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).

The Sales 9/6/19

Last week I didn't buy any groceries until the last minute. I went to Key Food for the Cool Whip and ketchup, and also bought mushrooms, jarred hot pepper rings (which they overcharge me for), jarred red peppers (which were $1.69 and I guess evens out with the pepper rings). Then I went to Bravo and got salad dressing, pizza rolls, plums, mozzarella, cheddar, onion rings, Diet Coke, 7-up, Fresca, and sweetened condensed milk. So now I have too much stuff and I don't know how much this list of sales will help me. But I will look anyway.

I'll start with the stores I went to yesterday.

Bravo: Pork shoulder is $0.89/lb. Bananas are 49¢/lb. Green peppers are 99¢/lb. I could make ratatouille. Luigi Vitelli pasta is 79¢, but I have a lot. On the other hand, that's what I want to eat every day. Table salt is 69¢. I don't know if that's a good price. Some things I bought yesterday are more expensive now, like pizza rolls and Polly-O cheese. Cilantro is 79¢.

Key Food: London broil is $2.99/lb. A big chunk of pecorino romano is $4.99/lb. People really should be buying that. Both iceberg and romaine are 99¢. You can buy a gallon of corn/canola/vegetable oil for $4.99. Tide Simply is $1.99. Pepsi products are $1.25. You can buy 2 pounds of Velveeta for $10, which makes it the same price as imported pecorino romano. I'm not saying Velveeta is bad. Just expensive.

Green Corner: Mussels are $3 for 2 lbs. Cilantro is 3/$2. Eggplant is 99¢/lb. Nothing else is very good.

C-Town: Bananas are 49¢/lb here. An 8=12 pack of Bounty paper towels is $9. Shredded cheese is $1.50.

Food Bazaar: Cantaloupe is $1.50. Medium shrimp $6/lb. The Canada Dry/7-Up family of pops is $1 for 2 liters. A ceramic/copper frying pan is $5. Table salt is 80¢ here so I guess it's a better deal at Bravo. Kielbasa is $3. A pack of hot dogs is $1. Maybe leftover from Labor Day inventory. Beef tripe is $4/lb. Why is it more expensive than the good parts of a cow?!

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.

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

Notes on Grocery Circulars 3/22 - 3/29

I only was able to wake up today because I thought of perusing the grocery circulars.

Key Food has a 101 oz can of Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil for $14.99. That's a good price and a good brand. When you buy it in the can, it doesn't go bad as quickly because light doesn't get to it. Key Food also has white mushrooms for $1 for 8 oz, which is pretty good. Nothing else is that good a deal. Maybe pork shoulder for $1/lb. A 32 oz Powerade is $1. That's helpful for hangovers.

C-Town has bananas for $0.49/lb and Diet Mug root beer, among other Pepsi products, for 4/$3. A 32 oz container of ricotta is $2.50. You can also get a pound of mozzarella for that price. Must be lasagna season, because they have that on sale too.

Western Beef has 2 liter bottles of Pepsi products for 4/$5. But I dont' think they consider Mug a Pepsi product. It's also harder to bike up the hill with a ton of liquid. Pecorino romano is $4.99/lb, which is pretty good. You can buy a whole or half lamb or kid for $4.99/lb. A whole or half pig is $3.99/lb, which is the same as leg of lamb. It's the Easter sale over there. I don't know if these prices are even good, but you don't see this stuff in circulars that often. Powerade is only $0.79 at Western Beef.

Associated doesn't really have anything this week. Maybe a can of black olives for $1.50, but you can usually get that price at Key Food everyday.

At Western Beef, Braunschweiger is on sale for $2.50 for 8 oz. That's pretty good for around these parts, but nothing like what it goes for in Pittsburgh. You shouldn't eat too much of that though anyway, especially if you like to drink. Vitamin A does a number on your liver. Medium shrimp are $5/lb and mussels are still $2 for 2 lbs, which is the best price. I recommend eating mussels.

