My Last Key Food Visits and My First Trader Joe's (Williamsburg) Trip

 Yesterday I went to the new Trader Joe's. I went on an empty stomach, so I was surprised I barely bought anything. Partly because I'm going to Pittsburgh soon so I didn't want to stock up, but I also just didn't think anything was a good deal anymore. Whole Foods has better frozen vegetables for the most part. I ended up getting frozen Brussels sprouts, a bag of walnuts, hot honey sauce (it has vinegar in it too, and was under $3), and dried thyme.

Then I went to Key Food. Most aisles were blocked off. There were some cans of soup. There were still a bunch of frozen turkeys. Everything was 50% off, but there was nothing left I wanted. I guess I am done forever.

I did go to Key Food last weekend for some 50% off things, but I got ripped off. Some of the pastas were $2, and I'd ordinarily spend $1, so that was fine but not a bargain. I saw a can of coconut milk for $2, and figured $1 is fine. But when I wasn't looking, it rang up as $6! So I got a $3 can of coconut milk which is outrageous.

Trader Joe's in Williamsburg is opening December 10!

 I guess I will buy capers and nuts and buttermilk and gorgonzola more often.

Trader Joe's Williamsburg outpost will officially open Friday, Dec. 10, the store announced Thursday. https://t.co/TfEsO0UJhZ

— Brooklyn Paper (@brooklynpaper) December 3, 2021

Key Food's Clearance Sale

 Last night I went and it was packed and way more cleared out than I expected. I got 2 jars of peanut butter and 3 bags of dried cannellini beans (all the rest).

Today I needed to break a $20 to do laundry, so I went back. I didn't end up breaking the $20 there, but I did get gorgonzola, 2 cans of tomato juice, a jar of hot horseradish, a tube of anchovy paste (which I've never bought before), a bag of Starbucks coffee beans (which I've never bought before, but people have given me both a French press and a coffee grinder within about the last 6 weeks, so I am going to try something new). I also got sun-dried tomatoes, which I'm not sure if I even like much or if they were a good price. I ended spending $25 after they took the 30% off. Oh, I got dark soy sauce too. I've wanted dark soy sauce for a while, though I don't know why.

Maybe tomorrow they will have different sales (since it's Friday) or they'll increase from 30%. Nobody is buying their oil or pasta at all.

Key Food is closing!

 I saw a story on Instagram about it. The whole store is 30% off now.

I haven't been there since this sign went up. A few years ago, there was a plan to build housing there (and on its big parking lot). That plan didn't involve shutting down the store at all, so I don't know if that is still a plan.

Bill found me that link. He also found this scene from the movie Going In Style shot in Key Food.

I've been shopping more than I've been eating

 I went to Pennsylvania for over a week, which disrupted my habits. I only spent about 20 minutes in a Giant Eagle during that whole trip, so there isn't much to say about it. I did come back with a lot of frozen banana peppers my brother grew and some Tabascos my mother grew.

When I got back, I noticed Bravo renovated its entrance. I haven't bought anything there yet.

I got flour and onions at Brooklyn Harvest Market. Mushrooms and sweet potatoes at Key Food. I did eat the mushrooms (with a lot of polenta and some asparagus I found on sale at Mr. Piña.)

On Monday, I got my Covid booster then walked to Western Beef where I got a 2 pound jar of giardiniera and a 5 lb bag of carrots. I refrained from buying another 6 lb can of tomatoes.

Tuesday (yesterday), I went to Food Bazaar and got a pound of frozen squid ($5), 4 cans of coconut milk ($3), a frozen spinach and frozen peppers & onions (each $2.5 for 2 lbs).

Last night I cooked some of the peppers and onions and made bulgur wheat I've had for a while. I didn't realize how long I have had it but the bag said to use by 2018. Well, I used it.

Coming up, I need to eat a lot of pasta and my various rices and some cheese. Plus those carrots.

I don't have anyone to cook for anymore so I don't know what to make.

Whole Foods Update

 I previously wrote a guide to shopping at Whole Foods because it's cheap for some things. Later, I bought a big basil plant. Here is an updated guide.

