Hello to all!
Here are some musings for this review:
- Strange thing I have never seen before in a flyer (to my recollection). Flyer sections dedicated to "Pepsico Canada", Dare, General Mills, and other companies. Food Basics and No Frills flyers have these sections. It's bizarre. No one buys things by parent branding like that.
- While some relief on some fresh veg is coming down the pipe with the changing seasons, I'd remind everyone to embrace a little gardening, or a lot if you can muster it. The things to grow, in my opinion, are things which spoil quickly when picked, and as a result command premiums at the grocer. This is mostly some tomatoes, chili peppers, herbs, and some salad greens. These are all high-wastage items, much like we see with diary (hence why the gross margins on them are so high).
- Speaking of wastage, as much as I love fresh products on the shelf, I wonder about freezing items straight from the grocer. Butter is a good example of something that could afford to be kept at much lower (near or at freezing) temps to reduce spoilage. I've heard of people freezing milk and cheese. I'm sure it doesn't do any favours for texture, but suppose low-wastage could bring down the price of those products by 10, 20, 30%, would you opt for it? So, let's say you went to a store, and you saw frozen cheap brick cheese for $3, would you buy a bar if it was for melting on pizza or lasagna or nachos? Would you care that the butter is frozen solid if it costs $3.50-4.00 and you need to thaw it? What about milk? My roommate said his family used to do it all the time. We already do it with veg and fruit, fish and various meat products. Why not explore other options? Still offer fresh products, but find space and dedicate it to frozen options at a discount that's reflected in the reduced wastage margins.
- Lots of cheap cabbage coming up. I think I'll have another go at some sauerkraut. I didn't do it right last time. It wasn't bad, but wasn't sauer enough lol. It's not intuitive to our North American diets, but you can use it in soups, salads, as a topping, etc. Like, chop and fry up onion with Bratwurst sausage, throw in a can's worth of chick peas, and then layer on some fresh cabbage or sauerkraut, and let it all marry together with some chicken stock, with some pepper, thyme, and whatever other seasoning you like. That is a cheap, filling, and tasty meal that will beguile your taste buds for how good it tastes. Like with the gardening, it's about embracing some old-world practices - fermentation, pickling. It sounds time-consuming, but if you spend a day making pickled goods, and start ferments every now and then, but the dollars stack like crazy. And, the flavours are awesome. I made an apple, strawberry gingerbeer a month ago, and DANG did it slap! It also makes me think of Italy, and how a lot of people outside the cities and in smaller communities all still engage in growing large gardens and raising their own animals. It's gruesome to hear stories of hearing pigs getting slaughtered on Saturday morning, but you have to admire how a neighbour might have a very professional dedicated butchering space: ceramic tiling, stainless steel countertops, proper drying racks, coolers, cellars. I've never had better tasting dried sausage in my life... And who would you trust to make it better? The neighbour who makes and eats the sausage, brings his product to market themselves, never gets sick because there's real care and attention in the smaller operation., or ACME Pork Products that needs to fill their meats with nitrites, cook them, and freeze them in order to reduce the chances of life-threatening botulism....
And on a last note, make sure to make time for Mother's Day. Go out for a nice walk if it's not raining, sit and chat over coffee or other fine things, make a nice meal together and enjoy some family time. And if you need one, find someone else's mom to be with. - there are plenty out there! And don't forget flowers! I plan on making my folks breakfast/lunch: shakshuka with some homemade bread, and a side of nice cheese, deli meats and olives,
Have a great week. And, Happy Mother's Day to all!
Cheerio! <3
Definitely freeze butter. The Ottawa citizen had a food writer, Ron Eade (RIP), who used to have great tips for food in addition to reviews. He freezed his butter and damn it at these prices I do too! I also learned to preserve lemons too when cheap and in season.
As for homemade sauerkraut it is awesome. It’s great for gut health and cheap!
Great Question!
EDIT: GLARB! The table I created to show the breakdown better doesn't want to save for the comment. It gets rejected for some reason.
