grocery shopping

Happy Ad Friday!

It’s been a haul but here I am!  Finally an ad post. I write it in my planner every week, and every week seems to have kicked my butt because we both know I haven’t posted.  But this week I am getting the list up, and I’ll keep doing my best to post.

Right now my fridge is a mess of nonsense because last week pork shoulders were on sale, and I made some seriously weaponized posole.  In the apocalypse, if you should find a bit of mace, I can make soup out of it if need be.  I’m not sure anyone will eat it, but I can make it. 

For those of you wishing for toilet paper or hand sanitizer, may I suggest Fiesta? When I was there a few days ago it was a completely normal experience, with no empty shelves.

To the deals!

HEB

  • HCF split chicken breasts                                                        $1/lb
  • HEB Sweet 1015 Onions, 3lbs                                                $1.50/ea
  • Autumn Glory apples                                                                77c/lb

Randalls

  • Halos, 5lb box                                         $4.99/ea
  • Sat-Mon ONLY:
    • pork butt roast, bone in, in bag                      99c/lb
    • Blue Bell, half gallon                                      $4.99/ea

Fiesta

  • Ataulfo mangos                                           44c/ea
  • small avocados                                            33c/ea
  • bulk red beans                                             77c/lb
  • bulk white rice                                             50c/lb

Sprouts

  • blackberries, 5.6oz                                        88c/ea
  • red seedless grapes                                      98c/lb
  • organic D’Anjou pears                                $1.48/lb
  • Almond Breeze almond milk                     Buy one, get one free

Whole Foods

  • organic Lady Alice apples                            $1.99/lb

Wheatsville

  • organic Fuji apples                                        $1.79/lb

Central Market

  • xl Gold pineapples                                                   $1.98/ea
  • organic Fuji and Gala apples                                $1.97/lb

 

Links to the weekly ads:

Happy Ad Roundup Weekend!

We’ve got the weekend, so let’s get to it!  Except, well, my mail didn’t include an HEB circular, so I’m going to have to do the online one and let me tell you, it’s not my favorite site to deal with.  I get distracted and decide to check out college football or an instant pot site, and that’s how we end up with my Wednesday post on Saturday.

But I am here, typing away, and I hope it helps you.  This week doesn’t have the meat sales that I expect will show up next week for the holiday, but we’ve got Fiesta with the cheap chickens, still. 

This year I’ll be doing several homemade gifts, some cooked, some crafted.  Do you have any fun gift plans?  I’d love to hear about them! Cheepie is trying to cheep our holiday season down and I’d love to hear how you like to gift without breaking the bank.

Randalls

  • large cantaloupes                                        88c/ea (limit 2)
  • Progresso soup                                            99c/ea
  • Calidad tortilla chips, 12oz.                    $1.49/ea (must buy 4)

Sat-Mon:

  • pork butt/picnic roast                                  99c/lb
  • medium avocados                                        50c/ea

 

Sprouts

  • jumbo Hass avocados                                                $1.25/ea
  • organic Fuji, Gala or Pink Lady apples, 2lbs        $2.98/ea
  • Sprouts bulk coffee                                                   $7.99/lb
  • Sprouts xv olive oil. 1 ltr.                                         $6.99/ea
  • bulk rolled, quick or steel cut oats                         79c/lb

 

HEB

  • Envy apples                                                                                97c/lb

 

Fiesta

sweetbreads

Fiesta, this doesn’t mean what you think it means.

  • white onions, 3lbs.                                                                97c/ea
  • round mangos                                                                       50c/ea
  • lemons                                                                                     25c/ea
  • whole chickens                                                                      77c/lb

 

Links to the weekly ads:

Ad Roundup, Late Edition

You’ve got until tomorrow to get these prices, or Wednesday if you’re shopping at Sprouts. It’s late this week, due to some over-ambitious holiday planning.   We hit both the Trail of Lights and the light show at Mozart’s, and I’m glad we were able to do that early before the more crowded evenings!

This week I’m going to be getting a couple of chickens at Fiesta and some Cuties at Sprouts.  Maybe this is the year I make some tamales? If I decide to, I’ll be picking up supplies at Fiesta.

