Cabbage -- they were sold out before I got one, and it was on the day the sale started. :p

19 cents/lb for cabbage, 1.49 for corned beef, buy one get one free pound of carrots. Can't remember how much the potatoes were. We had a wonderful boiled dinner last night and leftovers for supper.

Central Wisconsin. Best deals this week: Chicken leg qtrs for 37cents a lb. 2# carrot for 49 cents. 3# onions for 79 cents. Green peppers 3/ 99 cents. Best price for corned beef was $1.99 # for point cut; $2.49 for flat cut. Strawberries (yes, tasteless) for $1.39 and good sized bunch of asparagus for $1.39 also. Eggs @ 69 cents a dozen. 5# red potatoes for $1.49. Got cabbage last week for 19 cents a lb.

Passed on the corned beef because I'm the only one who likes it. Making pot roast instead. Bought 30# of the chicken leg quarters. Keep reading about bird flu in some of the breeding facilities so thought I should stock up just in case.

I'm in SoCal too. The artichokes were tempting on price, but I couldn't find enough that were good enough to buy. I did get a lovely orangetti squash at TJ's, but everything is well priced there and I haven't seen another one to compare it to recently. They also had matchstick asparagus at one of the big chains that was good enough to tempt me. They aren't as good as at Whole Foods, but good enough and the price was great. There was a really good price on blueberries--a quart for the price of a pint--but they were also between seasons, so big and sweet but light on flavor. But, you see, I can remember that they had good prices--it's just that I can't remember what those prices were!

I do most of my shopping when we are in California in
Bakersfield, closest big town, and haven’t seen anything special on pricing.
Artichoke are still $2.99 but not nice enough to tempt me. Green bell peppers
.78 and for some reason red were .68 onions are usually pretty inexpensive. I usually
get meat; rib eye went down in price, poultry and avocados at Costco and leafy
greens at Trader Joe’s. Costco did have asparagus marked down but it didn’t look
very fresh so I passed.

When we are in Lake Havasu everything in the produce dept is
a little more and if it’s not on sale meat and poultry are higher. The butter I
usually buy is cheaper as are most dairy products. No Costco or Trader Joe’s and
I haven’t found or really looked for a butcher shop. I usually load the car and
ice chest with everything Costco for the trip over. We seem to eat out a lot more in Havasu but
family is there and we are usually out and about.

Albertson's had corned beef on sale for 4.99/lb. Seriously? Otherwise, strawberries, asparagus, ground beef, green bell peppers. Actually, not a lot was on sale this week. I live in southern New Mexico.

Strawberries were $1 a pound last week & surprisingly good. This week it was canteloupes-$1 each & they are huge. Don't know how it tastes, haven't had a chance to cut it yet. Bought a pound of asparagus for $1 too! Wish I had bought more of that, but DH prefers canned asparagus. Not on sale, but milk prices are ridiculously cheap, $1.20 a gallon. I'm not sure how dairy farmers are making money from that.

Sometimes milk is sold as a loss leader--the store sells for less than it costs to get people in the door.

I'm in Michigan and my prices and items are nearly identical to ci_lantro. Chicken leg quarters are 37 cents a pound, pork loin is $1.49 a pound, pork butt/shoulder is 99 cents a pound. Michigan potatoes are $1.99 for 8 pounds, cabbage is 25 cents a pound and corned beef is $2.29 for points, $2.49 for flats. Carrots 2 pounds for 49 cents, and strawberries and blueberries are $2 a pound, but taste like nothing. Smaller (6 oz, maybe?) raspberry and blackberry packages are also $2, but they don't taste like anything either. Eggs are 66 cents a dozen and milk is $1.79 a gallon for skim. I buy local organic milk, though, and I pay $2.99 a quart for it, worth every penny!

Annie

San Diego area here -- just bought asparagus at 88c/lb today at Sprouts, looks good! Also bought strawberries last week that were sweet, $2.50/lb (nothing to write home about). They will come down in price and go up in quality, within a few weeks. Blackberries were also 88c/lb at Sprouts, and are very tasty. I didn't buy any, but Hass avocados were 98c each (organic variety).

In the grocery department, Stater Bros is running a sale on bone-in rib eye steak for $4.77/lb.. My husband always goes in to have those cut to order, then we wrap and freeze. One steak will be 3 meals for me, 2 for him, so it's almost cheaper than 93/7 hamburger.

I don't believe the dairy industry will allow California merchants to do a loss leader on milk. It's rare to see it advertised on sale!

