grocery shopping

Happy Ad Wednesday!

Boneless chicken breasts are cheap all over, so if your freezer is low it’s a good week.  They’re not rock-bottom, but every one of the Big 4 has them on sale, so you don’t have to hunt them up.   Also at stock-up prices: cheese at Randalls, red bell peppers at Sprouts, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce at Fiesta, Community Coffee at Randalls, and Fiesta bacon. Pretty much an all-purpose stock-up week.

And before you ask, no, I don’t know what’s up with HEB! This is their worst showing ever.  Given last week they started copying Randalls’ style sales, and now have the occasional limit, I’m setting them to a DEFCON 4 on my Cheepie ConcernMeter, which I just invented right now.  I’ll get a guy on it. Probably this guy.

Screen shot 2016-01-27 at 11.53.17 PM

I’m this much worried. It’s concern, but manageable. He’s got this.

Here’s the roundup:

Fiesta

beef sirloin tip roast                                        $2.77/lb (Fiesta limit)

Fiesta sliced bacon, 24oz                                 $4.99/lb

key limes, 1lb bag                                              50c/ea

Fiesta saltines, 6 oz box                                   99c/ea

Fiesta diced tomatoes, 14.5oz                           50c/ea

Red Gold tomato sauce, 8oz                            20c/ea

 

HEB

large green pears                                             87c/lb

bscb                                                                   $1.79/lb

assorted pork chops                                           $1.97/lb

 

Randalls

whole bone-in pork loin                                     99c/lb

bscb                                                                      $1.77/lb

Lucerne shredded or block cheese, 2lb              $4.99/ea

Community coffee, 12oz, whole or ground        $3.88/ea

DeCecco pasta, 16oz                                           B1G1 (note: look at the prices, get best deal)

Signature Kitchens can vegetable                       67c/ea

 

Sprouts

Halos mandarins, 2lb. bag                                   $1.98/ea

red bell peppers                                                      50c/ea

Fuji or Braeburn apples                                          98c/lb

organic Red or Golden Delicious apples                $1.50/lb

bscb                                                                        $1.69/lb

assorted pork chops                                               $1.99/lb

 

Central Market

PEI fresh black mussels, 2lb bag                            $8.99/ea

 

Wheatsville

R.W. Knudsen Simply Nutritious Juice, 32oz                              $2.50/ea

organic brown flaxseeds, bulk                                                         $1.99/lb

As always, if you find a deal I haven’t listed, or a special at your local store, let me know here on the blog, on Facebook or Twitter. Happy shoppping Cheepsters! 

Weekly Flyer Links

Science & Shopping

Here’s a secret you don’t know about Cheepie–I love me an infographic. Combine infographic with grocery shopping, and I pretty much want this one in t-shirt form.

It sums up some of the basic stuff about shopping that we all know (milk in the back of the store to make us walk past everything else) with some stuff that’s news to me, like bigger carts cause people to buy more.

The Science of Grocery Shopping
Source: BestMarketingDegrees.org

We’ve all got triggers that will have us buying things we don’t necessarily need. I’m a complete sucker for nearly anything with a 50% off sticker, for example. Knowing your own triggers, along with the science stores use to snag everyone, can help you save. We all like to do that!

Thanks to a BestMarketingDegrees.Org for sharing this infographic.

Cheep Cheep!

Happy Ad Wednesday!

Hope everyone enjoyed the last gasp of winter, and is ready for the start of summer produce deals!  One of my favorite summer meals is a steak from the freezer, accompianied by corn on the cob and watermelon bought on sale.  We go through a lot of berries for smoothies and turn all kinds of fruit into freezy pops at this time of year, also. Well, not yesterday. Yesterday was Winter, and I made a casserole.  Crazy Mother Nature.

I also stock up on things that will freeze well–lots of watermelon for agua frescas, corn off the cob, all the berries, diced mango, and green beans are examples of summery produce I will seal up for the freezer.

This week’s got blackberries and corn, and chicken leg quarters (read here for notes about that) on great deals.  Avocados and potatoes aren’t too shabby either.

