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).

Eight Pounds of Food for $7.50

 I was just at Key Food. I got 5 lbs of flour for $2, 2 lbs of mozzarella for $4, and 1 pound of tofu for $1.50. It's funny to think of food in terms of dollars per pound.

In other news, Green Corner delivered a circular to my building! Rather than hit refresh all day on Fridays, I can just look at it. And it looks like ground beef is $1.99/lb again for the 6th week in a row or so.

I haven't been shopping too much because I made Oktoberfest food twice and live off leftovers.

Oktoberfest during Covid?

 I haven't updated in so long that Blogger looks different now. Since Oktoberfest would start this weekend, I'm going to look at all the circulars and see if I could find things I would want to make. Even though no people will come. I can eat all the food myself.

Ozzie's: I've been shopping here a lot because American Express has been giving me $5 if I spend $10 at certain small businesses and this one counts. Mostly I buy beer. That ends this weekend and I have 1 trip left. Anyway.. Pork shoulder is $0.99/lb, which is a good start.

Key Food: Two pounds of onions for $1. One pound of baby bella mushrooms for $3. Pepsi proucts are 3/$4. Sour cream is $2. 

C-Town: Pork shoulder is $0.99/lb here too. Scalfani crushed tomatoes are $1.50, so I should get some. I only ever see Luigi Vitelli on sale and I did a test once and learned I like Scalfani a lot more. Colavita pasta is $1. I have so much pasta though. Maybe I should eat pasta more often since it's the only thing that makes me happy. Sour cream is also $2 here and cream cheese is $1.50. I've never seen Fage sour cream before, but it's also $2.

Bravo: Onions are $1 for 2 lbs here.

Green Corner didn't update its circular yet.

Western Beef: Pork shoulders are $0.79/lb but you have to buy 2. They also have chicken leg quarters for $0.29/lb but you have to buy 40 lbs. Life is far too lonely these days to buy 40 lbs of chicken. A six pack of English muffins is $1. That seems good, but I never buy English muffins so I don't know.

Food Bazaar: Here, English muffins are $2.50 for 6, so now I know.

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.

Cancel Goya

I never write about politics here because this is my grocery blog and not my Twitter account. But I avoid buying Goya. I don't go way out of my way to do so, but I do it, and it's because they are a private company owned by a super conservative family and the other bags of beans are good enough.

So the brand that made a fortune from America stockpiling beans because the President welcomed Covid washing over us supports the same man who made them wealthier. Yeah, don't buy Goya.

To be clear, I don't think Goya directly supported Trump because he failed at Covid and they got richer. They're just the same kind of people who think the same way. And when you buy Goya, you validate them.

If you live in my neighborhood, you have a lot of competing brands for everything Goya sells, and every other brand is better*, so it is easy for us to shop with more responsible brands. If you live somewhere else, do your best.

*Always. Try me.

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!

Fried Chicken at Western Beef

I don't feel like writing about every store's sales today. I will just bring one sale to my readers' attention.

This week Western Beef will sell you 8 pieces of fried chicken for $6. Or 1 pound of breaded chicken cutlets for the same $6. One is an ok deal. The other is a scam.

I recently bought a bucket of fried chicken at Food Bazaar. It was good enough. It was 16 pieces for $10 I think.

What's on Sale this week?

I hope I find vegetables so I can start eating better.

Key Food: A jar of peppers fried with onions is $2.49. That's kinda a vegetable.

C-Town: Tonic water is $0.69.

Bravo: Still no ad.

Food Bazaar: A pound of butter is $3. A pack of corn tortillas is $1. The brand that used to be down the street from me but moved to New Jersey. I bought a 16 piece bucket of fried chicken there for $10 on Wednesday.

Western Beef: They have 16 pieces of fried chicken on sale for $0.99/lb. I don't know if that is more or less than Food Bazaar, but I'd still consider that a good price.

Green Corner: no circular yet

Ozzie's: they don't even have a website anymore

Memorial Day sales during coronavirus time

Food Bazaar's ad is back! It's only 4 pages (used to be 6) but it's back. Jumbo shrimp are $9/lb. Hamburger and hot dog buns are $0.79. 4 lbs of frozen hamburgers are $8 and hot dogs are $1. Celery is $1. I haven't been to Food Bazaar since this started, but I'm happy about this.

C-Town has been back for 2-3 weeks, but with only one page of sales. I haven't been there in forever.

Key Food has been publishing its sales and has been good at actually having the things on sale in the store. I'll look at that circular now. Peaches are $1/lb. A peach in May though? (I usually make them into salads, so it would work. It makes use of its firmness and tartness.) Cracker barrel cheese are $2. (I doubt those will actually be on sale.)  Hot dog and hamburger buns are $1.25. Coke products are $4/4. Hellman's mayo is $3.49.

A trip to Whole Foods under Covid-19

I just got back from Whole Foods. I wanted a 3 liter can of olive oil, like I usually get, and some herbs for my window. For 3 liters, it's worth the trip, and the herbs are $2/plant.

They didn't have the oil. I had to get 1 liter for $7 instead of 3 for $20. I did get 2 parsley plants and 1 thyme. I was hoping for rosemary. I had basil on my list, but the basil I bought in February is thriving in my window and I don't use it enough to want more.

I had to wait in line to get in. I was the only person in line for a while. While I was waiting, about 6 delivery people came. They can go directly in, but they need to have their temperatures taken and wear gloves. Customers only need to wear masks.

The store was laid out with signs for 1 way shopping to reduce people squeezing past each other in aisles. Some guy still went backward, which was annoying.

I did not find clothespins or course sea salt or harissa. I didn't look very hard because it was annoying to be there.

I liked that I can pay with Apple Pay. I liked that before, but now I like it more because I am sick of touching things.

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.

What might be on sale at Key Food this week? Corona uncertainty

Key Food is the only store that still publishes a circular. Once I'm in the store, some of the sales show up on price tags. Usually produce is good. But I still read the circular and think about all the things I can buy. I'm going to go there shortly after I write this.

Red onions are $1.67 for a bag of 2 lbs. (So are yellow onions, but I have those.) An avocado is $1. That's the cinco de mayo sale. Tuna is $0.89/can. Canned salmon is $3 and I might get that. I made a good salmon dip not long ago. Cranberry juice is $2. Pepsi 2 liters are 4/$5 (must buy 4). I never do that because it's heavy, but I might make an exception today. A carton of orange juice is $2. Probably the diluted kind. Frozen raviolis are 50% off. (I am pretty good at speaking Italian, but I am still going to pluralize ravioli like that when I speak English.) A 3 liter can of Colavita pure olive oil is $16 and more than anything else, I hope this is actually a sale! Scalfani canned tomatoes are 4/$5. Various Old El Paso things are on sale for Cinco de Mayo.

That's a lot of food! I guess if some isn't on sale, I won't be too disappointed. If nothing is, or if the oil isn't, I will be very disappointed. I haven't been outside since Saturday.

By the way, I turned my bacon into carbonara last night and it was good.

Update: Nothing was on sale except the avocados. The onions said they were on sale but weren't on the shelf. I walked out with nothing. I would have gone to Ozzie's afterward but I didn't have my gloves with me.