I went on a journey to Associated

The Associated near me switched to an off brand Key Food, but I sometimes check the Associated in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. There were a lot of good sales this week so I biked 4.5 miles each way to go there. There are closer Associateds, like in Greenpoint, but the sales are completely different.

I did not get a "barril."

I got a 9 oz jar of garlic powder for $2.50 (marked down from $4.19). A pound of dried chick peas for $1.69 (not on sale, but that's just a good price). A can of chick peas for $0.69 (usually $1.19, but I would never pay that). Coconut milk for $0.89 (was $0.99), evaporated milk for $0.79 (was $1.49), sweetened condensed milk for $0.99 (was also $1.49), 2 cucumbers for $0.25 each (usually $0.67), a pound of carrots for $0.79. I think those are usually $1. A lemon was $0.40. I guess that's not a great price.

Overall I spent $9.24 and the receipt says I had $4.21 of savings. I also got 5 Citibike points.

Bravo Update

A month ago I wrote that I thought Bravo would go out of business soon. It is now under new management, and I just investigated it. The shelves are stocked once again. Prices seem a little higher (on onions and potatoes and beans). Tomatoes were nearly white, but that is the same. They painted the windows. There is tonic water there now.

I just (re)subscribed to Bon Appetit

I subscribed for a little while many years ago, but I canceled it when every issue was about restaurants and the story about Amish food was just restaurants to go to in Pennsylvania and a recipe to change up Amish food by making chicken curry. But more recently I have been reading some issues friends give me and it is great and I love every issue.

But what really convinced me is Amazon has it for $5 for a year's subscription. If you buy things through my link, I get free money.

I bet Bravo is the next to go

Bravo is sucking more. Its shelves are starting to be empty, just like Gala Foods' were before it went under. I went there last night and they didn't even have tonic water. That might be unrelated to the empty shelves, because that store has always had a weird selection. That just means I have 2 gripes instead of 1 gripe if those issues are unrelated though.

Mussels

Two pounds of mussels are $5.99 at Key Food, but $2.50 at Food Bazaar. They are better at Food Bazaar too.

For St. Patrick's Day, I ended up getting 5 lbs of corned beef for $1.99/lb. It was $2.99/lb but if I spent over $25 at Key Food, I got $1 off. I never made corned beef before but it was good.

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.

Chicken-free dog food?

Screech is my foster dog. He has alopecia and his hair fell out of his face and sometimes it thins elsewhere. When we first got him, we fed him regular cheap dog food and his fair fell out a lot. I read something that said he might have a grain allergy, so I got him turkey based grain free food, I think Rachael Ray Nutrish brand. His hair didn't grow back in his face, but the rest of his coat started to look healthy. One roommate bought that kind twice more, and still it was fine. Then I read Please Stop Buying Your Pets Grain-free Food in Slate which said most animals aren't actually allergic to grain but to a protein. Around the same time, my roommate bought a new bag of the Nutrish, but chicken-based instead of turkey. Screech just finished that 25 pound bag, and his hair is thinning everywhere again.

I went to Ozzie's (formerly Associated), Bravo, C-Town, and Key Food. All the dog foods have chicken except fancy grain-free kinds. So I ended up buying a salmon and rice bag that was $16 for 4.5 lbs. That is more money per pound than I spend on my food! But I don't know what kind of food to get him. Maybe back to the old Nutrish with turkey.

An online circular

The store that was Associated and is now Ozzie's Fresh Market (Food Universe) finally has its weekly circulars online. I had just been looking at Key Food's and assuming it was the same, and also picking up the paper one.

http://ozziefreshmarket.com/weekly-circular/

Pork butt is $0.79/lb. Mushrooms are $3 for a lb.

I got a lot of anchovies for $2.89 at Whole Foods

 I went to Whole Foods with my friend. I wasn't going to buy anything, but I noticed this big jar of anchovies for only $12.99. A similar jar (different brand) is $15 at Key Food. That's been on my shopping list forever, so I got it. Then I noticed that Whole Foods was giving me $10 off for having Amazon Prime. The icing on the cake was saving $0.10 for not needing a bag. I haven't eaten them yet, but they look good.

I got Amazon ads now!

If you click on them and then do your regular Amazon shopping, I will get rich. That's what I plan to do.

These ads are supposed to look at what I wrote on this page and be about that. I'm interested in what that will look like. That's why I put the ad at the top. The first ad I see is for 40 meat sticks. This is great.

Shrimp with heads

I've never eaten, much less cooked, shrimp with heads on. They're creepy. But they are on sale this week at Food Bazaar so I keep thinking about them.

Gala Foods seems to have shut down

The doors have been gated the last several times I walked past it during normal hours. I think it was last open during the Super Bowl.

Before closing, it seemed to have given up. Products didn't have prices. Then shelves didn't have products. It was a very frustrating place to shop.

I hope an Associated or Met replaces it. I miss Associated.