Wren's bargain guide, week beginning January 1st:

Happy New Year, all!  Brace yourselves, it's January and we're about to bombarded with innumerable promotions and articles for weight-loss plans, programs, and promises.  Fooducate starts us off with “5 Simple Weight Loss Hacks You Can Start Today”, “5 Extreme Diets to Avoid in 2014”, and “The ONE Change You Need to Make to Your New Year’s Resolution in Order to Actually Succeed”.  Mark's Daily Apple has “11 Questions to Ask Yourself at the Start of a New Year” – actually very useful, such as “What concrete step or steps will you take to fulfil a more abstract resolution?” and “How will you hold yourself accountable?”  And only a few of his answers are related to Mark's personal Thing, the “paleo” diet.

New studies out from Consumer Reports.  One says that of the 316 chicken breasts they bought at retail across the country, 97% were contaminated with harmful bacteria (half with multiple-drug resistant strains).  I'm really not very hungry any more.

Recipes!  With the holidays safely past, Chow.com is very big on fish and salads this week:  healthier grilled-fish tacos, a stack of winter-veggie salads, baked halibut puttanesca, and a flavorful and refreshing cucumber-orange water.  Also hot soups, whole grains, and steel-cut oatmeal in your crockpot.  And if you're still up to your clavicle in candy canes, they've got a plethora of uses for them:  candy cane syrup, crushed onto cupcakes, or candy-cane-infused vodka.  Simply Recipes has quesadillas, a black-eyed-pea salsa to go with, gremolata, and a salad of beets, oranges, kale, and pistachios.  Not a combination I would have thought of but it's rather pretty. 

This is January, National Soup Month and National Wheat Bread Month, a pleasingly warming and potentially healthy combination.  Also National Egg Month, National Hot Tea Month, and National Oatmeal Month.  Soup Swap Day isn't until the 21st, but this will give you time to cook up your soup (lots of soup recipes up there!) and freeze it and organize your Soup Swap parties.

January 1st:  National Apple Gifting Day, National Bloody Mary Day
January 2nd:  National Cream Puff Day
January 3rd:  National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day
January 4th:  National Spaghetti Day
January 5th:  National Whipped Cream Day
January 6th:  National Shortbread Day, Bean Day – some of my sources think this is a day to make a pot of baked beans, but the wider consensus is that since this is the Feast of the Epiphany, it's called Bean Day after the bean in the King Cake
January 7th:  National Tempura Day, Fruitcake Toss Day
January 8th:  English Toffee Day

Happy New Year to you all, and I'll see you in 2014!


Albertson's:

    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, $8.99/lb, buy 1 get 2 free
    Beef chuck, crossrib, eye/bottom round roast, boneless, $7.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef t-bone/ribeye/New York steak or roast, bone in, $7.99/lb
    Beef top sirloin steak OR tri tip roast, $4.99/lb
    85/15 ground beef, $2.99/lb
    Pork loin chops, center cut boneless, $6.99/lb, buy 1 get 2 free
    Assorted pork chops, bone in, $3.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    Pork sirloin chops, boneless, $1.99/lb
    Cook's ham steaks, bone in, $2.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.67/lb
    Jennie-O 93/7 ground turkey, 20 oz pkg, $3.99
    Great American cod or tilapia fillets, 1 lb IQF bag, $9.99/lb, buy 1 get 2 free
    Albertson's milk, gallons, $1.87
    Albertson's eggs, AA large, 18 ct, $1.99
    Essential Everyday cheeses, 8 oz chunk or shreds, 2/$5
    Tillamook cheeses, 8 oz chunk or shingle pack, $3.99
    Deli:    Dietz & Watson hams & turkeys, $6.99/lb
        Dietz & Watson medium Cheddar or baby Swiss cheeses, $6.99/lb
        Unbranded (store) hard or Genoa salami OR pepperoni, $5.99/lb
        Unbranded (store) Provolone/Muenster/pepperjack/mild Cheddar, $5.99/lb
    Essential Everyday chunk light tuna, 10/$10
    Progresso “Heart Healthy” or “Light” soups, 2/$3
    Essential Everyday tomatoes/beans/vegetables, 14-15 oz cans, 69¢
    Nature's Own “100% Whole Wheat” bread, 20 oz loaves, $2.29
    Bertolli (17 oz) or Carapelli (25 oz) olive oil, $6.99
    Whole cantaloupes, $1 ea
    Braeburn apples, 99¢/lb
    Organic Fuji or Gala apples, $2.49/lb
    Navel oranges, 99¢/lb
    Blood oranges, $1.99/lb
    Organic vine tomatoes, $2.99/lb
    Summer squashes, zucchini/yellow/grey, 99¢/lb
    Broccoli crowns OR cauliflower, 99¢/lb
    Earthbound Farms organic box salads, 5 oz, $2.99
    Bok choy OR nappa cabbage, 69¢/lb


