I keep leaving Bravo with nothing

I even put things in my basket, then walk around more, put everything back, and leave empty-handed.  This is frustrating for me, but it also has to upset Bravo, who is losing sales.

I keep doing it because they are out of stock of something I went there specifically for. And because their credit card minimum is $7, which is too high when I just want a bag of sugar and some onions, or whatever.

Today, I wanted onions, sugar, flour, and milk. The big empty space is the sugar that was $1.99 for 4 lbs. I put the onions and milk back and left.

Bye, Associated

I walked to Key Food last night to buy mushrooms ($3 for 1 pound) and mozzarella ($2 for 1 pound), but they were out of mushrooms. On the way back, I saw that the "Associated" sign had been removed from the store that was once called Associated. I don't know what it will be called now. I don't like it. And now I don't have an Associated in my neighborhood.

WTF is going on with Associated?

I am quite cross. Associated seems to be trying to become Key Food.

Not all Associateds, of course. This blog is about the 5-6 stores closest to my apartment. And for a long time, there has been an Associated on Grand between Manhattan and Leonard. But Key Food branded products have started showing up. And I went there after perusing the online Associated circular (which still lists it) and found all the sales wrong. I thought I was out of my gourd (was a gourd on special? who knows!) but I found a different circular for only "Ozzie's Fresh Market" without mention of Associated or Key Food.

Also they are requiring an Ozzie's loyalty card to get some deals now.

I don't like any of this. I don't like another Key Food that is worse than the original. I don't like needing another card. I don't like the circular not being online. I don't like their stupid music that is always interrupted by announcements about what is on sale that repeats the prices so many times. I hope it goes out of business. I hope it becomes Aldi.

I'm fed up.

Also, the prices are worse.

I bet pork is going to get expensive after Hurricane Florence

Just need to sit with this for a minute: "North Carolina has 9.7 million pigs, producing almost 10 billion gallons of manure annually." Florence’s Path Is Strewn With Toxic Hazards https://t.co/VVQya8FYMP

— Joy Wang (@joyywang) September 14, 2018

Why I Never Shop at Western Beef Anymore

Western Beef used to be far away (1.3 miles) but cheap. Now it is only 1.3 miles away.

I was perusing the weekly circular because it's Labor Day and maybe it would have some deals. I found this abomination:

Contrast that with what I saw earlier today when reading the Bravo circular. (Bravo is close and cheap.)

That's $7 more dollars for the same amount of cheese!

More produce shopping

I went shopping with Lewis. We went to Kings Market and Green Corner.

I got romaine lettuce for $0.50 and the Kumato tomatoes for $1 at Kings Market. At Green Corner, tomatoes and peaches were $0.79/lb, plums were $0.99/lb, and serrano peppers were $1.99.

Summer Produce

It's so cheap I don't know what to do with it. I just keep buying it.

The end of the selling period

I was just at Bravo to buy some heavy cream to make an icebox cake. I don't know why they always have the cheapest heavy cream, but they do. While I was there, employees started going around taking down all the sale tags for the deals that end 8/9. That really stressed me out! Even someone who writes a grocery blog and looked at the circular 10 times this week doesn't have all the deals memorized. I got as little as possible to meet the credit card minimum ($7... another thing that stresses me out) and left.

Besides the heavy cream (1 pint for $2.50), I got Krasdale mayo ($1.99 for 30 oz), frozen corn ($1.25), and Sprite Zero ($1.34).

Cheap Chicken!

I mentioned in a phone interview for a job I'd be great at that I update this blog because no one wants to hear about all the grocery things that excite me. Tonight I was tempted to text someone who was having a hard time about this chicken on sale this week at Associated that is $0.39/lb. But that is insensitive. So here I am!

That is one of the all-time lowest prices I've seen though. I didn't even get through the rest of the circular. There seem to be a lot of buy one get one free deals. I never see those. I wonder if they mean it's half price or if I have to actually buy 2.

Velveeta Thoughts

Velveeta is kinda expensive. It's not real "cheese." But it is good, so I guess it's worth it. Things can be valuable even if they are not cheese.

(I do not know the price off the top of my head because I cannot afford it. I think it's like $10/lb.)

Olive oil disaster

My 3 liter can of olive oil fell out of my Citibike's front rack onto the street and got run over. It was $19.87 and now I don't have oil or my money.