I went to Whole Foods today because Chase Freedom's 5% back on groceries quarter ends next week and I wanted to buy 3 liters of olive oil. I got both extra firm and silken tofu because it's $1.79 for organic (they don't have non-organic). Tofu is at minimum $2.50 everywhere else. I got frozen spinach for $1.79 because it's usually $2 elsewhere. Food Bazaar was supposed to have 2 lbs for $2.50 this week but they were out of everything. I also got arborio rice for $3. I don't know if that is a good price.

The other stuff is from Mr. Piña, which I should write about more often. The pineapple was $1.49, the zucchini was $0.50, the peppers were 2/$1 and the bag of lemons, which contains 3, was $1.

Where's the tea?

 I'm out of tea bags. I make a pitcher of iced tea every night before I go to sleep and go through 4-6 bags a day. Dollar Tree tea isn't good enough, but store brands are good enough and name brands are good enough. Since I am specifically looking for that, I might as well write about what else is on sale everywhere this week.

Bravo: Canned clams are $1.99. I like when they are $1.69 though. Heinz bbq sauce is $2 but they don't carry the kind I want (Carolina). A blue cheese wheel is $6/lb, but I needed that last week and I still have gorgonzola after overpaying for it. No tea.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: What is wide meat?

Herbal teas are on sale ($3 for 20 bags) but I bought that for $2.50 earlier this week.

C-Town: This is the same stuff as Bravo.

Food Bazaar: Beans are $1/lb but I have been stocking up too much already. A dozen large eggs are $1.

Green Corner: Lemons are 7/$2. I could make limoncello but my roommate started drinking my spirytus and I think he's probably now dead. Lipton tea is on sale for $4 for 100 but that doesn't seem good enough.

Key Food: A cauliflower is $2. Mushrooms are 3/$5 for 8 oz. Heinz bbq sauce is also on sale here but they don't have Carolina either. Pepsi is 3/$4 for 2 liter bottles. I may just get some Super Pepsi for my caffeine to get me through the weekend. McCain frozen french fries are 2/$5 and I kinda want them. This ad says buttermilk is $1.69 but I don't believe it. A 15 pack of Natty Light is $10. Tetley tea is $3.49.. maybe I can do that.

Oh.

Ozzie's: Luigi Vitelli pasta is 88¢. Cauliflower is $2 here too. This circular seems too short. It probably has a lot of the same stuff as Key Food.

Western Beef: Everything is cheaper somewhere else.

So I guess I will go to Key Food (or Ozzie's?) for Tetley tea.

UPDATE: I went to Ozzie's for tea and Natty Ice. I almost got Bromley's for $3.29 but I decided to spend 20¢ more to see if Tetley's is great.

Strange Bacon in Prospect Lefferts Gardens

 I was visiting Lewis on Saturday and I wanted to go to the Associated on Flatbush because I always like it there. He doesn't and he prefers Lincoln Market, but we went.

The only interesting thing I found was a pack of the Whole Foods store brand (365) bacon for $1.67. That is very cheap. And it is also not Whole Foods.

We both got a pack. I also got onions and rice. He got stuff for nachos, but not cheese or sour cream, so I ended up having to go to Lincoln Market myself later. That place is expensive.

This price of mussels is a disgrace! My blog is a scam.

 I just tweeted about potato salad, which led to linking to my blog, so I came here. And what do I see?

That is a scam! 2 pounds of mussels should be about $3.

Here's the tweet:

I made one of the top 3 best potato salads I've made in my life this weekend. I covered the potatoes with tapenade, some chopped up hot cherry peppers, and more capers (besides what was in the tapenade). Pungent potato salad!

— Mike Cherepko (@mikecherepko) July 19, 2021

The best way to buy basil

For a few very specific things, Whole Foods is amazingly cheap. You can buy a little plastic container of basil for $3 everywhere or you can buy a whole pot of living basil for $2. pic.twitter.com/if1yoGF1bh

— Mike Cherepko (@mikecherepko) July 3, 2021

I learned the technology of just imbedding all my grocery tweets. 

