Wren's bargain guide, week beginning March 12th:

News is a bit thin this week, I fear.  At Summer Tomato, the top 10 overrated (yogurt, egg whites, protein bars) and underrated (aged cheeses, mushrooms – ooh, oysters!) health foods.  And a study from Iowa State University found that the longer you chew, the less you eat.

Recipes, though – now, those we've got!  Chow.com has making your own corned beef (not the prepackaged kind – this recipe involves two cups of salt and two-thirds of a cup of sugar, along with peppercorns by the handful, bacon skins, and “pink curing salt”), additional St. Patrick's Day-oriented recipes including a Guinness milkshake, and such traditional St. Patrick's Day dishes as miso soup and homemade smoked sriracha.  Also how to finish up that blood-orange digestif from last week, and a salad of mustard greens with an anchovy dressing.

Smitten Kitchen has a kale and quinoa salad;  Sprouted goes Irish with corned beef from the oven and a soup of potatoes, Cheddar cheese, and Guinness.  Somehow a dish of cod poached in court bouillon worked its way in there.  Fooducate has five ways with Brussels sprouts:  one involves turning them into a slaw.  Snack Girl in her turn does the same with broccoli.  And Summer Tomato has a salad of fennel and pears dressed with a red wine vinaigrette.

Today's National Baked Scallops Day:  I may yet bake some myself.  This Saturday, the 15th, is National Poires belle Hélène Day which I'm not even going to touch as I genuinely cannot conceive a way to make pears poached in sugar syrup and served with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce PointsPlus-friendly.  Better luck on the 17th in anticipation of which we have huge promotions on all things green and green things are healthy, right?  Green cabbage!  Green salads!  Green kale!  Green broccoli!  Green cupcakes!  Green beer!



March 12th:  National Baked Scallops Day
March 13th:  Coconut Torte Day
March 14th:  National Potato Chip Day;  Pi Day
March 15th:  National Poires belle Hélène Day
March 16th:  National Artichoke Hearts Day
March 17th:  Corned Beef and Cabbage Day, National Green Beer Day
March 18th:  Oatmeal Cookie Day
March 19th:  National Poultry Day, National Chocolate Caramel Day



Oh, and Friday is 3.14, so bake a pi.  Whoever told you πr^2 was putting forward a base canard.  Pi are round.  Cornbread are square.


Albertson's:

    Beef chuck/crossrib/bottom round roast or family pack steaks, boneless, buy 1 get 1 free
    John Morell corned beef, flat cut, $2.99/lb
    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, $8.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef ribeye/t-bone/New York steaks, $7.99/lb
    Beef top sirloin/tri tip/London broil, boneless, $4.99/lb
    85/15 ground beef, $3.79/lb
    Assorted pork chops, bone in, $1.79/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.49/lb (3 lbs or more)
    Alaskan cod fillets/rockfish/Dover sole fillets, wild caught, $6.99/lb
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Cod, 5 oz portions, $1.99
    Ahi tuna OR mahi mahi, 5 oz portions, $2.99
    Sockeye salmon, wild caught, 5 oz portions, $3.99
    “Colossal” sea scallops (that means under 10 to the pound), $17.99/lb
    Albertson's milk, gallons, $1.99
    Tillamook butter, 2/$5
    Essential Everyday cheeses, 6-8 oz chunk or shreds, 2/$5
    Deli:    Jennie-O turkey breast, $3.99/lb
        Signature turkey breast, $5.99/lb
        Charlie's Pride Italian roast beef, corned beef, beef pastrami, $5.99/lb
        Stella Swiss/Provolone/Muenster cheeses, $5.99/lb
        Dietz & Watson classic or pepper turkey, classic or honey maple ham, $7.99/lb
        Dietz & Watson baby Swiss, $7.99/lb
        Margherita hard or Genoa salami OR pepperoni, $4.99/lb
    Essential Everyday pasta, 12-16 oz pkg, 10/$10
    Crystal Light, 5 qt tubes, 2/$5
    Hunt's pasta sauces, 24 oz cans, 10/$10
    Hunt's tomatoes, 14 oz cans, 10/$10
    Ro*tel tomatoes, 10 oz cans, 10/$10
    Bertolli pasta sauces, 15-24 oz jars, 2/$5
    Bumble Bee chunk white tuna, 5 oz cans, 10/$10
    Bumble Bee chunk light tuna, 5 oz cans, 88¢
    PictSweet “Steamables”, 10 oz bags, 10/$10
    Green Giant “Boil in Bag” veggies, 9-10 oz bags, 10/$10
    Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, 4/$10
    Lady Alice apples, $1.99/lb
    Navel oranges, $1.29/lb
    Fruit salad, 2 lb bowl, $9.99
    Slicing tomatoes, $1.69/lb
    English cucumbers, 2/$3
    Earthbound Farms organic box salad, 1 lb, $4.99
    Russet potatoes, 10 lb bag, $1.49
    Taylor Farms broccoli florets, 9 oz steam bag, 2/$5


Bashas':

