Wren's bargain guide, week beginning May 7th:

Fooducate this week has an interesting thing on gluten, celiac disease, and why you lose weight when you change to a gluten-free diet.  (Bluntly:  your options narrow.  Markedly.)  Also, a side-by-side label comparison between Chobani Greek yogurt and Siggi Icelandic yogurt;  and only a few months after PepsiCo took the brominated vegetable oil out of Gatorade, Coca-Cola's doing the same with Powerade.  Which leaves only Mountain Dew, as far as I can tell.

Speaking of brominated vegetable oil, the Washington Post has a very good piece touching on processed foods, chemical additives, and scare headlines:  “The difficulty of tackling processed foods starts with the most basic question: What are they?  {...}  Justice Potter Stewart famously said that we know pornography when we see it.  We know processed food, too, and it doesn’t look like canned tomatoes.  It looks like instant ramen, or hot dogs, or Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, with or without yellow dye.”  (It's noted here, almost parenthetically, that according to a recent study from the UK, “people who ate seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily had a 42 percent lower risk of dying — of any cause — during the 7 ½-year study period.”)

At PLOS (the Public Library Of Science), an encouraging piece on exercise and the “good enough” workout:  dealing with an activity slump by just putting on the gym clothes, or not even that, and going out and doing something.  Anything.  Mark Bittman has a column at NYT about the evolution of comfort foods, and how manufacturers capitalize on your desire to eat the things you grew up eating – things that in the past half-century are often things made by those very manufacturers.  And Yoni Freedhoff has the latest in his video series, this one on the hazards of “saving your calories for dinner”, particularly a dinner out.  It can lead to arriving at a restaurant ravenously hungry, only to be greeted by the bread basket and a 500-calorie starter even before you get to the main course.

Recipes!  Chow.com for some reason is a bit short of healthy recipes this week, focusing as it does on Mother's Day coffee cakes, things to put on french fries (baked beans?  A fried egg?  Kimchi??), and a chocolate chocolate chip cake made in the slow cooker.  Yyyyeah.  Smitten Kitchen has homemade spinach pasta, though.  Simply Recipes has jalapeño cornbread and homemade guacamole, Summer Tomato offers homemade pesto on “pasta” made from zucchini.  And Snack Girl has low-carb snacks, PepsiCo's 11-teaspoons-of-sugar “Naked” smoothies, and a strawberry-rhubarb compote.

This second week of May is National Hamburger Week.  Personally I'm more and more inclined of late to go the grilled-portobello-on-a-bun route for my hamburgers.  And this Sunday is, honest, National Eat What You Want Day.  I propose the Weight Watchers addendum:  eat what you want, and stop when you're satisfied.

May 7th:  Roast Leg of Lamb Day
May 8th:  National Empanada Day, National Coconut Cream Pie Day
May 9th:  National Butterscotch Brownie Day, National Moscato Day
May 10th:  National Shrimp Day
May 11th:  Eat What You Want Day, National Mocha Torte Day
May 12th:  National Nutty Fudge Day
May 13th:  National Apple Pie Day (not to be confused with Pi Day, which is in March), National Fruit Cocktail Day
May 14th:  National Buttermilk Biscuit Day


Albertson's:

    Beef ribeye, t-bone, New York steaks, bone in, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef petite sirloin steaks, boneless, family pack, $9.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    Beef top sirloin steak OR tri tip roast, boneless, $5.99/lb
    Beef chuck/crossrib/bottom round roast or family pack steaks, $4.99/lb
    93/7 ground beef, $3.99/lb
    Center cut pork chops, boneless, $7.99/lb, buy 1 get 1 free
    Assorted pork chops OR country style ribs, bone in, family pack, $2.49/lb
    Boneless skinless chicken breast, $2.49/lb
    Sanderson Farms chicken breasts/drums/thighs/leg quarters, bone in, 99¢/lb
    Honeysuckle White frozen turkey breast, bone in, $1.77/lb
    Classico pasta sauces, 15-24 oz jars, 2/$5
    Essential Everyday olive oil, 51 oz bottles, $9.99
    Bumble Bee solid white tuna, 4 pk of 5 oz cans, $6.99
    PictSweet Deluxe or “Steamables” veggies, 10-14 oz frozen bags, 2/$3
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, 87¢
    Gala apples, $1.69/lb
    Ataulfo mangos, 2/$1
    Vine tomatoes, $1.99/lb
    Artichokes, 2/$3
    Cucumbers, 2/$1
    Earthbound Farms organic box salads, 5-7 oz, $2.99


Bashas':

