Back from Mexico and I need to shop

 As soon as I got back, I applied for a new credit card for groceries. Now I need to go out and use it to replenish my refrigerator and freezer. I wonder what is on sale. I need kosher salt. Now that I am going to be around, I can attempt live herbs again.

Bravo: Krasdale frozen vegetables are $1.25 for 14 oz. I got some broccoli cuts last night. Colavita pasta is 3/$5. I'm not sure what shapes they have or what I need. A 24 oz container of kosher salt is $2.29 but I want a 3 lb box. Camaronazo is $3.29. That's like Clamato but based on shrimp instead of clams.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: Clamato is $3.50 here.

C-Town: Romaine is $1/lb. Frozen vegetables are 5/$4 for 8 oz bags. Mixed vegetable bags (like California Blend) are 3/$5 for 14 oz.

Food Bazaar: Nothing

Green Corner: Cilantro for $0.59! Limes 8/$2! Nopales $1/lb! I can try my hand at Mexican things.

Quite a price difference on these chicken feet:

Ozzie's: I'm afraid to go here because I hate their announcements, which I think should be an OSHA violation. But they have cans of coconut milk for $1.50. Tomatillos are $1.49/lb.

I need to go buy groceries after being away for a week

 I don't even know what might be on sale because I haven't looked at circulars for 2 weeks (the week before the trip I needed to eat all my inventory). I am very hungry right now, so I hope I find things. Also my trip made me fat, so I hope I find healthy things.

Bravo: Frozen vegetables are 3/$4 for 14 oz bags. Those are good for fried rice. Big cans of tomato paste are 3/$7 but I'm not made out of math to divide things by 7. Seems more expensive than when they used to be 3/$6 though, so I'm not buying that out of spite. Frozen spinach is $1.5 for 14 oz.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: A 12 pack of Sixpoint Hard Seltzer is only $10. I wish they sold the cucumber ones separately because those are great and the rest are ehhh. A pound of hummus is $4, which seems like a good price, but I will just make my own. That's a good idea. Cabot Greek yogurt is $5 for 2 lbs. I haven't bought greek yogurt in a while and I can't remember if I like that brand. Bac'n bits are $2.5, which I could use for the 4th of July.

C-Town: Romaine is $1.49/lb. This is mostly a repeat of Bravo.

Food Bazaar: Limes are 9/$2. Corn tortillas are $1.5. Mussels are finally on sale! 

Scallions are 5 bunches/$2 and I should get some because mine all died when I was away. So did almost all my other food in my window boxes.

Ozzie's: Heinz BBQ sauce is $2 but nowhere ever has Carolina which is the best one. A whole cauliflower is $2.5.

Green Corner: nothing

Western Beef: nothing

I guess I should go to Mr. Piña, which doesn't have a circular that I know of.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

Lime Price

I bought a ton of stuff for the 4th of July, didn't write about it, and have barely shopped since. I'm getting back to normal.



You never see lime prices advertised like this. This is from Ozzie's Fresh Market. I've seen lower prices. Bravo was 10/$1 last week and Green Corner was 20/$2. But you never see a place just advertise a low number of cents without making you do math.

Good price on plums too. I might make my plum crumble. Except I don't want to even look at an oven.

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.

The sales this week

Last week, C-Town's sales were mostly lies. I never found the cranberry juice, lemonade, or London broil. I did find london broil at Ozzie's for that sale price though and I made a delicious meal. I covered it with tomatoes, raw onions, and gorgonzola.

 

Anyway, I am probably not going to buy meat again this week. I got a lot of the beefsteak tomatoes while they were on sale and I'll be on the lookout for things to eat them with.

Bravo: nothing

C-Town: Heinz BBQ sauce is $1.79. I have a lot of that, but I want to find the Carolina kind again.

Key Food: Peaches are $0.99/lb. Last year on this day, I made "peacho de gallo" which was good. I should do that again.

Green Corner:  Limes are 10/$1! Zucchini is $0.79/lb. Cilantro is $0.50/bunch.

