sell it through their Facebook page first, which will cost $2 extra. I will buy it, but I'm going to wait to find it at C-Town. And I don't know why my font is weird (copying and pasting troubles) so this post is over.

P.S. I like the label. You can see it if you click the link.

Finally, Gorgonzola at a Reasonable Price

2011-10-20T01:59:00.000-04:00

Today I went to Manhattan. I was at Chelsea Piers for the first time. Then I walked around for a while. I found a Western Beef I didn't know existed on West 16th St. It's much smaller than the one in Ridgewood, but the prices are the same, which means it's possible to live in Manhattan after all.

How beautiful. I didn't buy anything though. I like my Western Beef better and I wanted to go to Trader Joe's.

I went to the one on 6th Avenue and 21st St. I had never been there either. What a pleasure. The store wasn't crowded at all. I guess I was hungry because I finally bought food. I got gorgonzola for $5.99/lb, which is a really good price. I got a 6 pack of some store brand of their beer that I had at Roxy's before for $3.99. I don't think it's bad. It's 6.2% alcohol, so it's strong regardless. I got frozen peas and frozen artichoke hearts for $1.29 and $2.99 respectively. I need the artichokes for pungent pasta (along with the gorgonzola) and C-Town quit having the ones I liked before.

I need the picture to remember what else I got. Frozen party (meaning small) meatballs are $3.99 now. They used to be cheaper. They're good for my spaghetti. Buttermilk is only $1.69 there. I had a glass after dinner. I got some peanut butter, which is cheaper than those national brands anyway. I guess that's my effort to stock up before the looming price increase. It was $1.79. I got a can of cannelini beans for $0.89. I ate them.

I considered getting some oregano for $1.99, but I got a brand at a dollar store for $1 yesterday. Maybe I should try using that up quick.

So now I need to make pungent pasta.

Everyday With Rachael Ray Magazine values its readers' time at about $2.40 an hour

2011-10-19T10:39:00.000-04:00

Everyday with Rachael Ray features a "showdown" between two similar products in every issue. In this one, it's canned dinner rolls (e.g. Pillsbury) against the rolls you'd buy premade from the bakery. I can't find a link to this on their website, but the page looks like this.

The relevant info they provide is that the canned rolls are $0.23 each and the bakery ones are $0.29 each. Six cents is what you save! And prep times are 12 minutes and 5 seconds (essentially 0. If I'm going to count 5 seconds of prep time, I might as well count the extra second to put the roll in my mouth and the extra 15 to chew.)

You get 8 rolls in a can. They take 12 minutes to bake, so you could bake 5 batches and get 40 rolls in an hour. This would cost you $9.25. And you worked for an hour.

Using the price they provided for the bakery rolls, $3.49 for 12, you'd pay $11.67 for 40 rolls. So for your hour of work, you save $2.42. Which means that is how much your time is worth, all else (meaning quality of rolls) being equal.

When comparing the 8 to 12, they favor 8 because with the bakery rolls, "you're usually committed to to buying a bigger batch." I had to gloss over that to figure out how much your time is valued per hour to make the canned cheaper. But I'll still accept and address a quantity argument.

The bakery rolls are bigger. You don't need as many. And at all the grocery stores I go to, the rolls are loose. I can buy as many as I want. I usually do not want 8. 8 is either too many or too few if I'm feeding 5 people. The bakery buns and rolls let me have control.

In summary, the canned rolls are better if you have infinite time or don't value yours and if you have infinite oven space. Otherwise, they are a good example of being penny wise and pound foolish.

Texts from the Field: Sugar Water

2011-10-13T16:09:00.000-04:00

Timmy had a job interview near Harrisburg. He sent along this picture with the commentary "Only a fool would buy this! People say pop is only sugar water. This actually is! And costs more!"

Here are some other pictures he sent.

That's a cheap 5 lbs of pickles.

That's a cheap 1 lb of hot peppers. I like those, as regular readers know.

That's an abomination.

That's a directory.

That's 2 cases of birch beer for the ride home.

Less Pretentious than Nutella - peanut butter and chocolate icing

2011-10-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

This is what my peanut butter and chocolate icing on toast meal looks like. It's very good. It's less pretentious than Nutella and probably just as healthy, if not more. I might not feed this to my children, but I would feed it to my grandchildren.

Peanut Butter. Oh no!

2011-10-11T17:11:00.000-04:00

Via (Lewis via) Lifehacker:

The time to buy peanut butter is now, friends. The Wall Street Journal reports that prices for Jif, Peter Pan, and other peanut butter jars will be going up as much as 40% starting in a couple of weeks.

Just when I invented a new food that is good for toast. It's a lot like peanut butter and jelly, only better. It is peanut butter and chocolate icing from a can. It also works on saltines. I bought a jar of Reese's brand for $2.99, which was already a bit cheaper than Jif or Skippy.

Good thing I don't have a job. I used to eat PB&J every day for lunch. Or let me take that back. It would be good if I had a job so I could afford peanut butter. (By the way, this blog kinda sorta got me a job but it was only for a few weeks and it's over and it made me tired of adjectives.)

Key Food has some good sales right now. So does Jesus.

2011-10-11T11:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't been that interested in eating or cooking lately, but that might be because there weren't any good deals. I had a good time at Key Food today though, and later I'm going to figure out how to cook things.

Key Food had mozzarella for $1.99/lb. I got that. Earlier I got 2 lbs of ricotta for $2.99, which is the best price I've seen in months. So I have cheeses again. I bought Hunt's barbecue sauce for $1.29, which I think is a good price. I don't buy it very often. Fresh mushrooms were $0.99 for an 8 oz package. I got some iodized salt for $0.69. It's usually $0.79, so don't make a special trip. I got iodized because I don't want a goiter.

I went to Jesus on the way home. They have avocados for $1, but I didn't get any. I bought fennel for the first time. I don't think I've ever even tasted it, but from what I learned in my studies, it looks like dill and tastes like absinthe.

Grocery Texts I Get

2011-10-11T10:49:00.001-04:00

On Friday, I got a text from a number I didn't know: Hey mike, it's Anthony, where is good to food shop in Bushwick? I'm off montrose L.

I said to go to Food Bazaar if he's close. It's on Broadway and Manhattan, which is possibly like the Montrose L. He used to live off the Hewes stop and I hope he was shopping there then. Maybe my advice wasn't helpful.

On Monday, Ravi said in a text "you would be very disappointed to know how much I'm spending to make meatballs at home." I can only imagine! I saw the meat I would use to make meatballs for $2.99/lb at Key Food. I think you should use cheap meat for meat balls. You're going to season it heavily anyway.

Bravo almost stole me away from C-Town

2011-09-25T17:30:00.000-04:00

Bravo used to be Cat Pee, but it remodeled and fired the cat. Now it's well-lit and the food is nicer looking and it's still cheap. I had a pleasant time there today. I was about to announce that it won me over from C-Town until they wouldn't let me use a credit card because my purchase wasn't $10. I can't commit to spending $10 every time I go to a grocery store, so now I won't go there often.

Tons of Bad News about C-Town

2011-09-23T21:24:00.000-04:00

Remember the last time I tried to say something nice about C-Town? I praised their price of frozen vegetables. I guess they marked that broccoli down to $0.99 because they were getting bags with a new design that they charge $3.49/lb or so for. There is now not a single thing for which I'd go to C-Town over any other local grocery store. I guess I know its hours and it's open late, and sometimes it has beer on the way to where I'm headed.

The other bad thing is that I was just ousted as the Foursquare mayor. Usually you get ousted when you haven't been to a place for a while, not 30 minutes after you get back from it. Based on my feelings about C-Town, I doubt I'll have that mayorship back anytime soon, but maybe I can get Key Food's again.

Good Sales for the week of 9/16 - 9/23

2011-09-16T11:44:00.002-04:00

There aren't any. I'm not leaving the house.

The best thing about C-Town anymore: frozen food

2011-09-15T17:22:00.001-04:00

It seems like their prices are going up faster than other stores around here, but the one thing you can still find cheap there is frozen vegetables.

I got this 1 lb bag of broccoli for $0.99. So while I was there, I got some fish sticks and salsa. They brought back my favorite brand, La Costeña, which is both the cheapest and the spiciest. It's made in Mexico.