Sprouts has ended their amazing weekly cheese sale, but Randalls has their 32oz bricks and bags of shredded cheese for $5.99 (usually $8.99). So there’s that. As always, that’s the card price, though–as always the stupid Randalls prices are the stupid card prices.  The Wheatsville prices are the non-member prices, and there are no coupons involved with any of the prices in the Happy Ad Wednesday post.

Here we go!

Randalls 

32oz chunk or shredded cheese                  $5.99/ea

bscb                                                                 $1.99/lb

Sprouts

Hass avocados                                            33c/ea (C15)

green beans                                                 98c/lb

bscb and thighs                                           $1.99/lb

raw almonds                                                 $4.99/lb

organic carrots,5lb sack                               $2.98/lb

Fri-Sun only:

sweet cherry tomatoes, 1 pint                        98c/ea (DD)

Fiesta

chicken leg quarters, jumbo bag                49c/lb (Fiesta Limit)

medium whole live crawfish                         $1.69/sack $1.99/lb 

pork blade steak, family pack                       $1.49/lb (Fiesta Limit)

beef short ribs                                                  $2.99/lb (Fiesta Limit)

red seedless grapes                                        $1.49/lb (DD)

limes                                                                    10/$1

russet potatoes, 10lbs                                      $2.49/lb (DD)

HEB

NOTE: This week, I’ve tried to accommodate the two different flyers HEB has for their stores. I’m adding the links to the different flyers here–if your HEB is modern, clean, and only moderately grackled, this is likely your flyer. If it’s small, older, and fully gracklefied, this is likely your flyer. Apologies if you looked for and couldn’t find something.  I’d stopped checking because they’d been the same for weeks, but now they’re different again.

canteloupe                                                         97c/ea (older only) (C15)

blackberries, 6 oz.                                             77c/ea

corn on the cob                                                 20c/ea (C15)

Ataulfo mangos                                                 25c/ea (C15)

organic Fuji or Red Delicious apples            $1.77/lb (older) OR $1.47/lb (newer) (DD)

HCF chicken thighs or drumsticks                 $1/lb

Campari tomatoes. 1lb pack                             $1.50/ea (older)

green beans                                                          98c/lb

largeHass avocados                                           97c/ea (newer) (C15)

organic blackberries,6oz                                   $2.47/ea (newer)

Central Market

PEI black mussels,2lb sack                              $8.99/ea

Trader Joe’s

TJ’s extra virgin olive oil,1L                              $6.99/ea

Wheatsville

organic cucumbers                                           79c/lb (DD)

Central Market is having a Greek-fest, with many interesting looking Greek specials on wine, meat, meals, dips, cheese and more. I cannot deal with their blue and white ad, though, because the Central Market ad should be green and white, which might be my own personal OCD trappings kicking in. I need my grocery ads to stay the same, and the new Fiesta ad was enough for me to cope with for one week. Generally, these CM pushes come with lots of free tastings, so if you’re hungry and out of pocket, swing by.

Cheep Cheep!

Central Market: Trial By Tri-Tip

  

Central Market and I have grown up together.  I remember walking around the North Lamar store with The Silver Palate cookbook in my cart, buying a cartload of groceries for one meal.  I remember touring the Westgate store with a group when it was still just a gutted mall, because people were that excited about a grocery store.

Nowadays, I’m more likely darting in for a Bota Box and wondering why people can’t meander a little faster.  But I’m still irrationally fond of the place, and while I’m not shopping there regularly I do appreciate it being there.

So when the tri-tip incident happened, it was a grocery betrayal.  DH was mad, but I was sad, because I am that kind of person.

Tri-tip is a cut of beef we often cook, and it’s not cheap because DH always goes to CM to buy it, where it’s $10.99/lb.  Since he’s the one shopping and cooking, he gets to pay what he wants (Costco and TJ’s have it cheaper)(Cheepie tries not to look at his receipts). On the day in question, he came home with three tri-tips, because we were having company.  

When he went to put them in the marinade, he realized that there was a huge layer of fat on them, which is not usual. They’d been fat side down in the case, so looked like the usual cut until he got them home and unwrapped the paper.  Not a little fat–a brisket-level layer a half-inch thick that I had to dissect away from the meat because our grilling method doesn’t allow for a giant layer of melting fat.  All told it was 1.6 lbs of fat (of course I weighed it, am I some kind of heathen? I wanted numbers!).  

