"Ohh, that saved you a lot!" -the cashier at Brooklyn Harvest Market

 I went today before the blizzard. I got 4 2-liter bottles of Coke products, 4 10-oz bricks of Cafe Bustelo, 2 jars of Skippy peanut butter, 2 bags of McCain frozen french fries, and 1 lb of Galbani mozzarella. That would have been just over $50, but I paid $21.

The pop was 4/$5 instead of $1.5 each. The coffee was $1.98 each instead of $4.99. The french fries were $1.50 instead of $5.19. The cheese was $2 instead of $6.49. The peanut butter was supposed to be $3.79 but was $2 and then I had a coupon.

I ate some of the beer-coated french fries for lunch and they were the best frozen french fries I ever had.

I forgot to get eggs or milk, just like I did when I went to Ozzie's yesterday. I can never make eggnog.

What's on sale? I'm hungry

 I think Christmas sales are already showing up. And Christmas Eve sales. Lots of fish.

Ozzie's: Jumbo eggs are 3/$5. I might have too many eggs now, especially considering how many eggs my roommates have. However, I have been baking a lot of cookies. Polly-O mozzarella and ricotta (32 oz) is $2.50. Yellow and red onions are $1/bag. They're never the same price. That's it I guess. They have a short circular. Last week, I saw Natty Ice on sale in the Key Food circular, but the store doesn't carry that. I went to Ozzie's, which does carry it and has the same sales, more or less, as Key Food. It wasn't in the circular and it wasn't labeled on sale in the store, but I bought it anyway and it was on sale! That's not ideal, but I liked it.

Green Corner: Chicken legs are $0.49/lb. Polly-o is on sale here, but for $3 (mozzarella) and $4 (ricotta). Mussels are $4 for 2 lbs. No comment:

Grapefruits are $0.50 each and serrano peppers are $1.39. Lemons are 7/$2. I hate that kind of math. I do it in my head as "6/$2, but a free lemon."

Brooklyn Harvest Market: I've already been looking at this one and am going there later, probably. I like their online coupons that go to my card. I'm disappointed that the Ibotta link doesn't work. 3 lbs of sweet potatoes or 5 lbs of regular potatoes for $1.50. Cafe Bustelo bricks (10 oz) for $1.98. I will buy the 4 maximum. I could buy 20 lbs of rice for $8.88, which is almost tempting me to become good at cooking rice. A 14 oz package of "stuffing mushrooms" is $2.50, which is pretty good. Galbani mozzarella is $2 and ricotta is $3. So I'll get the mozzarella here and the ricotta at Ozzie's, if I have room in my refrigerator. Coke products are 4/$5 but you have to buy 4. I guess I can handle that, if I make more than one trip here this week. McCain frozen onion rings and potatoes are 2 bags for $3 with the online coupon. I hope I have room in my freezer too! Two pounds of mussels go for $6.49 here. They're organic.

I got a 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp for $10 last week here, but I didn't write about it. Now I am.

Key Food: This is the other place I shop the most of late. That shrimp bag would be $14 here this week. "Fresh" mozzarella logs are $4. Cafe Bustelo is $2.50 here. Pepsi products are 4/$4 with a $10 purchase, but I don't know if I can reach $10. Polly-o is $2 for mozzarella (must buy 2) or $3  for 32 oz of ricotta. Colavita pasta is $1, so I might go there today instead of BHM because I want fettucine and meatballs. Yellow onions, but not red, are $1 here. Canned clams are $1.69/can. I would stock up, but I already stocked up because this was the sale 2 weeks ago and that price is so good. Usually they're about $2.49 or $2.69. Linguine and clam sauce is only a few minutes away when you have a can of clams. Hot cherry peppers are $2.50, which I might get so I don't have to bike to Western Beef.

You can get a 40 oz box of cleaned squid for $15. That is too much for me, but I like the idea.

Bravo: Cream cheese is $1.50 but I already have that.

C-Town: Cream cheese is $1.50, but I already have that and Bravo is closer to me.

Western Beef: nothing, unless i take a chance of saving $0.50 on cherry peppers

Food Bazaar: Coke is $1, but you can only buy 2. Which sounds better than having to buy 4... I should have gone when I walked by today. Mozzarella is $3 here. Cheese is never a good price here.

The Early Worm Caught the Bird

I asked my roommates if they would eat Thanksgiving foods if I made them. They said yes. So that was the go-ahead I needed.

Brooklyn Harvest Market had turkeys for $1.49/lb or turkey breasts for $1.99/lb. I went a few times but could only find big (minimum 17 lb) turkeys, which would be $26. I wanted a 10 lb one to spend $15. So I decided I would just get a breast, which were billed at 4-7 lbs.