Seafood Deals at Food Bazaar

2011-09-13T14:18:00.002-04:00

I've been reading a book about oysters and New York City that Dylan left here, so I went to Food Bazaar to peep their seafood. They have the best prices in this part of town and they don't say your selection is gross and wipe off their hands and cash register before finishing your transaction like Key Food does.

Oysters and clams are $4 for a dozen. They were $3 in February, but this isn't bad.
Mussels are $3 for a bag, which holds 2 lbs. That's a great deal.
Live crabs are $2.49/lb. I think that's a good deal, but I've never had a crab. If someone wants to buy a crab and prepare it for me and tell me how to eat it, I will tell you where to get them for a pretty good price.
Medium raw shrimp are $4.99/lb, which is also a pretty good deal.
I think the octopus was $3.99/lb, but I don't know how much octopus should be. The only time I tried cooking it I made a very very chewy food.

Lobster is $5.99/lb, which is a very low price as far as I can tell for lobster. Like crab, I've never had one. Everything I know about cooking lobsters and crabs I learned from the Little Mermaid.

Grocery Shopping as Civic Duty

2011-08-26T11:53:00.002-04:00

President Obama just took to the airwaves to tell us denizens of the northeast to go grocery shopping.

Don't mind if I do, Mr. President.

R.I.Pee

2011-08-12T12:51:00.000-04:00

Compare Foods on Grand St, better known as "cat pee" because of its most distinguishing feature, has shuttered and reopened as a Bravo. I haven't checked it out yet. I wonder if they fired the cat.

Giant Eagle Sucks - Produce Edition

2011-08-04T15:24:00.000-04:00

I'm in Pittsburgh for the weekend so I can go eye Giant Eagle. By the way, "Giant Eagle sucks" is usually one of the most frequent search terms that lead people to this blog. I think people look it up a lot.

I was horrified by the produce prices.

Here you have limes that cost more than lemons. You have limes that cost more than gold. At Western Beef a lemon is 5/$2 and a lime is 14/$2. No wonder people in Pittsburgh don't make ceviche.

I wouldn't pay more than $1.50 for an avocado in Brooklyn. $2.50? No wonder people in Pittsburgh don't make guacamole.

Eggplant was $1.99/lb ($0.99 in Brooklyn). Zucchini was $0.99/lb, which is the same. I said to my mother that the price wasn't bad. She said zucchini around here at this time of summer is usually $0.00/lb because people grow it and have too much and beg you to take it from them. You can't beat free.

Here was Giant Eagle's strength. I'd be delighted to find buttermilk in Brooklyn for under $2.19 for a quart. $1.35 is amazing! Why does Giant Eagle subsidize its buttermilk with its produce?

And below the jump, the results of its blood pressure machine. That's my favorite part of Giant Eagle.

I'm like a fox and Western Beef is the henhouse

2011-07-15T14:45:00.001-04:00

Because I just came out of there with a lot of chicken.

If I told you to buy 13 lbs of chicken, how much would you expect to pay? $10.50? $12? $18 even?!

No, not at Western Beef. Look at this deal.

Your eyes aren't fooling you. That says $0.49/lb! They are practically paying you to take it off their hands. If I know anything about you, you are probably already halfway out there door to get to Western Beef and buy some chicken.

Wait. There's more!

They take an extra $0.10/lb off the original sale price.

You can buy chicken for one easy payment of....

$0.39 per pound!!!

Wow. You can't afford not to buy it.

Do they even have margaritas in Pittsburgh?

2011-07-13T07:15:00.000-04:00

My brother told me that my parents drink margaritas now. Even at home! How is that possible/affordable? A single lime costs about $0.70 at Giant Eagle. For comparison, I can get 6-10 limes for $1 now, depending on where I go. I buy so many limes because they're so cheap that I throw a lot away. It's worth it to have the option for a lime.

The Whiskey Rebellion Was Fought Over This

2011-07-12T11:09:00.000-04:00

It turns out $6.49 for Haller's Whiskey is before tax, which is $0.39 in PA. I get Fleischmann's for $6.50 total, so I win.

The Whiskey Rebellion happened near Pittsburgh, by the way. If I ever invent a distillery, I'm going to make it in Pittsburgh and dub it Rebellion Whiskey.

Still not the mayor of Western Beef (plus the most heinous use of Instagram ever)

2011-07-11T19:36:00.001-04:00

I went to Western Beef to get a loaf of bread. It's $1.79 for wheat bread there and you have to pay at least $2.50 anywhere else. Sometimes $3.79! I figured I'd look at the ricotta cheese too because that's good on toast. I didn't get any. What happened to the price of ricotta? I used to pay $2 for a pound of it (when it was on sale) and now it's more like $4. Maybe I should make my own?

I got a Florida avocado for $0.99. I've never eaten one before--only Haas. I bought one last year but I let it go bad.

I also bought DeCecco pasta for the first time. It was finally affordable. It was $1/box. The non-sale price was $2.19. I wonder if it's better than the Ronzoni/San Giorgio/Barilla I usually buy. I hope not, because I don't want to acquire any fancy tastes.

I wonder what this Warka beer is like. "Unique taste" and "strong beer" make me think it's awful in a way that I'd learn to like.

And I got some sardines. And then I took a picture of my receipt and used Instagram on it. I think this might be the worst, most heinous, abuse of Instagram in its storied history.

Bushwick Groceries

2011-07-08T12:08:00.000-04:00

I don't know if blog posts get better than this one from BushwickBK. It's a grocery price survey of all the stores in Bushwick. I overpay for eggs.

You'd think this blog would do original reporting like that, but I think my focus is even narrower. But here are my tips.

Buy frozen foods, especially vegetables, at C-Town.
Buy canned foods at Western Beef. Except crushed tomatoes, which come from C-Town or Key Food.
Buy fresh vegetables at the Jesus store. It's called To the World Farm or something. It's next to Associated.
Recycle your shopping bags at Key Food. You can get pasta there or at C-Town.
Get pork butt from Associated. Get bags of beans from Associated.

A Lamentation

2011-07-08T12:04:00.000-04:00

A life full of party leftovers is a life without a reason to go to the grocery store. And now my life lacks its organizing principle. I'd do other people's grocery shopping. I bought Greg a bottle of Cholula, but that has been delivered now. I went to 4 stores because I didn't care for the price at the first one and the second one didn't have it and the third only had weird flavors. C-Town had it for $3/bottle, which is the lowest you'll ever find it anywhere.

4th of July Party Planning

2011-07-03T15:59:00.000-04:00

Watching me plan a party and buy groceries for it is such a sight that I don't know why more people don't want to watch me do it. I have my menu spreadsheet. Then I go to all the stores and compare the prices on everything I'm not already familiar with the price for. Days and days of nothing but grocery stores. I try to keep each trip to $10-$20. It makes my heart hurt to think that I've also made about 6 trips so far. If I spent all that money at the same time, I'd cry. I'm poor.

This is the table of things that don't have to be refrigerated and aren't whiskey. There's orangeade for tint that I found at C-Town on sale. Jugs of apple juice for the american drink (whiskey and apple juice). Cups and plates. Hot dog buns are $1.50 for 12 at Western Beef. Cheez whiz was $3.99 at Key Food this week. Prices ranged up to $5.69 for it. You can't see the Bac-o's. They make part of my baked potato dogs. There are 2 boxes of gemelli there that I'm goign to turn into a pesto pasta salad with tomatoes and mozzarella (so it's like caprese).

In my refrigerator are sour cream, the mozzarella, parsley, basil, celery, lettuce, and I forget what else.

I accidentally made 10 lbs of chickpea orzo salad. That's what 1 bag of chick peas and 2 boxes of orzo will get you. It's not done yet because I still have to add the parsley and taste it. I might buy a can of chick peas. I don't know if I like this ratio right now.

I still need to buy 8 bottles of wine for tint (generously contributed by Agnes on the condition that I do the legwork) and maybe some more hot dog buns and ketchup. I ate all the ketchup I had on pasta the other night. I better check out my mustard situation too.

I am currently in a very very bad mood. I often get in one as I get ready for a party. Right now I am rehearing every criticism ever made of me that I'm too cheap and shouldn't use lemon juice from a bottle, for instance. Or that tint is gross because it's not sangria. I am willing to give out very affordable black eyes to anyone who suggests such a thing to me tomorrow.

3 grocery stores

2011-06-16T18:43:00.002-04:00

I went to 3 grocery stores and I still forget to buy mint tea. I should be shot.