Cheese Louise

I need to stop. Or stores need to quit putting cheeses on sale.

 Key Food had this on sale 2/$5, must buy 2. So I did. I've been meaning to make pumpkin ricotta gnocchi anyway.

Tilt your head to see my savings. I forgot to rotate it.

Pumpkin Pasta using Trader Joe's Ingredients

I just invented a new pasta dish. I'm not even done eating it yet. As I was making it, I realized almost all my ingredients were from Trader Joe's. It's pretty good. Here's the recipe.

1 lb (1 bag) whole wheat penne $1.39
1/2 can pumpkin (1 can is $1.99)
1/2 stick of butter
a bunch of diced onion
a bunch of capers (a jar is $3.69 at Trader Joe's)
oregano ($1.99 for a jar at trader joe's)
grated parmesan (parmesan is $6.49/lb)
15 oz (1 can) cannelini beans (optional. $0.89)

Melt the butter and cook the onions until you can smells them. You can add salt and pepper and oregano at this point. Then add the pumpkin and capers. Beans if you want them. I like adding beans to pasta because the same things that make pasta taste good make beans taste good and beans are healthy. Add some of the pasta water to thin the sauce out a little. (Dip a coffee mug in that pot, pour it in the sauce pan.) Once you mix it all together, grate some cheese into it and stir it, then grate some more on top of your plate when you serve it.

I like whole wheat for this because it's nuttier than regular. I don't ever really want to eat whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, but it's great for this pumpkin sauce. Likewise, I like parmesan over pecorino romano for this because it's nuttier. Romano is my go to cheese, but parmesan's better here.

Ok, time for another bowl.

Fish and Bean Pasta. Pungent Pasta 2.

I have eaten a variation of this every week since I made it up. I usually make it with sardines, but I made it with tuna today. That's what you see in the picture. It turns out that everything you put in a sauce to make noodles taste good also makes beans taste good. And beans have protein and fiber. I rarely have whole wheat pasta around, but I think it would go well in this.

Here's how to make it.

Nouns:
2 tins of sardines or 2 cans of tuna, drained
1 can cannelini beans
1 lb/1 box pasta. every shape has been good so far
pecorino romano
olive oil
dried parsley

Optional nouns:
diced onion, a little crushed red pepper, a lot of black pepper, anchovies or fish sauce, fresh parsley

Verbs:
Boil some water with a lot of salt in it. Put in some garlic powder if you want.
Drain the pasta. Save a coffee mug of the flavorful water if you think of it. It can help thin/make your sauce.
Add olive oil to the pan and heat it and add the onions and anchovies if you're using them. Then add the sardines/tuna and beans and let it cook a bit. Stir it to break up the sardines and anchovies. Add the red and black pepper now.
Add about half the pasta to the pan and stir it. Add dried parsley and fresh parsley if you're using that. Add the rest of the pasta and grate a lot of cheese into it. Stir it. Serve with more grated cheese.

Note about the parsleys: As famous cookbook authors accurately point out, dried parsley is no substitute for fresh. However, dried has its uses. Namely, it's very small and coats the pasta in a way that makes it greener and nicer looking. Without the green flecks, you're looking at a food made of up of shakes of white and ecru. I used fresh parsley once in this when I had it, and it tasted good, but I didn't cut it small enough so I didn't like how it looked and added dried parsley too.

Cheeses Christ! The Resurrection of my Pecorino Romano

Know how when you have a lot of cookies, you put a slice of bread in with them so the cookies remain soft while taking moisture out of the bread, which gives its life up to become the stale waste instead? Well I hope you knew that because otherwise you probably have been eating a lot of stale cookies in your life.

