Lidl on Grand St opened yesterday and I've been there 4 times so far

 In general, I like it, but they need to figure out their basket situation. They only have carts and big baskets you drag around on wheels. Those are too annoying for New York. Stores get crowded. Let me get by people!

Worse, on the trip I just got back from, there were none. They're just stacked up at the cash registers from past shoppers. I hope they figure this out.

So far I've bought tortilla chips ($1.50), 3 jars of salsa for $5, flour for $2.30, a big jar of pickles for $3, a bag of lemons for $2.30, cannelini beans for $1, two cans of tomatoes for $1.70 or so, tortillas for $1.50, tater tots for $3, and hot dog buns for $1.50. Oh, and mushrooms for $1.19

Things I might buy soon: wings for $1.49/lb, hot italian sausage for $3, a big bag of frozen whole sardines for $8, butter for $3, a baguette for $1, Greek yogurt for $3.35, and queso fresco for $3.

I got an air fryer recently so I like things I can air fry, like wings. And hot dogs. And mushrooms. And pickles.

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 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

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. 

Trump is raising the price of your parmesan

To get back at the European Union for subsidizing Airbus, the Trump administration is raising the price that American consumers pay for French wines and Italian cheeses. These will go into effect on October 18. The new tax we will have to pay is 25%. This also applies to prosciutto, luxury butters like Kerrygold, "liqueurs and cordials" e.g. Campari and Fernet.

I am so mad.

Better stock up. The Trump administration is doing this to protect Boeing. But we have to suffer.

A full list of products is here. And this article is also helpful.

What to cook for St. Patrick's Day

I don't know! I hope the Key Food and Bravo circulars inspire me. I think they made their St. Patrick's sales last week because that is when cabbage was $0.29/lb everywhere. But I didn't get any. I'll make colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale) and I don't know what else.

Bravo has some Irish beers on sale. Kerrygold butter is on sale, but it's $4 which isn't a good enough sale. I could do $3.49. Pizza rolls are on sale! I think we're going to eat pizza rolls, onion rings, and colcannon.

Key Food has avocados for $0.97. I have long thought that guacamole and margaritas are good for St. Patrick's Day because they are green and Irish food isn't that good (except colcannon). Nothing else good at Key Food.

I'll check Food Bazaar too. Corned beef is $3/lb. Hmm.

Times I went to Key Food this week, put items in my basket, put them all back, and left with nothing

First time: I put Kerrygold butter in my basket because it was $3 for 8 oz, which is a good price. I had 2 or 4, but I wanted to check the Tuttorosso canned tomatoes that were $0.88 for 28 oz. Some guy was stocking the shelves there, so I gave up and put my butter back and left.

Second time: I put brussels sprouts ($1.99/lb) and Vintage diet tonic water ($0.67) in my basket. I found the tomatoes, and had to move a heavy stack of them to see the price. But they only had crushed and puree and I don't want those. Then I went to check the butter, but there was no sign that it was still on sale. Technically it should be, but I didn't want to deal with accidentally paying an extra $3/lb so I put everything back and left.

I'm rich now. I didn't spend so much money this week.

Eggplant emoji and more deals from Fine Fare/Gala Foods/Graham Market

(This is why I always call it "the store around the corner" or "the new store around the corner.")

I got regular eggplants and a Dominican one. The regular ones had no seeds, which was nice. I think I read that male eggplants have no seeds and females have a lot, so you should buy males. And I read about how to tell them apart, but I forget. Look it up. Maybe the Dominican one was female or maybe it has different rules.

Here are all my other good prices. I got a thyme plant for $3, which will save me more than $3 when I don't have to buy thyme for a long time. Butter was cheap. I was going to make a turkey pot pie but I chickened out. Most other things went into ratatouille.

I also made a beet salad to try to replicate what I ate at Indikitch because it was good. It has cumin, salt, lemon juice, and cilantro. Cilantro was only $0.50/bunch.

Easter Deals

Easter isn't a holiday I cook for because I always go to Agnes's. I do like cooking for Lent, so I'm peeping the Key Food circular to see if it has the things I need for a fish fry. They have a section of next week's ad that celebrates Easter with sales on ricotta, mozzarella, spaghetti, and tomato sauce. I guess that's what Italian people around here eat for Easter? I guess I grew up eating Carpatho-Rusyn food for Easter.

The prices are good though. $3 for 32 oz of ricotta. $2 for a pound of mozzarella.

Luxury butter is on sale for $3 per 8 oz (Kerrygold). I have to buy a lot of luxury butter anymore for my sourdough bread.

I'm not sure if they have fish for my fish fry. I guess I could use basa or swai (which Bing tells me are the same).

Grocery circular round up

Associated:  Bananas are $0.49/lb. I just put some bananas (for which I paid $0.49/lb) in the freezer because they were getting overly ripe. I will turn them into vegan ice cream. (Which is what happens when you put frozen bananas in a food processor).

Cabbage is $0.39/lb. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Skippy Peanut butter is $2. I need that. Rolling Rock is still $8 for a 12 pack, which I appreciate.

Key Food: I hope they have luxury butter on sale! I see pecorino romano is still on sale for $4.99/lb. That's a good price! I recommend you go get some.

Oh my word! Cabbage is only $0.19/lb. Hold on--I have to text someone.

Plugra luxury butter is on sale for $3.49 for 8 oz. I might have to get that. Brussels sprouts are still on sale for $1.49, so I guess I didn't have to go stock up yesterday.

C-Town: They want $0.29/lb for cabbage. Remember back when I thought $0.39 was a good deal?

Bravo: They also have cabbage for $0.29/lb and bananas for $0.49 and Skippy peanut butter for $2. They have "slicing tomatoes" for $0.69 but I am skeptical about tomatoes in March.

Get out your credit cards. So many good deals!

In fact, as soon as I finish writing this I might put on pants and go purchase some cheese.

Western Beef:
$2 for 16 oz of mozzarella. I'm going to use this to make spaghetti al telefono.
Avocados for $0.88.
Loaves of Italian bread for $0.66.
Pound of butter for $3.
50 tall garbage bags for $4.59. With draw strings even!

Key Food (12 page circular!)
Turkey for $0.69/lb. Perfect for Midnight Thanksgiving (and the real one.)
101 oz can of Capatriti pure olive oil. for $8
Pecorino romano for $4.99/lb. I just bought it on Tuesday for $5.88/lb.
Same $3 butter deal.
Pork butt for $0.99/lb
Apple juice for $1.50. (Anything under $2 is always good.)
Cool whip - $1
Smithfield bacon - $2.99 for a pound

Do you like my butter?

The deli across the street sold Eric a single stick of butter for $1.

I usually pay $2.49 for 4 sticks, but this was an emergency for him. He wanted to make mac and cheese.