Thank you, ShopRite, for closing the express lane

The Express Checkout at the Hackensack ShopRite looked inviting this afternoon, but it was closed.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

At the ShopRite in Hackensack on Monday, I picked up a few bottles of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider and Adirondack Seltzer that were on sale.

Today, I decided to go back for more, but couldn't find any Martinelli's and bought 10 bottles of ShopRite Seltzer instead at 5 for $2.

I stopped in the produce department, but couldn't find the 5-pound box of sweet potatoes that were on sale before Christmas for $2.49.

No clementines in sight, either.

Farmed shrimp only

And in the seafood department, I saw only farmed shrimp, and a sign advising customers about a "worldwide shortage of shrimp."

One of the farmed shrimp was labeled "jumbo," but the crustaceans didn't look that big to me and the price, about $14.50 a pound, was what I had paid for jumbo wild-caught shrimp at H Mart in Englewood last Sunday.

By the way, I could smell the seafood from ShopRite's produce department, and that seemed unusual.

When it was time to pay for the seltzer, I found the express lane for "about 20 items or less" was closed, this at 1:45 in the afternoon.

Long line at Costco

On the way home, I stopped at Costco Wholesale to pick up organic salad, tomatoes and a few other items we are out of and to return a watch I bought online, because the wristband is much too large for my son.

I parked at the back of the lot, but when I got inside, an employee directed me to the return line, which had about 20 other customers on it.

I left my cart there, turned around and went home.

A small, sweet victory in the battle of 'us' against 'them'

A 3-pound bag of New Jersey sweet potatoes was $2.69, according to a sign at the ShopRite in Hackensack, but during checkout, it rang up at $2.99.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Why does food shopping often feel like it's a battle of "us" against "them"?

I don't include Costco Wholesale or Trader Joe's in that assessment, but even a great store like Whole Foods Market disappoints every once in a while.

The other day, I saw a sign at the Paramus Whole Foods offering local, bi-color sweet corn, but when I got the 4 ears home and shucked them, they weren't bi-color and, when I steamed them, they weren't sweet.

What should I have done? Dropped dinner preparations, jumped in the car and returned them? Take the cooked ears back the next day?

On Sunday, only one employee was working at the Courtesy Counter of the Hackensack ShopRite on South River Street. Shoppers buy cigarettes and lottery tickets there, as well.

One of shoppers' biggest pet peeves is when stores don't update their computers to accurately reflect price signs on shelves and in the produce section.

At the Hackensack ShopRite, if you have such a problem at check-out and notice it in the store, the cashier can't make an adjustment.

You have to go to the Courtesy Counter, as I found out on Sunday, when 3 pounds of Top Crop Sweet Potatoes rang up at $2.99, not the $2.69 on the sign.

There were three or four other people in front of me at the Courtesy Counter and the employee had to call produce to confirm the price, but I got my $2.99 back, meaning the sweet potatoes were free.

My only other purchases were 2 jumbo cantaloupes on sale for 99 cents each.

Rich lobster comes at a poor man's price

Our Sunday dinner of three Maine lobsters.

The Hackensack ShopRite flier featured fresh live lobster for $4.99 a pound, starting this past Sunday, but first, I needed to pick up a few things at the nearby H Mart in Little Ferry.

As I walked past the Korean supermarket's fish counter on Sunday, I saw a large tank filled with dark-ocean-green lobsters. 

I asked an employee behind the counter, and he said they were $4.49 a pound and from Maine.

I bought three lobsters, weighing a total of 4.18 pounds.

At H Mart, lobsters were taken from a tank and displayed for customers.

On Friday afternoon, I had stopped at Costco for limes and picked up a few dozen wild-caught Littleneck Clams at $3.49 a pound.

With my wife and mother-in-law away visiting relatives, I shared the clams and three lobsters with my teenage son. 

When we finished, we both had one word to describe the meal: Magnifico.

The clams went on a stove-top grill until they popped open.