Dinner was lovely, the meat was delicious. But I’m Cheepie, and the disappointment stuck with me. I might not be tossing the dinner parties, or even shopping at all the way I did when I was in my 20s, but I didn’t want to have to break up with Central Market!  We’d made crackers! I’d spoken to fishmongers! I’d been given a jillion pounds of bruised tomatoes once to make me go away!

So I went to their website and sent an email detailing what happened, and let them know that I thought that if they were going to change the way they cut something, letting buyers know when they purchased it would be polite. I sent it off figuring it would go into a black hole of internet complaints, but feeling better that I’d at least gotten it off my chest.

Three weeks later I got an email.  The customer service rep was very understanding, and wrote that she’d shared my email with the meat department and they’d gotten it cleared up.  She also told me they’d refund the amount we’d spent on the meat, and would like to also give me a $20 gift card.  

That’s how you do customer service!  I’m still amazed. It’s easily the best customer service I’ve ever gotten.  Acknowledgement of the problem, and more than making up for it.  Central Market and I will be going steady for the foreseeable future.

 

Happy Ad Wednesday!

There are a lot of pork chops out there this week. I think the Sprouts deal, with roasts and loin chops is the best deal–they’re the most versatile and freeze very well.  The other specials are bone in or sirloin. There is also pork butt for $1/lb Screen shot 2015-03-25 at 12.32.12 AMat HEB. That‘s the lowest I’ve seen in a while, and if you’ve got freezer space it’s worth stocking up.  Here at Chez Cheepie we smoke them, but they’re also super simple to do in a crock pot or oven, just don’t let your bbq fanatic friends know.

Fiesta has the big sacks of chicken legs on sale again, with the Fiesta Limit in place.  Remember these aren’t quite as pretty or as large as ones not bought in giant sacks, and may need some knife skills to be presentable. Given they’re 69c/lb, you’ll have room to practice.  Don’t know what to do with all that chicken? Try this post from a while back.

Buy strawberries at Sprouts this week, the other places are more than twice as much.If you want organic, Wheatsville has them.

Apples are insanely cheap–conventional at 50c/lb at HEB, and organic for 48c/lb at Sprouts.

HEB’s got a product I haven’t noticed before that they’re calling Stoplight Peppers. It’s three colors of peppers in a package (get it, like a stop light? except in HEBland stoplights don’t have green. which pretty much fits with Austin traffic) for about 77c/pepper. Check them, though, since this is a classic produce manager way to try to get rid of stuff that might be bruised/dented/otherwise not perfect.

CORN! Yay! I know, I may be irrationally happy about this, but I love corn. Corn pudding, creamed corn, corn right off the cob–it’s all good.  And this week from Fri-Sun they’re 8/$1 at Sprouts.  So belly up to the big cardboard box and wedge yourself in between the other picky corn people and start peeling some husks back to make sure you don’t get a buggy one, then take ’em home to enjoy.

Here’s the specials. Happy Shopping!

HEB

cantaloupe                                                             87c/ea (C15)

Cameo or Braeburn apples                                 50c/lb (DD)

Stoplight bell peppers, 3/pkg                             $2.27/ea   (DD)

Boston butt pork roast, whole, bone-in              $1/lb

HCF drumsticks or thighs                                    $1/lb

Randalls

pork loin chops, bone-in                                     $1.69/lb

Hillshire Farm smoked sausage, 32oz               $5   Friday ONLY

Sprouts

strawberries, 1lb.                                                           88c/ea  (DD)

apple pears                                                                    33c/ea

mangos                                                                           25c/ea (C15)Screen shot 2015-03-25 at 12.36.55 AM

red bell peppers                                                            50c/ea (DD)

organic red, orange or yellow bell peppers              $1.50/ea (DD)

