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

People listen to their doctors, when their doctors tell them to eat healthy.  Even when it's not their own doctor.  Or even any doctor:  I see at Fooducate that Morrisons, a supermarket chain in the UK, stood a cardboard standup cutout of a doctor (you can tell it's a doctor by the stethoscope) holding a sign reading “Let's Shop Healthier” in the produce section.  Produce sales increased by 20%. 

From Alternet, a list of “17 Restaurant Dishes With A Shockingly High Calorie Count (Even For America)”.  Outhouse Outback Steakhouse's “Bloomin' Onion” is on here, I'm not sure why as I think it's supposed to serve four.  I also see Cinnabon, IHOP's chicken-fried steak, Applebee's “Blue Ribbon Brownie” (“Nothing like topping off a dinner with a nice, light dessert comprised of 65% of your daily calorie needs”), and multiple appearances by Cheesecake Factory.  And a new study out of Loma Linda University “found that subjects who enjoyed half an avocado with their lunch felt more satisfied at the end of the meal and – even more importantly – had less desire to eat for up to 5 hours after the meal.”  Yeah, that half-avocado is 4 PointsPlus, but it's got fiber, healthy fats, might help you to avoid that workplace vending machine or break-room snack tray, and “the subjects who ate the extra avocado calories at lunch went on to eat fewer calories that night at dinner – even though they weren't trying to restrict their intake”.

Recipes!  Chow.com has a lengthy list of “Valentine's Day All-Star Recipes”.  Sadly most of them do not appear to be particularly Points-Plus friendly:  the notion apparently is that you can get skinny or you can get lucky, but do not expect to get both on the same night.  Also chicken chile verde, a tasty-looking pasta-and-broccoli dish, and how to make your own candy conversation hearts.  This will take a while:  the recipe makes 180 of them, enough for quite a few conversations.

More recipes!  Turkey mushroom meatballs, fennel and white beans as a dip, fennel and blood oranges as a salad, oranges and kale as a salad.  And coming (nearly) full circle, tuna and cannelini – white beans – as a salad.  Tomorrow is National Chopsticks Day – a possibly useful method of slowing your eating down, at least if you're as much of a complete klutz as I am – and National Frozen Yogurt Day.  I'm trying to imagine combining the two and the image thus called up is rather messy.


February 5th:  National Chocolate Fondue Day, World Nutella Day
February 6th:  National Chopsticks Day, National Frozen Yogurt Day
February 7th:  National Fettuccine Alfredo Day
February 8th:  Molasses Bar Day
February 9th:  Pizza Pie Day, National Bagels and Lox Day
February 10th:  Cream Cheese Brownie Day
February 11th:  Peppermint Patty Day, Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day
February 12th:  National Plum Pudding Day


Albertson's:

    Beef roasts or family pack steaks: chuck, crossrib, sirloin tip, eye/bottom round, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef ribeye/t-bone/New York steaks, bone in, $7.99/lb
    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, $8.99/lb, buy 1 get 1free
    85/15 ground beef, $2.79/lb
    93/7 ground beef, $3.29/lb
    Pork sirloin chops, boneless, $1.99/lb
    Pork loin chops, center cut boneless, $2.99/lb
    Pork shoulder butt roast, $1.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.48/lb (3 lbs or more)
    Sanderson Farms chicken drums/thighs/leg quarters, jumbo pack, $1.29/lb
    Great American cod or tilapia fillets, 1 lb IQF bag, $9.99, buy 1 get 2 free
    Flounder fillets, wild caught, $3.99/lb
    Catfish fillets, farm raised, $3.99/lb
    Sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $10.99/lb
    Albertson's milk, gallons, $1.87
    Albertson's eggs, AA large, 18 ct, $1.88
    Essential Everyday butter, $1.88
    Blue Bonnet spread, 99¢
    Egg Beaters, 16 oz cartons, 2/$6
    Yoplait yogurts, 20/$10
    Yoplait “Greek 100” yogurts, 10/$10
    Deli:    Jennie-O turkey breast, $3.99/lb
        Dietz & Watson roast beef or London broil, $9.99/lb
        Land O Lakes white or American cheeses, $6.99/lb
    Dole fruit cups, 4 pk, 2/$5
    Bumble Bee chunk light tuna, 5 oz cans, 77¢
    Snow's Bumble Bee clams, chopped or minced, 6 oz cans, 2/$3
    Hunt's pasta sauces, 24 oz cans, 10/$10
    Hunt's tomato sauce, 14 oz cans, 10/$10
    Colavita olive oil, 17 oz bottles, $9.99
    PictSweet frozen veggies, 14-16 oz pkg, 2/$3
    Blackberries, 6 oz boxes, 99¢
    Kiku apples, $2.99
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, $2.99
    Long-handled strawberries for dipping, 1 lb box, $9.99
    Clementines, 3 lb bag, $4.99
    Slicing tomatoes, $1.49/lb
    Asparagus, $2.99/lb
    Artichokes, $2.99 ea
    Taylor Farms organic broccoli florets, 9 oz bags, 2/$5
    Earthbound Farms “Deep Greens” or “Easy Leaves”, 5 oz boxes, $2.99


Bashas':

