A woman at a town hall (maybe where he quit taking questions and writhed around to his playlist for 40 minutes) asked him about grocery prices. This was his response:
So, you know, it’s such a great question in the sense that people don’t think of grocery.
I'm sorry? What?
It's been MONTHS! But it's finally opened. I haven't gone yet. I think it's going to have exactly the same stuff as the other Foodtown. The other Foodtown is 4 or 5 blocks away and this one is 1 block away.
I can't remember the last time I didn't look at the grocery ads until Saturday. Last week I only bought coffee and cheese, so I probably should find something I can cook today. And I need garlic.
Bravo: Cans of clams for $2.69 (the small cans). Small (8 oz) bags of frozen vegetables are $1. I need peas and carrots.
C-Town: This looks like the same ad as Bravo.
Food Bazaar: Iceberg lettuce is $1.29. Califia Farms cold brew is $5. Table salt is 75¢.
Foodtown: I wonder when the new Foodtown that is closer to me will open. The current one is 5 blocks away. A 2 lb bag of onions is $1.29. Califia Farms cold brew is $6 here, so I better go to Food Bazaar.
Green Corner: Jalapeños y tomatillos are $1.29/lb. I should go while Discover is still giving me 5% back on grocery stores (they don't take Amex there).
Ozzie's: Clams are only $2.29 here.
Mexico celebrates independence day on September 16, and Food Bazaar put little Mexican flags next to a few things in its weekly ad. I didn't realize they carried Victoria. I drink that the most when I'm in Mexico City.
Mexicans celebrate with chiles en nogada, but that's pretty complicated for a store ad to cover. It's so complicated that the last chapter of Like Water For Chocolate is making them.
After my last post, I did go to Western Beef and they did have beans on sale. Cannellini were $2/lb and chick peas for $1.89/lb. I never see chick peas under $2 these days and cannellini are usually more than $2.70 minimum. So I bought 5 bags of cannellini and 3 of chick peas because I don't want to go back to Western Beef soon.
I realized I usually don't update for a new week because some circulars come out on Thursdays and others on Fridays and I don't want to update if I'm only looking at half. But this week I didn't look yesterday so I am going to review them all at once. I specifically want refrigerated coffee and iceberg lettuce.
Bravo: Dawn for $1. Seltzer 80¢. Not very good.
C-Town: I need chiles de arbol even though they don't go on sale. They're much cheaper to buy in bulk here than in bags anywhere else. I might get guajillos too. The better Dawn is on sale but it costs more here. Frozen vegetables are 4/$5 so I might see which types that includes. Starbucks iced coffee is $6.
Food Bazaar: Hot dog buns are $1.
Foodtown: Diet Coke is 4/$6. Seltzer is 4/$3.
Green Corner:
Ozzie's: Seltzer is 4/$3. Iceberg lettuce is $1.50.
Western Beef: I usually don't consider Western Beef anymore, but all these other sales are not very good. Iceberg lettuce is also $1.50 here. Peanut butter is $2.50. I might go here just to see what the price of beans is.
I read on Reddit that Mr. Piña on Havemeyer closed. I walked by and saw like 5 people just staring at the empty storefront wondering what to do. There was also cheap produce there.
There are other Mr. stores around and the closest one in Greenpoint probably isn't farther than Mr. Piña was, but I liked it because it was convenient for my citibike points and my trips to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.
This is the story of how I wound up with my pasta last night, which was rather good.
A month ago I went to the local library to get a cookbook, The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy. She told me to buy lard. So I went and bought lard (I got ripped off too. I paid $5 and the other store 3 blocks away had it for $3).
Then I had too much lard, so when pork shoulders went on sale I thought I could make sausage and incorporate the lard. I don’t know if that’s how sausage is actually made, but I read a different cookbook about sausage once that said anything qualifies: meatloaf is sausage. A hamburger is a sausage. So no one can yell at me. I froze my sausage when I was done.
A local vegetable store had fennel bulbs for $1 and I had never seen such a good price so I bought one. Then I hid it in the refrigerator and forgot because I rarely own fennel.
Later in the week I remembered it and my sausage and thought it would be a good basis for pasta. I bought some nice lacinato kale to add bitterness against the fatty spicy sweetness of the other stuff. And I turned that into pasta.
But I still forgot the fennel! So the next day I cooked the fennel down and then blended it with some cottage cheese and reheated the pasta with that. And it was delicious. And nobody will ever know because when am I ever going to have this same turn of events?
But next time I’m going to cook the sausage with dandelion to really amp up the bitterness.
For a long time, a 3 liter can of olive oil at Whole Foods was around $20. Then it went up to about $25-26, which I didn't like. But I just was at Whole Foods and saw that it's $35 now. That was really fast.
Here's a chart about the price of olive oil.
I've been back for over a week, and I have been to stores, but I still feel like I don't have anything I can eat yet. Last night I went to Trader Joe's and then ate cottage cheese for dinner. Before Mexico, I just kept eating Mexican food and in Mexico I ate Mexican food. I might end up just eating more of that. I also met my new credit card's sign up bonus so now I can go back to using the right card at grocery stores. Time to see what's on sale this week.
Bravo: Honeycrisp apples for $1/lb. I eat a lot of apples, celery, and cheese. Tomatoes are $1.49/lb but I don't trust them to not be pink.
C-Town: Also tomatoes. Slightly less likely to be pink at C-Town. Pork chops for $2/lb.
Food Bazaar: Tomatoes are $1.29 here but they're definitely pink.
Foodtown: Seltzer is 5/$3 for 1 liter bottles. Should I buy a gallon of Tide for $8? I just bought laundry balls from Amazon and I could start leading a fancy laundry life. London broil is $4/lb.
Green Corner: they didn't update yet
Ozzie's: Peanut butter 2/$4. Heirloom tomatoes are $3/lb. At least they won't be pink.
I have barely been in my apartment for 3 weeks in a row for a long time, so my grocery shopping has been crimped. But now I'm back. So what's on sale? I need kosher salt specifically. And I got a new sourdough starter for my birthday so I need to start buying flour again.
Bravo: I've mostly ended my feud with them. Other stores overcharged since then. Quartered chicken legs are 69¢/lb. Red onions are $2/bag.
C-Town: Boneless chicken tenderloins are $2/lb. I paid that for chicken breasts last week. I think this would just save me a cut before I turn them into shreds for tacos. Broccoli rabe is $3.
Food Bazaar: They charged me $2.49/lb instead of $1.49/lb for tomatillos so it will take an exceptional sale to make me return here, even though I need to go to their parking lot to recycle some clothes. Or maybe when I make hot pot and need shrimp. But nothing's worth it this week.
Foodtown: I wonder when the new Foodtown 1 block away will open so I don't go to the one 4 blocks away. I can get 50 pizza rolls for $4.49. I brought that many to a NYE party and people ate them all. They're a good food.
Green Corner: Dried hibiscus is $2 for 3.5 oz. My parents asked me to bring some for Christmas because it's easier to find here.
Ozzie's: nothing