Hass avocados                                                                50c/ea (C15)

organic red delicious apples                                        48c/lb (DD)

organic kale                                                                    $1.50/bunch (DD)

bscb                                                                                $1.69/lb

pork loin roast or chops                                               $1.99/lb

bulk roasted cashew pieces                                        $4.99/lb

Monterey Jack cheese                                                  $3.99/lb

Fri-Sun only

corn                                                                                  8/$1

Halo mandarins, 2lb sack                                         $1.98/ea

cage free eggs, dozen                                                $2.50/ea

Sprouts frozen vegetables, 16oz.                             99c/ea

walnuts, bulk                                                              $4.99/lb

Fiesta

live Louisiana crawfish                                             $1.89/lb

pork sirloin chops, bone-in                                     $1.49/lb

red or green seedless grapes                                $1.88/lb (DD)

chicken leg quarters, large bag                             69c/lb (Fiesta Limit)

large avocados                                                         97c/ea (C15)

Fiesta shredded cheese, 8oz.                                $1.50/ea

Wheatsville

organic strawberries, 1lb.                                       $2.99/ea (DD)

organic mini peppers                                             $2.49/pk   (usually $3.79) (DD)

Happy Ad Wednesday!

Another week, another dollar!  Soon we’ll be seeing corn at 6/$1, then 12/$1! I love those days.  For now, we make do with…

Blue Bell for $4.50 at Fiesta! Grapes cheap as heck at Sprouts!

Don’t forget Sprouts still has last week’s ad active for Wednesday ONLY.

Randalls

Not a damn thing. Even the $5 Friday doesn’t have anything I’d stop for.

Sprouts

blackberries, 5.6 oz                                                          88c/ea

mangos                                                                             50c/ea (C15)

avocados                                                                           50c/ea (C15)Image result for free green grapes stock photo

green seedless grapes                                                     88c/lb (DD)

pineapples                                                                       $1.98/ea (C15)

organic Braeburn or Red Delicious apples                     $1.50/lb (DD)

organic kale, various bunches                                         $1.50/ea (DD)

Fiesta

Bluebell                                                                        $4.50/ea

chicken drumsticks, jumbo bag                                   69c/lb  (FL)

porkcountry style ribs                                                    $1.49/lb (FL)

2lb blocks of cheese                                                     $7.39/ea

HEB

plums                                                                               97c/lb

organic Fuji apples                                                         $1.77/lb (DD)

white seedless grapes                                                     $1.97/lb (DD)

organic strawberries, 1lb.                                                $2.98/ea (DD)

County Post drumsticks or thighs                                    $1/lb

seasoned chicken leg quarters                                          77c/lb

Normally I cover the ‘Other’ -Whole Foods, Central Market, Trader Joe’s and Wheatsville.  I’m skipping that this week, in an editorial decision that I expect is a one-time thing.  Given Whole Foods is all in the news for lowering prices on staples, I really think they’ll be in the usual rotation soon, but this week’s list is what it is.

Go forth and stock up on those deals, Cheepsters!

Happy Ad Wednesday

Cheepie is going to admit a huge bias here. 

I know Fiesta has a ton of really low fish prices.  This is increasingly evident as Lent rolls on, with a few fish less than $2/lb. I don’t list them on the Happy Ad Wednesday post because the fish department at my Fiesta is very, very fishy smelling.

I know, it’s jammed full of fish and so it smells like fish. But everything my grocery training tells me I should buy fish in a place that smells like ice, with bright-eyed dead fish. Not in a fishy smelling place with cloudy-eyed fish I’ve never heard of (Hilsa fish? That’s not a thing. I’m not even going to google to see what this imaginary fish is). 

So, where do you buy fish? Am I being a fish snob? That’s entirely possible. I am still tempted by the smelts, if only because I know if they go all wrong I can feed them to the chickens.  My frugal side and my grocery girl side often war about the fish at Fiesta, so if you have thoughts please share!

That said, here’s the week.  I’m going to be stocking up on Blue Bell and pork loin ( I didn’t get to Randalls last week to get it).