I went yesterday morning, since I figured that would be my best chance to find a small turkey because that's what everyone wants, especially this year. Yesterday they had nothing good. Today I went back, and I found a turkey that was a "manager's special" for $0.99/lb! And it was 15 lbs, so it fit my $15 budget. That was the same total price of all the breasts I could find, so that is what I bought.

Fifteen pounds for 3 people... well, getting sick of Thanksgiving food is one of the parts of Thanksgiving food that I like.

Thanksgiving! What's on sale?

 I don't know if I will celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm definitely not having a bunch of people over, but I would like to eat turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy. Whether I do that will depend partly on what I find on sale and partly on how much room I have in my refrigerator. It's currently very full.

I think most stores don't put the price of turkey in their ads. They put the price "if you spend $100" or whatever. I'm not going to spend $100. I just want to know how much the turkey is!

Anyway, here we go.

Key Food: The turkey is $0.39/lb if I spend $50. I'm sure that will be the cheapest, but I definitely can't fit $50 of groceries in my apartment. Last year I went with Eric and he bought a lot of groceries and I tacked on a turkey. Sweet potatoes are $0.59/lb. A pound of mushrooms is $2.50 and a bag of cranberries is 3/$5 (they had been $2 all month). A bag of stuffing is $2.5. Butternut squash is $0.79/lb. There is something called "steamable sweet potatoes" for $1.67/lb but I don't understand that because all sweet potatoes are steamable if you put them over steam.

C-Town: I don't see anything I'd go here for. But maybe I'm not in the mood for this. I'll try one more store.

Brooklyn Harvest Market:  14 oz of "stuffing mushrooms" are only $2.50. Mozzarella and ricotta remain on sale. I haven't made lasagna yet, but maybe I will today. I think a turkey is $1.49/lb.

Groceries have gone too far.

What the heck? Why would you put gorgonzola in coleslaw? I love gorgonzola and coleslaw and yet...!

A lot of these sales are the same as last week. I guess that's how they get to have 10 page circulars. I don't mind. At least I can look up how much everything costs from bed.

Weird Receipt at Brooklyn Harvest Market

 Maybe I'll keep posting these.

Here is what I got. Five things.

Here is my receipt. Fourteen line items.

I'll translate. The ricotta was $2.99. The mozzarella was $1.99. The lasagna was $1.24. The diet tonic water was $0.60. The buttermilk was $2.

I did get to use a coupon on the buttermilk that I added to my card through the website. That was thrilling.

Crushed Tomatoes!

 

I did end up going to Western Beef today. I didn't get eggs because I didn't like the price ($1.59 for a dozen medium), but I walked through the rest of the store. And I saw this display.

I texted a few people about how I was on the verge of buying a giant can of tomatoes. Then I walked back toward the ricotta to see if it was labeled as $0.99 (instead of $3.99), and it was, but I didn't trust it, so I didn't buy it. And then considering that I didn't buy eggs or ricotta, I bought a can of tomatoes.

There were whole peeled tomatoes, same size. But I got crushed because I would just crush them anyway. SIX AND A HALF POUNDS!

Then I walked home, but I took a detour.

I went to the park to take a picture with my love.

At home I inspected the can more. It seems to have been packaged in 2018 and is best used by August 2021. It is supposed to be only sold in India. I wonder what its life has been like for the past 2 years, perhaps going all over the world, before ending up in a Western Beef, a park, and my apartment.

What is on sale? (Pre-Thanksgiving)

 So many stores to review these days. I specifically need to buy coffee, so I need to look through every circular, so I might as well take notes. I need eggs too. In the past week, I bought 100 pizza rolls and 2 lbs of frozen french fries, so I need to avoid more frozen food.

Ozzie's: coffee? but it says i need a card and i have refused to ever get a card here (even though i got one for BHM immediately). Boneless chicken breasts are $1.79/lb.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: Broccoli is 99c/lb. Both 7-up products and Coke products are 4/$5 for 2 liter bottles, but you have to buy 4 and that's a lot to commit to. A pound of mozzarella or 2 lbs of ricotta for $1.99 and $2.99 respectively. Lasagne (the noodles) is only $1.24. I think I need lasagna. I am Garfield. Hellmann's mayo is $2.99 "with digital coupon" but I don't see it. So I don't trust it. Bacon bits are $1.99, but they were not on the shelf when I looked last week. Vintage seltzer is $0.60/liter. I wonder if that includes tonic water. A box of 15 pizza rolls is on sale for $2. Last week, I got a bag of 50 for $2.50. That circular is so long. And I found the mayo digital coupon.

