Post-Thanksgiving Sales

Black Friday doesn't really apply to grocery stores, but they did update their weekly sales and I am going to see what I can get. I got a turkey on Wednesday for $4 or so.

C-Town and Bravo don't have anything of note.

Key Food: Avocados are 3/$2 again. A twelve pack of Miller or Coors would be $5 if Key Food did rebates right. Bananas are $0.39/lb.

I'll look at one more store. This isn't an exciting sales week.

Food Bazaar: $2.50 for a 4lb bag of navel oranges. Mussels are $3 for 2 lbs.

My Whole Foods cashier said "wow"

Because I only paid $0.53. Because I had a $10 off coupon for spending $10 3 times last month (which is when I got a frozen pizza).

Today I got dried shiitake mushrooms ($19.99/lb), dried woodland mix mushrooms (?), 3 cans of pumpkin ($1 each),  and a bag of arborio rice that I think is 16 oz and cost $3. That came to $10.53.

I haven't used my other dried mushrooms yet, but I'm getting ready. I will probably use some sort of mushrooms in risotto.

Why's celery so expensive?

I notice sometimes that celery seems to cost way more than I expect. I don't buy it then, of course, but I get surprised that it's like $4 for a bunch.

The New York Times has explained why.

Pre-Thanksgiving Sales

This week of grocery sales is the last full week before Thanksgiving, so they will be gearing up. (The next batch will end on Thanksgiving.) I'm going to start with the Associated in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens because I am going to go live there for the weekend.

Associated: Five pounds of potatoes for $1.50. Cabbage is 39¢/lb. 2-liter Coke products are $1.25. This speaks for itself.

A one pound bag of black or kidney beans is 79¢.

Green Corner: nothing good

Ozzie's didn't update again.

Bravo: $2.50 for mozzarella or ricotta. Cracker barrel cheeses too. I need asiago.

Key Food: Their circulars are in pdfs these days, which I prefer.

A turkey is 29¢/lb if you spend $50. I want one even though I do not have Midnight Thanksgiving anymore. A ham is 99¢/lb. Broccoli rabe is $1.99/lb. Avocados are 3/$2 which is the lowest price I think I've ever seen. Pecorino romano is $5/lb. Frozen vegetables are $1.50. Eighteen packs of certain beers would be $9 but Key Food is always a scam about that.

C-Town: Broccoli rabe is also $1.99/lb here. Canned clams are $1.69. I'm not interested in anything else because I'm still thinking about that turkey.

Must be grapefruit season

And I don't mean because it says "new crop." They say all sorts of things. I mean that grapefruits are cheaper than oranges right now.

This is at C-Town. I bought regular colored grapefruits at Associated in PLG yesterday for 80¢ each. I was going to make them into a salad, but now I want to make the red grapefruits into the salad and I'll drink the regular ones with gin.

Feedback on my Wegmans Review

Someone was unhappy.


For the record, I am in the same state that Wegmans is based in, so I have to conclude that my state is clean enough.

The sales this week

I don't know what I'm looking for. Something to eat with dried porcini mushrooms maybe? Something to make with hatch chiles? I have an unlimited metrocard for a bit so I will probably go to Trader Joe's but they don't have sales so I'm not writing about that. I want asiago. Inexpensive asiago. I hope Cracker Barrel Asiago is $2.50 for 8 oz. I also need mayo so I can go back to eating fish tacos several times a week.


Green Corner: They actually updated their website on time! Nothing is good enough to make me go there, but I'm glad I know that.

Food Bazaar: Galbani mozzarella is $3.33 for a pound. I'm not going all the way there for some cheese I don't need.

Ozzie's Fresh Market: not updated

Key Food: Honeycrisp apples are $1.49/lb. I never tried one of those. I doubt I'd notice a difference. Fishsticks are 50% off. I need to find mayo!

C-Town: nothing

Bravo: nothing

Associated on Flatbush Ave in PLG: Chicken quarters are $0.49/lb. They have a 2-day sale for Monday and Tuesday when you can get a pound of carrots for 33¢. Or beef chuck for stew for $2.99/lb. Maybe I'll make stew!

Apple Pay

Since my trip to Wegmans on Sunday, I have been hooked on Apple Pay. It is so much faster than waiting for a chip to process, hoping the card is in there right, then often signing my name. Somehow C-Town is the only store that reads chips quickly.

I used Apple Pay at Whole Foods on Monday. I tried to use it at Ozzie's on Wednesday. Despite the sign saying "we have Apple Pay" and the annoying announcements that often mention having Apple Pay, it wouldn't work. Last night, I used it at Lincoln Market in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

I like it so much that I think I better get my phone battery replaced so I can be sure I have it. So I need $50. Click on my ads and buy stuff!