Yesterday I made pasta (with hot peppers, onions, tuna, and capers--it was ok) and was grating some pecorino romano on it. I am down to the end of my block and it's getting hard to grate. While cleaning up, I dropped my cheese bag in the sink. Rather than get a new one, I decided to stick the rest of my block in my leftover pasta container. I wondered if it would absorb some moisture and become easy to grate again. (Note: I have brought cookies back from being too stale by using bread. I have made cookies moist after overcooking them by using bread.)

Today I tried grating my cheese. It was easy! You can take moisture out of moist foods and infuse them back into hard cheeses. I guess I will try this with bread next since that's what this whole post was about.

I got my Fresca.

And for $0.74! Worth the wait.

Western Beef has 2 liter Coke products on sale for $0.74 (limit 5) with an additional $10 purchase. That's not hard to do. I was almost out of pecorino romano anyway ($5.99/lb) and I live on the tuna bean salad I've been promising you a recipe for (4 cans for $3). Pre-toast is $1.79 a loaf now. Used to be $1.69, but I've been reading about the price of wheat and it costs me at least $2.50 anywhere else.

Know what I didn't buy?

Sardines! They used to be $1.15. I guess I'll just starve or buy the $1.29 sardines at C-Town and Key Food. You could argue that making a separate trip over $0.04 is stupid, but if you don't care about $0.04 I'll let you send me all the $0.04s you don't want via Paypal.

How to Turn Last Week's C-Town Specials into One of the Best Foods I've Made

 Yesterday I invited Dylan over for dinner before I knew what to make, so I went to C-Town. The manager let me know the Heinz pickles I requested are in now. I wandered the aisles with only vague ideas of what to make. Luckily, I had bought all types of pasta earlier in the week because Ronzoni was 4/$3. And all I can ever improvise is pasta.

I decided something like baked ziti, but made only on a stove top, would be good. I got hot sausage, which was $1 off. I don't know why it seems to be on my receipt twice, two different ways. I got a can of Colavita crushed tomatoes, which they now carry for me at $1.50. I bought some frozen spinach because Laura told me I need to have Vitamin E if I want to quit being ugly in one specific way. Mozzarella was on sale. I already had the pasta. I also had some frozen onions that they sell and I like to keep on hand because, like I told Dylan, I'm never going to chop an onion for fewer than 6 people. I tasted one out of the bag and it tasted like an onion. You'd expect that from something whose only ingredient is "onions." I also threw in some garlic powder, a ton of pecorino romano, and some dried parsley. I got those at Key Food, but you can get them at C-Town too.

First Stop in Pittsburgh: Penn Macaroni

The Megabus dropped me off under the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and my brother was parked right there. It was around 6:30 am, which is when Penn Macaroni opens. That place was packed already! And it was, as they say, "not playin' arahnd."

 The have aisles and aisles of Italian stuff. They have a room of cheeses and deli meats. The prices on the cheeses weren't bad. $6.83 for pecorino romano, for example. (They charge more on their website.)

 This is a pretty good price on these anchovies. It can hold a candle to Key Food and C-Town. In fact, it beats them by about $1. I should have bought them, but I still have to peep Labriola's.

 Here's their pile of baccalà.  I never touched it before today. I expected it to be stiffer.  It was $8.99 for boneless. $7.99 for bone-in. I didn't buy it.

My brother bought 6 bottles of Fernet for $11/each. This isn't Fernet Branca, mind you. It's the weaker stuff. But still, it helps you digest. I saw a bunch of almond paste for $7.99. Limes were 3/$1 and ginger root was $1.99/lb, which is about a good a price as you'll find in this part of the country. Avocados were $0.99 each, which is a lot better than I expected to find. And they had cactus pears, which I have never seen before. It was a good trip.

Then we went to Wal-mart so I could get a loaf of Cellone's Italian bread and some hot pepper rings. I love that bread so much. I got home and ate 3 spaghetti sandwiches. I later ate a ham sandwich. I plan to go to Giant Eagle tonight and get more.

Following, the view of downtown from outside Penn Macaroni.