Central Market

img_2260

    Be nice! Bring flowers!

organic Bartlett and Red Anjou pears                           $1.47/lb

HEB

  • XL Honeycrisp apples                                             77c/lb
  • black seedless grapes                                               97c/lb

Randalls

  • raspberries/blackberries, 6oz                              $1.50/ea
  • chuck roast, value pack                                         $2.99/lb (Mon only)

Sprouts

  • Cuties mandarins, 2lbs                                                $1.98/ea
  • organic red seedless grapes                                        $1.98/lb
  • black seedless grapes                                                      98c/lb

Fiesta

  • small avocados                                                                    33c/ea
  • round mangos (round? really?)                                       50c/ea
  • bone-in chuck roast, family pack                                  $2.47/lb
  • chicken drums & thighs, family pack                              77c/lb
  • whole roaster hens                                                             77c/lb
  • assorted pork loin chops, family pack                          $1.27/lb

 

Links to the weekly ads:

 

Holiday Hours

A quick post to share the hours stores are open tomorrow.  Hopefully, you’ve got everything you need and are happily home binge-watching Friends (I’m on the one where Ross tells Rachel that he agreed to Emily’s demand that he never see her again). Just in case you don’t, here’s where you can go tomorrow to get those last-minute items.

Fiesta                       7am-7pm

Wheatsville            7:30am-1pm

Sprouts                    7am-4pm

HEB                           6am-2pm

Central Market        6am-2pm

Randalls                    6am-4pm

Trader Joe’s              Closed

Whole Foods            7am-3pm

Ad Roundup, Thanksgiving Edition

Last week, a helpful reader pointed out that the ad for HEB runs through tomorrow.  Turns out this week is the 1970s split-level house of weekly ads, with some sticking with the current ad until Thursday, and some switching over today.  

Sticking with the current ad:  HEB, Randalls, Sprouts, Central Market, Whole Foods

Moving on like there’s not a giant holiday:  Fiesta, Wheatsville

Still using that nutty flyer that has stories, no dates, and says ‘prices might change’: Trader Joes.

So, here are the Fiesta and Wheasville updates. For the others,  you can check last week’s roundup.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Wheatsville

  • organic Pink Lady apples                    $1.99/lb
  • sourdough or French baguette           $1.50/ea

Fiesta

  • small avocados                                         25c/ea
  • white onions                                             32c/lb
  • beef bottom round steak or roast       $2.47/lb
  • Fiesta flour, 5lbs                                     $1.89/ea
  • Fiesta tortilla chips, 12oz.                     $1.49/ea

Thursday only:

  • whole fryers                                                67c/lb
  • boneless skinless chicken breast            87c/lb

 

Links to the weekly ads:

Weekly Ad Roundup!

A bit late, but I was distracted by trying to decide if I needed the AC or the heat on recently.  I also had to laugh at the corner store trying to sell three sticks of firewood for $5.99.  Are they magic sticks?  

It got cold, so I wanted to cook a bunch, then it got warm and I didn’t. So now I have this big list of food I want to make but not until it’s cold. And I have a list of Thanksgiving things I want to make.  And then there’s a list of things I want to make next month.  I may have a list problem. Happily, that works in your favor, because here’s your list of grocery deals!  Check out the turkey list after the individual stores.

HEB

  • sweet potatoes                                                            14c/lb
  • McIntosh or Granny Smith apples                         87c/lb
  • Boston butt pork roast                                              $1/lb (limit 2)

 

Randalls

  • Libby’s canned green beans, corn, peas               44c/ea (must buy 6)
  • Blue Bell half gallons                                                $4.99/ea (must buy 2)

 

Central Market

  • organic Granny Smith or Fuji apples                  $1.27/lb
  • fresh wild jumbo sea scallops U/10 ct                 $14.99/lb

                                                   (a splurge yes, but it’s $12/lb off!)

Fiesta

  • russet potatoes, 5lbs.                                          $1.50/ea
  • split chicken breasts, family pack                      87c/lb
  • Betty Crocker cake mix                                          $1/ea
  • Fiesta frozen vegetables, 16oz                           89c/ea

 

Sprouts

  • raspberries or blueberries, 6oz                     $1.67/lb
  • large pomegranates                                              $2/ea
  • Hass avocados                                                      50c/ea
  • red or black seedless grapes                              98c/lb
  • organic celery                                                    $1.48/lb
  • Cuties brand mandarins, 5lb box                   $3.98/ea

 

Turkey Situations

HEB

  • HEB fresh turkey, 10-24 lbs.                                        $1.48/lb
  • Free Riverside frozen turkey up to 12lbs. (or credit on a larger turkey) with purchase of an HEB bone-in or boneless spiral cut ham.