Fiesta

pork blade steak, family pack                 1.49/lb (Fiesta Limit)

medium live crawfish                               1.89/lb

bscb,family pack                                     1.79/lb (Fiesta Limit)

Blue Bell                                                   4.50/ea

shredded cheese, 8oz.                              1.33/ea

assorted pork chops, family pack              1.99/lb

chicken drumsticks, family pack                   99c/lb

organic potatoes                                         1.29/lb (DD)

HEB

large avocados                                      1.50/ea (C15)

blackberries, 6oz                                   1.25/ea

strawberries, 1 lb.                                  1.25/ea (DD)

red plums                                               88c/lb

organic strawberries, 1 lb                    2.98/ea (DD)

mini carrots, 1 lb                                   98c/ea

yellow or orange bell peppers              97c/ea (DD)

Rio Grande Valley grapefruit, 15lbs.    3.98/ea  (C15)

pork loin                                               1.97/lb

HCR drumsticks or thighs                    1.00/lb

bone-in pork chops                              1.97/lb

Randalls

pork shoulder country style ribs             1.79/lb

Large Image

Friday only:

12-stem alstroemeria bunch  $5

(Enough to put little vases throughout the house, to help spring get here sooner!)

Sprouts

red or green seedless grapes                        88c/lb  (DD)

Halos mandarins, 5lb box                             3.98/ea

various apples                                                98c/lb  (DD)

organic red, yellow or orange peppers        1.50/ea  (DD)

organic kale                                                  1.50/ea  (DD)

boneless skinless chicken thighs                 1.99/lb

bulk brown rice                                              69c/lb

Almond Breeze almond milk                          B1G1

Wheatsville

Lara Bars                                    1.00/ea

organic rolled oats                      1.19/lb

Whole Foods

red, yellow or orange bell peppers         98c/ea  (DD)

I’m using the new 2015 EWG guide for the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen rankings.  If you’d like to read more you can here.  As always, I make choices on organic v. not based on how much of it we eat and how much of a hit it is on our budget.  You should make your choices based on what you’ve prioritized for your shopping.

If you’ve prioritized smelts, though, for heaven’s sake let me know what you did with them!

Follow Cheepie on twitter, like Cheepie on Facebook, and let your friends know I’m here wrapping up the ads for Austin shoppers!

Happy Ad Wednesday!

Smelts? I know it’s Lent and all the stores get their fresh fish on, but Fiesta has smelts for 99c/lb.  Smelts.  For 99c, I might head over and get some, and see what the internet has to tell me about cooking tiny shiny fish! I will obviously report back if this happens, but I’m still working on getting around to the pork dumplings from last week, so don’t hold your breath.

Then again, smelts. Maybe holding your breath would be smart. Your call.

Here’s the list of good deals this week:

Sprouts

strawberries (1lb), blueberries or raspberries (6oz)        1.50/ea (strawberries DD)

Earthbound Farms organic salads, 5-7oz         buy one get one free

organic Braeburn apples                        98c/lb (DD)

organic kale                                            98c/ea (DD)

bscb                                                      1.99/lb

Thurs & Fri ONLY

seedless watermelon          1.99/ea

organic blackberries, 5.6 oz.       98c/ea

Halo mandarins, 2lbs          1.98/ea

country style pork ribs         1.49/lb

cage free or omega-3 eggs  2.50/ea

bulk coffee, select varieties     6.99/lb

Fiesta

tomatoes                                               59c/lb

Ruby Red grapefruit                                7/$1

Fiesta long grain rice, 4lbs.                 1.69/ea

chicken leg quarters, large bag          69c/lb (Fiesta Limit)

russet potatoes, 5lb sack                   1.49/ea

HEB

Rio Grande grapefruits, 15lb sack            3.98/ea

cantaloupe                                                 87c/ea (C15)

red or black plums                                 1.47/lb

Jonagold apples                                     67c/lb (DD)

red bell peppers                                      33c/ea (DD)

HEB organic strawberries, 1lb               2.98/ea (DD)

blueberries, pint                                     2.98/ea

County Post chicken drums or thighs      1.00/lb

pork butt roast                                         1.47/lb

Randalls

boneless pork loin, whole                                     1.99/lb

Signature Cafe cheese pizza                                $5, Friday only

Wheatsville

Muir Glen canned tomatoes, 28oz.                          2/$4

Cascadian Farms,organic vegetables, 16oz           2/$4

Sprouts also has a lot of buy-one-get-one ads going on.  BecauseScreen shot 2015-02-25 at 1.08.07 AM of the way the stores display their ads getting a photo up isn’t always as clear as I’d like, but here’s a try, so you can get an idea.  