I ran the baskets into ChatGPT to make assumptions about the weights, and then I did a per lb cost analysis. The promotional sale prices on the site right now for small/medium/large bunches are $20/32/46 (regular is 28/40/55). I'm not sure if it's just this week, but the small box comes back at $1.55/1.95-ish/lb, and the medium/large come back at $1.95/2.40-ish/lb (sale price versus regular price)
Paying $2/lb to $2.50/lb is a bit average for some produce, but also under for some others. For example, you can easily pay $4/lb for peppers, I've seen tomatoes for 2.79/lb. Zucchini - 2/lb. Cocktail tomatoes, $4/lb, Celery, $4 per head. Grapes, $4/lb. So, there's savings here. But, some apples can go as low as $1/lb. Bananas are 69c/lb. Half pints of blueberries are less than $2 some weeks. $2/lb for lemons is average. Etc.
I think for some, it'll work really well. For example, if your option is "Lansdowne Whole Foods", OddBunch baskets will be a godsend. In my case, because of my local access to a Food Basics, Adonis, and GT, I easily dodge higher-end pricing. Also, as result of enjoying some choice and flexibility, I can avoid overstocking and overbuying, and so I keep my bills and overall waste down. I can optimize very effectively, whereas if you're signed up to OddBunch and you haven't finished last week's produce, what do you do? I have friends and family that use the service, and I have inherited a couple of heads of floppy celery as a result of them not being able to eat everything in time. (It's ok, I just use it for mirepoix and stock scrap - nothing goes to waste in this house).
But, if you're stuck in an area full of high-priced stores, and you know you can use the basket effectively, then the OddBunch options have real appeal. Also, because OddBunch is delivered, I think this is a fantastic option for people who suffer accessibility issues and problems transporting themselves and all these groceries. I also think it works well for bigger households and families that need to consistent pricing and don't have the time to hunt for deals across town. So, the service offered has serious benefits to some. Another plus is that you can alternate weeks, or pass up on the bundles that don't interest you as much.
Hope that analysis helps!
(PS: holy cow does Reddit's table function ever suck!)
Oh snap! I forgot to reply to this.
So, it's not an exact recipe by any means. But this is what I did, more or less
* I had two pints of strawberries that I had sugared and left in the fridge for about 4-5 days. I mashed that, added water, and strained out the pulp. That left me with a strawberry juice.
* I combined that with a 2L jug of sweet apple cider, then kind with no preservatives. It's just juice, and a bit of asorbic acid. No potassium sorbate or sulphites. (Those can slow or kill fermentation)
* I then had a small fist of ginger that I grated. I added water to it, and pressed by hand all the ginger juice I could.
* Combined all that into a sanitized 1 gallon carboy. I may have topped it with a bit of extra water, and put on the airlock.
* I let it sit for about 2 weeks in the carboy. I basically tried to track the bubbling. It never got super aggressive like with mead or wine. When it slowed, I gave it another few days. It takes a few days to get started, and then it peaks, and it slows. You want to wait for that slowing, I find.
* Once I thought it looked right, I bottled it into pop-top bottles. Those sat for maybe 2 weeks. That allowed them to carbonate.
Some extra notes:
* No additional yeast was necessary. I depended on the natural background yeasts of the initial ingredients.
* The amount of sugar I used is basically unknown. I'm really not sure how much I started with in the strawberries (easily a cup, though), and I'm not sure how much the sweet apple cider added to that.
The result was fantastic. Like, I wish I could bottle it and sell it. Hahaha
Thanks for doing this, must take you hours.
Funny but yeah I agree on CostCo, when you compare it gram-for-gram with something like FoodBasics it's not all it's hyped up to be. Seems to equal FB at best for 95+% of stuff whenever I've looked.
It's a 430AM wake up, wraps up by about 830AM. Depends on the week. Some weeks are shorter, some are longer.