4 Grocery Stores

2011-06-10T17:31:00.001-04:00

I went to 4 grocery stores today. I bought the most expensive bananas ($0.79/lb) and I paid $1.89 for Fresca. I should be shot.

At last, Tuna Bean Salad

2011-06-08T16:04:00.000-04:00

I've been talking about this recipe for a long time and eating it even slightly longer. It's pretty good. I served it to my family on Christmas Eve and it was a hit. It's also really easy and pretty cheap. It's mostly from Mark Bittman, but he'd yell at me for some of my shortcuts, so I'm just going to say it's mine. Plus, I make it for me and he doesn't. But I'll tell you where he'd do it differently.

Here's what you need for it. Olive oil (only about 2 Tbsp), 2 cans of tuna, a can of white beans, some parsley, some lemon juice, and black pepper. Mark Bittman says to use fresh parsley and real lemon juice. Fresh parsley does make it better, but it's good with dried stuff too. The dried stuff is mostly for your eyes, but you can taste it a bit. You also need some onion, preferably red.

You can get the tuna for 4/$3 at Western Beef. I tried using the more expensive white albacore kind once but liked it less. It's drier. Beans should be under $1 per can. Sometimes I use small white navy beans. I don't really care if you change what kind of beans you use every time you eat it, but white beans make it look the nicest.

First, drain and add the tuna.

Then drain and add the beans.

Add some diced red onion. When I buy a red onion, I dice the whole thing then use about this much for the tuna bean salad and put the rest in a bag in the refrigerator for next time. I use red onion for some other things, but mostly for this.

I added about 2 Tbsp of olive oil and maybe about 3 Tbsp of lemon juice here. You can't tell, so I just stirred everything up. If I were using a real lemon, I'd use the juice of half a lemon I think. You don't want lemon soup, but you do want more acid than oil.

Underneath that parsley is 10 twists of the pepper grinder. I used a heavy hand with the parsley here.

Then I stirred it up. Now it's festering in the refrigerator because it's better when the flavors meld and it's better chilled.

Eat it plain or on toast or crackers or crostini (more words for toast = more excuses for toast).

I got some good deals at Key Food

2011-06-08T10:52:00.001-04:00

This is from a trip a few days ago. I hope I remember how much I paid for everything. The eggs I remember. They were $0.99 for a dozen large. You could get extra large for $1.99. Pierogies were $2.50. "Meat" hot dogs were $1.69. I don't buy nice hot dogs because I don't care. I just want a method to eat ketchup. Crushed tomatoes were $1.50. I already had some, but I use them a lot. The pasta was $1 and it rang up as $1, unlike at C-Town where it was $1 and rang up as $1.69 and made me mad. The artichoke hearts were $1.69, which is more than what C-Town charges for the La Squisita ones I like, but they don't seem to stock them anymore. Frozen broccoli was $1.46 for a pound.

I guess I have food I could eat. I was going to put ketchup on noodles for lunch. I can't get enough ketchup lately.

Vodka's getting pricier

2011-06-02T14:35:00.001-04:00

At BQE Liquors, the price of my Seagram's vodka went up $1 to $16.53. Now the dignity premium* I pay for the smooth vodka in the bumpy bottle is $3.

Fleischmann's whiskey is still $6/bottle.

*The dignity premium is how much extra I pay to have a jug of vodka that isn't in a plastic jug that I can share with guests with dignity. My dignity. I assume my guests intend to lose theirs if they're guzzling vodka.

What you can get for a dime

2011-05-28T11:16:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite song about what you can buy for a dime.

Also, you can buy Fresca for $1.25 at Key Food now.

I got my Fresca.

2011-05-22T14:23:00.000-04:00

And for $0.74! Worth the wait.

Western Beef has 2 liter Coke products on sale for $0.74 (limit 5) with an additional $10 purchase. That's not hard to do. I was almost out of pecorino romano anyway ($5.99/lb) and I live on the tuna bean salad I've been promising you a recipe for (4 cans for $3). Pre-toast is $1.79 a loaf now. Used to be $1.69, but I've been reading about the price of wheat and it costs me at least $2.50 anywhere else.

Know what I didn't buy?

Sardines! They used to be $1.15. I guess I'll just starve or buy the $1.29 sardines at C-Town and Key Food. You could argue that making a separate trip over $0.04 is stupid, but if you don't care about $0.04 I'll let you send me all the $0.04s you don't want via Paypal.

I buy a lot of Dairy

2011-05-16T13:33:00.000-04:00

I went to Key Food today to buy Fresca, which is advertised at 5 2 liter bottles for $5, and San Giorgio pasta, which is supposed to be 5/$4. They have no Fresca. Sometimes they carry it, but not when it's on sale I guess. And there were no signs up for the pasta, and I don't trust them so I didn't fix either of my problems.

I got milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, and Gatorade. I'm only missing buttermilk.

I only really want to eat toast anyway, so who needs pasta and Fresca?

Why I Keep Shopping at Western Beef

2011-05-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

As my unemployment benefits ran out today, my mind turned to converting my illiquid assets to liquid ones. And as far as I can tell, cheap beer is more liquid than a dollar bill, and that's why I go to Western Beef, even in the rain.

Here's what I hauled in today.

The first item is 1% milk. I just started noticing the price of milk, which means I can survive a gotcha question when I run for president. At Key Food, a half gallon of milk is $2.50. The second item there is Vintage tonic water. At Key Food, I can get the store brand for $1. $0.67 is a $0.33 subsidy to my gin consumption.

I got some white beans for $0.67 too. I turn that into a tuna salad that I'll show you sometime. It's pretty good. I served it to my family for Christmas Eve and they liked it.

Next is a jar of anchovies for $3.49. I pay between $4.99 and $5.49 for a similar sized jar at Key Food and C-Town.

And finally, my traditional 3 bottles of Baltika. At $1.88/bottle, my assets could hardly be more liquid.

My Typical Western Beef Trip

2011-04-20T15:40:00.000-04:00

Since the weather got nice enough for me to bike everywhere, I've been going to Western Beef a lot. And since I discovered Baltika, I've been going even more. Here's my typical haul: 3 Baltikas, a half gallon of milk, and a bunch of fish products. Baltika is Europe's second largest brewery, according to Wikipedia. These bottles are imported from Russia. They're $1.88 for 51 oz, which is 1.5L. They're 8% alcohol. They only look foamy there because they just survived a ride on my bike. They're either so cheap because the ruble is so weak, their best by date is in 2 weeks, or because they're not that good. I, however, have acquired the taste. It's rather sweet. I'd serve it at a brunch with oatmeal, but not with huevos rancheros.

The sardines and tuna are pretty good prices too. I can find sardines on sale for $1/less sometimes, but $1.15 is the most consistent low price and I eat them a lot. I never find tuna for less than 4/$3.

You're looking at Delallo's Fan of the Week

2011-04-05T10:45:00.000-04:00

Every week Delallo names a fan of the week based on submissions of memories of the store/brand. So last week I decided to win myself a free t-shirt and this week I won it. I wrote about how excited I was to see their products in Key Food for the first time.

Yesterday I took Greg to Western Beef. Western Beef should name me fan of the year for how many people I've made go there.

I'm on to you, groceries!

2011-03-29T12:09:00.000-04:00

I knew 59 ounces was a weird size for my orange juice. The New York Times says this is how we get inflation in food. It's because we're very price sensitive but not very quantity sensitive.

Ms. Stauber, 33, said she began inspecting her other purchases, aisle by aisle. Many canned vegetables dropped to 13 or 14 ounces from 16; boxes of baby wipes went to 72 from 80; and sugar was stacked in 4-pound, not 5-pound, bags, she said.

Five or so years ago, Ms. Stauber bought 16-ounce cans of corn. Then they were 15.5 ounces, then 14.5 ounces, and the size is still dropping. “The first time I’ve ever seen an 11-ounce can of corn at the store was about three weeks ago, and I was just floored,” she said. “It’s sneaky, because they figure people won’t know.

Now I have a new thing to keep my eyes peeled for.

Eggs on Special at Associated. Beans, no.

2011-03-24T15:16:00.001-04:00

I went to Associated today to buy some jalapeno peppers because my jar was running low and I devised a way to mass produce huevos rancheros which is going to make me famous. They were $1.59/lb, which isn't bad. At Key Food they're $4.99/lb. They were on the old side, so I almost left, but I saw medium eggs for $1.25. You can't beat that with a stick! You always want small eggs when you're making huevos rancheros, especially with my new way.