Last stop in Brooklyn: Key Food

On Sunday I wanted to cook a pork butt so I went to Key Food. It was a bittersweet experience because the prices were good on so many things, but I was leaving for Pittsburgh Tuesday night and couldn't stock up on anything.

I got a pork butt for $0.99/lb. 2 loaves of Italian bread that were still warm when I bought them for $0.99 each. A head of cabbage for $0.69/lb, which is a terrible price, but I didn't want to go anywhere else. And 1.25 lbs of pecorino romano on sale for $4.99/lb. I think I got a half gallon of milk too. It came to an even $22.

The Situation at C-Town: Crushed Tomatoes, Cheeses

This won't be as informative as my rant about line management and check-out practices at Food Bazaar just was, but is more informative than most things I write about. After Food Bazaar, I realized I needed more crushed tomatoes to make my sauce for the eggplant parmesan. I usually go to Key Food for crushed tomatoes because they have my favorite brand (Colavita) at my favorite price ($1.50 for 28 oz.) I've written at length before about how to select a can of crushed tomatoes. But C-town is closer and it was very cold and C-Town has been nice to me lately so I gave it a shot.

I went to the crushed tomato section and looked at all the cans. They all had way too many ingredients. I don't need their preservatives. I don't need their salt--I have salt. I don't need their basil and oregano. I have spices. Despite the cold, I almost left and walked to Key Food, which is a much longer walk from C-Town than from my house, so I was going to be quite cross.

Lo and behold, near the registers at the end of an aisle was a section of Cento brand crushed tomatoes on sale! I checked the ingredients and it had only one: "fresh red ripe tomoatoes." And it was on sale for $1.50 I think. I don't know whether to say they hid these because they weren't with the other ones or to say they emphasized these. But I bought them and they were good. Now I have two favorite brands.

Since I was there and happy, I looked around. C-Town told me in a blog comment the other day that the pecorino romano is now to the left of the deli counter. It sure was. At $8.59/lb, I won't be stocking up there, but it beats the non-sale price at Key Food. (It's too cold to bike to Western Beef for a long time.) And I noticed the chunk of gorgonzola. I don't like my cheese pre-crumbled. It can dry out easier.

Some San Giorgio pasta were labeled "buy one get one free - will scan at sale price" which I usually interpret to mean I only have to buy one. It usually says "must buy 2" at stores if you have to buy both. So I got just one box. It didn't give me the sale price. I paid $1.59 for a pound of pasta. That is 59% too much. But I got a good deal on the tomatoes, so I guess it evens out.

C-Town Tweets to Me! My Christmas list for C-Town

Let me tell you, I hate a lot of brands and companies this week. Chase is canceling free checking. State Farm had an annoying bordering on rude insurance agent. Allstate had a really nice insurance agent, but quit working with me when I wouldn't sign something certifying that 2 or fewer people live in my apartment. (She suggested I amend it to "1," which was even further from 3.) AppleCare wanted me to submit proof of payment for the AppleCare I ordered directly from them with a credit card on a date I provided the date and exact amount for. And I applied for a job that was being handled by a third party and after they made me answer a bunch of personality questions, asked me to submit my credit score which they had helpfully linked me to get for free.  No.

Here are the companies on my good side:

• J.C. Penney
• C-Town
• Delallo's 
• Key Food
• Amazon

I like C-Town and Delallo's the most because they talk to me on Twitter the most. I like C-Town the most of the most because they don't have ridiculous prices. (I'd like them even more if they carried some Delallo products though.)

That is all just the set up to addressing a very important tweet. Perhaps the most important tweet I've ever read.  "Let us know what else you would like & we will work on it!"