Food Bazaar: This circular is back up to 6 pages. I don't really want to look because I'm not going to go there this week. I can get Coke for $1. Ricotta is $4 for 2 lbs here. A dozen clams is $4. I never buy them, but maybe it would be nice. Bags of pizza rolls are $5 here. I sure got a good deal last week. Limes are 11/$2. Who can do that kind of math?!

Western Beef: I am unlikely to go here, but I do need eggs and jarred red peppers. They have the coffee I want (Cafe Bustelo 10 oz brick for $2). Too much of their circular is dedicated to meat and their prices for meat aren't that good. Limes are 10/$20 here, which is easier math but more expensive than Food Bazaar. Ricotta is $4. 100 pizza rolls are $10 here.

Bravo: nothing

C-Town: Mayo is $3 with a $25 purchase, but I can't even carry $25 of food. Ricotta is $4 and mozzarella is $3. Cream cheese is $1.50. I may go for that.

Green Corner: Limes are 20/$2 here. I can do that math and it's a good price. Chicken breasts are $1.49/lb here. Ricotta is $4 and mozzarella $3.33.

Key Food: Avocados are still $0.49 and they have been so good every time I get them. So I will get more. Mozzarella is 2 lbs for $3. Wow. Cafe Bustelo is 2/$5 if I don't want to bike all the way to Western Beef. Mayo is $3 here without needing a digital coupon. Buttermilk is $2.

I'm hungry.

Brooklyn Harvest Market has weird receipts

 I can barely tell how much I paid for anything.

Brooklyn Harvest Market opened on Metropolitan Ave (where White Castle used to be)

 It opened on Friday. I went on Friday, of course. I got my loyalty card. It has a pretty good beer selection. Its prices seem not very good except for the stuff that is on sale, which is pretty good. I'm gonna buy 50 or 100 pizza rolls.

C-Town has an entrance on Metropolitan Ave now too. It's a busy grocery block.

One of the best things about BHM is my loyalty card linked directly to Ibotta! No other stores around here do that.

I'm probably going to go back there after I eat lunch. I realized I was trying to play it cool and not go there too much in the first week, but then I had a better realization which was "why bother!" and that I can go to the new store every single day if I want to.

You can look at the circular here. Here's a preview.

The cheese section was very expensive. Like, pecorino romano was $12/lb. It's $6 at Key Food.

I wonder if they take Apple Pay. My credit card doesn't like readers sometimes.

BHM has Foodtown as its store brand, so that adds a lot of variety to my life. (When Associated turned into Ozzie's, it became a Food Universe store, which is the same as Key Food).

Eight Pounds of Food for $7.50

 I was just at Key Food. I got 5 lbs of flour for $2, 2 lbs of mozzarella for $4, and 1 pound of tofu for $1.50. It's funny to think of food in terms of dollars per pound.

In other news, Green Corner delivered a circular to my building! Rather than hit refresh all day on Fridays, I can just look at it. And it looks like ground beef is $1.99/lb again for the 6th week in a row or so.

I haven't been shopping too much because I made Oktoberfest food twice and live off leftovers.

Oktoberfest during Covid?

 I haven't updated in so long that Blogger looks different now. Since Oktoberfest would start this weekend, I'm going to look at all the circulars and see if I could find things I would want to make. Even though no people will come. I can eat all the food myself.

Ozzie's: I've been shopping here a lot because American Express has been giving me $5 if I spend $10 at certain small businesses and this one counts. Mostly I buy beer. That ends this weekend and I have 1 trip left. Anyway.. Pork shoulder is $0.99/lb, which is a good start.

Key Food: Two pounds of onions for $1. One pound of baby bella mushrooms for $3. Pepsi proucts are 3/$4. Sour cream is $2. 

C-Town: Pork shoulder is $0.99/lb here too. Scalfani crushed tomatoes are $1.50, so I should get some. I only ever see Luigi Vitelli on sale and I did a test once and learned I like Scalfani a lot more. Colavita pasta is $1. I have so much pasta though. Maybe I should eat pasta more often since it's the only thing that makes me happy. Sour cream is also $2 here and cream cheese is $1.50. I've never seen Fage sour cream before, but it's also $2.

Bravo: Onions are $1 for 2 lbs here.

Green Corner didn't update its circular yet.

Western Beef: Pork shoulders are $0.79/lb but you have to buy 2. They also have chicken leg quarters for $0.29/lb but you have to buy 40 lbs. Life is far too lonely these days to buy 40 lbs of chicken. A six pack of English muffins is $1. That seems good, but I never buy English muffins so I don't know.

Food Bazaar: Here, English muffins are $2.50 for 6, so now I know.

