Another lull in food shopping

With my wife and son on an extended visit to relatives, there isn't much reason for me to go food shopping, but that hasn't stopped me.

When I got an e-mail from Heritage Foods about an extraordinary ham raised naturally on the Lucki 7 farm in Rodman, N.Y., I called and ordered one, then remembered I'm the only one here to eat it. It was supposed to be 9-10 pounds but turned out to be more than 12 pounds, so I called Purdy & Sons, the farm that prepared it and was told it's OK for me to put it in the freezer until my wife and son return.

Today, I visited a food store for the first time since we returned from our road trip July 12, the ShopRite in Hackensack. Compared to the other ShopRites in Rochelle Park and Englewood, where I used to live, this place is a disappointment. The selection of drug-free Readington Farms chicken was limited and there was little free-range Australian lamb to choose from.

ShopRites are no longer cutting the price for canned Alaskan red salmon during the Can-Can Sale, so I paid $4.99 for one large can from Bumble Bee. But I found cans of ShopRite organic black beans and organic kidney beans for 99 cents each. ShopRite produce is hit or miss. I picked up Jersey blueberries ($2.50 for a pint, which weighs three-quarters of a pound) and Northwest cherries for $1.49 a pound (I originally wrote Northeast in error). Why do cherries from thousands of mile away cost less than Jersey blueberries?

The sparkling, 100% red grape juice from Spain also wasn't on sale, but I bought four at $2.79 each because it is so hard to find. Other varieties are white grape juice, peach and apple. All are good.