Wren's bargain guide, week beginning July 2nd:

Fooducate's backing Consumer's Union in their effort to get the word “natural” banned from food packaging.  (3 out of 5 people would prefer to buy a product labeled “natural”, on the grounds that it must be healthier – this despite the fact that the word “natural” is meaningless and can be slapped on absolutely anything.)

Michael Ruhlman has an interesting piece on the phenomenon he calls “carb confusion”.  Should we eat carbohydrates, or avoid them?  The key, he suggests – and this makes sense to me – is to stay away from the “stripped” carbs:  corn syrup, polished rice, white flour, all the things that metabolize quickly and basically drop a dose of sugar into your bloodstream.  Marion Nestle has more about the current protein craze, and about the new “Cheerios Protein” cereal from Kellogg's.  (It apparently contains an ingredient called “cluster”.)  And a new study from Finland suggests that eating oily fish three or four times a week positively changes the level of HDL, or “good” cholesterol, in your blood.  So grill some salmon this Fourth.  Or have sardines on whole-grain toast for lunch.  Or pickled herring.  And speaking of the Fourth, as I just was, Summer Tomato provides a terrifically helpful list of “9 Tips for Enjoying a Long Holiday Weekend (With Minimal Damage)”.

Recipes!  Chow.com has chilled soups, watermelon recipes both sweet and savory, and an interesting shandy concocted from beer and liquefied watermelon.  (Actually it's watermelon juice.  Which means this recipe DOES NOT COUNT AS A FILLING FOOD nor as a fruit serving.)  Also a very helpful guide to how long it's safe to leave the potato salad out.

101 Cookbooks has a stack of suitably picnicky salads.  Simply Recipes has angel hair pasta with clams, cherry tomatoes, and basil.  (I have the latter two in my garden.  Sadly the pasta crop has not come in yet.)  Simple Nourished Living has slow-cooker sweet corn, slow-cooker sausage and veg, slow-cooker German potato salad, and not from the slow-cooker, watermelon smoothies.  And Snack Girl makes her own popsicles!

July:  National Watermelon Month, National Baked Bean Month, National Grilling Month.  Also, and I find it necessary to put this in quotes, “National July Belongs To Blueberries Month”.  This first week in July is National Canned Luncheon Meat Month (lovely Spam! wonderful Spam!)  Tomorrow is Eat Beans Day;  the 4th is National Barbecued Spareribs Day, the anniversary of the invention of Caesar salad, and Sidewalk Egg Frying Day, and I fully expect that any year now it will also be declared Dashboard Chocolate Chip Cookies Day. 

July 2nd:  National Anisette Day
July 3rd:  Eat Beans Day, National Chocolate Wafer Day
July 4th:  National Barbecued Spareribs Day, Sidewalk Egg Frying Day;  Caesar salad invented, Cardini's Restaurant (San Diego), 1924
July 5th:  Graham Cracker Day, National Apple Turnover Day
July 6th:  National Fried Chicken Day
July 7th:  National Strawberry Sundae Day, National Chocolate Day, Macaroni Day, National Ice-Cream Cone Day
July 8th:  National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day
July 9th:  National Sugar Cookie Day


Be careful, and have a wonderful Fourth!


Albertson's:

Prices good only through Friday the 4th:

    Beef ribeye or New York steaks, bone in, family pack, $5.77/lb
    Pork loin back ribs, buy 1 get 3 free
    Large (31-40 ct) raw shrimp, no heads, $5.99/lb
    Whole seedless watermelons, $1.88 ea

Prices good through next Tuesday:

    Beef ribeye steaks, bone in, $7.99/lb
    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, $10.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef NY strip steaks, bone in, $6.99/lb (boneless, $1/lb higher)
    Beef t-bone steaks, bone in, $7.99/lb
    Beef top sirloin steaks, boneless, family pack, $5.99/lb
    Beef chuck/crossrib/bottom round roast or family pack steaks, boneless, $4.79/lb
    80/20 ground beef, $2.99/lb (3 lbs or more)
    Pork assorted chops or country style ribs, bone in, family pack, $1.99/lb
    Pork loin chops, center cut bone in, family pack, $2.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.77/lb
    Keta salmon fillets, wild caught, $3.99/lb
    Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $9.99/lb
    Albertson's milk, gallons, $1.99
    Albertson's eggs, AA large, dozens, $1.27
    Daisy sour cream incl. Light, 16 oz tubs, $1.99
    Tillamook cheeses, 8 oz chunk/shreds/shingle, 2/$5
    Deli:    Signature rotisserie turkey breast, $5.99/lb
        Charlie's Pride Italian roast beef, corned beef, beef pastrami, $7.99/lb
        Margherita hard or Genoa salami OR pepperoni, $5.99/lb
        Stella Swiss/Provolone/Muenster cheeses, $7.99/lb
    Nature's Own “100% Whole Wheat” bread, 20 oz loaves, $1.88
    Bush's variety (non-baked) beans, 15-16 oz cans, 10/$10
    Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, $1.88
    Whole cantaloupes, 87¢ ea
    Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $1.99/lb
    Red cherries, $2.99/lb
    Rainier cherries, $4.99/lb
    Peaches, $1.99/lb
    “Plumogranate”, $3.99/lb – new, reportedly a red-fleshed pluot cultivar high in antioxidants
    Fruit tray, 60 oz, $14.99
    Veggie tray, 46 oz, $9.99
    Slicing tomatoes, $1.99/lb
    Sweet corn, 4 pk, $2.99


