Wren's bargain guide, week beginning November 5th:

Fooducate has a look at the new formulation for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter:  a much shorter ingredients list, unsaturated fats, and non-GMO ingredients.  (The ingredients list is still not as short as that for butter, which as Fooducate points out reads “Cultured pasteurized cream”.)

Darya Rose has a couple of good pieces, one on practical ways of dealing with the upcoming “two solid months of parties, feasts and festivities”, and another on what she calls “bringing unsexy back”:  improving your health, not by sudden overwhelming total transformations that you won't be able to maintain, but by building a series of small habits that don't look all that exciting but that will in time do the job – and without making you miserable.  “The little, unsexy things that seem insignificant like eating breakfast, walking 10K steps per day, and cooking healthy meals at home aren’t nearly as alluring as the dramatic acts of suffering that promise crazy results, like bootcamp or fasting. But the unsexy road to health is far less painful, and this is one of the main reasons it actually works.”

And Yoni Freedhoff has a candid-camera video taken at the Boston conference of the Obesity Society and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.  Five thousand of the world's foremost experts on obesity and weight loss.  In the several minutes he's condensed down to nineteen seconds of video, forty-five or more of these experts – “the folks with arguably the most education about the value of purposeful healthful lifestyle choices” – take the escalator.  Exactly four take the stairs.  WHICH ARE BETWEEN THE ESCALATORS. 

Recipes!  Chow.com, warming up for Thanksgiving, has a classic roasted turkey plus nine other things to do with it, and for a lighter touch, a salad of poached pears with bleu cheese and walnuts.  Simply Recipes has delicata squash roasted with brussels sprouts;  Simple Nourished Living has a sausage pasta sauce from the slow cooker, a fruit-and-grain salad, and mini tarts made out of Snickers bars.  And Snack Girl offers DIY instant oatmeal, vegan Thanksgiving stuffing, and in God's name why did Oscar Mayer invent Breakfast Lunchables?

The 9th, this Sunday, is both National Scrapple Day and National Cook Something Bold And Pungent Day.  Scrapple is indeed available for purchase, at the deli counter at Fry's.  Or maybe that was headcheese.  I can't remember.  And one week from today is National Pizza With Everything Day (Except Anchovies).  You can even put scrapple on it.


November 5th:  National Doughnut Day
November 6th:  National Nachos Day
November 7th:  Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day
November 8th:  National Cappuccino Day, National Harvey Wallbanger Day
November 9th:  National Scrapple Day, Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day
November 10th:  National Vanilla Cupcake Day
November 11th:  National Sundae Day
November 12th:  National Pizza With Everything Day (Except Anchovies)




Albertson's:

    Beef ribeye/t-bone/New York steaks, bone in, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef chuck/crossrib/bottom round roast or family pack steaks, boneless, $5.49/lb
    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, $11.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    85/15 ground beef, $3.79/lb
    Assorted pork chops, bone in, family pack, $1.88/lb
    Center cut pork chops, bone in or boneless, buy 1 get 1 free
    Cook's spiral cut ham, bone in, $2.99/lb
    Hormel Cure 81 half ham, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.77/lb
    Honeysuckle White frozen turkey breast, $1.99/lb
    Butterball frozen turkeys, tom or hen, $1.49/lb
    Sanderson farms roasting chickens, $1.69/lb
    Tyson game hens, 20 oz pkg, 2/$7
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
    Alaskan cod fillets, wild caught, $3.99/lb
    Rockfish or Dover sole fillets, wild caught, $6.99
    Catfish fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Ahi tuna, wild caught, 5 oz portions, $2.99 ea
    Albertson's milk, gallons, $1.97
    Albertson's eggs, AA large, dozens, 99¢
    Challenge butter, 2/$5
    Yoplait conventional yogurts incl. Light, 20$10
    Deli:    Signature Virginia ham, $3.99/lb
        Dietz & Watson Santa Fe, mesquite, or “Gourmet Lite” turkey, $8.99/b
        Dietz & Watson classic, honey, or “Gourmet Lite” ham, $8.99/lb
        Healthy Ones oven or honey turkey, chicken breast, honey ham, $6.99/lb
        Margherita hard or Genoa salami OR pepperoni,$5.99/lb
        Dietz & Watson Provolone or Muenster, $6.99/lb
    Libby's veggies, 11-15 oz cans, 49¢
    Essential Everyday tomatoes or variety (non-baked) beans, 14-15 oz cans, 69¢
    Bertolli pasta sauces, 15-24 oz jars, 2/$4
    Essential Everyday olive oil, 25 oz bottles, $4.99
    Apples:  Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, “Just Right Size”, 2/$1
    “Cuties” clementines, 3 lb bag, $4.99
    Organic HoneyCrisp apples, $3.99/lb
    Pom pomegranates, 2/$5
    Green or red seedless grapes, $2.99/lb
    Red bell peppers, 99¢ ea
    Broccoli crowns OR cauliflower, $1.49/lb
    Earthbound Farms organic box salads, 5 oz, $3