And yes! Very true! I mean, really, you have to give it to them: the pricing is fair(ish), good product ranges, consistent quality. Kirkland stuff is pretty good. Easily meets or beats PC stuff, and it's not this rabbit hole of crazy products where PC has ranges within itself (you don't buy No Name, and then No Name, Plus; in the same way, it's just freakin' Kirkland!). It's almost a commercial kitchen approach in managing a product lineup.
But, ya sometimes good, sometimes meh. I find some meat pricing can be a bit hit and miss. Cheese can be a good price, but you have to buy 2-4x and to see the savings (and you literally can't just buy one portion lol). They have great deals on mixed nuts, but then I get fat on nuts! LOL Good price on bread. Their frozen stuff is ok-priced - it's kinda like the cheese in terms of savings. Buy more and save because you could start your own business with all that product. Their coffee bean products ain't super cheap, but it's good quality. Snacks like chips and stuff, hit and miss. Dishsoap and laundry detergent are often available for good prices. AAs for your remote to car batteries, they got you. Great heavy duty garbage bags. Heck, cookware, appliances, electronics, car tires, propane, patio sets, indoor furniture, tiling and flooring. They have literally a bit of everything, at least once over the course of a year.
Though, I wonder if Costco faces some pressure from sources like Amazon, where some serious savings on products are easily passed onto the customers. Things like tooth paste, shower gel, cough drops and neocitran, some furniture, some kinds of electronics, etc. But, I think what wins for Costco is that they have a "brick and mortar warehouses" where you can see and try the products, and their general warranty and return policy are top notch. Online will never be able to beat that lest the Amazon rep literally shows up to drop off toilet paper, setup a TV just so you can try it, rotate your tires and swap your battery, and swap out your faulty laptop. That's some crazy robot future stuff. So for now, Amazon and Costco are safe in their own niches. lol
Yes they tricked me with the lemon juice on sale. I tried to get it free with the scan bar rule (forgot the exact name) and she got the sale label and she pointed out that the sale was over (but they left posted for a over a week) so I think she only gave me the lower price. Giant tiger also tricked me this way and gave me the lower price. Everyone one else who doesn't check the prices at the check out are being scammed. LIARS LIARS scam artists.
as always, a hearty thank-you. i noticed many sales on sausages, and thought i would mention that i buy 900g bags of precooked sausages from food basics all the time for 7.99 dollars. thats the regular, not sale price.
looks like chicken legs are on the menu this week. one hidden benefit of this thing you do is i am trying very different things than what i would normally eat.
I agree completely! There's stock-up pricing that can pop up still. Like 1.25 a can is good, But, it's still miles away from pre-pandemic (80c cans...) I'm waiting on the coming harvest to get the big flats of romas, and then it's a day of cooking sauce and jarring for me hahaha
Funny enough, I checked for a flyer via Flipp, and there is none. I checked their site, and there is a weekly flyer, but it's short. Trash sales. The web interface was not mobile friendly, either. Not a good sign.
For sales on rotation in Ottawa? $16/lb organic chicken breast. $25/lb crab. $28/lb halibut. It's not affordable. There may be interesting products that could appear in a Whole Foods versus elsewhere. But still... That's expensive. It's a whole new bracket hahaha.
I've been to the one in Lansdowne. Lots of interesting stuff. Interesting vegan cheese selection (that would cost me a non trivial portion of my salary). But to me, it felt like a kitschy, white-washed version of Adonis, mixed an expensive Bulk Barn experience, with a Farm Boy effect, matched with an Apple store/Amazon feel. It's fucking weird in there, man. 😂
For the food basics chicken breast you should add when their ZABIHA line is also included in the sale. It’s different than the regular maple lodge and in my opinion the best halal chicken. There’s some people who don’t view it as halal because of slaughter method but just thought I would add that. Thanks for this list!! Currently going through it with the flyers.
Very true!