Screen shot 2015-02-25 at 1.08.27 AM

Last week I mentioned that Fiesta shouldn’t be using quotation marks. This week they doubled down, much to my amusement. It’s late though, and my taped episode of The Goldbergs isn’t going to watch itself, so stay tuned.

Happy shopping, Cheepsters!

Happy Ad Wednesday!

HEB is still running the special I find so strange, which is ‘buy Duracell batteries and get a free gallon of milk!’ Normally, the things they throw a combo coupon at make sense.  Cookies would make sense. Buy cookies, get milk. Heck, buy brownie mix, get milk–that makes sense too.  Is the appeal of free milk supposed to lure me into stocking up on batteries?

Citrus is still cheap this week, though not like the weekend Fiesta sale a few weeks ago.  HEB has the cheapest organic apples, and Fiesta the cheapest conventional.

Fish is on sale everywhere, because of God, which is fine by me. If we could arrange for a religion to go ahead and strongly suggest the consumption of Macadamia nuts every May, thus causing a few weeks every year when they get cheap, I’d be fine with that, as well.  Maybe I can get Scientology on that, help them rehab their image.

Randalls has Cornish Game Hens again for $5 per twin pack on Friday.  Tell the kids they’re fat grackles! If that’s not your thing, go ahead and buy whatever chicken part you like most, you can find all of them for a buck or less per pound. (No Mom, not necks and backs. Stores don’t even package them up any more, as far as I can tell. Haven’t seen them in years.)

And finally, as a sign of spring, asparagus is on sale, with HEB having the cheapest, and Randalls the most expensive, surprising no one at all.

Randalls

Safeway chicken thighs, drumsticks, or split breasts          99c/lb

Safeway chunk light tuna pouches, 2.6oz                           69c/lb

assorted bone in pork chops                                               $1.99/lb

Several cereals/granola bars/fruit snacks are ‘Buy 4 for 1.49’ or ‘Buy 4 for 1.99’ each, with your store card.  If you need to stock the pantry for breakfast or school lunches you could take a look.

Friday only:

Rinaldi pasta sauce, 24 oz jar                                                $1/ea

Sprouts (don’t forget, last week’s specials still in effect for today only)

asparagus                                                                          99c/lb

organic red, yellow or orange bell peppers                   $1.50/ea  (DD)

red or green bell peppers, cucumbers                             50c/ea (DD)

organic kale                                                                     $1.50/bunch (DD)

bulk dried cranberries                                                     $2.99/lb

assorted bone-in pork chops                                           $1.99/lb

Fiesta

large avocados                                                                79c/ea (C15)

red potatoes, 3lb sack                                                   $1.49/ea (DD)

Texas juice oranges, 5 lb sack                                      $2.99/ea

Braeburn apples                                                               88c/lb (DD)

chicken drumsticks, large bag                                        69c/lb (Fiesta limit)

boneless pork loin roast                                                $1.99/lb (Fiesta limit)

HEB

asparagus                                                                          97c/lb

blackberries, 6 oz                                                              97c/ea

organic red delicious apples                                             98c/lb (DD)

assorted bone-in pork chops                                        $1.97/ea  (limit 2)

HCF bbq seasoned chicken leg quarters                       77c/lb

HCF chicken drumsticks or thighs                                    $1/lb

beef shoulder roast                                                        $2.97/ea

Earl Campbell’s hot links, 14-16oz                                 $1.97/ea

CM

heirloom navel oranges    99c/lb         (not the cheapest oranges, but if you’re a fan this is 45% off)

The $1.99 pork loin at Fiesta is the deal I’m making sure to get this week. I haven’t seen them at that price in a while, and I have room in the freezer.  I cut them in thirds and vacuum seal, but they will fit in a gallon freezer bag.

Shop on, Cheepsters!

Happy Ad Wednesday!

