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.

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.

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.

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.

What is on sale? What will I eat?

I haven't done this for a while because I cooked a turkey and ate leftovers for a week, then went to Pittsburgh where I cooked 1 meal and ate leftovers for a week, and then came back and had parties. But I am in real life now. I have 1 eggplant and about 8 oz of mushrooms that I bought last week. And some tofu. And 2.5 lbs of frozen chicken wings I bought for $4. What will I find to eat?

Key Food:  Avocados are $0.69.  Nothing else. And Ozzie's doesn't have a website anymore, so I'm going to assume they have the same sales as Key Food and nothing is good.

C-Town: nothing

Bravo: nothing

Green Corner: not updated

Food Bazaar: 44 fish sticks for $6.

Looks like I'm just going to eat what I have in my cupboards. I'll look at one more store in case I go to Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

Associated: Quartered chicken legs are $0.49, eggs are $0.79, eggplants are $0.79/lb.

The Sales This Week

I bought a lot of tomatoes yesterday so I probably won't need them.

Bravo: 2-liter Pepsi products are $1.25. Carrots are $0.79/lb and cabbage is $0.59/lb. I could make coleslaw. I don't know if that adds up to their credit card minimum though so I might not go. I hope C-Town has some of those sales.

Key Food: Woah, 9 page circular. Bananas are $0.49/lb so I can finally make vegan banana ice cream and also pickled bananas. Peaches and nectarines are $0.99 and plums are $1.49 so I can still enjoy my stone fruit. Large eggs are $0.99. Key Food never has eggs on sale. Raviolis are half off.

C-Town: The Pepsi sale is here. Onion rings are $1.69. I have been hungry for ketchup lately and onion rings would be good. Pizza rolls are $2 for 40 but I don't know if I should get them. They might make me lonely. Krasdale cheeses are $1.79 for 8 oz.

Ozzie's: They still have the Aug 1-8 circular online.

Green Corner: They still have last week's online.

The sales this week

I really ought to go buy olives and maybe tahini at Parrot Coffee. But this is limited to my local stores. I also bought 2 eggplants and 1 seedless cucumber for $1.50 at King Mart yesterday, and I made baba ghanoush so I should get something to eat that with.

Green Corner: Limes are still a dime. I bought 5 last night. Peaches and jalapeños are both $0.99/lb so maybe I should make peach-o de gallo. I got 2 serrano peppers last night though and made salsa verde. I don't know how many salsas I should have. A bag of yellow onions is $1.25

Ozzie's: Hellman's mayo is $3. A watermelon is $3. The last time I bought one it took too long for me to eat, but I might get another anyway. A dozen large eggs is $0.89. I should make another dozen hard boiled ones. I steam them in a metal colander now.  Oooh extra large eggs are $1. Heavy cream is $1.50. I could make ice box cakes if I find fresh fruit, which shouldn't be hard. Vintage tonic water is $0.60 for a liter bottle. A can of tomato juice is $1.69. I should have brunch. Lots of good stuff at Ozzie's.

C-Town: Salad dressing is $0.79. I need ranch for all my pizza rolls. Cranberry juice is $2.5, but I fell for this a couple weeks ago and they didn't actually have it. Romaine is $0.99/lb. I think that is good, but I don't know how much a head of romaine weighs. If it's 1 lb, that is good.

Bravo: "slicing tomatoes" are $0.99/lb which I would like, but Bravo never has good tomatoes. Sweetened condensed milk is $1.5, so I can finally make kool-aid pie.

Key Food: Iceberg lettuce is $1. They advertise a 12-pack of Miller or Coors after rebate but this store doesn't know how to do rebates. The egg sale from Ozzie's is also here. So is the tonic water. Heinz bbq sauce. I am still looking for vinegar carolina style.

Why I put things in my basket, took them out, and left Bravo

Reason 1: Bravo has a $7 credit card minimum
Reason 2: It was supposed to have Rolling Rock for $7.99 per box. But there was no Rolling Rock!

I put eggs (which were a reasonable price that I cannot recall) and tomatoes ($0.89/lb) in my basket, but I couldn't find the Rolling Rock, and I wasn't going to come close to the $7 minimum with just cheap eggs and cheap tomatoes, so I put everything back.

Circular Roundup - May 12

I don't even know what I'm looking for. I bought Maruchan ramen yesterday so I can make chicken soup salad. Gala Foods said it was 6/$1 but it rang up 2 of them at $0.25. Oh well. I have a lot of basil in my window so maybe I can find foods that go with basil.

Associated: An 8oz block of Muenster for $1.67. I like grilled cheese with muenster and tapenade. Sour cream is $1 for 16 oz. I can find a reason to eat sour cream. Starkist tuna is $0.89, but I am trying to eat less because it's not very sustainable. It's sardines for me. I made fish tacos with sardines (and hard taco shells) and they were weird.

Gala Foods doesn't update its website in a timely manner. No review, other than they ripped me off on ramen to the tune of 8 cents.