Randalls

  • Free frozen Honeysuckle White or Signature Farms turkey with $100 purchase, or 49c/lb with $25 purchase
  • Butterball frozen turkeys, 10lbs & up                          99c/lb
  • Honeysuckle White fresh turkeys, 10lbs & up         $1.49/lb
  • Butterball fresh turkeys, 10lbs U up                          $1.99/lb

Central Market

  • Mary’s free-range non-gmo natural fresh turkey     $2.49/lb
  • Mary’s free-range certified organic fresh turkey      $3.49/lb
  • Mary’s Heritage fresh turkey                                         $6.49/lb

Sprouts

  • fresh natural turkeys                                                     $1.49/lb (limit 4)
  • fresh organic free-range turkeys                                 $2.99/lb (limit 4)

Fiesta

  • Jenni-O frozen turkey, 12-20 lbs.                                      47c/lb

Fiesta also has everything for making tamales ‘on sale’. I don’t think these prices are much lower than the usual for most of the basics, but if you want a whole pork leg, this is a good price.tamalephoto

Links to the weekly ads:

Weekly Ad Roundup!

Here we are again.  Me, checking out the ads and lining them up neatly for you.  The cool weather is rolled in, which means my brain has a whole section devoted to reminding me to cook all the things.  The stores are ramping up the sales on all things Thanksgiving, and we will not speak of the atrocious December holiday displays already invading. I’ve got a couple of Turkey Alerts, which kind of make up for deals being thin on the ground this week. Hopefully things pick up a bit next week in the headlong rush to the holidays.

Happy shopping, Cheepsters!

Fiesta

  • Fiesta evaporated milk, 12oz                                    69c/ea
  • Fiesta frozen vegetables, 16oz                                 99c/ea  (select varieties)

Turkey Alert:  Jennie-O frozen turkeys are 47c/lb, for the 10-20lbs sizes.

Sprouts

  • blueberries, 6oz.                           $1.25/ea
  • cucumbers                                          33c/ea
  • yellow or zucchini squash               50c/lb
  • Hass avocados                                   50c/ea (it doesn’t say size, but it’s small ones)
  • red seedless grapes                          97c/lb
  • bulk oats                                             79c/lb

Central Market

  • organic red or green pears        $1.47/lb

HEB

  • Ambrosia apples                          97c/lb
  • red seedless grapes                      97c/lb

Turkey Alert: You can get a frozen RiverSide turkey (up to 12lbs) when you buy an HEB Spiral ham, with a coupon.  The smaller hams go quick, so you might need to try a few times to get a non-gigantic ham! They’ll also apply a credit to those turkeys larger than 12lbs. One per customer.

Randalls

  • Hass avocados, medium                                     50c/ea
  • SS fryer chickens, drums, thighs                      69c/lb       limit 4
  • SS canned beans, tomatoes, vegetables          49c/ea      must buy 4 or more
  • pork butt or pork picnic roast                          99c/lb      Sat-Mon. whole in bag
  • Lucerne shredded cheese, 7-8oz                      $1/ea        limit 5, Friday only

Turkey Alert:  Signature Farms or Honeysuckle White turkeys, frozen, for 79c/lb for turkeys 10lbs and up.

SS=Signature Select, the Randalls store brand.

 

Planning Ahead

You wouldn’t believe the number of unpublished drafts I’ve got stacked up, waiting for their time.  I thought a post lining up some of my goals for Cheepie next year might help me sift through them and make something like a schedule that I could follow.  God knows the ‘post the deals once a week when I feel like it’ plan pretty much let things go to pot!

Remember when I did the meal plan for each week, and posted it and gave myself imaginary points on how ‘good’ I did for each day’s dinners? Yeah, we’re not doing that again. That was harsh!  There are many topics I would like to get more work done on, so I’m going to get them down in this post.  See one you like? Let me know, so I can bump it up on the priority list.  Got a suggestion? Share away–I’m open to thoughts on this.

  • Store Reviews by locationAcbryz9Ki
  • Super-cheap dinners based on the sales
  • Unit Pricing
  • Happy Hours deals that can be a dinner out
  • Farmers Markets / Alternate grocery sources

 

My hope is to have the ad roundup posted each week, and then pick one of the other topics to post about as well.  I’ve had a cabbage/potato/onion cheap weekday dinner post hanging around waiting for a photo for so long!  I’ve taken so many unit pricing disaster photos, but haven’t shared them yet.  Then there’s my personal ranking of stores, which I remember every time I try to leave the Brodie HEB.  

I think 2019 is going to be a great year for Cheepie, and I hope you stick around and find it useful!