Bashas':

    Beef t-bone steaks OR tri tip roast, $4.99/lb
    Beef top sirloin steaks, 12 oz portions, $5.88
    Beef rib eye steaks, 12 oz portions, $8.88
    Beef New York steaks, 12 oz portions, $8.88
    Beef bottom round steak or roast, $3.99/lb
    Beef NY strip steaks, bone in, value pack, $6.99/lb
    Ground beef round, fat content not listed, $2.88/lb
    Pork loin country style, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Boneless pork roast, center cut, $3.99/lb
    Split chicken breast, bone in, buy 1 get 1 free
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
    Yoplait yogurts, 49¢ ea
    Bashas' cottage cheese incl. Light, 16 oz tubs, $1.89
    Bush's baked beans, 22-28 oz cans, 2/$3
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, 88¢
    Blueberries, 6 oz box, 88¢
    Red cherries, $1.99/lb
    Green or red seedless grapes, $1.99/lb
    Yellow peaches or nectarines, red or black plums, $1.99/lb
    Whole seedless watermelons, 39¢/lb
    Vine tomatoes, regular or organic, 2 lbs/$3


Fry's:

    Beef ribeye, bone in, whole damned thing in a bag, $4.97/lb, “sliced & wrapped free” or you could just fling the thing onto the grill and pray
    Beef ribeye steaks, bone in, $5.97/lb, a less daunting prospect
    Pork ribs, loin, back, St Louis-style, buy 1 get 2 free (like item only)
    Pork loin chops, center cut bone-in, family pack, $3.99/lb
    Jennie-O 93/7 ground turkey, 1.25 oz pkg, $3.99
    “Silverbrite” salmon fillets, wild caught, $3.88/lb
    True cod fillets, $7.99/lb
    Kroger cheeses, 12-16 oz chunk or shreds, $2.99
    Bush's baked beans, 21-28 oz cans, 3/$5
    Simple Truth organic variety beans, 15 oz cans, 10/$10
    Red cherries, $2.99/lb
    Yellow peaches or nectarines, 99¢/lb
    Whole cantaloupes, AZ grown, 2/$5
    Sweet corn, 5/$2
    Vine tomatoes, $1.79/lb
    Red/yellow/orange bell peppers, 99¢ ea


Safeway:

    Beef ribeye or NY strip steaks, bone in, $5.99/lb (boneless, $2/lb higher)
    Open Nature beef top round/London broil, boneless, $4.99/lb
    Beef chuck roast, boneless, $4.99/lb
    90/10 ground beef, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Pork shoulder blade country style ribs, bone in, $3.49/lb
    Pork spareribs, $2.49/lb
    Sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $12.99/lb “weather permitting”
    Pantry Essentials milk, gallons, $1.99
    Lucerne cheeses, 2 lb chunk or shreds, $8.49
    Sargento cheeses, 6-8 oz shingle pack, 2/$6
    Lucerne cheeses, 6-8 oz shreds, $2.69
    Bush's baked beans, 21-28 oz cans, 3/$5
    Ragu pasta sauces, 16-24 oz jars, 2/$3
    Progresso Light soups (with the WW logo), 3/$5
    Safeway Kitchens veggies, 14-15 oz cans, 79¢
    StarKist solid white tuna, 5 oz cans, $1.69
    Red cherries, $1.99/lb
    Organic strawberries, 1 lb box, 2/$5
    Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $2.99/lb
    Rainier cherries, $4.99/lb
    Whole cantaloupes, 2/$6
    Gala apples, $1.79/lb
    Organic plums, $2.49/lb
    Whole seedless watermelons, $5.99/lb
    Fresh Express bag salads, 4-12 oz, 2/$5
    Sweet corn, 6/$1
    Organic vine tomatoes, $1.99/lb


Sprouts:

    Beef ribeye steaks, bone in, $8.99/lb
    Beef sirloin tip roast or steaks, $5.49/lb
    Pork loin chops, 2 center and 2 end per pack, $1.99/lb
    Pork shoulder roast OR country style ribs, bone in, $2.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, value pack, $2.49/lb
    Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $9.99/lb
    Cod fillets OR swordfish steaks, wild caught, $7.99/lb
    Red cherries, 98¢/lb
    Green seedless grapes, 98¢/lb
    White or yellow peaches or nectarines, $1.48/lb
    Navel oranges, 98¢/lb
    Whole cantaloupes, 3/$5 (organic, 88¢/lb)
    Organic white peaches, $1.98/lb
    Red or yellow mangos, 48¢ ea
    Roma tomatoes, 48¢/lb
    Vine tomatoes, $1.48/lb (organic, 50¢/lb higher)
    Red/yellow/orange bell peppers, 4/$5