Some of the things I bought today

 I haven't updated in a while. I guess I've been eating a lot of eggplants. Usually tomatoes get cheap in the summer, but I haven't seen many on sale and when they are, they are pink so I'm not going to buy them. I keep finding eggplants though. They are good on focaccia. Today at Mr. Plum, I got 3 for $1. I also got a seedless cucumber for $0.50 and 4 plums for $0.50.

Since I had already started making dough using my sourdough starter, I went to Ozzie's. I got a pound of Genoa salami for $6 and a fresh mozzarella log for $4. And I got 5 lbs of pasta for $4. The best part was that this counted as a small business for American Express's current small business promotion and I got $5 off.

I'd never pay $6/lb for regular meat, but then I do on salami. I guess my standards go out the window.

Yesterday I went to Western Beef and got a dozen medium eggs for $0.89, some pop for $1.25/bottle, 3 lemons for $1, and 3 green peppers for $0.99/lb. Then when I was walking home, the bus pulled up beside me, so I got on it. It was my first time on public transportation since the pandemic. It was free.

Cancel Goya

I never write about politics here because this is my grocery blog and not my Twitter account. But I avoid buying Goya. I don't go way out of my way to do so, but I do it, and it's because they are a private company owned by a super conservative family and the other bags of beans are good enough.

So the brand that made a fortune from America stockpiling beans because the President welcomed Covid washing over us supports the same man who made them wealthier. Yeah, don't buy Goya.

To be clear, I don't think Goya directly supported Trump because he failed at Covid and they got richer. They're just the same kind of people who think the same way. And when you buy Goya, you validate them.

If you live in my neighborhood, you have a lot of competing brands for everything Goya sells, and every other brand is better*, so it is easy for us to shop with more responsible brands. If you live somewhere else, do your best.

*Always. Try me.

How I wound up with a free avocado at Key Food

I went to Key Food for pop and provolone. Coke product pop sale was 4/$4 (must buy 4, with $10 purchase) and the 7up products were 4/$5 (must buy 4).

I got provolone ($5/lb) and a half pound of salami ($6/lb) and wound up with a bit over a pound of provolone. I also had an avocado in my basket. I got out my calculator, since math in my head is too hard, and found I had $9.81. So I got an overpriced lime for $0.25, picked my 4 pops, and went to check out.

The pops rang up at $1.89 each, not the sale price. I questioned it, and the cashier told me it was from the bottle deposit and tax. I questioned that, so she asked her manager. The manager added stuff up in her head and said I was short of the $10. I thought I had double checked, but I could be wrong, so I said I'd grab one more thing to put me over. They said I was about an avocado short. I like avocados enough, so I got another one, and the price came down, and I left.

Then I looked at my receipt and saw only 1 avocado on it!

Fried Chicken at Western Beef

I don't feel like writing about every store's sales today. I will just bring one sale to my readers' attention.

This week Western Beef will sell you 8 pieces of fried chicken for $6. Or 1 pound of breaded chicken cutlets for the same $6. One is an ok deal. The other is a scam.

I recently bought a bucket of fried chicken at Food Bazaar. It was good enough. It was 16 pieces for $10 I think.

What's on Sale this week?

I hope I find vegetables so I can start eating better.

Key Food: A jar of peppers fried with onions is $2.49. That's kinda a vegetable.

C-Town: Tonic water is $0.69.

Bravo: Still no ad.

Food Bazaar: A pound of butter is $3. A pack of corn tortillas is $1. The brand that used to be down the street from me but moved to New Jersey. I bought a 16 piece bucket of fried chicken there for $10 on Wednesday.

Western Beef: They have 16 pieces of fried chicken on sale for $0.99/lb. I don't know if that is more or less than Food Bazaar, but I'd still consider that a good price.

Green Corner: no circular yet

Ozzie's: they don't even have a website anymore

Memorial Day sales during coronavirus time

Food Bazaar's ad is back! It's only 4 pages (used to be 6) but it's back. Jumbo shrimp are $9/lb. Hamburger and hot dog buns are $0.79. 4 lbs of frozen hamburgers are $8 and hot dogs are $1. Celery is $1. I haven't been to Food Bazaar since this started, but I'm happy about this.

C-Town has been back for 2-3 weeks, but with only one page of sales. I haven't been there in forever.

Key Food has been publishing its sales and has been good at actually having the things on sale in the store. I'll look at that circular now. Peaches are $1/lb. A peach in May though? (I usually make them into salads, so it would work. It makes use of its firmness and tartness.) Cracker barrel cheese are $2. (I doubt those will actually be on sale.)  Hot dog and hamburger buns are $1.25. Coke products are $4/4. Hellman's mayo is $3.49.

A trip to Whole Foods under Covid-19

I just got back from Whole Foods. I wanted a 3 liter can of olive oil, like I usually get, and some herbs for my window. For 3 liters, it's worth the trip, and the herbs are $2/plant.