The Wall Street Journal has such good grocery news

I read about Smuckers having/trying to raise its prices (which would explain why I can't get Jif on sale or $2 for 15 oz anymore). About which parts of the grocery store aren't doing well (packaged/processed foods) but what is (fresh, and also frozen). What brands are doing to make appealing frozen foods.

I won't link because it's behind a paywall anyway. But it's interesting!

Parrot Coffee in Ridgewood, Queens: The place for olives

I've been buying a lot of olives lately from Gala Foods because they are $5.99/lb and good and I also started drinking a lot of fino sherry and I live the tapas lifestyle. I will still buy olives there, especially the spicy ones, because it is the closest grocery store to my apartment (I have 5 within 4 blocks, but it is the closest.)

But today I went to Parrot Coffee in Ridgewood, Queens on Myrtle Ave. I didn't see any coffee, but I saw a lot of eastern European foods and a lot of inexpensive olives.

Here is what I bought.

From left to right, there are sprats (which are fish), kalamata olives, alfonso olives, harissa, and tahini. And everything was cheap!

The receipt has the alfonso olives labeled wrong, but they were still $4.99/lb. There was a much bigger container of tahini for not much more, but this size will last me two years unless I learn other things to make with it besides hummus. I have never eaten a sprat.

There was also Bulgarian feta that was $2.99/lb I want to try.

What's on Sale This Week

I hope a big can of olive oil is. I'm feeling lucky, so I'm going to write about it.

Associated: Peter Pan peanut butter is. After I wrote to them complaining that it was too hard to open, they sent me a coupon for more. 2 liter bottles of Pepsi products are $1. A 12 pack of Rolling Rock is $8. But nothing really catches my eye there this week.

C-Town: Also the Pepsi, but with a limit of 2. Colavita olive oil is on sale, but it's the 25 oz bottle for $10 instead of the 3 liter can, so I'm not going to buy that.

Bravo: Bravo has Earth Day specials. But nothing I want to buy. Plum tomatoes are $0.79/lb but I don't trust them to be good.

Key Food: Orange juice is $2. I could drink screwdrivers. Why do they put peanut butter in the "Breakfast" section?

Gala Foods: Their website doesn't work right, so I had to stop in and get their circular. Condensed milk is 3/$4. I don't remember what I make with that. Rolling Rock is $8 here as well.

Eh, nothing is great this week. I'll just go to Dollar Tree and buy beans and bread.

What's on Sale - Lent Edition

I'm going to have a Lenten diet again this year because I like constraints. And fish. And cheese. And haluski. So let's see what is on sale this week.

Food Bazaar- I start here because they have the best fish section. Jumbo shrimp (16-20 count) are on sale for $10/lb. Too expensive for me, but people can make them for me if they want. A whole cauliflower is $1.48 which is a good price. Avocados are $0.88 and scallions are $0.29.

Associated- nothing really. can't somewhere have fish sticks on sale?

Bravo- a 2 lb bag of onions is $0.89. I could make vegetarian french onion soup. Jacques Pepin told me to use water instead of stock. Cauliflower is $3 here. Too expensive.

C-Town- Eggplant is $0.99. I could make eggplant parm. Or ratatouille.

Key Food- They had their lent sale last week. I dont' know what a mag melon is, but it looks like a cantaloupe in the picture and is $1.25. Oh, it's a Del Monte trademark. Panko is still on sale for Chinese New Year ($1.50/box). I made good meatballs with the last of mine.

Peter Pan Peanut Butter - I CANNOT GET IN

This is a very sad story about how I was hungry, and I just ate all my other leftovers (which was wedding soup.)

I tried to open a container of Peter Pan Peanut Butter, which I bought for 3/$5 at Key Food earlier this week. That was a price I had never seen before, and I am always hungry for peanut butter. I bought the entire 3 (which was necessary, with my Key Food card..) (Don't try to show up now. It's the new week. They have new sales.)

Anyway, the label is complicated and I can't get in. So I am hungry.

Peter Pan Peanut Butter is a good product if you're on a diet of trying to not devour things when you're drunk.

What's on Sale This Week

Some friends from school are going to come over tomorrow to eat. And they think we're going to watch a movie, but I don't know about that. I don't know what to cook though until I know what's on sale. Let's see.

Associated: Nothing.

Bravo: Nothing.

C-Town: Nothing

Green Corner: Nothing

Key Food: Nothing

Food Bazaar: Nothing

My poor friends. They're going to starve.