READY TO GO! (4th of July/Green Corner)

 I'm in Green Corner's DMs!

I don't know what to buy yet, but I am hoping for peaches, limes, cilantro, onions, scallions, jalapeños, and frozen corn there. And if they can have cheap chicken quarters, that is ideal. I haven't reviewed any circulars for real yet. This is just based on their reputation.

If they come through with a tofu sale, I might serve jerk tofu on the 4th. But last time they advertised a tofu sale, it didn't ring up that way. But it was still cheaper than the other places.

Pre 4th of July sales. What's out there?

This is the last full week of sales before the 4th. Next Friday, there will be some new ones but I will only have Friday and Saturday to use them. So this is an important one. My Chase Freedom card is going to give me 5% back on groceries starting July 1, so I am not doing my shopping until then except for daikon pickle, which should fester for a week. So actually, anything good I find here I have to buy all on Thursday.

So let's see what's out there.

Bravo: Peaches are 99¢. Corn is 40¢ per ear. Premio sausage is $3/lb. I wouldn't make that for the 4th, but I am making pizza tonight and it might be good. An 8 oz can of tomato sauce is 45¢. Fage Greek yogurt is $3 for 17 oz.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: Peaches are 99¢. Beefsteak tomatoes are $1.49. I hope I can find a better price. The sausages are $2.99 here too. Cafe Bustelo is 2/$5. Fage 17 oz is $3 here too, but Chobani 32 oz is $5. Hmm. Fage is better though. A can of tomato juice is $2.

C-Town: Peaches, corn, and sausage are all the same price here too.

Food Bazaar: A pound of mozzarella is 3/$10. (See, my dinner tonight). Limes are 9/$2. Scallions are 40¢.

Green Corner: Peaches are 89¢! Limes are 12/$2.

Key Food: Hot dog buns are $1.25. I might get some to practice. Chobani is $5 here too. Jerk sauce is $3.5

Ozzie's: There's nothing unique here

What is on sale?

 Last week I put pictures in my post and they didn't show up. That's annoying.

Bravo: I don't know why I'm even looking. I went on Wednesday and bought 5 tins of anchovies but the store was so crowded I didn't look at anything else. They have Colavita pasta for $1, but I bought 5 pounds of that at Key Food on Wednesday. (It was a big shopping day for me.) Fage greek yogurt is $6. I didn't get my greek yogurt last week because Key Food was out.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: Beefsteak tomatoes are $1/lb. Hot dog buns are $1.25. Pepsi is 4/$5.

C-Town: Tomatoes on the vine are $0.99, but I would rather get Beefsteak across the street. Bill just texted me "Land o Lakes butter is on sale at C-Town. It's the best baking butter." So you can buy that if you want. I don't usually cover that topic here. Diet tonic water is 3/$2. C-Town usually has the best price on diet tonic water.

Food Bazaar: Mussels aren't on sale (I looked yesterday) but I will look at the rest now. A 3 liter can of Filippo Berio olive oil is only $12 which is a good price for a bad oil. Mozzarella is $3.34 which isn't bad. Cabot Greek yogurt is $4 for 32 oz. I should go there just for that and then see what mussels cost not on sale. I might go there right after this blog post! If mussels are a bad price I can get squids. Even though I'll get there too late to use my NYC ID and get 5% off.

Green Corner: Mussels are on sale for $3.49 for 2 lbs. That's too much. I would pay $3. Filippo Berio is $17 here and they spell it wrong in the ad. They also say calms are $8/dozen but show mussels. A 14 oz tofu is $1.79. I might get that.

Key Food: Peaches are $1/lb and beefsteak tomatoes are $1/lb so I will go here instead of BHM and then make a salad of those two things. Mushrooms are 3/$5. Coke products are 4/$5. Fage is $6, but I already decided on Cabot.

Ozzie's: They didn't update but they usually have similar sales to Key Food. Maybe I'll go get a paper circular. Or just buy the stuff there. No, their announcements are too annoying and I can't stand them anymore. I'll go to Key Food. It's too lonely to go to Food Bazaar and have mussels or squid without a plan for people to come eat them with me.

