Wren's bargain guide, week beginning December 4th:

Sorry about not showing for tonight's meeting – I'm posting this from a motel in Kingman, on my way to Idaho.

Fooducate has a great set of “5 Tips for Holiday Health”.  The whole article is worth reading, and clickable at the blog, but I'll give you the short version:  1: Don't prepare for a special occasion by not eating all day;  that's preparing yourself to overeat.  2: Do start with water.  3: When you're facing a buffet-style meal, do give the table a good look and choose carefully.  4: The “holiday season” may be six weeks long, but do remember that that's not forty-two days of holidays, so you don't have to indulge on every one of them.  5, very important for us in WW:  Do keep up your healthy routines! 

Slate has an entertainingly skeptical article on “juice cleanses”.  At Summer Tomato, I find “5 Steps to Stop Emotional Eating” and a great piece, “Don't Be Afraid of Thanksgiving”, that can be well applied to many of the holiday meals we're about to face.

Recipes!  Chow.com has a set of DIY holiday gifts, many of them of the drinkable variety (homemade coffee liqueur, homemade amaretto, homemade aquavit … ), a baked halibut puttanesca, a brandy Alexander (possibly the least PointsPlus-friendly drink recipe ever conceived, but oh is it tasty), and a mulled-wine recipe which may come in handy as tonight and tomorrow will be cold enough to freeze the brass off a bald monkey.  And a list of two dozen dishes suitable for the office holiday potluck, including spanakopita, deviled ham, and – inevitably, inescapably – Chow.com's notorious Turducken Of Cheese Balls, otherwise known as The Cheese Ball As Big As Your Head.  (Twelve layers.  Five pounds.)

December.  Would it surprise you to learn that this is National Fruitcake Month and National Eggnog Month?  This first week is also National Cookie Cutter Week, and today, the 4th, was National Cookie Day.  And Saturday is, absolutely bafflingly, National Cotton Candy Day.  Why isn't that in summer? 


December 4th:  National Cookie Day
December 5th:  National Sachertorte Day, National Repeal (of Prohibition) Day
December 6th:  National Gazpacho Day
December 7th:  National Cotton Candy Day
December 8th:  National Brownie Day
December 9th:  National Pastry Day, Apple Pie Day
December 10th:  National Lager Day
December 11th:  National Noodle Kugel Day


Albertson's:

    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, $8.99/lb, buy 1 get 2 free
    Beef t-bone or New York steaks, bone in, $7.99/lb
    Beef London broil, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Beef 7-bone chuck roast, bone in, $2.99/lb
    Beef crossrib, eye/bottom round, brisket, sirloin tip roasts, boneless, $2.99/
    85/15 ground beef, $2.99/lb
    Pork loin chops, center cut boneless, $6.99/lb, buy 1 get 2 free
    Pork loin back ribs, bone in, $8.99/lb, buy 1 get 2 free
    Hormel pork tenderloin tips, $6.99/lb, buy 1 get 3 free
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.99/lb
    Great American tilapia fillets, 1 lb IQF bag, $9.99/lb, buy 1 get 3 free
    Cod, 5 oz portions, $1.99
    Swordfish OR mahi mahi, 5 oz portions, $2.99
    Ahi tuna, 5 oz portions, $3.99
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
    Tillamook cheeses, 2 lb “baby loaf” block, $7.99
    Yoplait yogurts, 20/$10
    Deli:    Jennie-O oven roasted turkey breast, $4.99/lb
            Signature Virginia smoked ham, $4.99/lb
            Dietz & Watson ham or turkey, $6.99/lb
            Dietz & Watson medium or hot-pepper Cheddar OR baby Swiss, $6.99/lb
    American Beauty pasta, 1 lb pkg, 10/$10
    Hunt's pasta sauces, 24 oz cans, 10/$10
    Hunt's tomatoes, 14 oz cans, 10/$10
    Bertolli olive oil, 25 oz bottles, $6.99
    Lean Cuisine frozen entrées, $1.99
    Gala apples, $1.49/lb
    “Cuties” clementines, 3 lb bag, $4.99
    Navel oranges, 99¢/lb
    Grape tomatoes, 10 oz box, $2.49
    Roma tomatoes, $1/lb
    Earthbound Farms organic mini carrots, 1 lb bag, $1.99
    Fresh Express “Iceberg Garden” bag salad, 12 oz, 99¢
    Iceberg, $1 ea
    Summer squashes, zucchini/yellow/grey, $1/lb
    Broccoli crowns OR cauliflower, $1.49/lb



Bashas':

