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

At ShopRite, naturally raised Australian beef isn't created equal

Clayton's 100% Organic Ground Beef, which is free of harmful antibiotics, is one of the two brands of naturally raised Australian beef available at ShopRite. 

Three 1-pound packages of Clayton's 100% Organic Ground Beef often go on sale for $4.99 each at the Paramus ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite supermarkets in five states, including New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, sell two brands of naturally raised Australian beef.

The cooperative probably is the biggest retailer of organic and free-range, grass-fed beef outside of Whole Foods Market.

Grass-fed Australian beef is said to be leaner and to have fewer calories than American beef.

In addition, Australian beef boasts of containing more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in salmon and other fish.

The United States is the second-biggest market for beef from Australia after Japan.

Nature's Reserve beef -- which is marketed as free range and 100% grass fed -- was the first Australian brand sold at ShopRite, usually in a whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon that retails for several dollars a pound less than the same domestic cut.

Although I no longer eat beef, other members of the family enjoy this cut thinly sliced, grilled on the stove-top and eaten wrapped in red-leaf lettuce leaves, a home version of Korean cook-on-the table barbecue restaurants. 

Nature's Reserve beef once was marketed as antibiotic free.

See the Nature's Reserve Web site:

'Good for the animals, good for the land'  


New beef in town

At the end of 2012, ShopRite introduced antibiotic-free Australian beef raised on organic farms and sold under the Clayton's brand name.

Clayton's 100% Organic Beef is raised on organic grass, organic sorghum and organic corn, all of which are free of genetically modified organisms.

See the Clayton's Organic Web site:

'Beef the way it used to be'

Nature's Reserve 100% Grass Fed Beef usually sells for $4.99 a pound at the Paramus ShopRite, above and below. Nature's Reserve markets meat raised on many Australian farms.

Clayton's Organic Beef also is available as Top Round London Broil, above, and as steaks.

Nature's Reserve beef often goes on sale for as little as $5.99 a pound.

ShopRite makes you stoop for deals on 100% whole-wheat pasta

DeCecco 100% Whole Wheat Pasta from Italy is on sale this week at ShopRite in Englewood, but the boxes are only 13.25 ounces, not a full pound. They are displayed at eye level. A much better deal can be found on the bottom shelf -- 16-ounce bags of Luigi Vitelli-brand organic 100% whole-wheat pasta, also from Italy, for only $1.19, below. The better buy also is non-GMO.

The ShopRite in Paramus also displays this Luigi Vitelli-brand organic whole-wheat pasta on the bottom shelf. I've read that food companies pay supermarkets to place their products on higher shelves to better catch the attention of shoppers.

Editor's note: The best deals in the supermarket aren't always easy to find. Also today, I discuss ShopRite stores north of Trenton selling 100% grass-fed Australian beef at a hefty discount, only $5.99 a pound.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite in Englewood and other supermarkets may be inadvertently discriminating against seniors by placing better buys on hard-to-reach bottom shelves.

That certainly seemed to be the case today at the Englewood ShopRite, where I stopped for a few items after running an errand.

I've switched to 100% whole-wheat pasta, which has more fiber and less carbs than conventional pasta, but the only real bargains in Englewood are on ShopRite's bottom shelf.

Displayed prominently at eye level were 13.25-ounce boxes of DeCecco 100% Whole Wheat Fusilli and Penne Rigate from Italy, on sale for $1.99.

Compare that to Trader Joe's and Whole Food Markets, both of which sell organic versions of 100% whole-wheat pasta for $1.39 for a full pound.

There is no indication on the DeCecco box that these pastas are non-GMO. But when made from organic whole wheat, the resulting pasta is non-GMO. 

ShopRite also has an organic version from Luigi Vitelli, but you'll have to stoop to pick up the 1-pound package from off of the bottom shelf, where it is on sale this week for $1.19 -- 80 cents less than non-organic in a smaller box.

Non-organic Gia Russa-brand 100% Whole Wheat Spaghetti is no bargain, when compared to organic versions sold for $1.39 at Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's

Smart Balance spreads are also on sale with the store card at the Englewood ShopRite this week, and all versions are non-GMO. For the lowest total fat and saturated fat, go for the 15-ounce Smart Balance Light with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, above center.

Beef from Australia

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Nature's Reserve 100% Grass Fed Whole Beef Tenderloin for Filet Mignon from Australia on sale for $8.99 a pound, and reported that ShopRite's deep discounts were no more.

But the ShopRite flier that came with the Sunday newspaper has the same beef on sale this week for only $5.99 a pound with the store card.

I plan to go to my Paramus ShopRite to take advantage of the rare deep discount.