I was also in the market for some celery salt, but they didn't have it. I wanted chick peas, but they wanted $1/can for them and I was having none of that. $0.80 is appropriate. I needed milk too, but I don't think they have enough turnover of milk for it to be good so I still have to go shopping later. I didn't think their price on Mexican crema was that good either.

Here's what I do with my peppers. I chop them up and stick them in my jar of vinegar and salt. Later, they're good.

And here's the secret to mass producing huevos rancheros. Use a muffin pan. It's all in there. The best part is either that the tortilla is not soggy or greasy or that you don't need a fork or a knife to eat these. You can pick them up and they're perfect.

By my reckoning, I will be able to feed 12 people 2 eggs each for about $12, which is how much my huevos rancheros cost the last time I ordered them in a restaurant. And these are better, so I won't name the restaurant.

Key Food's Good Deals and a Recipe for Eggs

2011-02-18T18:49:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I felt like I got a good deal at Key Food. Today I did. Their egg prices are reasonable again. I got a dozen medium for $1.69. I got a 32 oz Powerade for $1, which is good since I imagine I might be drinking my way through this weekend at times. I got some Tree Ripe orange juice for $1.99. And I got Mezzetta hot peppers for $1.50. They're usually $2 there, and I will still happily pay that. Oh, and butter for $2.99.

Here is my recipe for how I eat my eggs every day. It's nothing fancy, but it gives me an excuse to eat toast and it's the best thing I know how to do to eggs this side of huevos rancheros. It involves the Mezzetta peppers. You can use Golden Greek too. As long as it's spicy.

In a frying pan, put a generous dose of olive oil. You're going to eat this oil, so don't overwhelm the pan, but don't skimp either. Heat it. Start making your toast. Put some peppers in the oil and pour some of the brine in it too. You're going to fry the egg in the oil at the same time as you're sorta poaching it in the brine. When this gets nice and hot, crack your eggs into the pan. Grind some black pepper on it. When the yolk starts to set, you're done. You can speed this up by spooning some hot liquid over the yolk, but I don't feel like dirtying a spoon so I just wait. Put everything in the pan on a plate--the oil/spicy brine mixture is good to eat with toast. Eggs are good for toast. Toast is inherently great.

How to Turn Last Week's C-Town Specials into One of the Best Foods I've Made

2011-02-11T11:26:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I invited Dylan over for dinner before I knew what to make, so I went to C-Town. The manager let me know the Heinz pickles I requested are in now. I wandered the aisles with only vague ideas of what to make. Luckily, I had bought all types of pasta earlier in the week because Ronzoni was 4/$3. And all I can ever improvise is pasta.

I decided something like baked ziti, but made only on a stove top, would be good. I got hot sausage, which was $1 off. I don't know why it seems to be on my receipt twice, two different ways. I got a can of Colavita crushed tomatoes, which they now carry for me at $1.50. I bought some frozen spinach because Laura told me I need to have Vitamin E if I want to quit being ugly in one specific way. Mozzarella was on sale. I already had the pasta. I also had some frozen onions that they sell and I like to keep on hand because, like I told Dylan, I'm never going to chop an onion for fewer than 6 people. I tasted one out of the bag and it tasted like an onion. You'd expect that from something whose only ingredient is "onions." I also threw in some garlic powder, a ton of pecorino romano, and some dried parsley. I got those at Key Food, but you can get them at C-Town too.

The resulting picture doesn't capture how good it was. I could only eat two bowls. Dylan could only eat two bowls. Afterward we had to digest, first with ouzo, then with negronis.

As for the recipe, I used the whole pound of ziti rigati, 3 sausages removed from their casing (8 oz), 8 oz of mozzarella (slivered), about 8 oz of frozen spinach, almost the whole 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, a boatload of pecorino romano plus more at the table, a bit of the onions, and more garlic powder than usual. Cook the sausage and onions first, then add the spinach and garlic powder. When the spinach isn't frozen, add the tomatoes until it blends all together and is warm, then add pecorino romano. Once you combine the sauce and pasta, put the sliced mozzarella in and let it melt a little and then stir it while still heating it until it becomes really stringy and is in every bite.

C-Town Pasta and what other people think of it.

2011-02-09T00:45:00.000-05:00

C-Town has Ronzoni on sale. Only the 5 basics (spaghetti, ziti rigate, ziti, elbows, and thin spaghetti I think) for 4/$3. That's almost a 2006 price there.

I just saw this on Tumblr:

Is it sad that I couldnt voice my true opinion that my local grocery store’s clerks are consistently shitty about packing the groceries (really all the cans and the diet dr pepper in one bag?)? Why couldnt I say anything? Because theyre following me on tumblr and twitter.
So now Im being passive aggressive. You know who you are grocery store, have a seminar on proper bag packing with your ladies.

Now, I actually would like all my cans together, or at least not have qualms. And every week when I'm volunteering at the food pantry at Agnes's church (which should get another post), I pack up all the cans together. I guess in that situation it is offensive to say that beggars can't be choosers. Baggers, however, are the choosers. Ha!

I always end up packing my own bag because I bring my own anyway.

I looked up C-Town on Yelp and I was appalled at the reviews, so I wrote one. They say they have bad customer service because the cashiers don't talk to you too much. What the heck! The ideal grocery store has cashiers who don't talk to you too much and a twitter account that carries whatever you want at the price you want (usually).

Groceries of Belgium: Canned Hot Dogs, Fruit, Orange Juice, Etc.

2011-02-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

A correspondent recently traveled to Belgium and sent along these snaps.

WOW!

I just paid a lot less for my orange juice.

Key Food didn't do a very good job. Associated picked up its slack.

2011-02-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

I haven't been to Key Food that often lately, though I'm still currently the mayor on Foursquare. I wanted to go today to recycle my grocery bags, buy milk, and buy Fresca. I was also willing to consider buying jalapeno peppers there, but didn't expect much.

I was right to not expect much! They were $4.99/lb! That's highway robbery. In the pop aisle, I saw they brought Diet Rite back, but at the absurd price of $1.99. When I had a Diet Rite habit, I was paying $1.29. They also carry some of the other Dr. Pepper/7Up brands like RC Cola and one I'd never seen before: Sun Drop. What they don't carry, however, is Fresca. I ended up walking out of the store with only a half gallon of milk (I still like their milk the best) and a jar of store brand mayo.

At Associated, I was much happier. I got beautiful jalapeno peppers for $1.39/lb and they are currently pickling in my refrigerator. I got some orange juice, some Heinz hamburger pickle chips, and Fresca. The Fresca was $1.99, which isn't the correct price, but at least they had it. I was feeling defeated.

C-Town now carries dumpling wrappers

2011-01-25T10:21:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I was walking through Chinatown to buy dumpling wrappers and thinking about how annoying it is that these are made not far from my house but I have to go to Manhattan to buy them. Then a lightbulb went off over my head and I tweeted a picture to C-Town to ask if they carried them. Yesterday C-Town tweeted me a picture of them back to let me know they're now in. Now I can make dumplings every time I feel spiteful without advance planning. (I exaggerate. If I made dumplings every time I felt spiteful, I'd never get a chance to eat anything else.)

Sriracha

2011-01-18T22:35:00.001-05:00

While I was eating my fish tacos, I noticed the price tag on my old bottle of sriracha. $3.99. I bought a new bottle in Chinatown for $2.29 yesterday. What a deal.

An interesting note about this blog is that all of its hits come from searches for sriracha, rooster sauce, chinese hot sauce, chinese rooster sauce, and misspellings of the same. My favorite hit so far is the search for "Chopin stage fright" which was a post about how I was nervous to shop for Thanksgiving. Here is the last week.

Here's all time.

My Many Trips to C-Town

2011-01-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

I've been reading library books at a pace of a book a day (Phillip Roth - Indignation. Bret Easton Ellis - Imperial Bedrooms) and because C-Town's on the way back from the library, I keep going there. Today was my third day in a row. (I got a collection of Jay McInerney's short stories, but don't expect to finish it in a day because I am going to cook the things I bought at C-Town and be social.)

