Do You Shop the Weekly Specials?

With newspaper flyer or online flyer, do you shop your favorite supermarket's specials and plan meals around them?  Do you shop several local (gas is still pricey) stores?  If not, you may want to reconsider. 

We're in the enviable position of having new Trader Joe's and Walmart within easy driving distance. The Walmart has an expanded food section, and I'm quite pleased with it.  The salad offerings are fresh;  the Polish ham is cheap; bananas are cheap, too.  Bread at $1.68 a loaf!  When was the last time you saw that price?  Dairy is also good, and I'm crazy about the Triscuit, the Shredded Wheat and Bran and the granola bar prices.  

Walmart doesn't have everything.  Cheese selection is poor.  Not a lot of organics (salad excepted).  You probably won't find radicchio and fennel.  We like Trader Joe's for cheese and dairy, wine, and the odd delicacy or frozen item.  When I asked whether the peppercorns could be removed from the peppermill they came in, the clerk demonstrated  by opening it up that they could.  

What is it with peppercorns?  I have two pepper grinders that I LOVE, and do not, repeat, do not want to buy pepper in a grinder, but that seems to be the latest thing.  I had to return a jar that didn't indicate except in small print that it was only a grinder.  One could not open it.  Phooey!  

Yesterday, we shopped the specials, spent $79.00 and saved $ 29.00.  These savings add up fast.  We don't buy a lot of heavily processed food, so I'm pleased to find avocados, strawberries, pears, pork chops, pasta, orange juice and cheese marked down.  Pizza dough!  Never see that on sale.  Good prices is the dairy aisle always welcome.  Savings on laundry detergent and seltzer.  BTW, I don't like seltzer but other family members do. 

We had a dynamite vegetarian stuffed shells this week.  The shells were stuffed with fennel, radicchio, red onion and ricotta bound with egg.  Somehow, this turned into a meaty concoction that was extremely satisfying and I am not always "satisfied" by vegetarian food.  I bought the pasta, and eggs and the cheese at Walmart, the veggies at Whole Foods, sort of the Yin and the Yang of grocery shopping.  The veggies had to cook forever,  but was the dish ever good and it made enough for 4 meals, which makes it economical even with the trip to Whole Foods.  The recipe came from Food and Wine.  

What are you making for the SuperBowl?  Meatloaf is out traditional  offering with bean dip and chips to nibble during the game.  Maybe Brussels sprouts and baked potatoes as sides.  It has to be something easy to eat in front of the TV, although we can usually time dinner for half time.  Everyone in Boston is bummed that the Pats lost to the Ravens, but whatchagonna do? 

It got so cold this week that I had to haul my ancient sheepskin coat out of the cedar closet.   It must weigh 10 pounds and is as warm as toast.   Patriots fans can be  glad the playoff was last weekend in mild weather rather than this weekend in the freezer compartment.  

Latkes with sour cream and apple sauce make a delicious cheap vegetarian meal

What do you eat on Superbowl Sunday?  Significant Other doesn't like chicken wings, or I would make them.   We have to journey to Stop and Shop because it's impossible to find Bean Dip anywhere else.  Some things just don't make any sense.  

Shop well and you'll save a bundle.  Now that's sensible!  


The Cheeseparer  

The Supermarket Trifecta

Trader Joe opened a store a few miles from here.  And Walmart, also a few miles away, just added a HUGE grocery department.  The competition must have caused our local supermarket to offer a whole slew of BOGOs.  (Buy One Get One, in retail parlance.)  We saved hugely shopping at all three stores one week.  French cheese at Trader Joe's, Polish ham at Walmart, and a pound of fresh mushrooms for 88 cents at the local store, where they're having an anniversary sale.  It's not a bad trip to drive up Route 1 and hit all three stores.  We take our own shopping bags and load 'em up with bargains.  Christmas baking and shopping should be a dream. 

With pears on sale, I'm trying a dessert with pears, apple jack and hazel nuts.  Real uptown.  
Tonight we're have a classic Quiche Lorraine with Trader Joe's cheese, and bacon (BOGO) and pie crust from the supermarket. 
 Chicken Chasseur a few nights ago.  Fresh tarragon, the mushrooms (again) egg noodles.  Wine and brandy.  Cooking up a storm and loving it.  Photo of Chicken Chasseur below.  Brussels sprouts (so good for you) on sale too.  When great food is a bargain, one likes to cook even more.  

Here is a recipe from Bobby Flay  (Food Network) that is very close to the one I used. Chicken Chasseur 

Chicken Chasseur from Cook's Illustrated 

 

The Dinner Party

If you weren't making the feminist art circuit in the late-seventies, early eighties, maybe you missed The Dinner Party,


Broaden your education a bit, O.K.? 

Now let's talk about food, not china.  Ye gods  Every time I set foot in the supermarket the prices are higher.  It's become expensive to cook even, well, soup, for example.  This week I made a Russian peasant soup, Shchi.  It basically consists of cabbage, sauerkraut and broth, with a few seasonings.   The meat is short ribs, no  longer cheap, but oh so flavorful.  A half-gallon of broth costs a lot unless you are using overly-salty bouillon cubes  or making your own.  I got the kraut and the cabbage both on sale.  The onion and garlic and the celery rib were cheap.  Of course, we are eating this soup for three nights.  The sour cream we garnish it with was also on sale. 