Donna

omg. Pricing here is a little different. lol! I'm in central NY.... that cabbage that sold out immediately was on sale for .39/lb and it's usually .89/lb. Some chicken was on sale for .79/lb and that's incredibly low-priced for here! The kicker is that we're a DAIRY COUNTY and milk is $3.29/gal! Just saw a news program where another dairy farm was DUMPING their milk. :p

Which makes me wonder..... what color is your cheese? Cheddar cheese is white here.... you'd have to go out of your way to find orange cheese around here other than Velveeta. :)

I don't scour the supermarket "circulars" (why are they called circulars anyway?). I pick up the ones they always have at the entrance to the store, in case I need an actual paper coupon for a bargain. I usually stop at market after school on Friday's. One of the first things I look at (unavoidable) is produce. The only fruit that consistently has a flavor is grapes... though I always check to see if sweet or not. The price can vary wildly... week to week and store to store. Friday red & green grapes were $1.99/lb at market "SR". Week before they were $2.99. A few weeks ago, at other market "A", they were $4.99/lb and then dropped to $1.49??

kiseiverd, I always assumed they were called circulars because they are circulated materials. According tothis site, that is the origin of the word.

Ditto on the circulars. I didn't know there was any debate about it, actually.

Around here (FL) strawberries are super cheap and still not worth buying. I just don't like Festival or Charlie varieties, so I don't even grow my own anymore.

Green beans, summer squash, and zucchini are being promoted, but don't seem all that cheap to me.

The cheapest prices I've seen is in the flyer we got about the grand opening in our area of an Aldi's. But it's about 10 miles from me so I don't know if it's worth the trip. I've never been to one, I need to check it out. We also have Save-a-Lot close by and I frequently go there but you have to really watch because the produce can be beat up like at Walmart. I also make a trip to the local produce farm every so often, their prices are reasonable, but it's still a distance from our house. We have high prices here in Central Florida and it doesn't make sense since we grow so much produce in our area. I try to grow some in the garden and it helps but I can't grow everything I want all year.

Is cheapest price the only criteria? I prefer organics & they're usually a bit more $$ than conventional, but the flavor (& often texture as well) is so much better, IMPE.

Pinellas Publix has organic strawberries on sale this week 2#/$6 & they're quite good.

Trader Joe's has organic Bartlett pears in bags 2#/$3.99& they were just perfect when ripe. Their bags of organic navel oranges are 4#/$4.49 & they're awesome - I've been eating them all winter & will miss them when they're out of season.

Carol, we have only a Meijer, Walmart, Sav A Lot and Aldi. There is very little organic anything, Aldi actually has most but has a tiny produce section that is not refrigerated. The only organic item I found on sale was bananas, 69 cents a pound. I did find some sweet potatoes called "Misfits", a company that's trying to cut down on food waste and selling perfectly fine produce. The sweet potatoes were larger than "standard" and oddly shaped, but were delicious. They were $2.99 for 5 pounds, as opposed to 99 cents a pound for the perfectly shaped and sized ones.

Annie

In Northern California, our prices on some of those items are considerably higher than in Wisconsin. And some of these items probably come from the same places. I'm thinking there is a surplus of green/red/yellow peppers as they were all 2/$1 at Sprouts. Organic potatoes were 5lb/$2. Cluster tomatoes were 99c/lb as was the asparagus. It is always interesting at this time of year to see the asparagus march it's sourcing up from Mexico to SoCal, then Central, then Northern, then Oregon, then Washington. The "sale" price on whole fryers was $1.49. Chuck roasts were $4.99, so I made Julia Child's Boeuf en Daube for Sunday dinner.

I'm in Los Angeles, and what I see on sale mostly is chicken, especially chicken parts that are put in large trays. I divide up chicken thighs and freeze them in portions that I want to cook at a time. I do not pay much attention to vegetable prices as a rule and get a lot of those at farmers' markets, where the prices always seem higher. I do pay attention to pricing for vegetables/fruit begining with "A": asparagus, avocados, artichokes, and apples, however. Artichoke season is later in the year. When they are cheap, I buy a lot of them. I found Cherimoya at the farmers' market, but they were $7.50 a pound, and so I passed, even though I have no more of them on my tree. Herbs were cheap, as was celery.

That's right! Sweet bell peppers were on sale recently, as was asparagus...

Local NYC market. The usual asparagus. 5 lb box of Matzo!!! I don't need meat but that's not a bad price.

Definitely not a bad price, especially for Prime. Here bone-in strip steak is $7.99 a pound, on sale, and it's choice, not prime. Beef has gone up the last couple weeks.

Annie

Ha Sleeven - Here's what's left of my $4.99 Fairway sirloin!