This week is a good sale week. 

Citrus is cheap again, with oranges and grapefruit going for a song. Sprouts has conventional apples for 33c/lb, which is  the cheapest I’ve seen it since starting the blog. 

Boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs are under $2/lb at the four main chains, so if your freezer is looking bare, then you can stock up now.

Don’t forget that pork picnic is different than shoulder, and that you’ve got a thicker skin and porkier flavor to deal with. Still good, and cheap, and goes a long way, but different.

Fiesta

bscb                                                $1.79/lb (Fiesta limit)

whole pork picnics                          $1.19/lb (Fiesta limit)

blackberries, 6oz.                           $2/ea

pork blade steaks                           $1.99/lb (see NOTE)

Fiesta long grain rice, 4lb sack      $1.77/ea

russet potatoes, 5lb sack               $1.69/ea (DD)

Saturday only!

Texas juice oranges, 5lb          $1.99/ea

Texas grapefruit                       6/$1  (that’s 17c each!)

Southern Hen Wings, 5lb. bag         $5.99/ea  (hen wings? never seen this. but $1.20 for wings is very cheap, and if you’re okay portioning them and use the tips for stock? this is a great deal)

Fiesta bacon, 24oz.                         $3.99/ea   (see NOTE)

Bumble Bee  tuna, 5 oz.                     59c/ea

El Charro Queso Fresco, 10 oz.      $1.99/ea

Nature’s Own Butter Bread                99c/ea  (limit 2)

Key limes, 2lb sack                         $1.99/ea

HEB

large gold pineapple                             $1.98/ea (C15)

green pears, Gala apples                         88c/lb  (apples DD)

bscb                                                       $1.99/lb

organic Gala Apples, 2lb sack              $2.78/ea  (that’s $1.39lb for organic!)

blueberries, pint                                    $1.77/ea

Randalls

bscb or thighs                                       $1.99/lb  (thighs cheaper at Sprouts, breasts at Fiesta, but with minimum purchase)

And that’s it. Randalls, you’re going to get a pointed post of your own this week.

Sprouts

Fuji apples                                              33c/lb  (DD)

red or green bell peppers                      33c/ea  (DD)

cantaloupes                                          88c/ea  haven’t seen these in a bit! (C15)

yellow onions                                        33c/lb  (C15)

organic celery                                          98c/ea (DD)

Sprouts Extra Virgin Olive oil, 1 ltr.       $6.99/ea

Monterey Jack Cheese                         $2.99/lb

boneless skinless chicken thighs         $1.79/lb

Kettle brand chips, 5oz.                       $1.50/ea  (this is a stock up price, if you won’t eat them all when you get home!)

Notes

Pork blade steaks are $1.99/lb this week at Fiesta. These aren’t ‘steaks’ in the way you buy beef, and aren’t chops either. I’ve never found a good way to cook them. I’ve grilled, broiled, sautéed and sauced, and they’re always tough.  I finally decided the thing to do was roast them, and use the meat in other dishes like pork fried rice.  So look at this package when you buy it and think about how you cook.  Does what you know about meat give you a clue here? If you’ve got better ideas than mine I’d love to hear them.  I have com to believe this is how they ditch the cheap bits before consigning the carcass to grind.

Fiesta bacon for $2.66/lb. It’s a good price, but look at it when you buy it. if you like thick meaty bacon, this is not your bacon. It’s usually cut very thin, and is very fatty.  If you want good bacon slices for breakfast, this bacon might disappoint.  If you want bacon crumbles, and bacon fat for cooking, this is a great thing to buy.

Mail Report:

Well, all I can say is that I find the timing suspect. I start a blog that would be simpler to do with the timely delivery of circulars I’ve received in the mail for a decade. Within a month, those circulars stop arriving in any sort of usual timeframe, and then cease.

It’s like the Post Office wants me to learn to write a webscraper than can deal with pdfs. Since I’m still on baby steps learning Spanish on DuoLingo, I’m going to have to wait on that, at least until I can navigate the Mexican meat market with more authority (NOT a euphemism for anything)(seriously)(get your mind on the groceries at hand).

Until next time, Cheepsters!