Ozzie's: Peaches, like Key Food. Last week Ozzie's had much nicer tomatoes than Key Food, so even when the sales are the same it can be different.

BQE Liquors: I don't usually include this, but there are a lot of good deals on Ibotta. I'm not looking them up, but I saw Cruzan rum, Sauza tequila, Evil Willy, the Smooth Gin in the Bumpy Bottle (Seagram's), Smirnoff, and more.

What's on sale this week?

I'm hungry, so maybe I will see things that interest me in the grocery circulars.

Key Food

Orange juice is $2. I could get hopped up on screwdrivers. That sounds good. Nothing else appeals.

Associated

Frozen cauliflower is $1.69. I can eat that. 8 oz of mushrooms for $1.50 is good. Mushrooms feel luxurious when I add them to anything. Butternut squash is $0.79/lb! I can make soup! Sweet potatoes are the same price. Fall is here.

Bravo

I never buy pork chops, but for $1.69 maybe I'll consider it. Everything Cento is on sale, so I want anchovies, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, caponata (I've never even bought that), tomato paste (which I already have and seldom use). I guess my hunger has kicked in.

Green Corner

Limes are 22 for $1.98. I did the math, and that's 9 cents per lime, which is the cheapest I've ever seen. 16 oz of mozzarella is $2.50, which is also the cheapest I've ever seen. But I don't know of any foods you can make combining the two.

C-Town

Colavita pure olive oil! 3 liters for $20! I'll be there later today in that case. Frozen ravioli are $1.50, which would be good with the olive oil. I make them in a skillet like pierogies. Mushrooms are $1.79 here. More expensive than Key Food, but maybe I'll spend 29 cents to avoid the extra trip. Or buy them twice so I have an average cost that is still good. Limes are 25 cents here.

Gala Foods

Gala Foods is still dead to me.

Grocery Circular Round Up

I'm back. I was overwhelmed by 4th of July shopping. I need to return to normal. I ate hot dogs every day for a week. Now I eat peanut butter on hot dog buns because I ran out of hot dogs.

I need to buy mozzarella for my sourdough pizza tonight. I hope somewhere has it.

Anyway...

Green Corner: Green Corner is at the corner of Humboldt and Flushing, which isn't even a right angle. But it bends, so it's still a corner. They have the cheapest produce around. This week you can buy 12 crabs for $11 if you know what to do with a crab. I never bought one, but it seems like a good price. If you went to a restaurant and got a crab, I bet it would be more than $1. Limes are still a dime. Cherries are $1.49/lb, which is way less than anywhere. Florida avocados are $1. (They are the ones bigger than Haas, but maybe less flavorful.) Cilantro is down to THREE for $1! Eggplant🍆 is $0.89/lb. Plums are $1.29/lb. Maybe I will go there. I put in a request with the New York City Department of Transportation to put some bike racks there for me.

C-Town: I shopped there last night for the first time since I announced my grudge. Lewis asked me to get beer and recycling bags. So I will write about them today, but I still probably won't shop there. Bananas are $0.49/lb and tomatoes on the vine are $0.99/lb. Those are good. C-Town usually has good tomatoes. Eggplant🍆 is $1.49/lb here. Don't you want to go to Green Corner?

Gala Foods still doesn't know how to update its online circular on time.

Bravo: They're emphasizing their $0.98/lb pig feet. I never saw a store do that. I don't know how to eat a foot and it sounds like it has bones, so no thanks. A Florida avocado is $2 here--don't you want to go to Green Corner? Sardines are $0.88, which is a good deal. They are $0.99 on the next page, so I don't know who to trust. I have too many canned fishes anyway. On the last page, a Florida avocado is $2.50. This circular is all messed up!

Key Food: Eggplants are $0.99. Peaches and nectarines are $1.49. I like when they are $0.99, but $1.49 is good and you should eat as many peach salads as you can these days.


Associated: First, you can now get a Grand Street Savings Card and save 5% at Associated. I should probably do that. Galbani mozzarella is $3.49. So I will go there this afternoon. There's nothing else I really want there though. Maybe Colavita balsamic vinegar for $3.49.