    Skylark corned beef, point cut $1.99/lb (flat cut $1/lb higher), Friday through Sunday ONLY
    Beef ribeye/t-bone/New York steaks, bone in, buy 1 get 1 free
    Ground beef round, fat content not listed, $3.49/lb
    Bottom round roast or steak, $4.99/lb
    Assorted pork chops, bone in, $1.57/lb
    Center cut pork chops, value pack, $2.49/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.67/lb
    Jennie-O ground turkey, 20 oz pkg, $4.99
    Rockfish/Dover sole/true cod fillets, $5.99/lb
    Shamrock Farms dairy products, 40% off
    Food Club cheeses, 8 oz chunk/shreds/cubelets, 5/$10
    Libby's veggies, 14-15 oz cans, 79¢
    Food Club fruit or applesauce, 23-30 oz cans or jars, $1.69
    Starkist chunk light tuna OR Bumble Bee chunk white tuna, 5 oz cans, 99¢
    Green or red seedless grapes, 99¢/lb
    “Texas Red” grapefruit, 2/$1
    Navel oranges, 99¢/lb
    Braeburn or Red Delicious apples, 99¢/lb
    Bosc or D'Anjou pears, 99¢/lb
    Organic vine or hothouse tomatoes, AZ grown, $1.99/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, AZ grown, 99¢ ea
    Asparagus, $1.99/lb


Fry's:  Bloody illiterates who don't know it's “St. Paddy's Day”, not “St. Patty's Day”.

    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, family pack, $3.49/lb
    Beef t-bone steaks, $8.99/lb
    Beef eye or bottom round roast, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Kroger corned beef brisket, point cut, $1.99/lb
    80/20 ground beef, $3.69/lb (3 lb chub)
    Pork country style ribs, bone in, family pack, $1.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.77/lb
    Jennie-O 85/15 ground turkey, 1 lb pkg, $2.99
    Atlantic salmon, 5 oz portions, $4.99
    Steelhead fillets, farm raised, $8.99/lb
    Fry's milk, gallons, $1.99
    Kroger cheeses, 6-8 oz chunk/shreds/shingle, $1.99
    Sargento cheeses, 8 oz shreds, $2.99
    Kroger fruit, 15 oz cans, 10/$10
    Bumble Bee solid white tuna, 5 oz cans, 10/$10
    Prego pasta sauces, 14-24 oz jars, 2/$3
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, 97¢
    Apples:  Gala, Granny Smith, Red/Golden Delicious, 99¢/lb
    Seedless grapes, green or red, $2.99/lb
    Whole pineapples, 97¢
    Mangoes, 97¢
    Roma tomatoes, 99¢/lb
    Green cabbage, 3 lbs/$1
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, OR iceberg, AZ grown, 99¢
    Cauliflower, AZ grown, 77¢/lb


Safeway:

    Beef t-bone steaks, value pack, $6.99/lb
    Beef chuck 7-bone roast, $2.99/lb
    Beef round steak, boneless, value pack, $4.99/lb
    Open Nature beef London broil, boneless, $6.99/lb
    Safeway Farms corned beef brisket, point cut, $1.89/lb (flat cut $2.99/lb)
    93/7 ground beef, $4.99/lb
    Half pork loin, boneless, whole in bag, $1.99/lb
    Pork top loin chops, boneless, $2.99/lb
    Pork country style ribs, bone in, value pack, $2.49/lb
    Eating Right boneless skinless chicken breast, $2.99/lb
    Alaskan cod fillets, wild caught, $4.99/lb
    Swordfish steaks, bone in, wild caught $6.99/lb
    Pacific snapper fillets, wild caught, $6.99/lb “weather permitting”
    Alaskan pollock fillets, wild caught, $3.99/lb
    Catfish fillets OR dressed rainbow trout, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Kraft cheeses, 6-8 oz shreds, $2.99
    Nature's Own bread, 20 oz long loaves, 2/$5
    Prego pasta sauces, 14-24 oz jars, $1.99
    Safeway Kitchens tomatoes, 14-15 oz cans, 79¢
    American Beauty pasta, 1 lb bags, 5/$5
    Chicken of the Sea solid white tuna, 5 oz cans, 4/$5
    Green Giant frozen veggies, 7-10 oz boxes, 3/$5
    O Organics frozen veggies, 1 lb bags, $2.49
    Birds Eye “Steamfresh” frozen veggies, 10/12 oz bags, $1.99
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, $1.99
    Gala apples, $1.69/lb
    Green or red seedless grapes, $2.99/lb
    Vine tomatoes, $2.99/lb
    Asparagus, $2.99/lb
    Green cabbage, 39¢/lb


Sprouts:

    Beef New York steak, bone in, $5.99/lb
    Beef rump roast OR extra lean stew meat, $4.99/lb
    Corned beef brisket or round, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Pork sirloin chops or roast, boneless, $1.99/lb
    Pork shoulder roast or country style ribs, boneless, $1.99/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, value pack, $1.99/lb
    Zacky's 93/7 ground turkey, 20 oz pkg, $4.99
    Center cut swordfish steaks, bone in, wild caught, $5.99/lb
    Corvina fillets, wild caught, $7.99/lb
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $9.99/lb
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, 2/$3
    Blackberries, 5 oz box, 2/$3
    Navel oranges, 88¢/lb
    Texas grapefruit, 88¢ ea
    Cantaloupe OR honeydew melons, 2 lbs/$1
    Granny Smith apples, 98¢/lb
    D'Anjou or Bosc pears, 98¢/lb
    Organic Valencia oranges, 4 lb bags, 2/$5
    Roma tomatoes, 88¢/lb
    Asparagus, $1.98/lb
    Green cabbage, 4 lbs/$1
    Organic butternut squash, 88¢/lb
    Eggplant, 98¢ ea