Bashas':

    Beef t-bone steaks, value pack, $4.77/lb
    Beef London broil, $3.99/lb
    Beef crossrib roast, $3.99/lb
    Beef sirloin tip roast OR ground beef sirloin, $2.77/lb
    Center cut pork roast, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Thin cut pork chops, value pack, 3.99/lb
    Pork shoulder or picnic roast, $1.79/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.67/lb
    Atlantic salmon OR true cod fillets, farm raised, $5.77/lb
    Tilapia fillets, farm raised, $4.77/lb
    Yoplait yogurts, 49¢ ea
    Bashas' cottage cheese, 16 oz tubs, $1.59
    Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, $1.88
    “Texas Red” grapefruit, 2/$1
    Roma tomatoes, 99¢/lb
    Organic grape tomatoes, 10 oz pkg, 2/$4
    Zucchini, 99¢ ea
    Broccoli OR cauliflower, 99¢/lb
    Kale OR spinach, 88¢/bunch
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, AZ grown, 99¢/bunch


Fry's:

    Beef chuck OR crossrib roast, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Beef top sirloin steaks, boneless, $4.99/lb
    93/7 ground beef, $3.49
    Marinated pork, various brands, $6.99/lb
    Tyson boneless skinless chicken breast, buy 1 get 2 free
    Kroger 85/15 ground turkey, 1 lb pkg, $2.99
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
    Fry's milk, half gallons only, $1
    Fry's eggs, AA large, dozens, $1.29
    Kroger tomatoes, 14 oz cans, 5/$3
    Classico pasta sauces, 8-24 oz jars, 2/$4
    Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, 5/$10
    Blackberries, 6 oz boxes, 99¢
    Whole cantaloupes OR mini seedless watermelons, 2/$5
    Minneola tangelos, AZ grown, 99¢/lb
    Mangos, 99¢ ea
    Organic D'Anjou or Bosc pears, $1.49/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR iceberg, 99¢
    Broccoli OR cauliflower, AZ grown, 99¢/lb
    Organic kale, AZ grown, 99¢/bunch
    Simple Truth organic box salads, 5-7 oz, 2/$6


Safeway:

    Beef top sirloin steaks, boneless, value pack, $3.99/lb
    Beef round tip steak, boneless, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Beef chuck pot roast, boneless, $3.99/lb
    80/20 ground beef, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Pork top loin chops, boneless, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Whole pork shoulder, bone in, whole in bag, $1.99/lb
    Eating Right boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Chicken leg quarters, bone in, value pack, $1.29/lb
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, value pack, $6.99/lb
    Pantry Essentials milk, gallons, $1.99
    Open Nature variety breads, 24 oz wide-pan loaves, 42.49
    Safeway Kitchens veggies, 14-15 oz cans, 79¢
    Bertolli olive oil, 25 oz bottles, buy 1 get 1 free
    Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna, 5/$5
    Green Giant frozen veggies, 7-10 oz boxes, $1.99
    Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, 5/$10
    Red/Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples, 99¢/lb
    Honeycrisp or Envy apples, $2.99/lb
    Organic Gala apples, $1.99/lb
    Seedless grapes, green/red/black, $2.99/lb
    Red cherries, $5.99/lb
    “Texas Ruby Red” grapefruit, 99¢ ea
    Vine tomatoes, $2.49/lb


Sprouts:

    Beef chuck roast or steak, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Beef ribeye steaks, boneless, $9.99/lb
    Beef brisket/tri tip/skirt/flank steak, boneless, $5.99/lb
    93/7 ground beef sirloin, $3.99/lb
    Pork loin chops or roast, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Whole/split/cut-up chickens, $1.49/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast/thighs/tenders, $2.99/lb
    Alaskan coho salmon fillets, wild caught, $7.99/lb
    Tilapia fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Swordfish steaks, bone in, wild caught, $5.99/lb
    Seedless grapes, black or red, 98¢/lb
    Blackberries, 5 oz boxes, 98¢ ea
    Braeburn/Cameo/Jonagold apples, 98¢/lb
    Navel oranges OR Minneola tangelos, 88¢/lb
    Texas grapefruit, 88¢ ea
    Bartlett/D'Anjou/Bosc pears, 98¢/lb
    Summer squashes, Italian/yellow/grey, 88¢/lb
    Eggplant, 88¢ ea
    Broccoli crowns OR cauliflower, 88¢ ea