Cheap Shops--The Thrifty Shopper

[elalacran]

Traditionally with the Superbowl weekend coming up, there were great deals on snack foods. Not much this year.

Potato chips are way up in price while the quantity has dropped, and the best you can do is $2/10-11 oz of Lays. This is the price at Walgreens and United.

United has Wolf brand Chili for $1/15 oz can. And guess what! Sunday's newspaper had a coupon for $.75 off three!

You have to stay alert on Wolf Chili prices. Last winter Wal-Mart had Wolf at that price for weeks in the 15 oz can while the smaller can was 30-50% higher!

How do you eat chili? Sure you can heat and serve it in a bowl with crackers or chips, but I like to use it sparingly on whole potatoes. Crack the spud and put in a dollop of chili. I put it on corn meal mush, not mixed in but to the side. Often I'll empty a can in a small pan and add either diced fresh tomatoes or a can of diced tomatoes or just tomato sauce, along with whatever I have on hand, like cilantro, a little onion, jalapeno for more zip, whatever. Slice some cheap franks and add to the mix. (Don't let your ritzy, yuppie, or vegan friends see you do any of this; your status will forever be impaired.)

Hate to reveal this, but if hungry I'll eat chili straight from the can cold, with crackers. Awful habit. Do as I say and not as I do.

Lowe's has some very good deals this week. 5 lb bags of spuds for $.88. (That's 44 cents for 5 lbs! While other stores are getting close to $4 for 10 lbs.) Small avocados are 5/$1, and yelow onions at a respectable .33/lb. Oranges 8/$1. (Amigos had oranges at 10/$1 last week as an unadvertised special; haven't been by to see what unadvertised surprises Amigos has now.)

You can find a 30oz bag of store brand tortilla chips for $2.50 at Lowe's. Better than paying $2 for 11 oz. 11 oz?! Yep, now most bags of Tortilla chips are downsized from 16 to 15 to 13 to 11 oz as the per bag price has increased to $2 or more.

Lowe's also has a 24 oz jar of Pace for $2.50, and there was a 75 cent off two coupon in Sunday's newspaper. So if you can get two 24 oz jars for $4.25 at Lowe's with the coupon.

We are victims to a fearsome inflation rate at the grocery store. But we don't have to be as much of a victim as they want to make us!

[elalacran]

Amigos has roma tomatoes on the ripe side @ $.50/lb and cukes 3/$1. Not huge cukes but okay.

[elalacran]

This week -- to end Tuesday Feb 21 -- Lowe's has white bread, 24 oz loaves, for 50 cents; iceburg lettuce .69/head, jalapenos @ .59/lb, cabbage .33/lb, roma tomatoes .69/lb, surefine cheese (I like sharp cheddar) @ $1.67/8 oz. Also chicken breasts @ $1.29/lb; usually I pay .89/lb or .99/lb for chicken breasts; hope this is not a sign of higer prices on chicken too.

United has apsaragus @ $1.29/lb, romas @ .55/lb, and pork sirloin chops @ .95/lb. Also Food Club mayo @ $2.75/30 oz jar.

That last is not cheap. I am totally cool with Surefine or Food Club mayo and in fact consider it superior to name brands, but the price of mayo and salad dressing has gone too high for me. Unless it is under $2/jar, I am out of the running.

Instead of mayo I use mustard which is cheaper, plus it contains turmeric (more than mustard actually) and turmeric is a healthy spice to consume. Mayo is delicious--when I have some I put it on everything -- but one cannot say it is healthy.

Potato chips and now corn chips have gotten too high so I no longer buy them; I get popcorn instead.

Food inflation has been appalling. I'm talking 20%, 40% and higher per year on many staple foods. Previously processed foods were shrinking, then they combined that with price increases.

I am thinking about planting a garden, starting with collards, lettuce and chard. Collards are great spring and fall plants because they are freeze resistant and also heat resistant.

[elalacran]

Cheese & crackers. Lowe's recently has 8 oz packages of sharp cheddar cheese @ .99; that was a good buy, $2/pound. I remember back in the 1990s buying 5 lb blocks of cheese at Sam's for about $8; that too was a good buy, and imo one of the few good buys at Sam's.