Key Food: eggplants and zucchini are on sale for $1/lb. I will make ratatouille and use my basil in that. Eggs are $0.80 to celebrate Key Food's anniversary again this week. I went yesterday but they were out. A 12 pack of Natural Ice is $7. That is the lowest price I've ever seen and maybe I will drink disgusting beer just to enjoy that price.

Bravo: Bravo's website changed and the circular is easier to read. Tomatoes are $0.79/lb but I don't know if I trust tomatoes in May. I've had some good ones, but Bravo doesn't usually have good ones. Rolling Rock is $8, which might be worth it compared to Natural Ice. Rolling Rock is acceptable.

I'm still mad at C Town.

I got lots of good deals at Bravo.

Frozen broccoli for $1/lb. Pinto beans for $1.19. Cabbage for $0.33/lb. Muenster for, well, I forget but it was cheap. I went when I was hungry and bought everything. Then Eric went later and bought 40 pizza rolls for $3 and we ate them with ranch dressing and got fat. I'm going to go back for a dozen jumbo eggs for $2. I don't buy fancy eggs anymore because I'm out of money.

 

Egg shortage!

Millions of chickens had to be killed because they had the flu and now there is an egg shortage. Regular eggs cost just as much as the fancy cage-free organic eggs I started buying during Lent: $3.79

Post Lent

Lent's over. I could go back to buying cheap eggs if I want, but I figure I'll still buy cage free eggs to be nice to the chickens. I also have to try the farmer's market.

Yesterday at Associated I bought almost 7 lbs of chicken quarters for $0.49/lb. I imagine those chickens weren't treated very well. That is 7 lbs of chicken for less than the last dozen eggs I bought cost.

I'm inventing chicken noodle soup salad. It has cold chicken, raw celery, carrot, and onion, and some other stuff. It's not soup and it's not soupy. So far it's pretty good.

Expensive Eggs Update

I finished the last pack I wrote about this morning. They are no better than the cheap eggs. I also seem to have more trouble breaking them. The yolks break when I break them into a skillet. I don't know if that's because of the egg or because of me, but I'm blaming the eggs.

The only part I like more is the packaging. I prefer to recycle plastic over throwing away styrofoam. And I guess I like cage-free for the chickens' happiness.

I bought another dozen today. They are jumbo and cage-free but not organic, which didn't make them taste or look better anyway. They said they'd be $3.89 and they actually charged me that amount, which left me significantly happier than last time's shock.

I'll try farmers' market eggs too if I find some.

I gave up cheap eggs for Lent

I figured organic eggs might taste better, cage free eggs are nice for chickens, etc. And a bit more for eggs still isn't that much money compared to all the money I spend.

But now I'm starting to regret it. Associated had a sign saying these eggs were supposed to be $2.99 for a dozen. But they rang up as $4.49! That is so much per egg. And since I bring my own bag and pack my own groceries, I didn't see it until I paid. Maybe I'll just eat fewer eggs for a while.

Expansion of Grocery Capacity in Williamsburg Heights*

Two of my local grocery stores are expanding a bunch. C-Town added a back room that has all its beer and snacks and pop. That's why I told them to start getting Fresca. Where the pop used to be, they now have bread. Where the bread and snacks used to be, they now have freezer and coolers and some cheese. I haven't eyed that stuff that much yet.

Associated is also expanding. Who knew the building next to them was unused? They moved into that. I can't even tell how it will all be laid out, but yesterday I got a bit lost trying to discover where they put the eggs. The medium eggs were $1.69, which is hardly better than Key Food now. I bought medium eggs to keep uncooked and large eggs to have a dozen hard boiled ones on hand. I also bought 1.25 lbs of jalapeno peppers ($1.49/lb) to pickle, but my jar only holds about 0.75 lbs so now I have to use up all these hot peppers and don't know what to do.

*Williamsburg Heights is what I've taken to calling the areas around the Graham and Grand stops of the L. When I moved here, I wondered if this was East Williamsburg or Bushwick. As more people moved to the Montrose, Morgan, Jefferson, and Dekalb stops, meaning actual Bushwick, it became clear that if I said East Williamsburg I would not convey my location. So I went back to saying Williamsburg (my zip code is Williamsburg's). One of the good things these hurricanes we get has done is give me flood zone maps. So Williamsburg Heights is the area that is not in any sort of flood zone around the Graham and Grand stops of the L. It hasn't caught on yet, but it might as well.

Limes, etc.

Western Beef's lime prices have been plummeting. Before I went to Pittsburgh for Memorial Day, they were 15/$2. I know all about Pittsburgh lime prices ($0.50 each at best, $0.69 or $0.79 more frequently) so I brought my own. When I got back, Western Beef dropped its price to 8/$1. And this week, they are 1/$10! (And spelled wrong). I have been drinking many many Moscow Mules with them and the Good-O ginger beer which is $1.25 for 2 liters. It's nice and spicy too. But with limes at these prices, I might make ceviche.

