At Lodi food warehouse, organic salads are half the price of non-organic

At the International Food Warehouse, 370 Essex St. in Lodi, bargains are getting harder to find. And missing price signs are common. I did find a liter bottle of extra-virgin olive oil -- a blend from Italy, Spain and Turkey -- for $5.99 that I will use with balsamic vinegar to dress my daily salad.

On Wednesday afternoon, I found 5-ounce containers of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix and Organic Half & Half  (Baby Spinach and Spring Mix) for 99 cents each, above. The triple-washed salads carried a short expiration date. That's a better buy than 1 pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix for $4.29 at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

Next to the Earthbound Farm salads, 5-ounce containers of non-organic Attitude Salads were $2 each, twice the price of organic. Go figure.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

At Lodi warehouse, a good buy on wild jumbo shrimp from Argentina

Fish First Inc. operates the seafood counter inside the International Food Wine & Liquor Warehouse in Lodi.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When it comes to seafood, wild-caught is your best choice, especially in shrimp.

That's why I jumped at the chance to buy a 4.4-pound box of wild Langostino from Argentina at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi this morning.

The seafood counter is operated by a friendly South Korean fishmonger under the name Fish First Inc., and his motto is, "Eat Fish, Live Well!"

You could argue with describing these head-on jumbo shrimp as langostino, a type of lobster.

But you can't argue with the price, $10 a pound. A 2-kilo box was $44.

At Costco Wholesale, farmed Tiger Shrimp from Southeast Asia run about $15 a pound, and there is no information on what they are fed or where they are raised.

I just bought wild-caught Gulf Shrimp on sale for $15.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Good until 2017

The Argentine Red Shrimp I bought today were caught in July and frozen, and they have a use-by date of July 2017, according to the box.

I'll probably thaw some for dinner soon, rubbing them with fresh lime juice, extra-virgin olive oil and a little sea salt, and grill them on my stove top, head and all.

They were listed in a flier that came with today's newspaper, and prices are supposed to be good through Nov. 10.

The colorful carton is in several languages. 

Another good buy are 5-ounce packages of non-organic and organic greens and salads at $1.99 each. But look carefully at expiration dates. I bought Fresh Attitude Arugula with a use-by date of Nov. 2 and an Organic Girl Salad with a use-by date of  Oct. 30.

Olive oil 

Despite the name, the International Food Wine & Liquor Warehouse has few, if any, bargains on wine, beer or spirits.

The store does stock tins or bottles of extra-virgin olive oil from Italy, Greece, Spain, Lebanon and other countries.

But often price signs are missing, and tins don't provide any information on whether the oil is from one country or a blend from several Mediterranean sources.

Today, I saw one 3-liter tin for under $20 that was called "Mediterranean Jewels," but also said, "Product of Italy."

Details

Fish First Inc., 370 Essex St., Lodi; 201-291-2320. Call for hours.

International Food Wine & Liquor Warehouse, 370 Essex St., Lodi; 201-368-9511. Open 7 days.