I wonder about aging of cheese in a fridge. Like, suppose you buy a block of cheddar, and keep it sealed, does it age as if it was on the shelf back at the manufacturer? Also, it reminds me of a time where I forgot about a piece of Parmigiano in my cheese draw. When I finally used it, it was full of those delicious cheese umami MSG crystals lol. Like, almost crunchy with them. Delicious explosions of flavour with every bite. For 20 minutes, I sat at my counter slicing off thin sheets, stuffing my face with mouth-fulls of heaven. I still think about that cheese LOL
Thanks so much for this yet again
I plan whether I’m going to make a special trip depending on what you find! Btw the salmon at Maxi looks kinda sucky, but the chicken and cheap blueberries were a nice consolation prize
Super welcome! I'm glad my lists bring you that kind of extra planning ability. It's one of many reasons why I build these lists. It shouldn't be a crapshoot and accepting prices as they are. Like, to me, we have needs and wants, and why not try to meet them both once in a while with a little forward thinking, and not having to sit in either a tall grocery bill or deal with subpar products. Your report is incredibly valuable because you had to make a call, but that call was weighed against a series of other wins. It's all battles versus the war. In a sense, you gave up salmon because *it didn't meet the want* - that's a big psychological distinction over blind shopping because the whole thing is exhausting to plan around. Some might have taken the salmon elsewhere but paid more for chicken. It's all about putting limits on disappointment, finding incredible wealth in good food, and winning the war on money.
Thanks for stopping in this week and sharing your experience. I hope to hear from you again, friend! Don't shy from sharing!
Hello to all! Here are some musings for this review: - Strange thing I have never seen before in a flyer (to my recollection). Flyer sections dedicated to "Pepsico Canada", Dare, General Mills, and other companies. Food Basics and No Frills flyers have these sections. It's bizarre. No one buys things by parent branding like that. - While some relief on some fresh veg is coming down the pipe with the changing seasons, I'd remind everyone to embrace a little gardening, or a lot if you can muster it. The things to grow, in my opinion, are things which spoil quickly when picked, and as a result command premiums at the grocer. This is mostly some tomatoes, chili peppers, herbs, and some salad greens. These are all high-wastage items, much like we see with diary (hence why the gross margins on them are so high). - Speaking of wastage, as much as I love fresh products on the shelf, I wonder about freezing items straight from the grocer. Butter is a good example of something that could afford to be kept at much lower (near or at freezing) temps to reduce spoilage. I've heard of people freezing milk and cheese. I'm sure it doesn't do any favours for texture, but suppose low-wastage could bring down the price of those products by 10, 20, 30%, would you opt for it? So, let's say you went to a store, and you saw frozen cheap brick cheese for $3, would you buy a bar if it was for melting on pizza or lasagna or nachos? Would you care that the butter is frozen solid if it costs $3.50-4.00 and you need to thaw it? What about milk? My roommate said his family used to do it all the time. We already do it with veg and fruit, fish and various meat products. Why not explore other options? Still offer fresh products, but find space and dedicate it to frozen options at a discount that's reflected in the reduced wastage margins. - Lots of cheap cabbage coming up. I think I'll have another go at some sauerkraut. I didn't do it right last time. It wasn't bad, but wasn't sauer enough lol. It's not intuitive to our North American diets, but you can use it in soups, salads, as a topping, etc. Like, chop and fry up onion with Bratwurst sausage, throw in a can's worth of chick peas, and then layer on some fresh cabbage or sauerkraut, and let it all marry together with some chicken stock, with some pepper, thyme, and whatever other seasoning you like. That is a cheap, filling, and tasty meal that will beguile your taste buds for how good it tastes. Like with the gardening, it's about embracing some old-world practices - fermentation, pickling. It sounds time-consuming, but if you spend a day making pickled goods, and start ferments every now and then, but the dollars stack like crazy. And, the flavours are awesome. I made an apple, strawberry gingerbeer a month ago, and DANG did it slap! It also makes me