Bargain guide, week beginning March 21st

A very interesting article at Fooducate: researchers at the Mayo Clinic did a small study – 17 adults over the course of eight nights, divided into two groups. Both groups' activity and food intake were monitored, and one group slept eighty minutes longer than the other. Both groups expended the same amount of energy – but the people in the sleep-deprived group each consumed an average of 549 calories more per day. They're careful to point out that this was only a single and very small project, but it's worth giving some thought. (One in four American adults sleeps less than six hours per night.)

Also per Fooducate, another study has found that buying foods in bulk is substantially cheaper – across the board, you'd save 89% by buying in bulk. Serious Eats has an entirely regrettable slideshow from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo: six fried things that in combination could turn me off to food entirely. (Batter-fried red velvet cake. Curly-fries loaf. Sauerkraut puppies.) Summer Tomato has a list of healthy, non-fattening carbs, including fruit, beans, lentils, oats, quinoa, and whatever the hell “farro” may be. Yoni Freedhoff, at Weighty Matters, snarks on the recent eat-red-meat-and-DIE study: “ … this study would suggest that you'll die ever so slightly younger if you eat red meat each and every day of the week, and even younger still if you eat processed red meat each and every day of the week. Did you catch the caveat of each and every day of the week?”

It's still Lent and still National Frozen Food Month, which means major deals on fish, frozen foods, and especially frozen fish. Tomorrow's National Coq au Vin Day (chicken, mushrooms, garlic, and wine, how can you go wrong?) and, let us celebrate this every day, World Water Day. The 26th is National Make-Up-Your-Own-Holiday Day: I hereby declare it to be Do Not Waste Points Day. (If you're going to use up your Points on, say, a cheeseburger, that is your privilege; but do not waste them on a cheap cheeseburger.) And one week from today is National Something On a Stick Day.

March 21st: California Strawberry Day, National French Bread Day
March 22nd: National Coq au Vin Day, National Bavarian Crepes Day, World Water Day
March 23rd: National Melba Toast Day, National Chip and Dip Day; 1857, Fannie Merritt Farmer born, author of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book and often called the Mother of Level Measurements. Thus we all owe her a debt of gratitude, for Weight Watchers could not exist in a world without measures
March 24th: National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day
March 25th: National Lobster Newburg Day, National Pecan Day, National Waffle Day, Tichborne Dole Day
March 26th: National Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, National Spinach Day, National Nougat Day; 1726, birth of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. He invented the percolator and the pressure cooker
March 27th: National Spanish Paella Day
March 28th: National Black Forest Cake Day, National Something On a Stick Day


Albertson's:

Beef London broil, boneless, $4.99/lb
Beef crossrib steaks (family pack) or roast, boneless, $3.99/lb
Beef top sirloin steaks, boneless, $4.99/olb
93/7 ground beef, $2.79/lb
Pork sirloin chops or roast, boneless, $1.99/lb
Pork picnic roast, bone in, $1.49/lb
Sanderson Farms chicken breast, bone in, 99¢/lb
Unbranded boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.99/lb
Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
Catfish fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
Swordfish steaks, wild caught, $9.99/lb
Coldwater lobster tails, wild caught, 4 oz, $5.99 ea
Tillamook sliced cheeses, 12 oz, $3.99
Sargento sliced cheeses, 6-8 oz, 2/$6
Deli: Unbranded rotisserie turkey breast, $5.99/lb
Jennie-O “Honey Smoked” or “Oven Brown” turkey breast, $5.99/lb
Shannon's Deli corned beef/Italian beef/beef pastrami, $5.99/lb
Deli Fresh mild Cheddar/Colby/Cojack/pepperjack/Provolone, $5.99/lb
Kellogg's breakfast cereals, 15-18 oz boxes, 2/$5
Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, 4/$8.88 ($2.22 ea)
Cuties clementines, 3 lb bag, 2/$4
Strawberries, 1 lb box, 2/$5
Green or red seedless grapes, $1.99/lb
Fuji apples, $1.49/lb
Whole cantaloupes, 2/$3
Large tomatoes, $1.49/lb
Earthbound Farms box salads, 1 lb, $4.99


Bashas':

Beef top sirloin, value pack, $3.47/lb
Beef chuck/crossrib/bottom round roast, $4.49/lb
Ground chuck, fat content not listed, value pack, $2.99/lb
Pork shoulder steaks or roast, value pack, $2.49/lb
Sirloin cut pork chops, boneless, value pack, $1.99/lb
Sanderson Farms frying chickens, 77¢/lb
Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $4.99/lb
Mahi mahi fillets, wild caught, $8.99/lb “weather permitting”
Food Club butter, $2.29
Kraft cheeses, 6-8 oz chunk/shreds/“Big Slices”, $2.88
Nature's Own “WhiteWheat” bread, 20 oz long loaves, $1.99
StarKist chunk light tuna, 69¢
Food Club tomatoes or veg, 14-15 oz cans, 69¢
Strawberries, 1 lb box, $1.48
Green seedless grapes, 88¢/lb
Navel oranges, 98¢/lb
Vine tomatoes, $1.98/lb
Iceberg OR leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, 88¢ ea