    Beef steak or roast, boneless: crossrib, sirloin tip, top/eye/bottom round, 50% off
    Beef bone-in ribeye steaks OR boneless NY steaks, value pack, $4.99/lb
    Pork loin country-style, bone in, value pack, $1.39/lb
    “Assorted” pork chops, value pack, $2.49/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $2.99/lb
    Whole chickens OR drums/thighs/leg quarters, 99¢/lb
    Dover sole fillets, wild caught, $6.99/lb “weather permitting”
    Bashas' milk, gallons, $1.87
    Land O Lakes spread OR 7 oz butter tubs, 2/$3
    Tillamook cheeses, 8 oz chunk or shreds, 2/$5
    Ragu pasta sauces, 16-24 oz jars, $1.49
    Bertolli pasta sauces, 15-24 oz jars, $1.99
    Chicken of the Sea solid white tuna, 5 oz cans, $1.19
    Healthy Choice frozen entrees, 5/$10
    Red seedless grapes, 99¢/lb
    Chiquita bananas, 39¢/lb
    Navel oranges OR Minneola tangelos, 99¢/lb
    Braeburn or Red Delicious apples, 99¢/lb
    Whole pineapples, 2/$5
    Blackberries or blueberries, 6 oz boxes, 2/$5
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR iceberg, AZ grown, 88¢ ea
    Broccoli OR cauliflower, AZ grown, 99¢/lb


Fry's:

    Beef round or chuck roast, boneless, 50% off
    Beef t-bone steaks, $6.99/lb
    Assorted pork loin chops, bone in, family pack, $2.49/lb
    Tyson fresh chicken, buy 1 get 1 free
    Kroger 85/15 ground turkey, 1 lb pkg, $2.99 (93/7, $3.99)
    Alaskan cod fillets, wild caught, $7.99/lb
    Corvina or tilapia fillets, farm raised, $5.99/lb
    Fry's milk, gallons, $1.99
    Kroger cheeses, 6-8 oz chunk or shreds, $1.88
    Del Monte veggies, 13-15 oz cans, 10/$10
    Kroger fruit, 13-15 oz cans, 10/$10
    Healthy Choice frozen entrees, $1.88
    Mandarins, 3 lb bag, $4.99 (5 lb box, $7.49)
    Red seedless grapes, $1.99
    Blackberries OR blueberries, 6 oz boxes, 2/$5
    Vine tomatoes, 88¢/lb
    Roma tomatoes, 99¢/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR iceberg, AZ grown, 99¢ ea
    Fresh spinach, AZ grown, 99¢/bunch
    Broccoli OR cauliflower, AZ grown, 99¢/lb
    Hass avocados, 77¢ ea
    Organic kale, 99¢/bunch
    Organic cherry tomatoes, dry pint, 2/$5


Safeway:

    Beef London broil, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Beef crossrib or round tip roast, boneless, $4.49/lb
    93/7 ground beef, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Pork shoulder “for pozole”, bone in, $1.99/lb
    Pork top loin chops, bone in, “all natural”, $2.99/lb
    Eating Right boneless skinless chicken breast, value pack, $2.99/lb
    Tilapia fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $8.99/lb (2 lbs or more)
    Lucerne cheeses, 5-8 oz chunk/shreds/shingle, 2/$5
    Oroweat breads, 24 oz wide-pan loaves, 2/$5
    Green Giant frozen veggies, 7-10 oz boxes, 3/$5
    O Organics frozen fruit, 1 lb bags, $5.99
    Lean Cuisine “Simple Favorites”, 5/$10
    Gala apples, 99¢/lb
    Navel or Cara Cara oranges, 99¢/lb
    Mangos, 10/$10
    Seedless grapes, green or red, $2.99/lb
    Envy apples, $2.99/lb
    Asparagus, $1.99/lb
    Vine tomatoes, $2.99
    Broccoli OR cauliflower, $1.49/lb
    Safeway Farms OR Fresh Express bag salads, 4-12 oz, 2/$5
    O Organics box salads, 1 lb, $5


Sprouts:

    Beef top sirloin steak, $5.99/lb
    Beef chuck roast OR London broil, boneless, $4.99/lb
    “100% grass-fed organic” ground beef, $5.99lb
    Pork loin chops or roast, boneless, $1.99/lb
    Pork shoulder roast or country-style ribs, $2.49/lb
    Whole/split/cut-up chickens, $1.59/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken thighs, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Ahi tuna steaks, wild caught, $6.99/lb
    Tilapia fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Petrale sole fillets, wild caught, $7.99/lb
    Strawberries (1 lb box) blueberries, blackberries (5-6 oz boxes), $1.88
    Navel oranges, 88¢/lb
    “Texas Ruby Red” grapefruit, 88¢ ea
    Apples:  Fuji, Braeburn, Granny Smith, 98¢/lb
    Red seedless grapes, 2 lbs/$5
    Yellow peaches or nectarines, 2 lbs/$5
    Organic Cameo apples, $1.28/lb
    Grape tomatoes, dry pint, 2/$3
    Roma or beefsteak tomatoes, 98¢/lb
    Asparagus, $1.88/lb
    Eggplant, 98¢ ea
    Broccoli crowns OR cauliflower, 98¢/lb
    Brussels sprouts OR Italian squash, 98¢/lb