They didn't have the oil. I had to get 1 liter for $7 instead of 3 for $20. I did get 2 parsley plants and 1 thyme. I was hoping for rosemary. I had basil on my list, but the basil I bought in February is thriving in my window and I don't use it enough to want more.

I had to wait in line to get in. I was the only person in line for a while. While I was waiting, about 6 delivery people came. They can go directly in, but they need to have their temperatures taken and wear gloves. Customers only need to wear masks.

The store was laid out with signs for 1 way shopping to reduce people squeezing past each other in aisles. Some guy still went backward, which was annoying.

I did not find clothespins or course sea salt or harissa. I didn't look very hard because it was annoying to be there.

I liked that I can pay with Apple Pay. I liked that before, but now I like it more because I am sick of touching things.

My trip to Key Food yesterday

Sales are starting to come back. I got 4 bottles of pop for $5. I got 4 cans of crushed tomatoes for $5. I got a lot of twine for $4 (so I can hang up clothes after I wash them in a bucket). A bag of limes was on sale for $2.50, but I was packing up my own groceries and didn't notice that they rang up as a bag of lemons for $5. Oh well. I got an avocado for $1 and a bunch of cilantro for $0.75.

They didn't have the olive oil though.

What might be on sale at Key Food this week? Corona uncertainty

Key Food is the only store that still publishes a circular. Once I'm in the store, some of the sales show up on price tags. Usually produce is good. But I still read the circular and think about all the things I can buy. I'm going to go there shortly after I write this.

Red onions are $1.67 for a bag of 2 lbs. (So are yellow onions, but I have those.) An avocado is $1. That's the cinco de mayo sale. Tuna is $0.89/can. Canned salmon is $3 and I might get that. I made a good salmon dip not long ago. Cranberry juice is $2. Pepsi 2 liters are 4/$5 (must buy 4). I never do that because it's heavy, but I might make an exception today. A carton of orange juice is $2. Probably the diluted kind. Frozen raviolis are 50% off. (I am pretty good at speaking Italian, but I am still going to pluralize ravioli like that when I speak English.) A 3 liter can of Colavita pure olive oil is $16 and more than anything else, I hope this is actually a sale! Scalfani canned tomatoes are 4/$5. Various Old El Paso things are on sale for Cinco de Mayo.

That's a lot of food! I guess if some isn't on sale, I won't be too disappointed. If nothing is, or if the oil isn't, I will be very disappointed. I haven't been outside since Saturday.

By the way, I turned my bacon into carbonara last night and it was good.

Update: Nothing was on sale except the avocados. The onions said they were on sale but weren't on the shelf. I walked out with nothing. I would have gone to Ozzie's afterward but I didn't have my gloves with me.

Western Beef

I go to Western Beef a lot more these days. If I walk 1.3 miles east, I pass very few people and then am in a vast store. If I walk 4 blocks west, I pass way more people. Even if I walk 3.5 blocks west to Ozzie's I pass more people. So I go to Western Beef.

I went today because I thought pop would be cheaper than it is up here. It was not. But I did get 3 lbs of bacon for $10. When I got home I saw that it was weird pieces "Great for recipes."

I got a 24 oz jar of red peppers for $3. I found a dozen eggs for $1.19! I paid over $4 for eggs last Sunday. I got a loaf of bread for $1.29 I think. Three bags of pasta for $1 each. I got weird shapes: both ditali and ditalini. I also got 2 flavored seltzers. Then I walked home.

Shopping

I went to Key Food. Eggplant, zucchini, and plum tomatoes were on sale for $0.99/lb so I got them. Tonic was $0.67. That was in the circular, but labeled on the shelf. So I wonder if I should trust circular prices. They label the produce sales, but nothing else. I don't know why. Iceberg lettuce is also $0.99 so I might go back later this week.

I went to Ozzie's too and got white pepper and cranberry juice. They were both $2.99. I don't know what to do with white pepper.

My trip to Bravo

They have people wait in a line outside. You have to wear gloves (though not a mask). Inside, a lot of things didn't have prices, so I couldn't buy them. The cashier rang up both of my bags of beans as the more expensive chick peas. And rang up my can of crushed tomatoes twice. I didn't realize that until after I paid, so I offered to just grab another can of them.

I ended up with 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of tomato puree, 1 liter of tonic, 1 lb of chick peas, and 1 lb of roman beans. Oh, and a jar of pickled peperoncini that I need to make bloody marys for Easter.

I went grocery shopping for the first time in over 2 weeks

Key Food still publishes a circular, but they don't abide by it in-store. So of all the things I was looking forward to, only mushrooms were a good price. I left without buying anything because the lines were also long.