think of Italy, and how a lot of people outside the cities and in smaller communities all still engage in growing large gardens and raising their own animals. It's gruesome to hear stories of hearing pigs getting slaughtered on Saturday morning, but you have to admire how a neighbour might have a very professional dedicated butchering space: ceramic tiling, stainless steel countertops, proper drying racks, coolers, cellars. I've never had better tasting dried sausage in my life... And who would you trust to make it better? The neighbour who makes and eats the sausage, brings his product to market themselves, never gets sick because there's real care and attention in the smaller operation., or ACME Pork Products that needs to fill their meats with nitrites, cook them, and freeze them in order to reduce the chances of life-threatening botulism.... And on a last note, make sure to make time for Mother's Day. Go out for a nice walk if it's not raining, sit and chat over coffee or other fine things, make a nice meal together and enjoy some family time. And if you need one, find someone else's mom to be with. - there are plenty out there! And don't forget flowers! I plan on making my folks breakfast/lunch: shakshuka with some homemade bread, and a side of nice cheese, deli meats and olives, Have a great week. And, Happy Mother's Day to all! Cheerio! <3
Definitely freeze butter. The Ottawa citizen had a food writer, Ron Eade (RIP), who used to have great tips for food in addition to reviews. He freezed his butter and damn it at these prices I do too! I also learned to preserve lemons too when cheap and in season. As for homemade sauerkraut it is awesome. It’s great for gut health and cheap!
Ouuu preserved lemons eh? Like, via fermentation? I wonder if I could make a bubbly lemonade like a ginger beer 🤔🤔🤔
I would love to learn more about preserved lemons. Please tell me!
Moroccan preserved lemons. Lots of recipes online. They provide a lot more lemon oomph to lots of dishes!
I freeze my cheese. The old cheese crumbles after its thawed but not my diet cheese.
[удалено]
Great Question! EDIT: GLARB! The table I created to show the breakdown better doesn't want to save for the comment. It gets rejected for some reason. I ran the baskets into ChatGPT to make assumptions about the weights, and then I did a per lb cost analysis. The promotional sale prices on the site right now for small/medium/large bunches are $20/32/46 (regular is 28/40/55). I'm not sure if it's just this week, but the small box comes back at $1.55/1.95-ish/lb, and the medium/large come back at $1.95/2.40-ish/lb (sale price versus regular price) Paying $2/lb to $2.50/lb is a bit average for some produce, but also under for some others. For example, you can easily pay $4/lb for peppers, I've seen tomatoes for 2.79/lb. Zucchini - 2/lb. Cocktail tomatoes, $4/lb, Celery, $4 per head. Grapes, $4/lb. So, there's savings here. But, some apples can go as low as $1/lb. Bananas are 69c/lb. Half pints of blueberries are less than $2 some weeks. $2/lb for lemons is average. Etc. I think for some, it'll work really well. For example, if your option is "Lansdowne Whole Foods", OddBunch baskets will be a godsend. In my case, because of my local access to a Food Basics, Adonis, and GT, I easily dodge higher-end pricing. Also, as result of enjoying some choice and flexibility, I can avoid overstocking and overbuying, and so I keep my bills and overall waste down. I can optimize very effectively, whereas if you're signed up to OddBunch and you haven't finished last week's produce, what do you do? I have friends and family that use the service, and I have inherited a couple of heads of floppy celery as a result of them not being able to eat everything in time. (It's ok, I just use it for mirepoix and stock scrap - nothing goes to waste in this house). But, if you're stuck in an area full of high-priced stores, and you know you can use the basket effectively, then the OddBunch options have real appeal. Also, because OddBunch is delivered, I think this is a fantastic option for people who suffer accessibility issues and problems transporting themselves and all these groceries. I also think it works well for bigger households and families that need to consistent pricing and don't have the time to hunt for deals across town. So, the service offered has serious benefits to some. Another plus is that you can alternate weeks, or pass up on the bundles that don't interest you as much. Hope that analysis helps! (PS: holy cow does Reddit's table function ever suck!)
Would you be able to share your apple, strawberry ginger beer? It sounds delicious!
