Don't forget to bring calculator, magnifying glass to Paramus ShopRite

Last week, I picked up hothouse-grown Big Taste Tomatoes for $1 a pound, but by Tuesday, ShopRite in Paramus had replaced them with Campari Tomatoes for about $2.50 a pound, above and below. Costco Wholesale in Teterboro sells the 2-pound Campari Tomatoes package for $4.49.

ShopRite, at 224 Route 4 east in Paramus, also is accessible from Forest Avenue or Spring Valley Road.

ShopRite Fruit on the Bottom Low Fat Yogurt in 6-ounce cups, made with sugar, were on sale for 50 cents each, but ShopRite Light Fat Free Yogurt uses aspartame, an artificial sweetener. Only the aspartame-sweetened fat-free yogurt is available in boxes of 12, which brings down the price to about 41.5 cents per cup.

Chobani Greek Yogurt with fruit in 5.3-ounce cups was on sale for $1 each. Though it's pricier, Chobani contains about half of the sugar found in ShopRite Fruit on the Bottom Low Fat Yogurt.

I don't eat meat so don't have to try and figure out which package contains beef raised on feed that includes chicken-house waste or bits of dead animals.

Nature's Reserve 100% Grass Fed Ground Beef from Australia doesn't contain antibiotics, and is available with 20% fat, above, and 15% fat, below.

This package of hamburger patties appears to have the wrong shelf label. They are made with Certified Angus Beef Prime, which is raised on antibiotics. Certified Angus Beef Natural is antibiotic free and vegetarian fed.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Jerry's 320-pound provolone, Olivia's Organics, Whole Foods wine sale

A 320-pound Sharp Provolone Cheese is on display at Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood, where complete, restaurant-quality dinners are only $7.99 (reduced to $5.99 after 4 p.m.), if they don't run out before you get there.

Editor's note: Today, I explore the wonderful world of food shopping in North Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Jerry's Gourmet & More is an Italian specialty food and wine store in Englewood that spares you the agita of driving to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

Not to mention having to fork over the exorbitant toll at the George Washington Bridge.

Today, I wasn't as lucky as I have been in getting one of Jerry's complete, restaurant-quality dinners to go, but I picked up a small Caesar Salad and sampled several cheeses, including a Mild Provolone that was on sale for only $2.99 a pound.

I bought some of the mild cheese to eat with fruit and sodium-free almonds I roast at home and dust with cinnamon.

The 320-pound Sharp Provolone Cheese from Italy hanging from the ceiling is larger than the one I saw in 2013 by about 2o pounds.

Jerry's had Mild Provolone on sale for only $2.99 a pound.

Unfortunately, restaurant-quality Meals To Go ran out before I got to Jerry's in late afternoon, and I bought a small Caesar Salad, below, for my wife.

A Rochelle Roll -- cooked eel, caviar, kanpyo (a type of gourd), avocado, tempura flakes and cucumber -- from Maguro Sushi House in Rochelle Park.

Hedging my bets

Before I drove over to Jerry's, I scored the last tray from Maguro Sushi in Rochelle Park at the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center cafe.

The Rochelle Roll, with cooked eel, caviar, avocado and other ingredients, was $8.62.

Finding no Meals To Go at Jerry's, I made the Rochelle Roll my dinner at home, ending with a big salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.49 for a 1-pound package at Costco Wholesale).

On Sunday, Mackerel from Norway was only one of the whole wild-caught fish on ice at H Mart, the Korean supermarket at 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry.

Olivia's Organics

At H Mart in Little Ferry on Sunday, I picked up four whole whiting, a fish with relatively few bones, for $3.99 a pound, and two 5-ounce containers of Olivia's Organics Spring Mix (buy one for $3.99, get one free).

That's not as good a buy as Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix at Costco, but packages of Olivia's Organics carry a stamp from the NON-GMO Project Verified.

That assures you the Tango, Lolla Rosa, Mizuna and other lettuces and greens aren't genetically modified.

At home on Monday, my wife seasoned the whiting, cut each fish in two and pan-fried the pieces in olive oil. There were enough for two nights.

With big, flaky pieces of mild flesh and few bones to contend with, this is a great eating fish, accented with a splash of fresh lime juice, and I only needed a large organic salad to complete the meal.

Spicy Stewed Tofu, above, and Stewed Mackerel, below, are among the many prepared Korean side dishes available at H Mart in Little Ferry.

A 1-pound package of Stewed Pollack, a wild-caught fish from Alaska, was $7.99. A 1-pound tray of tofu with hot peppers, onion and carrot was $4.99. 

I plated the tofu and pollack with leftover organic whole-wheat capellini, reheated them and added freshly sauteed spinach for a rib-sticking, egg-less breakfast.