People shop at Sam's to buy in quantity, and they think they're getting a good deal when in fact they are not. They are not comparing the unit price of what they buy with the best sale price found per item elsewhere. Just my opinion; Sam's is high priced.

Generic crackers had been .99 at Family Dollar and Dollar General for some time. Lately the price has been creeping up, to $1.15 then to $1.25. Saturday I paid $1.50 for a 16 oz box of generic crackers. That's near 50% annualized inflation, folks!

[elalacran]

'Cept for tomatoes and 3/$1 bell peppers at United and Sprouts, all groceries are higher than a cat's back this week, so go on a crash diet and wait to shop until next Wednesday!

[elalacran]

Lowe's does have tort chips @ 1.67 for the 11 oz bag. I was slightly tempted and if it were 14 oz would have grabbed it.

I can buy a nice bag of corn tortilas for under $1 at Mrs. Baird's day old store. I am thinking about making my own tort chips from those.

[elalacran]

This week Feb 29-Mar 6--

Lowe's has chicken breasts @ .99/lb. Just peel off the skins and freeze what you don't want to cook now. Quick defrost in the microwave and pop em into boiling water or skillet and you have a low fat high protein meal ready ASAP. I like to toss a couple of jalapenos, some carrots, spuds, poultry seasoning, oregano, rice, whatever else I have on hand into the boiling water for a nice chicken stew. When it's cooked a bit I take a couple of forks and separate the chicken from the bone. Then eat. Total time is 45 min to an hour. Time spent working on it is a lot less, maybe 5 minutes. This competes very well IMO with fastfood and is far cheaper and healthier and you burn up less gasoline.

Also Lowe's has asparagus @ 1.50/lb, Surefine salad dressing/mayo @ 2.49/30 oz jar (high, but everything's high these days), celery @ .89 stalk, surefine cheese (incl the sharp cheddar I like) @ 1.50/8 oz piece (also high, but that's only $3/pound and that is less than the usual $4-5 per pound).

United has big tomatoes @ .67/lb, XL eggs @ 1.50 dz, and radishes @ .333/bunch.

Sprouts has grapefruit @ .19 each, lg eggs @ 1.50/dz, and, drum roll, asparagus @ .99/lb. I find Sprouts quite high-priced generally, a yuppie upscale feel-good store for doctors and nurses to shop at coming off duty, but each week Sprouts typically has at least one thing that is a good buy. If I am passing near I'll stop, but will buy only those bargains.

[elalacran]

Forgot to mention that Lowe's has Surfine potato chips @ 1.50 for 11 oz. So far I've resisted temptation.

[elalacran]

Went by Wal-Mart on 4th & R Wed. They had softening roma tomatoes @ .69/lb.

Gripe: powdered milk is about $19 for a 4 lb box at WM. Before buying that, I check to see the price at United; sometimes there is a $4 difference in the 4 lb box.

Another good week for dieting. Way prices are, thrifty shoppers will be below 10% bodyfat by summer.

United has chicken breasts @ .96/lb. Green onions @ 3 bunches for $1. (I don't like to buy green onions at United; they are too dilligent at trimming the green onions so that you don't get much green per bunch; by contrast, Lowe's green onions are a better buy at the same price; less eye appeal to ritzified buyers means greater value.) Black seedless grapes are @ 1.27/lb.--not bad; but in the last few years I've been crunching and eating the seeds in seeded grapes--more nutrients that way. For those who buy good tasting crap, Red Baron pizzas are @ 3.33, which is below the $4 advertised price at Family Dollar. Food Club potato chips are 1.67 for 9-10.5 oz. That's it for United.

Lowe's-- Carrots @ .50/lb. Jalapenos @ .79/lb. Green onions for .44/bunch, which less trimmed might be a better deal than United's .333. Yellow onions .333/lb. Cheap generic toothpaste and toothbrushes for $1; gonna get me some (does price matter? I think most any fluoridated toothpaste will do about as well as any other, though some may be more abrasive.)

[elalacran]

I bought a 4 lb package of powdered milk at United for $16. Wal-Mart wanted nearly $3 more.

Often, anything in a package or can is cheaper at Wal-Mart. The above is an exception.

Lowe's has a great sale this week on produce. Cabbage .5/lb, garlic 6 pods for $1, celery .79, oranges ten cents each, tomatoes @, I think, ..69, yellow onions @ 4 lbs/$1.