Prepping for the week

[dragnlaw]

After shopping yesterday where I ran in for some Tomato Paste (in a tube) and fresh parsley and $54.65 later... I came home with
Brussel Sprouts
Bean Sprouts
Baby Carrots
Sweet Potato
Cauliflower
2 mini tins of Coconut Milk (I already have 4 large cans )
2 boxes of Stove Top Stuffing
Pastrami
Bavarian Rye Bread
Peanut Butter Pretzel cubes
& a dipping sauce for dumplings I'd never seen before

So today I went up stairs where a sink is close to the stove and parboiled the bean sprouts (for salad and stir fry) I really find just barely a minute and then cool them - they don't go mushy so fast.
I also topped & tailed then parboiled some green beans bought last week.
and a few leftover snow peas as well.
I also did the Brussels.

so along with some rice I have in the fridge, leftover mashers from sihepherd's pie, roasted potatoes from the pork loin...

Don't think I need to do any actual cooking this week. Other than reheat. I even have tinrecipe's "Charlie" all-purpose stir fry sauce ready to go.
Ah yes, I need to slice up that dry roast too.

 

[HeyItsSara]

Do you only shop at one store? I shop at several plus I get stuff on Amazon too.

 

[pepperhead212]

That's some expensive tomato paste and parsley!

Last week, on the fist day of lidl's sale, I spent $56 something there, which is more than I can remember spending on food, but I had a list, which included deals they had on meats and seafood, which I rarely find this many deals on at the same time! I had q bunch of vacuum sealed bags that went into the freezer. I also got 2 more of those 5 lb bags of WW flour, which is still $2.00, and I only got more because much of our wheat comes from Canada, which might rise, due to the tariff war. If it was fall, or early winter (only the last day now! Yay!), I'd have bought more, since I could store it on my back porch!

The unbl white is still $2.39 there, right next to the WW.

 

[caseydog]

Do you only shop at one store? I shop at several plus I get stuff on Amazon too.

I buy my staple items at Walmart. The WallyWorld here in Frisco is pretty nice, and prices are good. When I stock up on meats and finer foods, I go to H-E-B, which is a Texas/Mexico only store chain.

The Walmart here has a lot of Hispanic customers, and they buy lot of fresh produce, and expect good stuff. So, the produce is usually decent. Culturally, they like a lot of sugar, too, which is their dietary weakness. For older white Texans (like me), the weakness is fatty red meat.

The nicest thing about Walmart is that it is 1.9 miles from home, so I can go buy fresh produce the day I plan to use it. That eliminates a lot of food waste.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

I buy from several places. My neighbourhood no longer gets flyers and I cannot and will not search on-line flyers. For me it is a complete waste of time and energy. I also don't like to go out specifically for one thing, although I have many times.
For example I go to the gym, on leaving, turn right (away from home) and go to NoFrills IF I need quite a few things. They usually have the best prices all round and good nice looking produce. Walmart is just down the street from NoFrills and often have very competitive prices - but it looks horrid and I truly can't stand shopping for groceries there. If I'm there for another reason and I need milk, well, yes, of course I get it there.
IF I only need one or two things I have 2 choices on my way home. Fortino's is closest, waaay more expensive, good looking produce, has a lot more variety and less common things. Other one is Sobey's still on my way but not my preferred route home. Less expensive than Fortino's.
Sadly, yesterday's shopping was on the way home from the gym and 'just running in for tomato paste and parsley'... and the die was cast.

 

[blissful]

There's an outlet store, junk food grocery outlet. I think it is new since I just heard about it recently, so it might be a year old.
We stopped there last month and found pretzels, 20 snack sized bags/box, $2/box so we bought 4 boxes and he only charged us for 3 out of 4 because that is a case. There are hundreds of snack foods, sweet or savory and meat sticks and frozen food/meat/icecream, and coffees and 90% of it we don't eat but if you did, it would be a good deal for you.
Well they have a 15% off everything in the store sale going this week so we went to get more pretzels. The white flour they are made of is enriched and really it's crap but mr bliss really likes pretzels.
I saw these little boxes of Godiva dark chocolate raspberry bars 24 bars to a box. The boxes retail for $108.00 at Godiva, or $92.00 on sale right now. They are expired as of september. The outlet has them for $10 per box, 2.2 lbs, 24 bars. I couldn't believe it. And they tasted perfect and looked perfect and they are delicious. Needless to say we bought some! It was a steal.

 

[caseydog]

I buy from several places. My neighbourhood no longer gets flyers and I cannot and will not search on-line flyers. For me it is a complete waste of time and energy. I also don't like to go out specifically for one thing, although I have many times.
For example I go to the gym, on leaving, turn right (away from home) and go to NoFrills IF I need quite a few things. They usually have the best prices all round and good nice looking produce. Walmart is just down the street from NoFrills and often have very competitive prices - but it looks horrid and I truly can't stand shopping for groceries there. If I'm there for another reason and I need milk, well, yes, of course I get it there.
IF I only need one or two things I have 2 choices on my way home. Fortino's is closest, waaay more expensive, good looking produce, has a lot more variety and less common things. Other one is Sobey's still on my way but not my preferred route home. Less expensive than Fortino's.
Sadly, yesterday's shopping was on the way home from the gym and 'just running in for tomato paste and parsley'... and the die was cast.

The Walmart in Frisco is different than most Walmarts I've been to. It is clean, nice and has pretty good meats and produce. It is very multi-cultural, so I can get a lot of things there, especially hispanic foods. No security guards at the door, just senior citizen greeters would couldn't stop a shoplifter if they had to, but they don't have to.

CD

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I do most f my grocery shopping on line. It prevents me from spending $300 on impulse items. I usually order from Walmart, or the local Vons/Albertsons, but if Wallly World has the same items, they are cheaper. I can also order from Amazon, but it is difficult to get everything I want in the quantities required to get free delivery because they have three different "food carts," Amazon, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods, and never the twain shall meet. Sometimes, if I am on my way home from a doctor's appointment and I need bread or milk for instance, I can stop at Grocery Outlet Bargain Center, which is just two blocks from my house, with blinders applied.
Also, I like to buy my meats from Omaha Steaks. They are more expensive, but you can't find meat of that quality in any supermarket or grocery store.

 

[dragnlaw]

I was in a Walmart in Quebec, unfortunately not near my place. Their grocery department was amazing. I was very impressed!
DIL shops and orders on line a lot. I just can't do it. Too old school I guess. I like to "see" what I'm getting, not look at stock pictures.

 

[Kathleen]

We use big box stores for some products: Sodas, laundry and cleaning supplies, some meats, rotisserie chicken!, some produce, etc. One of the places we go even has a nice deli. I love Aldis or Lidl for milk, eggs, etc. Walmart is a "once in a while place" for a few items we cannot easily find elsewhere. We go to the regular supermarkets (Weis, SuperFresh, Giant, etc.) to pick up anything else needed based on their weekly flyers. But...I select one based on the flyers. I don't hopscotch around. Last of all, we will go to some specialty stores like the Asian, Latino, or African market if we have something needed there.

We don't typically make online orders. I like to select things on my own although we have ordered online in the past for various reasons.

 

[HeyItsSara]

i live on the block of a big grocery store but the prices aren't low. I mostly shop the sales. I also get a Fresh Direct order most weeks, again sale items. I go to Trader Joe a few times a month to get whatever they have that's good.

Amazon Subscribe and save is handy for other items.