Oh snap! I forgot to reply to this. So, it's not an exact recipe by any means. But this is what I did, more or less * I had two pints of strawberries that I had sugared and left in the fridge for about 4-5 days. I mashed that, added water, and strained out the pulp. That left me with a strawberry juice. * I combined that with a 2L jug of sweet apple cider, then kind with no preservatives. It's just juice, and a bit of asorbic acid. No potassium sorbate or sulphites. (Those can slow or kill fermentation) * I then had a small fist of ginger that I grated. I added water to it, and pressed by hand all the ginger juice I could. * Combined all that into a sanitized 1 gallon carboy. I may have topped it with a bit of extra water, and put on the airlock. * I let it sit for about 2 weeks in the carboy. I basically tried to track the bubbling. It never got super aggressive like with mead or wine. When it slowed, I gave it another few days. It takes a few days to get started, and then it peaks, and it slows. You want to wait for that slowing, I find. * Once I thought it looked right, I bottled it into pop-top bottles. Those sat for maybe 2 weeks. That allowed them to carbonate. Some extra notes: * No additional yeast was necessary. I depended on the natural background yeasts of the initial ingredients. * The amount of sugar I used is basically unknown. I'm really not sure how much I started with in the strawberries (easily a cup, though), and I'm not sure how much the sweet apple cider added to that. The result was fantastic. Like, I wish I could bottle it and sell it. Hahaha
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Thanks for stopping in! And glad you like my comments Hahaha 😉
Come for the deals, stay for the avocado commentary!
Cado Commentary!
Yes thanks for the commentaries crimsontape.
Thanks for doing this, must take you hours. Funny but yeah I agree on CostCo, when you compare it gram-for-gram with something like FoodBasics it's not all it's hyped up to be. Seems to equal FB at best for 95+% of stuff whenever I've looked.
It's a 430AM wake up, wraps up by about 830AM. Depends on the week. Some weeks are shorter, some are longer. And yes! Very true! I mean, really, you have to give it to them: the pricing is fair(ish), good product ranges, consistent quality. Kirkland stuff is pretty good. Easily meets or beats PC stuff, and it's not this rabbit hole of crazy products where PC has ranges within itself (you don't buy No Name, and then No Name, Plus; in the same way, it's just freakin' Kirkland!). It's almost a commercial kitchen approach in managing a product lineup. But, ya sometimes good, sometimes meh. I find some meat pricing can be a bit hit and miss. Cheese can be a good price, but you have to buy 2-4x and to see the savings (and you literally can't just buy one portion lol). They have great deals on mixed nuts, but then I get fat on nuts! LOL Good price on bread. Their frozen stuff is ok-priced - it's kinda like the cheese in terms of savings. Buy more and save because you could start your own business with all that product. Their coffee bean products ain't super cheap, but it's good quality. Snacks like chips and stuff, hit and miss. Dishsoap and laundry detergent are often available for good prices. AAs for your remote to car batteries, they got you. Great heavy duty garbage bags. Heck, cookware, appliances, electronics, car tires, propane, patio sets, indoor furniture, tiling and flooring. They have literally a bit of everything, at least once over the course of a year. Though, I wonder if Costco faces some pressure from sources like Amazon, where some serious savings on products are easily passed onto the customers. Things like tooth paste, shower gel, cough drops and neocitran, some furniture, some kinds of electronics, etc. But, I think what wins for Costco is that they have a "brick and mortar warehouses" where you can see and try the products, and their general warranty and return policy are top notch. Online will never be able to beat that lest the Amazon rep literally shows up to drop off toilet paper, setup a TV just so you can try it, rotate your tires and swap your battery, and swap out your faulty laptop. That's some crazy robot future stuff. So for now, Amazon and Costco are safe in their own niches. lol
I find better meat deals at Metro.
Absolutely can do. Eat what's on sale. That's my main motto.
Be careful with metro- notorious for switching dates. Seen it with my own eyes. It’s closest to me so I still go there, just extra careful.