Since I had empty bags, I went to Ozzie's Fresh Market. I got popcorn, milk, and white bread. The shelves were stocked a little better and there were no lines at all.

Then I went to Jesus and got celery ($2) and a bag of 3 romaine hearts ($1). The romaine was the only good deal all day.

Key Food is the only store that still publishes a circular

So I'm going to read it! I haven't been in a grocery store since March 21 :-(  But I think I will go sometime this week.

I wish I could go to Whole Foods and buy potted herbs to plant in my window too. Basil, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.

Anyway, Key Food: Ham is $1.29/lb because Easter is soon. I want one. 16 oz white mushrooms are $3.49, which isn't bad. 30 oz Hellman's mayo is $3.49. A pound of PollyO mozzarella is $2 and 2 lbs of ricotta are $3. I want both! Cracker barrel cheese is $2. Canned tomatoes are 4/$5 and you must buy 4. Usually that is too many for me, but in these Covid times, I can take 4. This says flour is on sale, but I doubt it's in stock. Pepsi and Schweppes 2 liters are also 4/$5 MB4 but I don't think I can carry 8 liters of pop in addition to everything else and I'd rather not make multiple trips. Tonic water is $0.60 per liter. Jarred fried peppers are $2.50. A pack of hot dogs is $1 and I'm tempted.

What's on Sale This Week? Coronavirus Time

I never got to go to Key Food to buy beans because on Sunday I got symptoms of coronavirus so I haven't left my apartment since then. I feel better now. According to the CDC, I can rejoin what's left of society 7 days after my symptoms started. I forgot about new grocery circulars until now, but I will look to see if there's anything out there worth seeking.

Food Bazaar, Western Beef, and Green Corner still have no weekly specials.

Key Food: Store brand mayo is $2 for 30 oz. Hmm. A pound of Galbani mozzarella is $3.

Bravo: They quit their circular too.

C-Town: So did they.

The Best Canned Tomatoes (according to the New York Times)

I never heard of the #1 brand, and since it costs $6-7 a can, I never will. But the second best brand was the Target store brand, Market Pantry, which is $1/can. I want to try them.

What's on sale this week - Coronavirus Week 3

I saw "Week 3" because this is the 3rd week when it's been relevant to my grocery circular perusings and musings.

First, Food Bazaar:

I think the rest have circulars though. Whether I'll be able to find things when I go, who can say?

C-Town: Colavita pasta is $1. That's my preferred brand now. Coke products are 4/$5. Asparagus is $1.99/lb. Krasdale flour is $2 for 5 lbs. I have been on a focaccia kick. I can't spell it though. Maybe that's right.

Western Beef: 

Their sales always suck anyway. I do like their pickled things.

Green Corner: They also canceled their circular, but they put it on their website on a weird way so no picture.

Bravo: Cans of Luigi Vitelli tomatoes are only $1, but when I did a taste test with Scalfani, Luigi Vitelli lost by a lot so I don't know if I will bother.

Key Food: Asparagus is only $1.49/lb here. Gala apples are $0.99/lb. Flour is $2/lb. Powerade is $1. A pound of butter is $3. A half pound of luxury butter is also $3. Goy dry beans are mostly 3/$5. I want to get more cannellini. I might as well find out what fava are like too.

The groceries no one wants during cornavirus hoarding

I like this article a lot. I feel bad for Dasani.

Your sink is still going to work though. You don't need bottled water.

The reason to hoard food at all is that shopping might become very annoying and limited. For instance, only 10 people may be allowed in a store at one time. If that happens, it will be better to have enough things at home that you don't need to shop often.

What's on Sale This Week - St. Patrick's Day and Coronavirus

Last year Key Food has very cheap corned beef, so I ate it for the first time in my life. It was good, but it's not the same sale this year. Also, I wouldn't invite a lot of people over because of social distancing. My kitchen is pretty full with stuff, but I'm going to see what is on sale this week anyway.

Western Beef: nothing

Food Bazaar: A 44-pack of fish sticks is $6. I can't remember if that's a good price. Considering how many fish tacos I could make with 44 fish sticks (22), it's a pretty good price. That's the only good sale, so I won't go there.

Green Corner: Nothing really.

Key Food: (I hope I find good sales, even though I looked yesterday and know there aren't any as good as last week's.) Cabbage is $0.27/lb. (It also lasts a long time, perfect for a quarantine or even social distancing.)  Flour is $2 for 2 lbs. I have been making a lot of focaccia. The corned beef is $1.99/lb with a $25 purchase. Scalfani canned tomatoes are 3/$4 (must buy 3). Usually that would deter me, but in these times of hoarding I might do it.