Whole Foods wine sale

On Saturday, Whole Foods Market in Paramus is having a one-day sale on bottles of wine (20% discount).

There are some exclusions.

I plan to combine my wine purchases that day with an American Express credit-card promotion good for a $10 statement credit when I spend $60 or more at Whole Foods.

Wild sockeye salmon with diced tomatoes, pesto and ripe peaches

Fresh wild sockeye salmon accented with pesto, a reduction of organic diced tomatoes and red wine, and a grilled ripe peach.

Editor's note: You'll need ripe peaches for one of my favorite preparations of grilled fresh wild salmon. Today, I also discuss the end of ShopRite's Summer Can Can Sale, and a few good buys at Whole Foods Market.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After two or three tries, I finally found some peaches that ripened on my kitchen counter for a savory and sweet preparation of fresh wild sockeye salmon.

Wild salmon fillets are widely available at Costco Wholesale, ShopRite and other stores, but I have yet to see them on restaurant menus this summer.

I grilled the fillet -- cut into six serving pieces and seasoned with sea salt and fresh lime juice -- and peach halves on the stove top.

First, in a pan, I reduced a can of organic diced tomatoes and red wine, seasoned with garlic powder, black pepper and a few red-pepper flakes, until the mixture thickened.

The prepared pesto doesn't need heating. All of the ingredients (except the wine) came from Costco Wholesale.

I started to grill halves from three peaches before I put the salmon on a preheated stove-top grill, skin-side down. Peaches take a total of 20 minutes on both sides; the salmon is cooked through in 8 minutes over medium-high heat.

Fresh wild sockeye salmon fillets were $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. I plated the salmon before adding the organic diced tomatoes and refrigerated pesto.

The Eastern Peaches I bought at Costco Wholesale (6 pounds for $8.49) are distributed by a Glassboro, N.J., company. They came in 100% recycled box made in North Carolina, but there is no indication where the fruit is grown. They ripened on the counter in two days.

The next day, I used the leftover reduction of organic diced tomatoes and red wine to stuff an egg-white omelet, along with smoked wild salmon, fresh spinach and reduced-fat Swiss cheese slices, above.

The omelet, made in a 10-inch pan, is enough for two. You can serve it for breakfast with leftover pasta, a baked sweet potato or organic brown rice, all good bread substitutes.

Adirondack Seltzer

ShopRite's Summer Can Can Sale ended unexpectedly on Saturday, but the store continues to offer 1-liter bottles of Adirondack Seltzer for 40 cents each or $4.80 for a case of 12.

I found two cases of Lemon-Lime at the Paramus ShopRite and three more at the Englewood ShopRite.

Salsa, coffee, wine

I don't eat chips, but love the 365 Everyday Value salsas from Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Last week, I picked up jars of Roasted Salsa Verde and Roasted Chipotle Salsa ($2.69 each for 16 ounces).

They can be heated up with fresh lime juice and used to poach fresh fish. You can then use the salsa over rice or another side dish you serve with the fish.

Leftover salsa also can be used in omelets.

A pound of organic Pacific Rim Coffee Beans were $8.99 (you can grind them in the store), and a bottle of sparkling wine from Spain (Brut) was $5.99.

Non-GMO wild rice, 40-ounce marinara and much more

Ingredients are: Long Grain Brown Rice, Sweet Brown Rice, Wild Rice, Whole Grain Wehani Rice and Whole Grain Black Japonica Rice.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss visits to Costco Wholesale, Aroma Espresso Bar and Whole Foods Market.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

After an absence of more than a week, I noticed a few changes at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, the warehouse store that is only a couple of miles from my home.

For one thing, boxes of apples, peaches and other premium fruit have been consolidated in one area and the aisles through them are shorter and oriented differently.

But it is still no easier to find what you're looking for, and on Monday, I had to ask an employee to point me to the 5-pound bags of limes ($4.99).

I also can't shake the feeling that much of the fruit has been handled and picked through by other customers, who think nothing of opening even clear-plastic packages and testing each piece -- for what, I'm not sure.

I picked up Lundberg Wild Blend Rice -- a mixture of wild and whole-grain brown rice -- and noticed the "NON-GMO Project Verified" stamp on the BPA-free bag (4 pounds for $9.39).

Della Organic Long-Grain Brown Rice, also sold at Costco, is from another grower that pledges the rice hasn't been genetically modified.

Two 40-ounce bottles of Victoria Marinara Sauce were on sale for about $3 each, below.

At Costco, Kirkland Signature Soft & Chewy Granola Bars appear to have replaced Chewy Granola Bars from Kashi, one of my favorite snack bars.

