Finding food in an unlikely place

Image by visiticeland@hotmail.com via Flickr

Thin fillets of fresh flounder from Iceland bake quickly in the oven.

Judging from the TV ads, you wouldn't expect to find food, cookware, drinking glasses and other items for your kitchen at Marshalls, but a visit to the store at the Bergen Town Center in Paramus on Monday turned up a few bargains.

I took home two, 13-ounce jars of blueberry preserves, made with sugar, packed in "European drinkware," in other words, a reusable tumbler, for $3.99 each. An 11.3-ounce jar of walnuts and honey from Italy was $5.

I looked at a lot of other stuff, including extra-virgin olive oil and vinegars; plates, drinking glasses and pots, but either the prices were too high or they were imperfect. I did buy two small bath mats (white) for $7.99 and $9.99.

The bounty at Costco

My next stop was Costco in Hackensack, where I bought:

• Gala apples from Washington State, 5.5 pounds for $5.99, with $1-off coupon.
• Three pounds of broccoli florets, $4.99.
• Two pounds of small cucumbers, $5.49.
• One pound of Earthbound Farm organic spring mix, $4.79.
• Two pounds of Campari tomatoes, $5.49.
• Fresh, wild-caught flounder fillets from Iceland, $7.29 a pound.
• Coleman-brand organic, skinless and boneless chicken thighs, $3.99 a pound.
• Ten cans of Healthy Choice soup, $5.89, with $3.50-off coupon.

For dinner, my wife breaded the thin flounder fillets in a chili-spice mixture we keep in the fridge and baked them at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, without turning them.

Our side dish was spinach penne with anchovies, garlic, grated cheese and wilted organic spinach.

You can find a recipe for the penne (Caesar's salad pasta) at the following link:


A good week for food shopping