Best Food Bargains

[ruthcooks]

So here I am back in Tennessee, after a 7 year hiatus in Pennsylvania, and wondering how the food prices compare. I'm further south from Nashville than I lived before, in a small city.

My first venture to Kroger, my old standby from the 25 years I spent in the Nashville area previously, found me pleasantly surprised overall in spite of the 8% food tax here (and none in PA). I spent about $132 which I know would have cost me over $200 in PA, and found a shelf of items with ridiculously low prices.

The stock checker explained that these were discontinued items, and I quickly nabbed the two $4.99 quarts of Duke's Mayonnaise for 56 cents each! Made my day.

Have you found any great bargains lately?

[CaliPoutine]

The super Wal*Mart in Port Huron, MI recently lowered their prices on KA flour. Prior to the big price hike months back, it was 1.92, then it jumped up to 3.99. Its now 3.65. Still expensive though. I switched back to Gold Medal for my cakes/cookies because I dont think KA flour was making a difference for those. I still buy it for bread though.

The supermarket in my small town( 4,000) has some great deals most of the time. They have a reduced rack for produce and bread. I bought a bag of hot cross buns for 1.00( which was weird because I always thought they were an Easter thing). I made french toast from them and they were really good. A month or so back I got a huge bag of plums and apricots for 1.00 each. I made a nice pluim sauce and a vanilla apricot jam.

Grocery shopping is almost like a full time job for me.

eta: The Kroger in MI is very expensive. I only buy sale items there.

Edited August 28, 2008 by CaliPoutine (log)

[onrushpam]

Because I am obsessed with cooking a special diet for some old and/or sick dogs, I shop 3 different markets, watching the ads for what I need. In that process, I often score some good deals for human consumption.

Last week:

chicken thighs $1 lb

chuck eye steaks $3 lb.

Recently, I've found:

fresh shelled field peas (white acres, pink eyes) for $2.50 a quart, and they even had some snaps left in

Haas avocados $1 each

Asparagus $1 lb

Fabulous Easteran peaches $2 lb

Bone-in rib steaks $4 lb

Always lots of good pintos, black beans, etc. that are dried, but in the produce section and WAY better than any I've ever had

I try to shop the ads and hit the store that has the most "bang" on any given day. Wherever I go usually involves a longish drive.

Of course, I also shop our local growers' markets and spend $$$ on the really good stuff. It sure helps to fill in with the bargain buys!

[Peter the eater]

There's nothing quite like the thrill of the purchase - when you get that "right time at the right place" feeling. I love grocery shopping.

My store uses a hot pink 50%OFF sticker on items that need to sell and my retina has become highly sensitive to that hue. Not so much the baked goods or produce, more the marginal meats like giant beef tongues or goat shanks that need to be cooked or frozen within the next 48 hours. The beef in particular is woefully underaged and just gets better in my fridge with that sticker on it.

(Edit: my participle was dangling)

Edited August 28, 2008 by Peter the eater (log)

[BeeZee]

Local chain supermarket has racks (attractively located back by the restrooms ) with discontinued/dented clearance items.

Snagged some great Asian stuff (5 spice powder, thai curry simmer sauce, $1.50-1.99) and raspberry chipotle dipping sauce (will be great for grilled chicken breasts $1.99). Couple of these things retailed for $3.99 (and I saw them at another market). So got about $10 of goodies for about $5. Since I only cook for 2, that's enough to make me happy.

[BeeZee]

OK, today I bought heirloom tomatoes at an Asian supermarket for 99 cents/lb...they are on sale at Whole Foods for $2.99/lb

[racheld]

Ruth---I'm so pleased to hear of your coup, but PLEASE don't use the words "Duke's Mayonnaise" and "discontinued" in the same sentence. Say it ain't so!!!

[nakji]

Every Saturday, my husband goes to a local market to get our produce. He texts me at work what I've come to call the "market report" which I then proceed to torture my co-workers with, since they all live too far away to justify the train fare. All prices are fairly cheap for Japan - especially the fruit, which I generally consider a luxury. (100 yen = 91 cents US, according to xe.com)

One week he got fresh raspberries for 150 yen a basket.

Last week mangoes were 4 for 250 yen.

This week he got a kilo of bananas for 150 yen; white asparagus (2 bunches) for 48 yen; Nectarines 6 for 250 yen; tomatoes 250 yen for 1 kilo; potatoes 1 kilo for 130 yen; a pineapple for 200 yen; and a 250g bag of salted peanuts for 150 yen. The cherry on the cake was 7 avocados for 200 yen. Lemons were 120 yen for a bag (They're usually 100 yen each). So - guacamole anyone?

Basically, he buys whatever's cheap on Saturday, I get home, take stock, and decide what staples and meat to get for the rest of the week to match what he's bought.

[Kerry Beal]

I think one of my best 'bargains' was found in Costco. I was just glancing at the strip loins, 6 to a package and noticed that 3 of the packages were priced wrong. I think it was a matter of a decimal out of place so they were about $2.90 each instead of around $29.00. Snatched them all, worried the whole way up to the cash that they wouldn't allow me to have them at that price, but they rang them right through with out blinking.

[jayt90]

Best all around tea Ive found is at Lee Valley Tools: Ceylon, 7oz for $7. It is mountain area tea, and tips and buds. It would be 3x as much in a tea shoppe. I suspect Mr. Lee is a tea aficionado. Apparently only in Canada.

Kerrys steaks are a steal, and better to take em, so the meat dept. isn't in trouble.

Like Peter, I buy last day of sale steaks, but only AAA , or Sterling Silver, thick and well marbled. A little extra time seems to help .

Edited August 31, 2008 by jayt90 (log)

[Lisa Shock]

There's a Grocery Outlet about 5 miles from my house. Their stock is random, but, whatever they have is cheap. I've gotten some excellent wines there for under $5 a bottle, in addition to food.

We've got Sprouts markets all over town. They get loads of good produce, and occasionally it will be dirt cheap because it has an issue. Last year, a large number of artichokes got frostbite that only affected the appearance of the outer leaves. At 6 large ones for a dollar, we enjoyed the trimmed hearts in many dishes.

Also, 99 Cents Only carries some foods, including produce. Recent scores include 10lb bags of Yukon Gold potatoes, 5lb bags of red onions, and whole watermelons -all at 99 cents.