A manufacturer's instant rebate reduced the price of two 40-ounce jars of Victoria Marinara Sauce to $5.99.

Made from Italian tomatoes, Victoria is highly rated by Consumer Reports, and the 40 ounces allows you to cook 1 pound of pasta at a time, with sauce to spare.

On my last few visits to the Hackensack Costco, I haven't been able to find Kashi Chewy Granola Bars Trail Mix, a favorite because of the almonds they contain.

On Monday, I did find an enormous box of 60 Kirkland Signature Soft & Chewy Granola Bars ($8.69), but they don't have any almonds in them and each bar is under an ounce.

The Organic Quinoa Salad at Aroma Espresso Bar in Paramus is misnamed.

The staff at Aroma let me down today.

A large Cafe Au Lait was $2.75 (16 ounces); a small piece of chocolate is complimentary.

Poor service in Paramus

The menu, including 9 healthy salads, impressed me when I discovered Aroma Espresso Bar last December at the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, so I returned a couple of times more.

But this afternoon, the staff served me an unseasoned salad and even forgot to give me the lemon-olive oil dressing, which I learned later is supposed to be served on the side.

I ordered the Organic Quinoa Salad ($8.50), only to discover it is mostly chopped vegetables with barely a couple of ounces of quinoa (KEEN-wha) on top.

The salad was unseasoned and undressed, so I added black pepper and a little salt.

As I was leaving, I mentioned to an employee, who appeared to be the manager, that I couldn't taste the dressing, and he said it is always served on the side.

"Sorry about that," he said weakly.

At Garden State Plaza, Nordstrom has a cafe with a small menu.

Pan Seared Atlantic Cod was one of the choices today.

One of three kimchis at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Kimchi at Whole Foods


Whole Foods Market in Paramus is now selling three kinds of kimchi on its pickles bar for $9.99 a pound.

The kimchi is labeled "premium" and is said to come from "Mama O."

I stopped to chat with one of the employees at the store's wonderful fresh-fish counter, remarking about the stark difference in color between wild-caught king salmon and farmed sockeye salmon.

He said Whole Foods' farmed salmon, which was a pale orange, is colored by a yeast added to the food, not chemicals, as is the practice on many fish farms. 

On the way out, I stopped to buy 5 ears of bicolor corn from Georgia for $2.

My wife just steamed the shucked corn and my ear was pleasantly sweet, needing nothing.

No bread, no pizza, no meat, no problem

A frittata made with three reduced-fat cheeses, tomatoes and pesto, above and below, oozing like the deep-dish pizza I deny myself to maintain my weight loss.

Most of the ingredients are available at Costco Wholesale. To prepare a 10-inch frittata, see Do you know how to do 'The Frittata'?

Do I miss bread and pizza, which I gave up a couple of years ago to lose weight, at the suggestion of my trainer at the gym? Absolutely.

I no longer have a trainer, but I'm still on a no-bread, no-pizza diet.

What I don't miss is the 48 pounds I've lost, giving me -- someone who has been overweight for most of his adult life -- a feeling of being relatively light on my feet.

My weight recently hit a plateau in the 179-181 pound range, compared to a high of 228 pounds in 2010.

A wedge of the deep-dish frittata with Della-brand organic brown rice from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack and stewed tofu from H Mart in Englewood.

Go brown

I've substituted brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and mashed sweet potatoes for white rice, conventional pasta and white potatoes.

I've added organic quinoa to my diet, making 2 cups at a time to provide a side dish for 4 or 5 breakfasts and dinners. 

I finished the quinoa on Wednesday morning. So I made 2 cups of organic brown rice with diced organic tomatoes in an electric cooker for the next set of meals.

Fluffy organic quinoa has fewer carbohydrates than rice or pasta. Here, I ate the whole grain with Chinese cabbage and spicy tofu from a restaurant that didn't have brown rice.

Instead of having bread with these organic eggs accented with pesto, I filled my breakfast plate with squash, sweet potato and sauteed cabbage with sweet peppers.

Two fish are better than one, as in this dinner of fresh wild salmon from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack and pan-fried whole whiting, which were $3.49 a pound at H Mart in Englewood.

I also gave up meat and poultry more than 3 years ago out of concern over all the antibiotics and growth hormones used to raise animals on factory farms, and the lack of information on most restaurant menus.

I've switched to seafood, especially wild-caught whole fish and fillets.

I also favor anchovies, sardines, whiting and other small fish that contain very low levels of mercury.

Homemade Black Tiger garlic shrimp and whole-wheat spirals with sardines.

Food discounts

Jerry's Gourmet & More and H Mart, both in Englewood, discount prepared food after 4 p.m.