I am happier to be at C-Town with each trip. Yesterday I found my tomato juice I requested and it's at the price I requested: $1.79. I couldn't find my La Squisita artichokes for $1.29. Today I did find them prominently displayed on a front shelf instead of hidden behind other displays in the first row. The best way to hide something from me is to put it prominently displayed. I also picked up 2 more boxes of Barilla whole grain pasta for $1. I ate a box of it yesterday. The box tells me that is 1400 calories of pasta in a day. I made it with an alfredo sauce and it was good enough to stock up. I also got some sausages I had never seen before for $3.50 or so. I'll find out if they're good when I cook them tonight. Pierogies were $3.29. That is more than Key Food lists them as, but exactly as much as Key Food charges me. (Associated had them for $3.39. I checked on the way.)

More Grocery Store Violence. This at Key Food!

2011-01-12T10:48:00.000-05:00

I read a terrible thing in the Brooklyn Paper.

Three perps robbed a Grand Street grocery store on Jan 7, pistol-whipping one victim and stealing $800 from the register.
The perps entered the Key Foods near Lorimer Street at 8:45 pm, flashing handguns and demanding the cash. One perp struck a witness’s face with his handgun while the other took the cash.
The thieves ran out of the store five minutes later and one fired a round into the air across the street.

Terrible.

"Crêpe Mix"

2011-01-10T23:21:00.000-05:00

A correspondent who spends a lot of time in Manhattan wrote in to say he spotted crêpe mix for sale at Morton Williams for $6.99. As he noted, such a mix is "almost all flour."

Stupid things like crêpe mix contribute to people thinking they don't know how to cook. Nothing galls me like pre-made polenta. (I can make real polenta in 10 minutes using 1 ingredient.) But I admit I can't tell you if cake mixes fall into this category because I never bothered to try making a cake out of real ingredients.

N.B. I use the circumflexes on the word crêpe because in my other role (I resisted saying rôle) as the editor of a society rag, I had to learn how to make one because every other article describes a "fantastic fête.")

Two Grocery Trips Today!

2011-01-10T23:06:00.000-05:00

I'm happy about both. First, I went to Compare (better known as "cat pee") to buy a dozen eggs so I could break my $10 bill to do laundry. I paid $1.75 for extra large, which is apparently as good a price as they come for now. I remember paying $1.25 for medium not that long ago.

Later I went to C-Town. I couldn't find the artichokes I like, but they do carry tomato juice now. Just in time for bloody mary season. It's even at the price I like best ($1.79) and now I never have to go anywhere else for it. I bought some and some Fresca and some pasta shapes that aren't usually on sale, including whole wheat spaghetti. I never buy whole wheat, but I thought it might be good with an alfredo sauce. There's also a really good price on ricotta salata ($7.99/lb) but I have a surfeit of cheese so I held back.

Key Food ripped me off again

2011-01-09T13:45:00.002-05:00

The pierogies were labeled $2.99. They cost $3.29. I'm breaking up with Key Food for a while.

I DESPISE grocery store violence

2011-01-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot.

Giffords, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting her first "Congress on Your Corner" event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson, NPR reported.

People are nuts.

Grocery Stores that Rip You Off

2011-01-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

I didn't know that Key Food's pricing practices were illegal. I thought they were only mean. But Gothamist clarifies.

The DCA has issued almost 750 charges so far this fiscal year, and found that the most common violation was for a lack of item pricing, which is, according to a DCA press release, "particularly troubling given that nearly one in three times supermarkets got it wrong at the cash register."

Maybe that's not clear. Maybe it's legal to post one price and charge me another. It still makes me mad.

Publix Pix

2011-01-05T12:49:00.000-05:00

A correspondent from Florida submitted these pictures to me as a birthday present. Here, with comments, they are. They are from the Publix in Wellington. Publix is considered the class act of grocery stores.

You don't see aloe leaves in Giant Eagle. I don't know what those things on the right are. I suppose I could make the picture bigger and read the sign, but I won't.

Cactus pears. They they are again. I don't buy any of the things in this picture, so I can't comment on the prices.

69 cents/lb is at the upper limit of what you should pay for cabbage. I don't think I've ever seen a store dare charging more than that.

I assume that is a good price for that much orange juice. I buy half that much for about half that price.

Those are nice looking olives.

Same kinds of cheese we have everywhere else.

Same outrageous prices. I just remembered how hungry I am for cheese.

That's kind of pricey for ricotta salata.

A reason I can't run for president, perhaps the main one, is I don't know how much a gallon of milk costs. I don't buy a gallon at a time. I also am not sure how much a half gallon costs, and I buy half gallons a lot.

I've seen this before, but still: EW

$2.09 for jumbo eggs isn't bad for Brooklyn. You wouldn't get away with that in Pennsylvania.

Giant Eagle wants $7.99/lb for olives, and I think the Publix ones look nicer.

I didn't realize it was this easy.

2011-01-05T03:21:00.002-05:00

The Village Voice goes to Western Beef and takes pictures of its meaty offerings and passes it off as journalism.

The beef, etc.

I could do that.

Leftovers

2010-12-30T08:26:00.000-05:00

Since Christmas, I have eaten nothing but leftovers at my parents' house except for a single meal which was Monday night when I ate leftovers at my aunt's house. Leftovers are my favorite food, so I don't mind. My scale minds though. I've gained 9 lbs last I checked. Fortunately, my waistline doesn't mind because I gained all 9 lbs below my ribs and above my waist.

Understandably, I haven't been going to grocery stores as much. I've looked at the price of long underwear everywhere instead. Target has it for $4, but it's kind of ill-fitting and comes up way too far into the area where I keep 9 extra pounds now. I also got a cashmere sweater for $20 at J.C. Penney that started its life at $100. I got a Woolrich winter coat for $4 at a Goodwill where you buy clothes by the pound. I got oxblood wingtips for $4 at another Goodwill. I got a gold sweater at Old Navy for $10 that will serve me well for the rest of the football and hockey seasons. I am very very fashionable, especially for Pittsburgh's eastern suburbs.

Two More Pics. Then I'm Done.

2010-12-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

Today I went to Penn Macaroni, Walmart, Delallo's, Giant Eagle, and Costco. I'm so tired.

Here's a rare time I push a cart. It was very weird. My parents asked me to drive the cart around to go get seedless grapes. That took me a while because I refused to accept that you needed to buy 4 lbs of them. I was wrong.

Here's an oldie from Giant Eagle. Telling me to use my fingernail would make me nuts.

Disappointing Delallo. Plus Giant Eagle

2010-12-22T15:26:00.000-05:00

I've been looking forward to go to Delallo for a while. It sits at the intersection of my three loves: Pittsburgh, Italian food, and grocery stores. It doesn't hurt that it talks to me on Twitter. What a let down!

I was still excited when I took this picture. I hadn't yet walked in the door. Inside I found the produce section and was taken aback. They want $2.50 for basil. You get more for $1 at Jesus. They want $1.98/lb for eggplant. It's half that even at Key Food. Ginger was $3.98/lb. That might be better than Giant Eagle, but it's not as good as even Penn Macaroni. Cabbage was $0.69/lb, which is the same as Key Food, but I consider Key Food's price bad. They have an antipasti bar where everything is $8.88/lb. Maybe that's not bad, but at the East Village Cheese Shop, I get grape leaves for $2.49/lb. And that's list price. I don't think they know how to measure and usually give me 2 lbs for $2.49.

The one good price was baccalà. That was $6.98/lb. I don't know if that had a bone in it. There were also some prepared versions available behind the deli counter for $17.95/lb. Eep! The mozzarella for $4.98/lb wasn't too bad. Eggs were $1.49 for jumbo, which is the best price I know. But when I got to the frozen seafood section, I got positively angry.

At Food Bazaar, you get a pound of octopus (they call it "pulpo") for $3. THIS IS OVER 4 TIMES THAT! Maybe because Pittsburgh is so far from the sea. I don't know.

I don't actually know what a good price for cuttle fish is. I do know you'd have to pay me more than $6 to cuddle with fish though.

I probably wouldn't pick on spelling if I were in Brooklyn. But most everyone in Jeanette, Pa. speaks English as a first language. Also, gourmet prices demand gourmet copy-editing.

These artichoke hearts made me miss Brooklyn. C-Town told me on Twitter yesterday that a shipment of La Squisita artichoke hearts came in. They go for $1.29 a jar.

So then my brother and I went to Giant Eagle. He had to get 15 gallons of distilled water, so I had time to look around.

That's not a bad price for mussels I guess. I got 2 lbs for $3 at Food Bazaar, but this is far inland. I allow them to be frozen. They also had clams for $0.60 each and fresh mussels for $3.49/lb.