    Beef crossrib roast or value pack steaks, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef sirloin tip roast or value pack steaks, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef bottom round roast or value pack steaks, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef top sirloin, value pack, $5.99/lb
    Beef London broil, $3.99/lb
    Ground beef chuck/round/sirloin, value pack, $3.88/lb
    Pork loin, boneless, whole in bag, $1.87/lb
    Pork picnic, bone in it looks like, $1.69/lb
    Center cut pork roast, $2.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.67/lb
    Mahi mahi fillets, wild caught, $5.99/lb
    Food Club cheeses, 6-8 oz chunk or shreds, 5/$10
    American Beauty pasta, 1 lb pkg, 99¢
    Hunt's pasta sauces, 24 oz cans, 99¢
    S&W variety (non-baked) beans, 15 oz cans, 69¢
    Food Club tomatoes or veggies, 14-15 oz cans, 69¢
    Progresso soups incl. Light (with the WW logo), 4/$5
    Flav-R-Pac frozen veggies, 12-16 oz bags, 3/$5
    Cuties clementines, 3 lb bags, $2.77
    Navel oranges, 99¢/lb
    Fuji or Red Delicious apples, 99¢/lb
    Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $1.99/lb
    Vine tomatoes, 99¢/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, AZ grown, 99¢ ea
    Whole pineapples, 2/$5


Fry's:

    Beef chuck or crossrib roast, boneless, $2.99/lb
    New York strip steak, bone in, family pack, $6.99/lb
    85/15 ground beef, $2.99/lb
    Pork loin, boneless, whole in bag, $1.99/lb
    Pork shoulder butt or picnic roast, bone in, whole in bag, $1.49/lb
    Tyson chicken, buy 1 get 1 free
    Kroger 99/1 ground turkey breast, 1 lb pkg, $4.99
    Alaskan cod fillets, $5.99/lb
    Fry's milk, gallons, $1.87
    Kroger butter, $1.99
    Fry's eggs, AA large, dozens, 2/$3
    Kroger cheeses, 12-16 oz chunk or shreds, $2.99
    Healthy Choice frozen entrees, 5/$10
    Whole pineapples, 99¢
    Halos mandarins, 3 lb bag, $4.99
    Honeycrisp apples, $2.49/lb
    Gala, Granny Smith, Red/Golden Delicious apples, 99v
    D'Anjou pears, 99¢/lb
    Navel oranges, 99¢/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR iceberg, 99¢ ea


Safeway:

    Beef top sirloin steaks, boneless, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Beef tri tip roast, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Beef chuck pot roast, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Beef chuck 7-bone steak, bone in, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Beef New York strip steaks, boneless, value pack, $5.99/lb
    80/20 ground beef, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Whole pork shoulder, bone in, whole in bag, $1.29/lb
    Safeway Farms ground turkey, 20 oz pkg, $3.99
    Alaskan cod fillets, wild caught, $5/lb
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $8.99/lb
    Lucerne OR Open Nature cheeses, 24-32 oz chunk, $6.99/lb
    Lucerne cheeses, 6-8 oz shingle pack, $2.99
    Land O Lakes butter, $2.99
    Ragu pasta sauces, 16-24 oz jars, 3/$4
    Safeway Kitchens canned pineapple, 20 oz cans, 4/$5
    American Beauty pasta, 1 lb pkg, 5/$5
    Libby's veg, 14-15 oz cans, 4/$5
    Oroweat variety breads, 24 oz wide-pan loaves, $2.99
    Smart Ones frozen entrees, 5/$10
    Safeway Kitchens frozen veggies, 24-32 oz baags, 2/$5
    Gorton's “Grilled Fillets”, $3.49, still only 2 PointsPlus per serving!
    Organic Fuji apples, $1.99/lb
    Pears, red/Bosc/Comice, $1.49/lb
    Honeycrisp apples, $2.99/lb
    Envy apples, $2.49/lb
    Kiwifruit, 3/$1
    Vine/hothouse/slicing tomatoes, $2.49/lb
    Red/orange/yellow bell peppers, 2/$3
    Cucumbers, 99¢ ea


Sprouts:

    93/7 ground beef sirloin, $4.99/lb
    Pork tenderloin, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Pork sirloin chops or roast, boneless, OR ground pork, $1.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Ahi tuna steaks, wild caught, $6.99/lb
    Navel oranges, 48¢/lb
    D'Anjou pears, 98¢/lb
    Apples, Braeburn or Red/Golden Delicious, 98¢/lb
    Eggplant, 98¢ ea
    Summer squashes, Italian/yellow/grey, 98¢/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR spinach, 88¢/bunch