What's on sale this week? I'm hungry

 I did a good job of eating lots of the ends of containers from my refrigerator, so I'm ready to shop!

Bravo: $0.79/lb for "slicing tomatoes" but Bravo's tomatoes are always pink so this doesn't count. I would stock up on these $1.69 anchovies, but I did that last time. So I should use some anchovies from my cupboard.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: A 2-lb bag of onions is $1.

C-Town: They also have tomatoes for $0.79/lb and I trust them. Mushrooms are $1.5 for 8 oz. The anchovies are $1.79 here.

Food Bazaar: I peeked yesterday but they didn't have mussels, so I am not going to look again because I'm not going to go there.

Green Corner: Tomatoes on the vine for $0.69/lb! Extra large eggs for $1.25 Oh, further down the ad the tomatoes get cheaper. 

Key Food: They still say a 3 lb bag of Vidalia onions is $2. I got a bag last week and they tried to charge me $5 so I corrected them. Colavita pasta is $1 so I will stock up I suppose. Both Cabot and Chobani Greek yogurts are $5 for 32 oz. I'll try Cabot because Chobani isn't as good as Fage and I don't know about Cabot.

Ozzie's: They didn't update their circular but it's probably similar to Key Food's

UPDATE! I went go Green Corner and the tomatoes were labeled at both prices even in the store, but they rang up as $0.59/lb.

A Mystery Solved about Brooklyn Harvest Market's Deals

 I didn't even realize this was a mystery, and I'm not going to dig up my receipt, so this might not be a good post. I'll try to get some other pictures though.

I saw this lettuce for a good price even without the $15 requirement, so I bought it.

I also bought 2 bags of frozen french fries (2 for $3 after coupon), a liter of vanilla seltzer ($0.80), and a bag of raviolis ($1.25). So I thought I'd spend a little over $6.

But when everything rang up, the fries were over $5 a bag, the raviolis were $3, etc. And then the sales coupons were applied. And after everything, I got my lettuce for $0.66 because I originally had spent over $15. Wow! So my final total was about $5.80.

What's on sale this week?

 I still have to eat some leftover tacos, and a big zucchini, but after that I need to get more food, so let's see what's on sale.

Bravo: some frozen vegetables are 3/$5 for 14 oz bags.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: McCain frozen french fries are 2/$3. That's a good price. Eggs are $1.66. Fage greek yogurt is $3 for 17 oz. Fage is better but more expensive than Chobani in general. Ravioli are $1.25

C-Town: Ground turkey is $2.5/lb.

Food Bazaar: moules aren't on sale and that's the only thing i want

Green Corner: vine tomatoes are $0.78/lb. Celery is $0.69

Key Food: Diet coke and its relatives are 4/$5. Mushrooms are $1.5 for 8 oz.

Ozzie's: Corn tortillas are $1.25. Eggs are $1. McCain fries are $3 here. What a scam.

Well it looks like Brooklyn Harvest Market wins and Ozzie comes in second place.

I returned to Western Beef because it was over 80 degrees in March and I wanted to bike somewhere

I figured I'd get milk and giardiniera and whatever else I found. But the milk was $1.59 for a pint and I thought it should be $1.39 so I didn't get it. (Later I went to Ozzie's and paid $1.49). The giardiniera was on sale for $2 for a 32 oz jar. I got brown mustard for $1. Broccoli rabe was $1.99/lb and I will always buy it when it is that price.  Tuna was $0.80/can (I got 2).

I might as well write about my trip to Ozzie's later. I got that milk. Chick peas were $0.99/bag so I got 3 and am going to make hummus shortly. I got 32 oz of Chobani Greek yogurt. Fage is much better, but it was $3 for 17 oz so I got the cheaper one I like less which will last me too long since I like it less. I keep doing this. I got a bottle of Gatorade for $1 because I need to fight hangovers.

Guide to Shopping at Whole Foods

Last month a dimwitted anti-housing activist popped up in my mentions on Twitter to imply that I'm rich and talked about Whole Foods.

So I decided to write about how to shop at Whole Foods to get the good deals, which it has. On about 4 things.