Just returned from two markets today. Top Sirloin is often on sale, but our preferred cuts like filet, are rarely on sale. I did buy some lovely chuck steak at Whole Foods a few weeks ago. I don't recall the price, but it wasn't too bad. Trader Joe's has some nice beef, but we eat more fowl than than beef.

I shop around--- it depends what I'm buying. Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and occasionally Sprouts for organic produce. Costco is adding more and more, however the quantities in each package are huge and I can't really use them up before they spoil. I bought a bag of carrots without looking and got them home and realized that it was a 10lb bag! They're delicious, but how many can I eat? LOL

Lol, Foas. I did end up with 4 lbs. Looks really good. FoodSaver in 4 pieces froze three...will sous vide. I've not been shopping in a few weeks so it was easy to fill my cart...the olive bar. the olive oil bar, tried a few new cheeses. And a Mamey fruit, (what!?) new to me. and Key limes. Yellow bell peppers 1.49lb.

(big tray of micro greens from my basement 'farm' i need to harvest)

Oh, my! We have to pay a dollar for the five pounds matzah. Or two for one pound. :) It's a great loss leader, but WF mostly had different kinds of gluten free matzah-like squares. There actually isn't gluten in matzah. A celiac friend stocks up on Passover bakery goods. But there is wheat and FODMAPs. ;)

Whole Foods had a big special on dry aged beef. That doesn't make it inexpensive. :)

And a Mamey fruit, (what!?) new to me

Let it sit on your counter till it gets squooshy.

Since I'm cooking for only one person, I just buy what I need and don't shop sales unless it was what I wanted/needed. I used to when we were a family of four!

Argentinian wild red shrimp - $7.99/lb. Some people say more like lobster and I wouldn't agree with that, but definitely different and good. I almost took a picture of their "veins" to post, never seen anything like it. Constipated perhaps? I see they're on the avoid list due to bottom trawling, and that matters to me so I guess I'm glad I'm not conflicted by having them regularly available.

FOAS, we've tried Argentinian wild-caught shrimp twice ($9 or $10/lb) and were very disappointed both times.... *mushy* texture, ordinary taste. :p

Interesting. When I was cleaning them they felt a mushier than normal so I was a little concerned, but they cooked up quite meaty. I'll be trying them again throughout the week so I'll see if my opinion changes.

Ours came frozen, shell on, but already deveined (back split). BF thinks they probably washed them with something after deveining them because he said he detects a very slight chemical taste.

I have used those Argentina shrimp and think they taste more like lobster then a shrimp when butter dipped. That huge vein is roe in the shrimp, the vein lays under it. A lot of waste considering the heavy shell. They are unusually soft after còoking. My fish monger said he hears alot of complaints about texture. I have used them on and off for about a year. I always notice a much stronger smell from the opened bag and when cooking. Suspect they are not being handled carefully on the boat. None of the other kinds of shrimp have those issues. I worked in my family owned fish market for years, know fresh seafood does not smell. I will not buy the pink Argentina shrimp again.

I thought roe at first, too, thinking perhaps this species has a different color. But then about 1/3 of them had the normal orangey roe, some in addition to the dark mess, so I ruled that out. I put my nose right in them when I felt how soft they were, definitely smelled fine. Post cooking I can't swear to because the dish was heavy with garlic. Anyway if I buy them again this week and they're the same I'll post some pictures.

edit - shrimp again tonight. Yeah it's roe, or at lead not the vein. The green stays together more than the orange for some reason.

edit 2 - tonight's were mushy. Ok I think I'm done with these.

Begging pardon, but there is certainly gluten in matzoh. How can there not be, when it is essentially nothing but wheat flour? That celiac friend may be trouble...

http://www.ibsdiets.org/ibs/gluten-free-food-list/

Carol, I don't know. I thought it was because while the pre-glutens are present in the wheat, in matzah they aren't allowed to develop into gluten. It may be that because the Gliadin and Glutenin don't exacerbate her disease, there isn't enough matzah meal in the cookies (being more about eggs and starch) to matter or what. She's been doing it for a really long time, and has other autoimmune problems so is very careful about everything she eats.

The shrimp. I was tempted for a brief second. Maybe just a half lb but passed on it. I usually avoid something previously frozen as i would rather buy wild caught frozen then use as i want. Control of the thaw.

Researching is all over the place. Some love and some hate. About 50/50. Some swear by TJ's as it is sold frozen. Guessing our local market has to thaw 5 or 10lb blocks. That thaw may affect the texture though some swear it needs to be cooked at half the time of the usual shrimp for best texture. Never boiled. But another puts it in a boil straight from the freezer...i'll pass.