An outrage! I really miss C-Town. How do people in Pittsburgh even eat? No wonder they live on hams and pierogies.

And on pop. This stuff is $1 for 2 liters. This is my favorite pop. My brother bought 2 bottles of it for me. My dad bought 2 bottles of it for the company on Christmas.

Giant Eagle didn't have baccalà. Jalapeno peppers are $3.98/lb. I buy them for $1.49 at Associated! Limes are $0.89. EACH! No wonder these people don't drink gin and tonics.

And finally, Giant Eagle carries beers. Here are some selections and prices:

Great Lakes Christmas - $13.99 six pack
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald - $9.67 six pack.
Iron City Light - 12 cans for $9.99.
I.C. Light bottles - $5.99
PBR - $7.99 for 12 cans

Best of all, in the beer section, they play the Young & the Restless.

First Stop in Pittsburgh: Penn Macaroni

2010-12-22T14:16:00.001-05:00

The Megabus dropped me off under the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and my brother was parked right there. It was around 6:30 am, which is when Penn Macaroni opens. That place was packed already! And it was, as they say, "not playin' arahnd."

The have aisles and aisles of Italian stuff. They have a room of cheeses and deli meats. The prices on the cheeses weren't bad. $6.83 for pecorino romano, for example. (They charge more on their website.)

This is a pretty good price on these anchovies. It can hold a candle to Key Food and C-Town. In fact, it beats them by about $1. I should have bought them, but I still have to peep Labriola's.

Here's their pile of baccalà. I never touched it before today. I expected it to be stiffer. It was $8.99 for boneless. $7.99 for bone-in. I didn't buy it.

My brother bought 6 bottles of Fernet for $11/each. This isn't Fernet Branca, mind you. It's the weaker stuff. But still, it helps you digest. I saw a bunch of almond paste for $7.99. Limes were 3/$1 and ginger root was $1.99/lb, which is about a good a price as you'll find in this part of the country. Avocados were $0.99 each, which is a lot better than I expected to find. And they had cactus pears, which I have never seen before. It was a good trip.

Then we went to Wal-mart so I could get a loaf of Cellone's Italian bread and some hot pepper rings. I love that bread so much. I got home and ate 3 spaghetti sandwiches. I later ate a ham sandwich. I plan to go to Giant Eagle tonight and get more.

Following, the view of downtown from outside Penn Macaroni.

Last stop in Brooklyn: Key Food

2010-12-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

On Sunday I wanted to cook a pork butt so I went to Key Food. It was a bittersweet experience because the prices were good on so many things, but I was leaving for Pittsburgh Tuesday night and couldn't stock up on anything.

I got a pork butt for $0.99/lb. 2 loaves of Italian bread that were still warm when I bought them for $0.99 each. A head of cabbage for $0.69/lb, which is a terrible price, but I didn't want to go anywhere else. And 1.25 lbs of pecorino romano on sale for $4.99/lb. I think I got a half gallon of milk too. It came to an even $22.

Giant Eagle, Purveyor of Cheap Eggs, Sues "Egg Cartel."

2010-12-21T07:27:00.001-05:00

Giant Eagle's pretty mad that egg costs have gone up.

That, according to Giant Eagle Inc., is the conclusion that U.S. egg producers reached in 1999, when talks began that led to a concerted reduction in hens and corresponding rise in prices. In a federal civil complaint filed last week, the region's dominant grocer charged it had been harmed by an egg cartel that, in the guise of protecting the chickens, hatched a price-fixing plot against consumers.

The last time I was in a Giant Eagle, I was surprised by how cheap eggs were. Of course, over the summer eggs were cheaper. The other day I found myself wishing for another salmonella scare so eggs get cheap again. They're even getting expensive at Associated.

C-Town Gave me the Nicest Christmas Present

2010-12-20T07:17:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, I ventured to Manhattan to go to the Apple Store and to get Christmas presents. It was mostly torturous. Apple didn't care that my MacBook battery is swollen. I think swollen batteries might be dangerous, but they didn't seem to. They helpfully offered to sell me a new one and helpfully warned me to not try to get one for cheaper from the internet. I went to Strand, which advertised a special on Foursquare that said "free bag with ANY purchase." The capitalization of "any" was their doing. So when I asked, I was told that was only for purchases of $50. Later when JC Penney gave me a free bottle of water while waiting in line, I still wasn't very happy with how most stores were treating customers. (Just to be clear, I think JC Penney was one of the good ones.)

On Friday, C-Town tweeted to me. "Stop by today for an early christmas present! Ask for the Manager." So I roused myself from my deathbed and walked up the street to C-Town. I bought apple juice, cranberry juice, milk, and broth--all liquids. Then I asked for the manager and he surprised me with the nicest gift: Iron City beer! He gave me a six pack of cans and a six pack of bottles and has some more for sale there. All weekend when I was miserable and hateful, I thought of the time C-Town was the nicest.

Have I now been bought off by C-Town and will henceforth refrain from criticizing anything? Yes.

Pictures of my goodies follow.

The Situation at C-Town: Crushed Tomatoes, Cheeses

2010-12-16T12:03:00.000-05:00

This won't be as informative as my rant about line management and check-out practices at Food Bazaar just was, but is more informative than most things I write about. After Food Bazaar, I realized I needed more crushed tomatoes to make my sauce for the eggplant parmesan. I usually go to Key Food for crushed tomatoes because they have my favorite brand (Colavita) at my favorite price ($1.50 for 28 oz.) I've written at length before about how to select a can of crushed tomatoes. But C-town is closer and it was very cold and C-Town has been nice to me lately so I gave it a shot.

I went to the crushed tomato section and looked at all the cans. They all had way too many ingredients. I don't need their preservatives. I don't need their salt--I have salt. I don't need their basil and oregano. I have spices. Despite the cold, I almost left and walked to Key Food, which is a much longer walk from C-Town than from my house, so I was going to be quite cross.

Lo and behold, near the registers at the end of an aisle was a section of Cento brand crushed tomatoes on sale! I checked the ingredients and it had only one: "fresh red ripe tomoatoes." And it was on sale for $1.50 I think. I don't know whether to say they hid these because they weren't with the other ones or to say they emphasized these. But I bought them and they were good. Now I have two favorite brands.

Since I was there and happy, I looked around. C-Town told me in a blog comment the other day that the pecorino romano is now to the left of the deli counter. It sure was. At $8.59/lb, I won't be stocking up there, but it beats the non-sale price at Key Food. (It's too cold to bike to Western Beef for a long time.) And I noticed the chunk of gorgonzola. I don't like my cheese pre-crumbled. It can dry out easier.

Some San Giorgio pasta were labeled "buy one get one free - will scan at sale price" which I usually interpret to mean I only have to buy one. It usually says "must buy 2" at stores if you have to buy both. So I got just one box. It didn't give me the sale price. I paid $1.59 for a pound of pasta. That is 59% too much. But I got a good deal on the tomatoes, so I guess it evens out.

The Situation at Food Bazaar - Baccalà, Mussels, Rodriquez, Valentina, and Checking Out

2010-12-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I made Italian-style mussels, eggplant parmesan, garlic bread (2 ways), and carrot cookies. I went to Food Bazaar for this because Key Food made me feel bad/gross/repulsive for buying mussels there and because the mussels are $3 for 2 lbs (instead of $5) and because Timmy wanted me to get him Christmas presents from there.

They have a whole table of "baccalà," but it was labeled as Alaskan pollock, not cod. I looked up cod on my iHorn seafood sustainability app, and it said cod is overfished. I didn't buy any.

The mussels were in ice and were much cheaper than Key Food. They had a label that said they came out of the ocean in Maine on Sunday. The seafood section at Food Bazaar's really busy, but that's because it's good.

That whole store was too busy. There were too many people with carts just milling about. Navigating the produce section was like a video game. Every time you come to the end of a table, someone with a cart blocks you in.

Timmy wanted me to get him some Rodriguez. It's a fudge or something. I spent forever searching the Hispanic dessert aisle and couldn't find it. Then I did. It was hiding in the next aisle over.

Rodriquez. Lots.

Not Rodriguez.

I was very very pleased to find Valentina Black Label (tied with Cholula for best hot sauce) on sale. $2 for 34 oz. I got it.

The normal size doesn't last long enough.

Then I circled back around to pick up my mussels (I didn't want to tote creatures around a whole store) and went to check out. It sucked. After the jump, I will rant. I rant about how the lines are managed. Then I rant about the people in front of me.