Jerry's knocks $2 off its restaurant-quality Meals To Go, cutting the price for a complete dinner of fish, chicken or pork with pasta and other sides to $5.99.

Jerry's added a sign to the refrigerated case to make its Meals To Go easier to find. The small yellow stickers on the cover indicate a price cut to $5.99 from the regular price of $7.99 after 4 p.m.

H Mart, the Korean supermarket, cuts the price of Jinga-brand prepared rolls (kimbap) and other food  by 50% after 4 p.m.

On Wednesday, I picked up a seaweed-wrapped roll with fish sausage and egg for $2.50 instead of $4.99.

I also found a box of 20 small, yellow, intensely sweet Ataulfo Mangoes for $9.99, a discount of $6.

But my wife said the Englewood H Mart was selling the 20-package Shin Ramyun box of spicy noodle soup at full price, forcing me to drive to the Little Ferry H Mart on Wednesday to buy it on sale for $14.99, a discount of $3.

Kimbap and Korean pickles from H Mart in Englewood.

Eating pesto morning, noon and night

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale. After boiling and draining a half-pound of pasta, I placed it in a large bowl and added 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of the refrigerated pesto, mixing the pasta and sauce well, then garnished them with whole pine nuts and shredded Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, below.

Do not heat the pesto before adding it to the hot pasta.

Costco Wholesale has made it much too easy to enjoy pesto at any meal.

Made from 100% imported Italian basil, Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto is far better than another Costco product I tried a couple of years ago.

This is typical of Costco, which often improves on another company's products and puts its Kirkland Signature brand name on the label.

For a terrific breakfast sandwich, I have spread Costco's fragrant pesto on two halves of a baguette, added sliced, reduced-fat Swiss and placed the halves under the broiler until the cheese melted.


Another great breakfast is an omelet or eggs sunny side up eaten with Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti. 

An open-face, egg-white omelet with sliced cheese and pesto is a great eye opener.

  

Of course, pasta pesto can be enjoyed at lunch and dinner, too.

And a teaspoon or more of pesto will elevate any broiled fish fillet. 

The Basil Pesto, which comes in a 22-ounce clear plastic jar, is made from a half-dozen ingredients, including what is described as "pure, sweet basil" from the region of Liguria and Pecorino Romano sheep's milk cheese.

I have always preferred to make my own pesto, because I use far more basil than just about anyone else, but Costco's version is the best substitute for homemade I've found. 

Here is a recipe for Blender Pesto from a post I wrote in January:

Marcella Hazan's Blender Pesto Recipe 

Cucumber kimchi, Cypriot olive oil, wild lox and more

Cucumber kimchi, with onion and sweet pepper, came from Jeon-Ju Jan Chi Jip, a small Korean catering shop at 200 Broad Ave, in Palisades Park (201-944-0471). I also found tofu and a half-dozen small, shrink-wrapped fish, below. The three dishes made for a nice, no-fuss dinner.

Taking into account portion size and price, the shop gives good value, with many items costing $5.99 and $6.99.

Three-liter tins of 100% Greek extra-virgin olive oil are on sale again for $14.99 at the International Food Warehouse, 370 Essex St., Lodi. On Saturday, I bought two more tins of this unusually thick and fruity olive oil from Cyprus that works out to about $5 a liter.

Costco Wholesale provides a terrific way to end a meal with Parmigiano Reggiano and reduced-fat Swiss cheeses, left; organic unsulfured, sun-dried Calimyrna Figs, top; and sodium-free almonds I roast at home and dust with Vietnamese cinnamon.

Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon costs $15.59 for 1 pound (packaged in two half-pound pouches), the first price adjustment I have seen in well over a year. The old price was $15.39.

Costco Wholesale still has the best price on smoked wild salmon, even with a 20-cent price increase my wife encountered last week.

The sockeye salmon is sliced and preservative free: Ingredients are salmon, salt, brown sugar and natural wood smoke.

Compare the color of this wild salmon to the artificially colored farmed fish used in the vast majority of smoked salmon, and the choice is clear.

My wife also brought home a 10-pound bag of sweet potatoes for $5.99. Costco stocks them only for holidays.

That night, she boiled a few sweet potatoes with Kabocha squash, then mashed them with olive oil to accompany wild-caught sea bass from H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Englewood.

The mashed sweet potatoes are also wonderful for breakfast as a foundation for two organic eggs fried sunny side up.

Then, you can break the yolks over the sweet potatoes and eat them together. Who needs bread?
 

Sunset-brand Beefsteak Tomatoes at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack were looking a lot better at the end of last week, above. A 5-pound box was $6.99. I used them sliced in a frittata with whole eggs, egg whites, low-fat milk, shredded cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and Organic No-Salt Seasoning, below.