Food City:

Beef chuck steak or roast, bone in, value pack, $2.49/lb
Chicken breast, bone in, 88¢/lb
Tilapia fillets, $1.99
Ataulfo mangos, 4/$1
Whole pineapples, 4 lbs/$1
Iceberg, 2/99¢


Fry's:

Beef t-bone steaks, $4.77/lb
Beef London broil, boneless, $4.99/lb
Assorted pork loin chops, bone in, family pack, $1.47/lb
Kroger cheeses, 12-16 oz chunk or shreds, $3.29
Ragu pasta sauce, 16-26 oz jars, 10/$10
Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna, 69¢
Mangos, 88¢ ea
Blackberries, 6 oz box, 98¢
Gala apples, 88¢/lb
Pears: Red, D'Anjou, Bosc, 88¢/lb
Cara Cara navel oranges, 88¢/lb
Minneola tangelos, 88¢/lb
Strawberries, 1 lb box, 2/$5
Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $1.99/lb
Whole cantaloupes, $1.99
Whole mini seedless watermelons, $1.99
Hass avocados, 88¢ ea
English cucumbers OR red bell peppers, 88¢ ea
Broccoli OR cauliflower, 88¢/lb
Nature Sweet “Cherub” tomatoes, 10 oz box, 2/$5


Safeway:

Beef round steak/bottom round roast/round tip roast, boneless, value pack, $2.99/lb
Beef petite sirloin steaks, value pack, $3.99/lb
Beef eye of round roast, boneless, $3.49/lb
Beef London broil, boneless, value pack, $3.49/lb
90/10 ground beef, $2.99/lb
Pork shoulder blade roast, bone in, whole in bag, $1.87/lb
Pork tenderloin, boneless, whole in bag, $4.79/lb
Pork top loin chops, boneless, value pack, $3.99/lb
Boneless skinless chicken breast, 4 lb IQF bag, $7.52 ($1.88/lb)
Eating Right boneless skinless chicken breast, $2.49/lb
Sanderson Farms boneless skinless chicken breast, $2.99/lb
Open Nature boneless chicken breast tenders, $5.49/lb
… They do this just to make my life more difficult.
Chicken leg quarters, 10 lb bag, $7.49 (75¢/lb)
Jennie-O Turkey Store turkey burgers, 3 lb pkg, buy 1 get 1 free
Swordfish steaks, wild caught, $10.99/lb
Swai fillets, farm raised, $3.99/lb
Nabisco snack crackers (Wheat Thins, etc), 2/$5
Del Monte stewed or diced tomatoes, 14 oz cans, 10/$10
Safeway pasta, 12-16 oz boxes, 99¢
Safeway variety (non-baked) beans, 15 oz cans, 99¢
O Organics tomatoes or tomato sauce, 14-15 oz cans, 4/$5
Pepperidge Farms “Baked Naturals” crackers, 5-10 oz boxes, buy 1 get 1 free
Francesco Rinaldi pasta sauce, 16-24 oz jars, 99¢
Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, 4/$10
Whole cantaloupes, $2.49
Kiwifruit, 3/$1
Navel oranges, 99¢/lb
Roma tomatoes, 99¢/lb
Fresh Express bag salads, 99¢
O Organics box salads, 1 lb, $4.99
O Organics Romaine hearts, 3 ct, 2/$6
Zucchini or yellow squash, 99¢/lb


Smart & Final:

Beef top round steak OR London broil, boneless, $3.29/lb
Pork loin roast, boneless, $1.99/lb
First Street whole chickens, twin pack, 99¢/lb
First Street cheeses, 1 lb chunk, $2.79
First Street wide pan bread, 24 oz loaves, $1.99
Mandarins, 3 lb bag, $2.49
Gala apples, 3 lb bag, $2.49
Italian squash, 5 ct pkg, $1.99


Sprouts:

Beef top round roast or stew meat, boneless, $4.99/lb
Beef London broil, boneless, $2.99/lb
93/7 ground sirloin, $4.49/lb
Beef ribeye steaks, boneless, $10.99/lb
Pork loin chops or roast, boneless, $2.99/lb
Whole or cut up chickens, $1.49/lb
Boneless skinless chicken breast, value pack, $1.99/lb
Barramundi fillets, wild caught, $8.99/lb
Sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $10.99/lb
Pop Chips, 3 oz bag, 25% off
Whole pineapples, 97¢ ea
Gala or Pink Lady apples, 88¢/lb
Organic Cameo apples, 99¢/lb
Bosc or D'Anjou pears, 88¢/lb
Organic Bartlett pears, $1.49/lb
Strawberries, 1 lb box, 2/$4
Blackberries, 6 oz box, 2/$4
Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $1.99/lb
Navel oranges, 49¢/lb
Ataulfo mangos, 49¢ ea
Yellow nectarines OR black plums, $1.99/lb
Eggplant, 88¢ ea
Roma tomatoes, 77¢/lb
Red bell peppers, 3/$1
Gold or orange bell peppers, 88¢ ea
Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, 88¢ ea
Sweet corn, 49¢ ea