C-Town: Nothing

Bravo: Luigi Vitelli pasta is $0.79. I am up to my gills in pasta though. Krasdale cheese hunks are $1.67 for 8 oz.

Shopping at Key Food while the feeling of Coronavirus sets in

I have still been going to grocery stores, and today it felt different. It was pretty crowded at 2:30pm. People were shopping with carts. I don't think Key Food even has carts most of the time. The shelves were mostly stocked, so it was interesting to notice what was out of stock: fancy rice, regular flavor Cholula hot sauce.

I went because this past week's sales are better than next weeks. I got more asparagus ($1.99/lb) and mushrooms ($2.99/lb). I got yeast ($3) and cornmeal ($2). I got 2 bottles of diet tonic water. The only part of this that could be considered hoarding/preparing for a quarantine is the 2nd bottle of tonic water.

What to buy this week - Coronavirus Edition

A couple of my friends were talking about stocking up on food in case there are quarantines or supply chain problems. I realized that all my usual shopping already prepared me. I have so many beans because they are always cheap. I have so much canned fish because it's Lent. But now I have an excuse to go buy even more beans. I want borlotti/cranberry/Roman (they are the same) because I've been watching Italian cooking videos.

Anyway...

Bravo: Barilla pasta is $1. I keep seeing that in my videos. I want weird shapes. A tin of anchovies is $1.69. I also see that in my videos. (They use so much more anchovy when that's an ingredient than we do.. and so much less garlic.)

Food Bazaar: Octopus is $3/lb. I watched several videos about that, but I am not ready to deal with one.

Green Corner: Lemons are 7/$2, which is more lemons than 6/$2, which is better than 50 cents each, which is usually a good lemon price. (This is how I do math in my head.)  A 2 pound bag of red onions is $1.25.

C-Town: Asparagus is $2/lb. Since when is Hormel salami $9/lb?

Key Food: Key Food has corned beef sales because St. Patrick's Day is coming up, but it doesn't have sales as good as last year, so I won't buy it. Last year I think it was like $0.40/lb. Now it is $2. Asparagus is also $2/lb here. Baby bella mushrooms are $3/lb. Mozzarella is $3.50/lb. Hmm. Cabot Greek yogurt is $4 for 2 lbs. Compare that to Fage, which is $6. Buttermilk is only $2. It's usually $2.50 here (but $1.69 at Trader Joe's). Colavita pasta is $1. Maybe they have good shapes.

New York State's Bag Ban

Plastic bags are banned starting March 1. Paper bags will cost 5 cents each.

I always bring my own bag. I started doing so because I was sick of plastic bags taking up my whole garbage can, then I was sick of plastic bags accumulating under my sink. They still accumulate, but now my roommates and friends wont' be able to do that.

I am also looking forward to this to watch people freak out. People who will pay any amount of money for something on the shelves are going to have a conniption over having to pay 5 cents to get something from a store instead of getting something for free from the store. People who would never bend over to pick a nickel up off the ground will suddenly become very concerned about 5 cents.

The psychological principle at work here is "loss aversion." People react much more strongly to losing something they had (free bags) than the actual value of what they're losing or what they could gain (5 cents, like if they picked up a nickel). And that's why the bag ban will work. People don't want to pay 5 cents so badly, even though it is objectively very small, that they will bring their own bags.

Grocery Sales for the First Friday of Lent!

I hope I see some fish! I have been stocking up on canned fishes. Which will also be good if coronavirus wipes out food supply chains. I will already have lots of canned food.

Green Corner: They didn't update their circular, but they are celebrating. This is the top of last week's circular.

Food Bazaar: Instant mashed potatoes are on sale. I am going to make gnocchi tomorrow, so maybe I'll go get them. I don't really know what a good price is for them, but they're on sale so it must be better than normal. I was hoping for a good sale on fish sticks but there is only a bad sale. Potatoes are $1.5 for 5 lbs, so maybe I'll go today and get whole potatoes and instant mashed potatoes.

Western Beef: Barilla pasta is $1/box. Barilla has more of the interesting shapes so it might be worth it to go for orzo or ditalini. The mashed potatoes are on sale here too but I don't even know if they are cheaper than Food Bazaar because I forgot how much they were there. $2 for 13.5 ounces here. Grapefruit is 3/$2. It's not on sale, but they have big jars of pickled hot cherry peppers and regular red peppers that are $4 for 2 lbs or so, which is a great price and I will get those if I go.

Bravo: I haven't shopped here in quite a while. It got gentrified like C-Town, but is always worse than C-Town. There's not really anything on sale there this week.