Food Bazaar always has insanely long lines. There are many reasons for this. They have a big parking lot, so people can drive cars there and shop once a week or even less frequently. They have lots of carts. They have a big store. All of those allow people to take a lot of groceries with them in line.

I'm getting off track. I studied operations management. That does not cause long lines. They have long lines for 2 reasons. Anyone who runs a grocery store should be aware of these. Anyone who shops at a grocery store should remain ignorant of these because it just makes you mad.

Line management: The most efficient way to deal with lines is to have 1 long line that feeds into many cashiers. Trader Joe's understands this. This is not easy or even necessary in most grocery stores--Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are extremes. But Food Bazaar takes the opposite extreme. There are about 20 lines. This makes how quickly you get through the line highly dependent on your luck in picking the right line. Furthermore, toward the end of the lines, they run together so you can't tell to what extent everyone else believes they are in a Trader Joe's type queue or in a specific line or in a free for all. Very frustrating.

Check-out itself. There are giant lines with money just sitting around WAITING to go in Food Bazaar's pockets. All Food Bazaar has to do is scan items and take it. Yet they make the cashiers stop taking money in order to bag groceries. Scan a little bag a little scan a little bag a little. The Music Man himself couldn't have devised a worse system. They probably think the cashier has to bag because there isn't room for a bagger or they don't want to pay for a bagger. I contend that a bagger pays for himself in the busy situations because it moves people through the line. Moving people through the line is a synonym for moving money to Food Bazaar's pocket! When it's not busy, the bagger can stock shelves or something. There also is not very much room at all at the cash register after the item is scanned. They should redesign that. The store is designed to shop once a week or less (parking lot, carts) but the check out is designed for 1 basket of groceries. Scan the items and drop them directly into the bag instead of putting them on the table then bagging them. Drop the filled bags directly in a cart or on the floor. Spend 1 minute in Trader Joe's and learn how to do it.

The people in front of me: I don't know what is wrong with these people. They spent $370 at Food Bazaar. Food Bazaar is the cheapest place in the world. If they were at Giant Eagle, that would have been $500 I'm sure. I had the misfortune to pick their line (see my first point about line management) and I waited over 10 minutes. What really got me is that they paid for $300 of it in cash. WHY WOULD YOU CARRY THAT MUCH CASH? Then paid for the rest with a Bank of America credit card. If they had paid for all of it with a Chase Freedom card, they would have saved almost $20.

I hate cash.

C-Town Tweets to Me! My Christmas list for C-Town

2010-12-15T01:38:00.001-05:00

Let me tell you, I hate a lot of brands and companies this week. Chase is canceling free checking. State Farm had an annoying bordering on rude insurance agent. Allstate had a really nice insurance agent, but quit working with me when I wouldn't sign something certifying that 2 or fewer people live in my apartment. (She suggested I amend it to "1," which was even further from 3.) AppleCare wanted me to submit proof of payment for the AppleCare I ordered directly from them with a credit card on a date I provided the date and exact amount for. And I applied for a job that was being handled by a third party and after they made me answer a bunch of personality questions, asked me to submit my credit score which they had helpfully linked me to get for free. No.

Here are the companies on my good side:

J.C. Penney
C-Town
Delallo's
Key Food
Amazon

I like C-Town and Delallo's the most because they talk to me on Twitter the most. I like C-Town the most of the most because they don't have ridiculous prices. (I'd like them even more if they carried some Delallo products though.)

That is all just the set up to addressing a very important tweet. Perhaps the most important tweet I've ever read. "Let us know what else you would like & we will work on it!"

C-Town, here is my wish list.
Easy stuff:

There used to be marinated artichoke hearts for $1.29 that were kind of hidden about 1 step down the first aisle from the Goya ones. These were the best. Now there are $1.50 Cento ones and they taste funny and have hard bases. Bring back the cheap good ones.
Carry tomato juice in a can. I like to keep it on hand in my house for impromptu brunches. Key Food charges $2.19. Compare charges about $1.79. Associated charges $1.99 I think. V-8 doesn't count. They carry Sacramento, but I'd buy a cheaper brand since it's just a base for my bloody mary.
I never buy my cheese at C-Town (except for sliced cheese from the deli counter). Here's why. The pecorino romano, which is my main cheese (check the tags for this blog), is never in big hunks. It's in those cute vacuum packed seals from Bel Gioioso that cost too much. Key Food and Western Beef have nice attractive big chunks that somehow or other they can put on sale for $5/lb at times, but I will pay $10 in an emergency. The gorgonzola, when I can even find it, is always crumbled already. I like the chunk. I want chunky Italian cheese. I was glad to see ricotta salata added recently.
Add Delallo products. I saw some at the Met Food on Fulton Street and made Agnes buy them.

Harder Stuff:

I'd be elated to find Iron City, I.C. Light, or any beer from the Penn Brewery there. I meet lots of people from Pittsburgh around here. I read that the assistant manager of Motorino is from Pittsburgh. The Penn Brewery has good beers. I'd buy them for special occasions.
There isn't the turnover to support a lot of your produce. In an emergency, I bought a green pepper twice, and regretted it both times. Onions are fine. Potatoes are fine. Much of the rest isn't. Know your strengths. Key Food has some sections with anchovies, capers, and lots of other jarred Italian products that 1) don't spoil 2) are good. That'd be a much better use of the space. Heck, put in more beer even.

Gripes

Dried beans cost twice as much as at Associated. So do eggs. If that's where the profit margin comes from, fine. But I know better now!

At least C-Town doesn't ring up all my purchases at the wrong prices all the time like Key Food does.

Key Food's Getting Ready for Christmas.

2010-12-14T09:24:00.000-05:00

I think Key Food is getting ready for an Italian Christmas. Cookies that look Italian are for sale. Cookies that say they are Italian are for sale. I don't lump them together because the ones that say they are Italian are unfamiliar to me. And I didn't see pizzelles, but I can't imagine ever paying for a pizzelle. Fish products are on sale too. I think I'm going to make mussels later this week. (They're the normal price of $4.99 for 2 lbs.)

The cocktail franks I wrote about last post are now on sale for $3 or so. That's quite an improvement. And I got 2 Diet Cokes and 2 Frescas for $1 each. I got powdered sugar for $1.25, so now I can make carrot cookies.

On Assignment: Find Franks

2010-12-06T14:44:00.000-05:00

Since Thanksgiving left me in a bit of a food and shopping hangover, hardly even hungry enough to cook, I've cut back on my visits to grocery stores. I'm trying to end that because on Saturday night I made the stupidest soup out of what little I could find. It had macaroni, black beans, yogurt, spiciness, and salt. I did better yesterday with chili. It helps when people ask me grocery questions so I have some purpose when perusing the stores. Today Kristy asked me where to find Hillshire Farm Lit'l Smokies. I don't think I've ever seen them.

Well, Kristy. Here's my best result so far. I found Nathan's beef cocktail size franks at Key Food. I suppose they could work, but at $5.29 for 14 oz. I don't think they are a very good deal.

Some other slightly interesting recent finds after the jump.

I saw this at Key Food today. Those labels don't have any English on them. I wonder if that tastes like what my brother found in Pittsburgh.

He said the prices are sufficiently different that it's probably not the same thing.

C-Town got a display for Cholula and is selling it for only $2.99. What a steal.

SMH* @ Shop 'n Save (as they say)

2010-11-30T15:10:00.000-05:00

A correspondent from Pittsburgh submitted this abomination with the note "No thank you. I'd rather pay regular price."

*SMH is Twitter (and maybe other dialects) for shaking my head.

Quite Cross

2010-11-28T05:31:00.000-05:00

I am quite cross at Delallo's for liking Timmy and not me.

But if you come across their products, you should still buy them because they are still from Pittsburgh even if I'm (relatively) unloved.

Giant Eagle in Irwin needs to work on queue theory

2010-11-23T00:44:00.000-05:00

The natives are getting restless. Found this on Twitter:

TENroaches One lane open. 8 people in line. This #GiantEagle is so stupid. #Irwin
TENroaches About 20 people in line now. It's a good thing I want my cream cheese softened for this recipe. 18 lanes and only one open. #GiantEagle

TENroaches An idiot on a cell horn just tries to cut in front of me. So she cut in front of everyone behind me.

TENroaches Now she's gonna get waited on before me anyway. This manager doesn't know anything about checking people out. #GiantEagle

TENroaches Finally got checked out. After 20 minutes.