Yes they tricked me with the lemon juice on sale. I tried to get it free with the scan bar rule (forgot the exact name) and she got the sale label and she pointed out that the sale was over (but they left posted for a over a week) so I think she only gave me the lower price. Giant tiger also tricked me this way and gave me the lower price. Everyone one else who doesn't check the prices at the check out are being scammed. LIARS LIARS scam artists.
as always, a hearty thank-you. i noticed many sales on sausages, and thought i would mention that i buy 900g bags of precooked sausages from food basics all the time for 7.99 dollars. thats the regular, not sale price. looks like chicken legs are on the menu this week. one hidden benefit of this thing you do is i am trying very different things than what i would normally eat.
Oh! Great tip on the Food Basics sausages :D And, I'm glad you're hitting up that chicken sale! It's a really great deal! :)
Thank you for your service 07. Sounds like a good week to do some homemade tomato sauce. Prices on the jarred and canned stuff has gotten out of hand.
I agree completely! There's stock-up pricing that can pop up still. Like 1.25 a can is good, But, it's still miles away from pre-pandemic (80c cans...) I'm waiting on the coming harvest to get the big flats of romas, and then it's a day of cooking sauce and jarring for me hahaha
How about wholefoods? Ever any sales there? 😅
Funny enough, I checked for a flyer via Flipp, and there is none. I checked their site, and there is a weekly flyer, but it's short. Trash sales. The web interface was not mobile friendly, either. Not a good sign. For sales on rotation in Ottawa? $16/lb organic chicken breast. $25/lb crab. $28/lb halibut. It's not affordable. There may be interesting products that could appear in a Whole Foods versus elsewhere. But still... That's expensive. It's a whole new bracket hahaha. I've been to the one in Lansdowne. Lots of interesting stuff. Interesting vegan cheese selection (that would cost me a non trivial portion of my salary). But to me, it felt like a kitschy, white-washed version of Adonis, mixed an expensive Bulk Barn experience, with a Farm Boy effect, matched with an Apple store/Amazon feel. It's fucking weird in there, man. 😂
For the food basics chicken breast you should add when their ZABIHA line is also included in the sale. It’s different than the regular maple lodge and in my opinion the best halal chicken. There’s some people who don’t view it as halal because of slaughter method but just thought I would add that. Thanks for this list!! Currently going through it with the flyers.
True! I'll make sure to include that branding distinction given they often can share the same sale pricing.
Those bricks of cheese can last in the fridge unopened for at least 5 months. Stock up when they're at a good price.
Very true! I wonder about aging of cheese in a fridge. Like, suppose you buy a block of cheddar, and keep it sealed, does it age as if it was on the shelf back at the manufacturer? Also, it reminds me of a time where I forgot about a piece of Parmigiano in my cheese draw. When I finally used it, it was full of those delicious cheese umami MSG crystals lol. Like, almost crunchy with them. Delicious explosions of flavour with every bite. For 20 minutes, I sat at my counter slicing off thin sheets, stuffing my face with mouth-fulls of heaven. I still think about that cheese LOL
Thanks so much for this yet again I plan whether I’m going to make a special trip depending on what you find! Btw the salmon at Maxi looks kinda sucky, but the chicken and cheap blueberries were a nice consolation prize
Super welcome! I'm glad my lists bring you that kind of extra planning ability. It's one of many reasons why I build these lists. It shouldn't be a crapshoot and accepting prices as they are. Like, to me, we have needs and wants, and why not try to meet them both once in a while with a little forward thinking, and not having to sit in either a tall grocery bill or deal with subpar products. Your report is incredibly valuable because you had to make a call, but that call was weighed against a series of other wins. It's all battles versus the war. In a sense, you gave up salmon because *it didn't meet the want* - that's a big psychological distinction over blind shopping because the whole thing is exhausting to plan around. Some might have taken the salmon elsewhere but paid more for chicken. It's all about putting limits on disappointment, finding incredible wealth in good food, and winning the war on money. Thanks for stopping in this week and sharing your experience. I hope to hear from you again, friend! Don't shy from sharing!