Trader Joe's typo, salty sauce, Green Pans, Whole Foods fly and more

At Trader Joe's in Paramus on Friday, the sign said a new, larger bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes weighs 6 pounds, but when I got one home, I looked at the label and found it actually weighs 5 pounds, below.

Still, at $1 a pound, Trader Joe's has the lowest price I've seen for Organic Sweet Potatoes. These are from North Carolina, not California, as I wrote earlier.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Have you heard the big news about sweet potatoes at Trader Joe's?

At the Paramus store on Friday, the old 3-pound bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes had been replaced with a 6-pound bag -- or at least that's what the sign said.

The sign was wrong, but I welcome the larger, 5-pound bag for $4.99 or about $1 a pound.

That's what ShopRite charges for conventional sweet potatoes when they are not on sale.

I've been trying to buy only organic to avoid pesticides in conventional sweet potatoes, because I always eat the skin after I bake or boil and mash them with extra-virgin olive oil. 

Sweet potatoes are not only delicious, they are a great bread substitute if you are trying to lose weight.

A 2-pound bag of conventional Sweet Potatoes at Trader Joe's is $1.69.

BAGEL BAN: A hearty breakfast of two organic eggs with organic sweet potatoes and garlic cloves, which I boiled and mashed with extra-virgin olive oil and a dozen seasonings.

A 1-pound bag of Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli Pasta at Trader Joe's is $1.49, compared to $1.25 for the imported Luigi Vitelli-brand at ShopRite supermarkets.

Bottle pasta sauces contain a lot of sodium, and Trader Giotto's Tomato Basil Marinara is no exception, with 24% of the daily recommended limit in a half-cup. That's a good reason to never salt the water you use to boil pasta. Some Victoria and Classico bottled sauces have less sodium, 18% and 13%, respectively.

At Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, a twin pack of 10- and 12-inch Green Pans was $33.99 after an instant $6-off coupon. In June, I bought my first 10-inch Green Pan from Amazon.com for $29.99.

On Friday, I stopped for a cup of coffee at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, where I usually look at the prepared food but never buy any. I saw a fly over this food, and it landed on the basket, left. Then, an employee came out and said, yes, he had seen the fly but didn't know where it was now.

At Target in Paramus on Friday, I saw this 12-cup coffee maker on sale for $15.99, but later found it on Amazon.com for slightly less in white, the color I wanted, and ordered it.