What do I do with dried porcini mushrooms?

I went to Whole Foods today to buy frozen pizzas because they were 50% off and because if I spent $10, they would give me a free $10 on my next visit. They were almost out of frozen pizzas, so I got fewer than I expected and did get a brand I didn't want at all–Amy's. Oh well. That was $4 so I still needed to spend at least $6 more. I got a can of pumpkin for $1. And I got dried porcini mushrooms. They were $49.99/lb and I got $6 worth. There were some other mushrooms too. I think morels were $249.99/lb. And dried shiitakes were about $15/lb. I almost got a mix of forest mushrooms or something like that, but they were also cheap and I couldn't find anything else in the store I wanted (even a second Amy's pizza) more than I wanted to upgrade to porcini mushrooms, so I got them. And I was happy I got to use Apple Pay again.

But I don't know what to do with them! I have used them to make a vegan gravy before. I know I could make risotto. What else? Make chicken marsala extra luxurious?

Ozzie's Fresh Market on Yelp

Wegmans inspired me to write a review, and it didn't exist on Yelp before so I had to add it.

I gave it 4 stars.

Here's my review:

I went to that new Wegmans today and it just made me wish I stayed home and went to Ozzie's which is better in almost every way.

The fresh bread is a good price and good quality. Produce is good. The other week, every type of pear was on sale for 99¢/lb. London broil and chicken dark meat quarters are always good. This is my go-to spot for eggs. So many hot sauces. Best deli counter in the neighborhood. I like the cashiers; they are nice but don't talk to me too much and I don't want to talk too much. When people visit me from out of town, this is one of the places I bring them.

The absolute worst part of this store is the horrible announcements which read out prices of things that are on sale, then repeat them. Or quote Steve Jobs saying "the best part of having a team is everyone is smart" or something equally dumb. And I wish the online circular updated more reliably on time. This used to be an Associated, which I liked more. The announcements were still horrible then too though. You have to go to C-Town if you want to hear good things. But this store has better prices for most things.

The Wegmans in Brooklyn–Not Good!

Lewis made me go there today. I bought 1 hungarian wax pepper for $4.49/lb and so it was $0.52. I also rang up Lewis's marinated meat because I had a coupon on my app and his app wasn't working yet.

Butter was $2.99 which is a good price.

Overall, I didn't like it! On Twitter, I said it was like a Giant Eagle if Giant Eagle only had 1 brand of canned tomatoes. I really did like the app and using Apple Pay. I really can't understand what people like about it. It is significantly worse than the Giant Eagle in North Huntingdon, PA. And I don't even like that Giant Eagle. It's just that Giant Eagle does a way better job of executing that kind of approach than Wegmans does.

Here is my 2-star Yelp Review:

This isn't a very good grocery store. First, the things I liked: their app is good! I had coupons, it shows up on my phone easily, it integrates with Ibotta. I also liked that Apple Pay was so easy to use there. I never use that because nowhere I shop takes it, but I did like it. And the cashier was very nice. Nicer to C-Town? No, but nice.

Bad things: The parking lot was hostile to bikes and pedestrians. The hot bar of prepared foods was expensive (it tasted ok). The store seems to have been laid out by someone at Ikea, but without the method to the madness. It just didn't have things you would think a big grocery store would-there were no anchovies in jars. There were no brands of canned tomatoes except the store brand. It has Wagyu beef for $200/lb, but for a shopping experience, it is worse than the Key Food near me, the C-Town, the Ozzie's Fresh Market, every Trader Joe's, every Whole Foods, the Giant Eagle in my parent's town, the Bravo near me, and especially worse than Food Bazaar, which is an amazing shopping experience that has everything.

I do not think this store will be open very long. There cannot be enough deluded people from Rochester to sustain it when everywhere else is better.

Oysters seemed reasonably priced. Cheese wasn't. Overall, if you care about prices, and you know I do, this was a bad store. This is a store for people who don't know the value of anything.

Oh, back to positive things. The maple walnut ice cream for $2.50 tasted good. And the frozen pizzas for $4 looked good, but I didn't try them. The beer selection was good.. better than Stop n Shop at Rockaway. But not any better than C-Town. 

New Sales

Last week I got 2 zucchinis, a pint of kumato tomatoes, and a pound of organic strawberries or $3 at Mr. Piña. I wonder what's on sale this week. I'm hungry so maybe I'll find a lot.

C-Town: Coke products are 4/$5 for 2 liters.

Food Bazaar: Kielbasa is $2.50. Frozen vegetables and mussels are $3 for 2 lbs. I want peas. And mussels.

Green corner and Ozzie didn't update.

Bravo: Chicken quarters are 59¢. I could make chicken paprikash.

Key Food doesn't have anything I want to write about.