    Beef t-bone steaks, value pack, $5.49/lb
    Beef porterhouse steaks, $6.49/lb
    Beef tenderloin, whole in bag, $6.99/lb, “cut & wrapped FREE!”
    Beef chuck or crossrib roast, $4.99/lb
    Beef tri tip roast, $6.99/lb
    Ground beef chuck, fat content not listed, value pack, $2.89/lb
    Pork loin country style, bone in, value pack, $1.59/lb
    Pork roast, center cut boneless, $3.99/lb
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Bashas' milk, gallons, 2/$5
    Daisy sour cream OR cottage cheese, 24 oz tubs, $2.99
    PictSweet Deluxe or “Steamables” frozen veggies, 10-14 oz frozen bags, 3/$5
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, 87¢
    Whole seedless watermelons, 19¢/lb
    Cantaloupes OR honeydew melons, 2 lbs/$1
    Vine tomatoes, 99¢/lb
    Vidalia onions, 99¢/lb
    OrganicGirl box salads, 5-8 oz, buy 1 get 1 free
    Sweet corn, 2/$1


Fry's:

    Beef ribeye steaks, bone in, family pack, $6.99/lb
    Beef top or eye round roast, boneless, $4.49/lb
    85/15 ground beef, $3.99/lb (3 lb chub)
    Pork loin center cut chops, bone in, family pack, $2.99/lb
    Foster Farms boneless skinless chicken breasts/thighs/tenders, buy 1 get 2 free
    Jennie-O 93/7 ground turkey, 1.25 lb pkg, $3.99
    Atlantic salmon fillets, farm raised, $6.99/lb
    Daisy sour cream, 16 oz tubs, $1.99
    Kroger cheeses, 6-8 oz shreds or shingle pack, $2.29
    Kroger fruit, 15 oz cans, 10/$10
    Del Monte veggies, 11-15 oz cans, 10/$10
    StarKist solid or chunk white tuna, 5 oz cans, 10/$10
    Apples:  Gala, Granny Smith, Red/Golden Delicious, 99¢/lb
    Blackberries, 6 oz boxes, 97¢
    Strawberries, 1 lb box, 2/$5
    D'Anjou pears, 99¢/lb
    Mangos, 99¢ ea
    Whole seedless watermelons, $3.99 ea
    Red potatoes, 5 lb bag, AZ grown, 2/$3
    Organic kale, 99¢/bunch
    Sweet corn, 3/99¢
    Hot house English cucumbers, AZ grown, 99¢ ea


Safeway:

    Buy $20 in Weight Watchers branded or endorsed products, save $5 instantly!

    Beef ribeye steaks, boneless, $6.99/lb
    Beef bottom round roast, boneless, $3.99/lb
    Beef top sirloin steaks, boneless, $4.99/lb
    Beef chuck roast, boneless, $4.99/lb
    80/20 ground beef, $3.99/lb
    “All natural” assorted pork loin chops, bone in, $3.99/lb
    Eating Right boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, $1.99/lb
    Sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $9.99/lb
    Ahi tuna steaks, $9.99/lb
    Yoplait “Greek 100” yogurts, 10/$10
    Crystal Farms “All Whites” egg whites in a carton, 16 oz, $2.99
    Lucerne cheeses, 2 lb chunk or shreds, $7.99
    Progresso Light soups, 2/$4
    Green Giant corn, 11 oz cans, $1.89
    Bumble Bee solid white tuna, 5 oz cans, $1.89
    Nature's Own “100% Whole Grain” bread, 20 oz long loaves, 2/$4
    Birds Eye “Steamfresh” frozen veggies, 10-12 oz bags, $1.99
    Weight Watchers ice-cream novelties, 6-12 ct, $3.49
    Green Giant frozen box veggies, 18 oz boxes, $1.99
    Smart Ones frozen entrees, $1.99
    Weight Watchers all natural chicken, 30-32 oz frozen boxes, $6.99
    Strawberries, 3 lb box, $3.99
    Whole cantaloupes, 2/$6
    Seedless grapes, green or red, $2.99/lb
    Gala apples, $1.99/lb
    Sweet corn, 2/$1
    Vine tomatoes, $2.99/lb
    Zucchini, $1.49/lb
    Iceberg, 99¢ ea


Sprouts:

    Beef top sirloin steaks, $6.99/lb
    Assorted pork chops, bone in, “2 center and 2 end”, $2.99/lb
    Lamb shoulder chops, bone in, $2.99/lb
    Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught, $12.99/lb
    Fuji or Granny Smith apples, 98¢/lb
    D'Anjou or Bosc pears, 98¢/lb
    Navel oranges, 88¢/lb
    Whole cantaloupes, 98¢ ea
    Honey mangos, 3/$1
    Vine tomatoes, 48¢/lb
    Roma tomatoes, 98¢/lb
    Leaf lettuce, green/red/Romaine, 88¢ ea
    Grape tomatoes, dry pint, 2/$3
    Eggplant, 4/$5
    Italian squash, 98¢/lb
    Bell peppers, red/yellow/orange, 98¢ ea
    Organic curly kale, 98¢/bunch