I haven't been shopping much otherwise. I have only used the stove once in the past week. I eat tomato sandwiches because tomatoes are $0.79 or $0.99/lb and I eat ham sandwiches because I love the Hormel Ham from Associated that is $3.99/lb. (I don't like ham with crust on it. I like cheap good ham. Boiled ham. Cooked ham. Not baked ham.) I eat hard boiled eggs because eggs are way cheaper these days than I've ever seen them in New York.

Cinco de Pie-O Shopping

Tomorrow I am hosting Cinco de Pie-O. It's exactly what it sounds like. I am going to make pizzas, a lentil-based shepherd's pie, a quiche, a kool-aid pie, and a shoofly pie. Other people are bringing other pies. I might make guacamole too.

I lost my to-do list on the way to the store, so I don't know if I bought everything or bought it right. On the way home from the second grocery store, I lost my money. Someone ran a couple blocks down the street to catch up with me and give me my $4 back. No one runs down the street for your to-do list. Someone is probably out there achieving all my goals and throwing the party I want to throw.

That's a lot of stuff I don't usually buy, so I don't know if I got good prices.

Key Food's having its 75th birthday this week, so I got a dozen large eggs for $0.75. I don't know how much I paid for frozen pie crusts. I paid $2.49 for a graham cracker crust. (I'm making too many things, including a crust for shoofly pie and all the pizza doughs to make all my own crusts). Crushed tomatoes were $5/3 as usual.

At Jesus, I got 12 limes for $2. That's about as good as you'll ever see. Avocados were $1.99. I guess if I want to make guacamole, I need to go buy avocados now so they ripen some. I don't think I will. I got a big bottle of sriracha for $4.99. A container of tomatoes was $1. I think I'm going to cook them on the pizza so they don't have to taste great. I couldn't find basil, so I have to go back. I got cilantro for $1.

At C-Town I bought a 101oz can of extra virgin olive oil for $14.99. I never had a can before. Mozzarella was $3.99/lb.  I wanted to get the $2.99 kind they had in their ad but I didn't see it.

Now I still have to get avocados, lime juice, and booze. Or maybe just booze.

Some Good Deals at Key Food

Orange juice was $1.69 for a carton, so I'm going to drink some screwdrivers when the sun sets. Colavita crushed tomatoes are still $1.50. C-Town charges a premium for them. The Key Food tomato sauces were 3/$1 and I want to make chili soon so those will be good. Eggs were $1.79, which is an ok price. It beats C-Town. Giardinera was $2. Rice is $1.49 for a pound. The 2 pound bags are $2.99, so I think I'll just save myself the penny and let them store the extra pound for more. That's penny-wise AND pound-wise. Milk is $2.69 for a half gallon. I have no idea if that's a good price. I can never run for president because despite buying milk and having a grocery blog, I don't know the price of milks.

They had buttermilk for either $2 or $2.50. Trader Joe's has it for $1.69, same brand. These buttermilks all expired yesterday or in 3 days. With prices like that, no wonder they have no turnover. With no turnover, no wonder they have prices like that. Not my problem--I'll wait til I'm at Trader Joe's.

I got some good deals at Key Food

This is from a trip a few days ago. I hope I remember how much I paid for everything. The eggs I remember. They were $0.99 for a dozen large. You could get extra large for $1.99. Pierogies were $2.50. "Meat" hot dogs were $1.69. I don't buy nice hot dogs because I don't care. I just want a method to eat ketchup. Crushed tomatoes were $1.50. I already had some, but I use them a lot. The pasta was $1 and it rang up as $1, unlike at C-Town where it was $1 and rang up as $1.69 and made me mad. The artichoke hearts were $1.69, which is more than what C-Town charges for the La Squisita ones I like, but they don't seem to stock them anymore. Frozen broccoli was $1.46 for a pound.

I guess I have food I could eat. I was going to put ketchup on noodles for lunch. I can't get enough ketchup lately.

Eggs on Special at Associated. Beans, no.

I went to Associated today to buy some jalapeno peppers because my jar was running low and I devised a way to mass produce huevos rancheros which is going to make me famous. They were $1.59/lb, which isn't bad. At Key Food they're $4.99/lb. They were on the old side, so I almost left, but I saw medium eggs for $1.25. You can't beat that with a stick! You always want small eggs when you're making huevos rancheros, especially with my new way.

I was also in the market for some celery salt, but they didn't have it. I wanted chick peas, but they wanted $1/can for them and I was having none of that. $0.80 is appropriate. I needed milk too, but I don't think they have enough turnover of milk for it to be good so I still have to go shopping later. I didn't think their price on Mexican crema was that good either.

Here's what I do with my peppers. I chop them up and stick them in my jar of vinegar and salt. Later, they're good.















And here's the secret to mass producing huevos rancheros. Use a muffin pan. It's all in there. The best part is either that the tortilla is not soggy or greasy or that you don't need a fork or a knife to eat these. You can pick them up and they're perfect.

By my reckoning, I will be able to feed 12 people 2 eggs each for about $12, which is how much my huevos rancheros cost the last time I ordered them in a restaurant. And these are better, so I won't name the restaurant.