Record Low Lime Price

Bravo, leading up to the 4th of July. 12 for $0.99.

I saw that in the circular, but I didn't even believe it (I had been fooled once before) so I bought 40 limes or $4 from Green Corner. I need to juice the rest today because they're drying out.

Amazon Fresh

Amazon Fresh delivers to my neighborhood in Brooklyn now. Temporarily, at least. So I am looking through prices. They're probably different in California.

-Limes are $0.50.
-You can get an organic avocado for $2.50, but what's interesting is you can get it either ripe or not ripe.
-Bananas are $0.49/lb, which is about the best price I can find in local stores.
-$1.39 for a can of clams. That's pretty good. Most other seafood has ok prices I guess.
-Herbs are bad prices.
-Eggs are expensive, but they've also been expensive at the store lately and I'm not sure what the going rate is.
-Lunch meat is expensive.
-Toilet paper is cheap.
-Pecorino romano is expensive. Over $14/lb

Food Bazaar was so cheap!

Mussels are $1/lb! Cantaloupe is $1 each! Pints of cherry tomatoes are $1 each! Limes are a dime! Peaches are $0.99/lb!

Lime Shortage

Uh oh.

A sudden and unprecedented shortage of limes has sent nationwide wholesale prices soaring from around $25 for a 40-pound carton in early February to more than $100 today, panicking lovers of Mexican food and drinks — and the restaurant and bar owners who cater to them. The culprits are weather, disease and even Mexican criminals.

More grocery notes

I went shopping! Boy do I love a party because I get to buy so many groceries.

I don't even know how much the daikon was, but they had them at Jesus. They're huge.

Braunschweiger is $2.49 for half a pound. In Pittsburgh, it's that much for a pound. I need it for my banh mi dogs.

Western Beef was the best! Limes are 10/$1, which is the best price! Tomatoes, miraculously, were $0.49/lb! They looked good too. Everything I'm making is tomato based, so I feel blessed. Loaves of Italian bread are 3/$2 as always, so I got some now so they'll be stale by Thursday for my panzanella. Ketchup was $2 for 38 oz, which seemed pretty good.

I bought a lot of beans at Associated. I got lost in Associated because of their expansion, so I might avoid there for the rest of the week while they figure things out.

I'm making Dylan come over to learn me how to pickle carrots and daikon for the banh mi dogs. Later today or this week, I'm making Agnes come over to bake 6 or 8 or 12 dozen cookies for ice cream sandwiches.

Food Stamps

One of the better grocery shoppers I know recently qualified for food stamps. I suggested he make ceviche because he could afford limes now. He said he refuses to encourage Giant Eagle's lime prices, no matter what.

I also encouraged him to buy local products to help the economy. I wonder if those local brands think about how the government gives people money to buy the food they sell, and if that stops them from pretending Romney's "I built this" lie is true.

Studies show that food stamps are one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus the government can undertake. But I wonder if some benefits should be reduced to increase regular welfare. If you still need food, you could buy it with your money.

Ceviche Times

One of my goals this summer was to make ceviche (also spelled "seviche," especially by me). On Monday I finally did. Food Bazaar has oysters and mussels for me in the winter and now it has my seviche creatures. Medium white shrimp are $5.99/lb, as are bay scallops. Bay scallops might be too small for ceviche, but sea scallops are $11.99/lb and I'm not made of money. Tilapia is $4.99/lb. That's what I put in the first time I made it, but I'm about to make another batch to which I'm adding squid at $4.99/lb.

Limes got cheaper since Monday. They were 13/$2 but now they are 15. I bought 30 of them because I want to feed people micheladas when I feed them ceviche. I also put the juice of a small grapefruit ($0.67), some tomatillos ($1.29/lb), very fine slivers of red onion ($1.29/lb) and maybe some jalapeño pepper ($1.29/lb) and cilantro. Food Bazaar wanted $1.50 for that, but the going rate is $1 so I didn't get that yet.

I like foods based on festering.

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.