I have invited some neighbors for a dinner party this weekend.  When I invited them, I asked about likes and food allergies.  Two people don't like fish and one man is lactose intolerant.  Hmmm.  There goes the cheese plate.  So what are we having?  I'm making a well-seasoned mushroom spread that will be served on toasted slices of baguette.  The other appetizer is an unMexican salsa served on endive leaves.  This will double as a salad, and it looks pretty yummy.  The main course is Boeuf Bourgignon, that old dinner party standby, served with noodles and green beans.  I'm making a rum cake with no milk or cream (coffee and rum instead) for dessert.   So no seafood, no dairy and the menu sounds pretty good.  

We've been eating internationally this week, with Chinese and Spanish as well as Russian dishes.  I made a delicious Spanish Cod recipe.  Unless you like tilapia, fish is an expensive item.  The cod was on sale for $8.99.  Scallops were on sale for $15.99.  Jeeminy Criminy, those don't look like sale prices to moi. 

Bought tuna at Walmart this morning.  Have you noticed the contents of the cans are less and less?  The latest was 5 ounces.  You really can't serve 2 people with 5 ounces (more like 4 once the liquid is drained off) of fish.  So of course one must buy 2 cans, which would better have served 3 rather than the two of us.  I mix the tuna with a little chopped scallion, chopped celery, chopped parsley, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a little chopped pickle, and a big spoon of mayo.  With some chips and cherry tomatoes and a few crudities, it hits the spot.  

Significant Other found great wine glasses at Building 19 here in the Boston area for $3.00.  They fit in the dishwasher quite well and look rather elegant.  This is the third time he's gone back and bought more.  I sneered that he would NEVER find them again today, but there, they were.  

I looked at some great Italian shoes at a fab price, ones that fit my feet, but they felt like walking on a bed of nails, I kid you not.  Didn't buy, of course.  Rats. 

Shopping is a crap shoot, but I have found something that takes pet stains out.  The upholstery on our dining room chairs is ancient, and starting to show its age.  No idea how to replace this wonderful Danish wool fabric.  Don't think it's possible.  Ah well.  How many cats have raised hell on it?  Impossible to count.  

Onward.  We are cleaning out and pounds and pounds of paper are being conveyed out of the home office to the dump.  Recycling rocks. 

The Cheeseparer  

The cosmetics counter and traveller's tales.

It is possible to spend ungodly amount of money on cosmetics and toiletries.  One thing I like is the web sites that rate these items. They make it possible to avoid an expensive mistake.  Beauty Survival is one example.  I shop off and on at a discount mall which does have a cosmetics store selling Clinique, Estee Lauder and a few other brands.  Items are about 15-25% off.  There are a lot of "testers" open which helps.  I have also become a Walmart shopper and usually buy shampoo and other sundries there.   Sales at the local drugstore and an occasional purchase on the web round things out. 


If you find a lipstick, etc. that you absolutely love, buy in quantity because you never know when these items will be discontinued.  At the discount store, I will always take the empty lipstick tube and try to find a close match.  This works pretty well. 


We were in San Francisco last fall and I ran out of moisturizer.   There was a busy, cramped Walgreens across from the hotel, and I perused the shelves for a smallish size of moisturizer that did not cost and arm and a leg.  Found Aveeno, and you know what?  It's really good and I recently bought another bottle.  It's a fraction of the cost of some "name" brands.  I also like the Jergens product that promises you give you a slight tan.  Don't think it does, but I like it anyhow.   Both of these items come in small sizes that I like to use for travel.


My parents, bless them, who always traveled by car, carried a humongous cosmetics case with giant industrial sizes of hair spray, deodorant, etc. Huge bottles of shampoo.  Of course, now every motel has the sample sizes.  When I travel, I carry ziplop plastic baggies to tote these items home in.  They are nice to give to homeless shelters and even food banks.  Or use on your own if  you're staying in frugal places like Microtel.  I do like Microtel, because they operate on the theory that a travel needs a place for everything, and I find their rooms very convenient and the prices, too.  We are more likely to carry our breakfast or find a local cafe to pick up some local color. 


The Inn where we stayed in Nantucket actually had delicious blueberry muffins, obviously homemade, and good orange juice and decent coffee.  How often does that happen?   The Brant Point Inn.  Friendly people and we got a last minute suite for 4 that didn't quite break the bank.  

I have rambled a bit.  It is possible to save on cosmetics and breakfast but not Nantucket inns in August.   We go to the Cape for one weekend in the winter and stay cheaply which evens things out.  With the economy tanking again, the staycation will resurface.  So much to do in Boston in the summer that it's not really onerous, and with restaurant week you can even eat cheap(er).  


There is a sales tax holiday this weekend.  I may buy some catfood.  It has gone up and now even Walmart wants 54 cents a can. My diabetic cat needs certain flavors in one brand and dry food I can only get from the vet.  I love my kitties but they are a definite luxury.  The ginger cat has taken to sleeping on a leather ginger pillow.  He's relentless in seeking out luxurious spots for napping.   The down duvet, mostly.   Cats aren't dumb.  

Onward, 


The Cheeseparer