Bashas':

    Beef top sirloin steak, value pack, $4.77/lb
    Beef bottom round roast, buy 1 get 1 free
    Ground beef round, fat content not listed, value pack, $4.99/lb
    Pork sirloin roast OR country style ribs, boneless, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Sanderson Farms chicken breast or leg quarters, bone in, 99¢/lb
    True cod fillets, $5.99/lb “weather permitting”
    Atlantic salmon, farm raised, 5 oz portions, $3
    Steelhead fillets, farm raised, $8.99/lb
    Bashas' eggs, AA large, dozens, $1.49
    Food Club butter, $2.49
    Bashas' sour cream incl. Light, 16 oz tubs, $1.39
    Bashas' cottage cheese incl. Light, 16 oz tubs, $1.99
    Tillamook cheeses, 12-16 oz chunk or sliced, $3.99
    Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna, 5 oz cans, 99¢
    Hunt's tomatoes, 14 oz cans, 99¢
    Bush's variety beans, 15-16 oz cans, 99¢
    Ro*tel tomatoes, 10 oz cans, 99¢
    Food Club fruit, 15 oz cans, 99¢
    Libby's corn, peas, or green beans, 14 oz cans, 5/$3
    Bashas' HomeStyle bread, 24 oz wide-pan loaves, $2.49
    Green or red seedless grapes, 77¢/lb
    Fuji or Gala apples, 77¢/lb
    Red/Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples, 99¢/lb
    Bartlett pears, 99¢/lb
    HoneyCrisp apples, $1.99/lb
    Red or orange yams, 99¢/lb
    Organic acorn or butternut squash, 99¢/lb


Fry's:

    Beef t-bone steaks, $6.88/lb
    93/7 ground beef, $4.49/lb (2 lb chub)
    Pork loin chops, center cut boneless, family pack, $2.99/lb
    Pork shoulder butt roast, bone in, whole in bag, $1.99
    Boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, family pack, $1.77/lb
    Chicken leg quarters, bone in, family pack, 99¢/lb
    Kroger frozen turkeys, 10-20 lb, 79¢/lb with $25 purchase
    Fry's eggs, AA large, 18 ct, $1.88
    Kroger cheeses, 12-16 oz chunk or shreds, $2.99
    Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna, 5 oz cans, 79¢
    Kroger olive oil, 25 oz bottles, $5.99
    Kroger veggies, 10-12 oz pkg, 10/$10
    Blackberries, 6 oz box, 99¢
    Apples:  Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Red/Golden Delicious, 99¢/lb
    Bartlett pears, 99¢/lb
    HoneyCrisp apples, $1.99/lb
    Mandarins, 3 lb bag, $3.99
    Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $1.99/lb
    Zucchini OR yellow squash, $1.49/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR iceberg, 99¢ ea


Safeway:

    Beef top sirloin steak, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Open Nature ribeye or New York steak, boneless, $9.99/lb
    80/20 ground beef, value pack, $3.49/lb
    Pork sirloin chops OR country style ribs, boneless, $4.49/lb
    Eating Right boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, $1.99/lb
    Safeway Farms frozen turkey, 8-24 lbs, 79¢/lb with $25 purchase
    Butterball frozen turkey, 10-24 lbs, 99¢/lb with $25 purchase
    Jennie-O ground turkey, 16-20 oz pkg, $5
    Tilapia fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Tillamook cheeses, 8 oz shingle pack, 2/$6
    HoneyCrisp apples, $1.47/lb
    Organic Gala apples, $1.99/lb
    Green or red seedless grapes, $1.99/lb
    Pomegranates, 2/$4
    Kiwifruit, 2/$1
    Navel oranges, $1.49/lb
    Clementines, 3 lb bag, $5
    Bartlett pears, $1.49/lb


Sprouts:

    Beef sirloin tip roast or steak, boneless, $3.99/lb
    85/15 ground beef, value pack, $4.99/lb
    Pork loin roast or chops, center cut boneless, $2.99/lb
    Pork shoulder roast, country style ribs, or spare ribs, bone in, $2.99
    “Apple-Anche”:  SEVENTEEN different varieties of apples, 88¢/lb
    Green seedless grapes, 88¢/lb
    Navel oranges, 88¢/lb
    Bartlett pears, 88¢/lb
    Texas grapefruit, 88¢ ea
    Roma tomatoes, 88¢/lb
    Winter squashes, acorn/butternut/kabocha/spaghetti, 88¢/lb
    Summer squashes, Italian/yellow/Mexican, 98¢/lb
    Eggplant, 88¢ ea
    Green bell peppers, 48¢ ea
    Red bell peppers, 88¢ ea