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.

The flyers were liars!

Key Food said it would have 16 oz Polly-O mozzarella on sale for $1.99, but there was no sign. I ended up only getting peanut butter, 2 for $4 (must by 2 :( ). Then Associated didn't have a sign on the Spike salsa, which was supposed to be $1.69.

I hope Bravo actually has tuna on sale tomorrow. $0.69/can.

Grocery Circular Round Up

Mussels are back on sale at Food Bazaar! I'm going to get them this time. $2.49 for 2 lbs. Eggplant is $1/lb, so maybe I'll make eggplant parmesan too.

Western Beef: Eggplant is $1/lb here too. And I need a new shopping bag because my current one got a hole.

Associated: Salt is cheap. I need that. $0.59 for a container. Lasagna is $1.50. The other day I cut all the lasagna noodles in half lengthwise to see what it would be like to eat big pasta. I liked it. Jumbo shells are on sale too. I've never made them. Spikes Salsa is buy one get one free. I wonder how much it costs. I never heard of that brand, but I like salsa.

C-Town: They don't have anything to tempt me this week.

Key Food: Tomato juice is $1.50 a can. That's good to have around. Ricotta Salata is $7/lb. I've had that on my shopping list for 6 months at least.

Tomatillos!

I just learned about tomatillos. By that, I mean I finally bought some and used them. I made salsa verde. It was the best salsa verde I ever had. Then I made more salsa verde by adding new things to the old, but it wasn't as good.

I got tomatillos at Associated for $1.69/lb. At Jesus they are $1.99. At Western Beef they are $1.99. At Key Food they are $2.99. At Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh, they are $3.99. I lucked out by buying them at Associated without comparison shopping. But you make your own luck--they seemed like they'd be cheapest there based on how their other prices go.

I didn't really look up a recipe for salsa verde other than to check wikipedia to see if I had to cook the tomatillos. (You don't, but you can.) I ended up using this many tomatillos, a jalapeño pepper, some shallot, some cilantro, and some lime juice.

 They come in papery wraps. Tear it off.

 Inside it is not like a tomato. It is more like an eggplant. They are all members of the nightshade family.

Then I put it all in my quart container for Chinese soup take-out (I don't usually go to restaurants, but sometimes I want a quart container and soup is a good way to get one) and used my immersion blender. And it was done.

The best thing about C-Town anymore: frozen food

It seems like their prices are going up faster than other stores around here, but the one thing you can still find cheap there is frozen vegetables.

I got this 1 lb bag of broccoli for $0.99. So while I was there, I got some fish sticks and salsa. They brought back my favorite brand, La Costeña, which is both the cheapest and the spiciest. It's made in Mexico.