 

 

Favorite Food Moments, 2018 Version

Here are some of the interesting, funny, and just plain weird grocery moments from my year. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2019 for all of us.!

Turns out I do like making Mac and cheese in the Instant Pot, because skipping the straining step makes it simpler for kids to do!

Fried Munster cheese. Why is this not done more often?

 

2018’s drink was the Moscow Mule. Applications being accepted for 2019.

 

Beets. I didn’t see it coming, but this year was the one where I became a beet-lover.

 

Still laugh whenever I think of this.

 

This one banana, ticked at the world.

 

These were just the prettiest, sweetest figs.

 

Gluten-free Brazilian cheese bread, so much cheaper when home-made!

 

Throwback packaging with futuristic pricing. $1 more per can!

 

Who decided this? They were wrong.

 

I can’t even remember what flavor this was because it is so unrelentingly gray.

 

Three pounds of boil-in-a-bag goulash. Who buys this? I mean, I think it’s boil-in-a-bag. The label can’t be the only boilable part, right?

 

I know who buys this.

 

$10 for baking spray is too much. Even if it is duck fat. Also: I feel like this would clog.

 

Cheese Glut 2: Electric Boogaloo.

 

This was just next to the register when I went to quickiemart for coffee. There were different flavors. It was tough to cope.

 

My favorite, a Christmas gift of cheese!

 

I finally got my coffee routine, bean, and gear all sorted out this year. Whew.

 

Fiesta, I love you.

 

Tiny donuts…or are they?

I came up with three ways to cook this giant daikon radish. I’m very, very sure I do not like daikon radishes.

I have read a lot of grocery circulars. Probably more than anyone not actively involved in their production. This wins them all.

Thanks to everyone that has supported me over the years. I hope 2019 is a blessing to everyone that reads this. Be well, Cheepsters!

Imperfect Produce Review

I’ve tried several of the meal delivery services, and they are fun, but between the huge amount of packaging and the cost they’re just not something I can reasonably fit into my budget/conscience. But I do love getting packages, and I love puzzles, and you know I love groceries.  After seeing the Imperfect Produce ad on Facebook about a million times, I decided to give it a go.

Imperfect Produce is a weekly delivery of a box of produce to your door. The day depends on your zip code, but they seem to cover the entire Austin area.  You can choose the box size, and whether you want organic or conventional produce.  I’ve been scheduled for a medium organic box for the past two months.

Screen shot 2018-12-29 at 6.19.51 PMTheir hook is that they’re selling the produce that for one reason or another isn’t acceptable to grocery store buyers.  This sounds like a bad plan, but most of us don’t work within the specific parameters that stores do.  I’m happy with a apple that is small, or a pear that has an odd line on the skin.  A sweet potato that’s weirdly knobby, or a beet that is oddly huge, is fine eating in my kitchen. The hope is that getting this produce sold will help farmers, save resources and reduce waste.  My account has an ongoing tally of the ways these purchases help.

One of the things I really like is that it is completely customizable. I can remove items that were assigned to my box, and can choose from organic or conventional produce to add during the ‘customization phase’ which is four days long.  The price for each addition/removal changes the total as I go.  If I want to skip a week, it’s a simple click.  I really enjoy customizing, completely forgetting what I’ve ordered, and then wondering what I’ll cook with my cool box of veggie loot.

This is a look at the average costs, from their website.  For a medium box, the cost is about $2/lb for organic produce, which is a price point that pushed me to give it a try. I do try to stick to the dirty dozen for produce, and I’ll scan the conventional list to see if their prices have deals.

Screen shot 2018-12-29 at 6.00.56 PM

Here are some photos of one of the boxes I got, some detailing the ‘flaws’.

 

The flaws here were: surplus, scarring, spotting. Every time you order you can see why it’s not ‘acceptable’ for purchase, as well as the source of the item. It’s great for people trying to source within the USA, but it’s not a service that’s providing local produce so don’t expect that.

I’m really happy with this service. I am in stores less, which helps me save. I’m buying more organic options of the Dirty Dozen than I would, which is better for my family. And I usually get some random thing that gives me a project–a 1.5lb daikon radish for example (look for a post on that soon)!  I’ve skipped weeks, but overall I’m really happy when my box arrives.  I open it up and start plotting how I can get all these veggies eaten, and I love that kind of puzzle.

NOTE: This was not compensated in any way. I haven’t received anything from Imperfect Produce at all, I just tried it and wanted to share.