Olive Oil

You can buy a 3 liter can of the store brand olive oil for $19.99. That's less than $7 a liter, and it's a better quality than Filippo Berio or those other brands (except Colavita). Trader Joe's has a fine store brand too, but this is cheaper. It also lasts a long time, which is ideal since there's not a good reason to go to Whole Foods all that often.

Fresh Herbs

No, not fresh like other stores sell fresh, which are always too expensive. Buy a whole dang plant for $2. That's cheaper than the little plastic containers of fresh herbs. It's cheaper than a jar of dried herbs. Use what you want and try your luck planting the rest.

I bought this parsley last fall. I should use it more often. It is still alive.

The basil is from this week. I hope it starts to thrive. The rosemary is hanging on from last fall. Thyme has 2 green shoots but it otherwise not doing great.

Anyway, fresh herb plants.

Frozen Vegetables

Frozen peas are $1.79/lb and Brussels sprouts were about $1.50. That's cheaper than Krasdale/Urban Meadow frozen vegetables. And look how small they are.

Canned Tomatoes

You can get the store brand canned tomatoes for $1.39 for 28 oz. You can occasionally find canned tomatoes at other places for less than that, but they're quite often over $2 and Whole Foods has them consistently at this price. Also, they are good. Luigi Vitelli isn't good.

Weird Experience at Brooklyn Harvest Market

I went there because Barilla pasta was on sale ($1) and I need orzo to make wedding soup. Canned salmon was also $2.5 and I needed to get out of the house. So I went.

I found other Barillas for $1, like whole wheat spaghettis, so I got several. I also stumbled upon 44 fish sticks for $4.74 or something. I was shopping while hungry, so I got a bunch of stuff. Apricot jelly for $2.5 maybe? I forget... which is unlike me, but I am kinda drunk now.

When the food rang up, it was like $27, which is way more than I expected. I was confused, and thought I messed up, but was going to go. But then the cashier was like "... you wanted $9.02 of cash back on your Discover Card credit card purchase?"     NO! I didn't even touch the screen where I would say that. All I did was scan my rewards card. But for some reason they added $9.02 to my bill and then gave me that in cash.

I am annoyed by having 2 more pennies in my life. But if Discover does something like bill me for a cash advance I am going to have a huge conniption. If they don't, I will accept this as a weird thing BHM does.

Discover gives 5% back on groceries this quarter, so I use it a lot. Next quarter Chase Freedom does. I spend half the year getting 5% back on groceries and half the year getting 3% back. Ask me about credit cards, because if I refer you I get $100 or so. And I know a lot about credit cards.

Snacks and some other grocery thoughts

 I used to not even notice potato chips.

Now I always do, and that's not very good. They aren't that healthy.

I don't know a good price, but those seem ok? I dunno.

Asparagus is coming into season. $1/lb at Key Food this week.

I bought so much ground turkey at C-Town last week. And Greek yogurt there and Key Food the week before. All the people in my life doing WW Points have affected me. I walk home with 0 points of food all the time. I'm gonna add a WW tag to my posts.

Today I went to Bravo and walked home with 10 lbs of bread flour, which is many points. I never owned bread flour before. We'll see what happens! I also got a little jar of sambol olek for $1.5. I have remnants of a big jar (that cost $4 according to the tag) in the refrigerator that is probably 40 years old. I'm gonna gry to use it more. This week I used up a jar of mapo tofo sauce this week that said use by 2015. (I didn't buy that... many roommates ago left it)

Tofu was $1/lb for last week so I bought so much of it. I even told my roommate Taha about it.

The Lime Price Heuristic Breaks Down At Key Food

 I've always used the price of limes as the way to judge a grocery store's overall expensiveness. But that's been breaking down at Key Food lately. What do you do if limes are 50 cents each, but avocados are 55?

The cheap avocados caused me to forgive Key Food within a week of being mad at them for overcharging me on something. My total was supposed to come to $11, but it came to $15, and I don't even know what they ripped me off on because they didn't give me a receipt. I'm guessing the cauliflower that was supposed to be $2.