C-Town: I went there yesterday and the cashier tried to ring up my romaine ($0.99/lb) as green leaf lettuce ($2.49/lb) and then I spent more money than I expected so I thought it was still on my receipt. It wasn't, but it was still stressful so I'm unhappy. Anyway, the sales:

Asparagus is $2/lb. Galbani mozzarella is $4/lb. A fennel is $2.

Key Food: Polly-o mozzarella is $4 here. A pound of mushrooms is $3. I still have a pound of mushrooms from a week ago, but maybe I'll eat them so I can buy more. Here, 26.7 oz of mashed potatoes are $3, which seems better than Food Bazaar and Western Beef.

The Sales

Whole Foods keeps emailing me about parmigiano reggiano being on sale, and I am just about out of my parmesan, but I am not going to go because I'm not a Prime member anymore. I do need to go for olive oil soon.

Bravo:  nothing

C-Town: Romaine lettuce is 99 cents/lb. Palmolive dish soap is 79 cents. Coke products are 4/$5.

Key Food: Gorton's fish is 50% off. For Lent.

Doug and Coral just brought me canned salmon and anchovies. That will be nice for Lent.

Official Song and Video of This Blog

I was reading about Italo Disco on Wikipedia again and I learned the official song and video of this blog.

Weekly Sales

I'm only going to look at 3 stores. I glanced over Food Bazaar's yesterday and nothing caught my eye. Green Corner doesn't have anything in winter anyway, and I'm not going all the way to Western Beef.

Bravo: Iceberg lettuce is $1. That's it. I'm unlikely to go to Bravo just for $1 of lettuce.

C-Town: Luigi Vitelli canned tomatoes are $1. I am running low on those. It's not my favorite brand, but I can survive it. Ocean spray cranberry juice is $2.50. Luigi Vitelli pasta is $0.88, and it's a perfectly good brand of pasta. I think I already own every major shape though.

Key Food: Iceberg lettuce is $1 here too. Baby bella mushrooms are $3/lb. Last week, I bought white button mushrooms for $2.50 for a pound, which I haven't eaten yet. Maybe I will eat those today so I can buy more mushrooms.

Well, that's all. I guess I'll eat from my cupboards this week. Which I need to do anyway.

What's on sale this week

I went to grocery stores 3 times this week and have too much stuff, so I doubt I'll be enthralled by anything I see in these ads.

Green Corner: Nothing I want to type about.

Bravo: Nothing.

C-Town: Broccoli rabe is $1.99/lb. Barilla pasta is $1/lb. I can get some good shapes. Starkist tuna is $1.

Key Food: A pound of mushrooms is $2.5. Broccoli rabe is also $1.99 here. Cafe Bustelo is $2.50 for 10 oz bricks. I wonder if I need any.

Super Bowl sales

I'm not going to watch the Super Bowl. I saw that Trump bought an ad and I thought "I don't want to see that! It's going to ruin the whole thing waiting for him to show up." But then I realized I don't want to see the football part either. I like eating nachos and dips with my friends. So I might try to arrange that. I do like seeing the sales too.

I wonder how many circulars might use the words "Super Bowl" and risk the NFL suing them. Time to dig in.

C-Town: Its headline is about its birthday. The bottom of the page says "Kickoff to Savings." Wishbone salad dressings are on sale for $0.75, good for wings. A 5 lb bag of frozen wings is $13.

Bravo: Cracker barrel cheeses are $2.50. I hope I can find asiago. Two liter bottles of Coke products are $1.25. It has "Football Festival of Savings" and the same "Kickoff to Savings" as C-Town.

Food Bazaar: No mention of the Super Bowl or football. A 5 lb bag of frozen wings is $8 or $11 (if you want the same brand as at C-Town). Two liter bottles of Pepsi products are $1, which is as low as you ever see in New York.

Green Corner: There is Valentine's Day imagery. There's nothing on sale I'd go here for.

Key Food: It clearly says Super Bowl LIV, but it's inside a Tostito's ad that says "official sponsor of the super bowl." Avocados and cilantro are both $0.54 each, which is the cheapest avocado I've ever seen. Other prices that end in .54:  Lemons, limes, baby carrots, guacamole, celery, grape tomatoes, blueberries, and some stone fruit. Also some salad and dressing off to the right. On a later page, watermelons and mag melons are also -.54.


Crack Barrel cheese is also $2.50 here, so I have a better chance of finding asiago. B&G red pepper slices are $3/jar.

Western Beef: They have "Big Game Weekend." Wings are $0.59/lb if you get a 7-10 lb bag, so that is by far the cheapest wing available. If I go for wings, I can also get the Cracker Barrel here for $2.50. A head of iceberg lettuce is $1. There are many other wing prices too. $10 for 4 lbs. $30 for 10 lbs. Why??