Giant Eagle won't be the only game in town anymore. Walmart's coming. (Aldi doesn't really count. It's a different breed.)

I'd like to register a complaint.

2010-11-20T02:47:00.002-05:00

I'm quite cross that "College Inn - Assorted - 4/$3" does not include vegetable broth. Maybe Key Food's just up to its old tricks.

I can't believe I'm talking to Delallo on Twitter.

2010-11-19T11:52:00.000-05:00

Timmy's headed to Delallo as we speak to pick up some Fernet. Delallo's Twitter person is very helpful and told him what they carry before he made the trip.

I made Agnes buy Delallo bread crumbs when I saw them at Met Foods on Fulton St. I never see Delallo in north Brooklyn.

OooOOOOoOOOO! Which southern-based grocery chain will move to McKeesport?

2010-11-19T04:16:00.001-05:00

I read about a new grocery store for Pittsburgh.

I hope it is Harris Teeter. Or Piggly Wiggly. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of that very popular chain in Florida that is widely regarded as the best, but I don't think it would go to Pittsburgh anyway.

Not Winn-Dixie.

Publix!

Yeah, I don't think Publix will go to Pittsburgh. It's probably something like Save-A-Lot-More.

Stage Fright: I'm Nervous!

2010-11-18T14:06:00.002-05:00

In this world, the only thing I'm good at is buying groceries. So why am I so nervous about going shopping for Midnight Thanksgiving? Let me try to count the things that worry me.

If I spend $25, I save $0.40/lb on a turkey. That's a lot per pound. But $25 is daunting.
If I spend that much, how will my frail little arms that haven't seen a gym or even a push-up in my whole life, carry a 15 lb bird and all the rest?
I can probably reach $25 if I remember to buy all the other stuff I'm bringing. But what are those things? I don't plan my grocery trips; I experience them.
I can buy 101 oz of pure olive oil for $8. Should I? That's a good deal. I want Lewis to have olive oil. Maybe he will buy it from me. Or I could have it to complement my extra virgin olive oil.
What if they don't have a turkey that is the size I want? It might be too big. Dylan's oven, like my very strength, is little.

Let's see. Dolly Parton once sang about coffee as "a cup of ambition." I could certainly use that. And her friend Porter Wagoner "drank a fifth of courage" in a song in which he killed his wife's lover. I don't have my old tolerance, so I can probably do with a tenth of courage.

Get out your credit cards. So many good deals!

2010-11-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

In fact, as soon as I finish writing this I might put on pants and go purchase some cheese.

Western Beef:
$2 for 16 oz of mozzarella. I'm going to use this to make spaghetti al telefono.
Avocados for $0.88.
Loaves of Italian bread for $0.66.
Pound of butter for $3.
50 tall garbage bags for $4.59. With draw strings even!

Key Food (12 page circular!)
Turkey for $0.69/lb. Perfect for Midnight Thanksgiving (and the real one.)
101 oz can of Capatriti pure olive oil. for $8
Pecorino romano for $4.99/lb. I just bought it on Tuesday for $5.88/lb.
Same $3 butter deal.
Pork butt for $0.99/lb
Apple juice for $1.50. (Anything under $2 is always good.)
Cool whip - $1
Smithfield bacon - $2.99 for a pound

Worst Case Scenario

2010-11-12T16:29:00.000-05:00

I would not be able to go on if my Associated burned down, even if I quit shopping there (for a while).

Gothamist has more pictures.

Seeing Western Beef Through New Eyes

2010-11-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

I took Eric with me to Western Beef yesterday. Since he doesn't have a bike, we walked. It's only a little over a mile. We weren't even in its parking lot before he was gasping in awe. And that's how he spent the whole trip. He was too awestruck to really purchase much of anything. He only ended up with some cheese, a box of Wheat Thins, and a Western Beef bag.

I, on the other hand, got a big butternut squash for $0.79/lb that I turned into one of the best soups I've ever made. I got a pack of sweet Italian sausage for $3.99/lb, which I turned into pungent pasta along with the can of mushrooms and the pecorino romano I FINALLY got. I also got myself a Western Beef bag. I don't really waste $1 on anything, but I couldn't not buy one even though I have so many bags already.

Here she be.

The sausages after I cooked them.

My bag next to Eric's.

And my correspondent from Pittsburgh sent me his receipt from Giant Eagle. He only eats dairy. And beer.

Giant Eagle Carries Beer. A LOT of Beer

2010-11-10T17:44:00.000-05:00

A faithful correspondent from Pittsburgh submitted these photos of the brand new beer section in the North Huntingdon Giant Eagle, which he says is by far bigger than any beer section in a Giant Eagle. Actually his exact words were "They have better beer selection than I've ever seen anywhere" and then a bit later "Yuengling makes me miss Dylan." I confirmed that they carry Edmund Fitzgerald because it was 35 years ago that that ship sank in Lake Superior.

More down here.

Question Time

2010-11-10T09:26:00.003-05:00

At the same time, people have sought my grocery expertise. Maybe expertise is too strong a word. People have sought my grocery opinion. Since there is little in this world I like more than advising people about groceries, without further ado, let me opine.

I'm working on building up my whiskey inventory, but it's hard because I keep drinking it. any advice? -Tom

For everything that isn't liquor, I always say "inventory is death." Because you want to let the store keep your inventory for you. Liquor is another matter, and I actually have a system for building inventory that my friend Eric has started to use. You have to give yourself a liquor budget. Don't think of this as a budget you want to come in under. Pretend you're a local government and need to pave the roads, but you're a lot more fun. So if your budget is $30 a week, make sure you get yourself to the liquor store every Saturday morning and spend that $30. Being poor for so long, my liquor budget is down to $20/week. If I don't have them, I buy a jug of the cheapest vodka ($13.88) and a bottle of the cheapest whiskey $5.99. If I drink them over the course of the week, I buy them again. If I still have them come Friday, I venture for something more fun. When I came into some surprise money from Chase Freedom giving me it, I bought a jug of gin and some bitters. If I keep to my bottle/week pace, that should permanently add 1 bottle to my inventory. (It didn't. I reacted to having more booze by inviting people to come drink it more.)

But really, if you're drinking whiskey you like, that's a good problem to have.

Dear Grocery Chopin,

I was recently in a convenience type grocery store to pick up a few things. A half gallon of regular milk was $2.99 which was more than I would have paid at the regular grocery store. A half gallon of organic milk however was $4.49 which is the right price for organic. Is buying higher quality (more expensive) groceries at their correct price better than buying regular groceries at an inflated (but still cheaper) price?

Sincerely,
Milk Man

Oh that's a tough one! It's going to take me a minute to get into a mindset that allows one to not buy something for only the best price or to suffer. I have to say that buying groceries at their correct price is the correct way. While I like paying very little for groceries, what I really advocate is getting good values. I wouldn't tell you to substitute olive oil with vegetable oil spread just because it's cheaper. If I were in C-Town, I would tell you to get the regular milk, but I am skeptical of bodega's attention to milk freshness, so I think going for the ultrapasteurized organic milk is a wise choice.

That was fun. I miss giving advice. I used to be pretty prolific when I wrote for Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eataly

2010-11-06T02:02:00.000-04:00

I went to Eataly tonight with Agnes.

Other grocery store blogs (are there any?) would be all over this store.

This grocery store blog is focused on prices. Every price at Eataly was unrealistic. Pasta ranged from $2.50 to $8 or more.

If you want to know about Eataly, google it. The New York Times, New York Magazine, Saveur (maybe?), and every other publication that accepts ads covered Eataly. I can't have ads because I used to get too many pornographic spam comments and there was a time when Google could figure out how to cancel your account for porn comments before it figured out how to block porn comments. So I don't even have ads and I surely don't have the money to shop at Eataly.

Raw Meat

2010-11-05T03:21:00.000-04:00

Western Beef has sirloin steak on sale for $2.98/lb. They say it's a family pack, so if I have to buy 10 lbs I won't do this. But would anyone like to eat my raw meat? I have been in the mood for raw meat for a while now, and that's a really good beef price.

I have the $6 bottle of whiskey that probably kills any germs anyway.

Western Beef's Weekly Circular

2010-11-05T02:57:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to pin down when it's updated for the new week.

So far, I can tell you that by 2:56am on a Friday morning, you can see the specials for the week.

Western Beef's Circular