C-Town, here is my wish list.
Easy stuff:

• There used to be marinated artichoke hearts for $1.29 that were kind of hidden about 1 step down the first aisle from the Goya ones. These were the best. Now there are $1.50 Cento ones and they taste funny and have hard bases. Bring back the cheap good ones.
• Carry tomato juice in a can. I like to keep it on hand in my house for impromptu brunches. Key Food charges $2.19. Compare charges about $1.79. Associated charges $1.99 I think. V-8 doesn't count. They carry Sacramento, but I'd buy a cheaper brand since it's just a base for my bloody mary.
• I never buy my cheese at C-Town (except for sliced cheese from the deli counter). Here's why. The pecorino romano, which is my main cheese (check the tags for this blog), is never in big hunks. It's in those cute vacuum packed seals from Bel Gioioso that cost too much. Key Food and Western Beef have nice attractive big chunks that somehow or other they can put on sale for $5/lb at times, but I will pay $10 in an emergency. The gorgonzola, when I can even find it, is always crumbled already. I like the chunk. I want chunky Italian cheese. I was glad to see ricotta salata added recently.
• Add Delallo products. I saw some at the Met Food on Fulton Street and made Agnes buy them.

Harder Stuff:

• I'd be elated to find Iron City, I.C. Light, or any beer from the Penn Brewery there. I meet lots of people from Pittsburgh around here.  I read that the assistant manager of Motorino is from Pittsburgh. The Penn Brewery has good beers. I'd buy them for special occasions.
• There isn't the turnover to support a lot of your produce. In an emergency, I bought a green pepper twice, and regretted it both times. Onions are fine. Potatoes are fine. Much of the rest isn't. Know your strengths. Key Food has some sections with anchovies, capers, and lots of other jarred Italian products that 1) don't spoil 2) are good. That'd be a much better use of the space. Heck, put in more beer even.

Gripes

• Dried beans cost twice as much as at Associated. So do eggs. If that's where the profit margin comes from, fine. But I know better now! 

At least C-Town doesn't ring up all my purchases at the wrong prices all the time like Key Food does.

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

Seeing Western Beef Through New Eyes

I took Eric with me to Western Beef yesterday. Since he doesn't have a bike, we walked. It's only a little over a mile. We weren't even in its parking lot before he was gasping in awe. And that's how he spent the whole trip. He was too awestruck to really purchase much of anything. He only ended up with some cheese, a box of Wheat Thins, and a Western Beef bag.

I, on the other hand, got a big butternut squash for $0.79/lb that I turned into one of the best soups I've ever made. I got a pack of sweet Italian sausage for $3.99/lb, which I turned into pungent pasta along with the can of mushrooms and the pecorino romano I FINALLY got. I also got myself a Western Beef bag. I don't really waste $1 on anything, but I couldn't not buy one even though I have so many bags already.

Here she be.

Fun with Leftovers: Bean soup

I had some things sitting around that were probably going to go bad soon if they hadn't already. I had beans I had soaked and cooked, a hoagie roll from Saturday that was a bit stale, and some pork juice Lewis gave me when he used his pressure cooker to make a pork butt last Thursday. I thought that'd make a good soup if I could find some frozen mustard greens or something at Key Food. I ended up getting spinach because it was on sale and the bags of mustard greens were too big and I don't know what else I'd do with them.

 

$1 for that box. I just plopped it in the pot with the pork juice and added the previously cooked beans at the end to reheat them.

I'll put the picture of the pork juice behind the jump, lest you gag.

Fontina Surprise

Pecorino romano was $11.99/lb. Heck on that! I got fontina instead, which was $9.99 lb. Lo and behold, when I checked out with my key food card, it only cost $4/lb! What a shock.

I also bought crema, which is my favorite food.

I did not buy white asparagus. It was previously 2 bunches for $1 at Jesus, but now all asparagus is $3 bunch. Heck on that!

Pecorino Romano

When the heck is Key Food going to put pecorino romano on sale again? I miss it.

I have to live on Colavita crushed tomatoes for now. You get a 28 oz can for $1.50 and you know they're the good kind because there only two ingredients: tomatoes and salt.