I cooked the lobsters in a large covered turkey roaster.

We ate the clams first, dipping them into a mixture of extra-virgin olive oil, lime juice, fresh chopped oregano from the garden and garlic powder.

Then, we placed a platter with the lobsters between us and took turns using the one shell cracker we have.

The lobster was perfect dipped into an extra-virgin olive oil mixture.

We'd twist off the tails and I'd get up to cut through the tough underside membrane with a chef's knife, allowing all of the luscious meat to be removed easily.

I cooked the lobsters for about 10 minutes, until they turned red. The claws snapped under the metal cracker, releasing the melt-in-your mouth meat.

One of the lobster tails swims in the crustacean's juices.

On the grill, salty water in the clams boiled before they popped open.

This is how we shared three lobsters: two tails and three claws for me, and one tail, three claws and all of the legs from two lobsters for him.

The rich-tasting tail and claw meat was juicy and tender -- one of my favorite taste sensations.

We didn't have corn or small red potatoes, but that didn't matter.

My son ate white rice and dipped his lobster meat in melted butter. I was happy with just the seafood, a glass of wine and seltzer.

After the meal, I had some fruit salad, and even later, I made a salad of garden lettuce and cucumbers with those incomparable Campari tomatoes.
 

Can Can Sale isn't worth an exclamation point

There were more packs of Adirondack Seltzer elsewhere at ShopRite in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

It's time to stock up on Adirondack Seltzer.

But I didn't find a lot of other bargains today -- the start of the 2012 Summer Can Can Sale! at ShopRite, which may no longer be entitled to use the exclamation point in its store flier.

The 12-can packs of Adirondack Seltezer are $1.99 each, a discount of $1.80, and they are actually cheaper than 12-can packs of teeth-rotting Pepsi (5 for $11).

Each pack contains a dozen 12-ounce cans of seltzer, which is available plain and in Lemon-Lime and other flavors. It is sodium and calorie free.

I just so happen to be on my last 12 pack of Adirondack Mandarin Orange Seltzer purchased at the previous Can Can Sale.

I also picked up 2 liters of  ShopRite 100% Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil for $4.99 each, compared to $5.99 a liter at Trader Joe's.

That's a discount of $3 a liter. ShopRite also sells a blend of extra-virgin olive oil from several countries, but the Italian product is preferable.

The 10th anniversary Summer Can Can Sale is expected to run through July 21.

Years ago, I stocked up on canned Red Salmon from Alaska during the Can Can Sale, but one look at the prices for a large can tells you it's no longer part of the promotion.

I found only pricey Canadian lobsters at the Hackensack ShopRite on South River Street instead of cheaper ones from Maine, where an oversupply was keeping prices down.

Costco organic eggs

Costco Wholesale's Organic Brown Eggs come 24 in a package.

An organic egg with sun-dried tomato and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Large Brown Organic Eggs from Costco Wholesale are $6.79 for 2 dozen.

They are cage free and contain neither antibiotics nor growth hormones. 

And they are delicious, especially sunny side up, when you break the yolk and mix it with brown rice.

Update: In 2016, Costco lowered the price for 2 dozen cage-free organic eggs to $5.99.

The Dented Can Can Sale

Image via Wikipedia

I shopped the first day of the 40th anniversary Can Can Sale at ShopRite in Hackensack this morning, but I don't think I came away with such great bargains. And I was disappointed -- again -- to see no big discount on canned, wild-caught red salmon from Alaska.

My biggest purchase was three dozen cans of Adirondack seltzer at $1.99 a dozen. I also bought three cans of Progresso soup at $1.19 each or 10 for $10. Air Wick air freshener was only 65 cents each, and I picked up nine cans.

Bumble Bee-brand Alaskan red salmon was $4.99 for a can of about 14 ounces, compared to the usual price of $5.49. At long-past Can Can Sales, it was $2.99.

A lot of the stuff I buy at ShopRite wasn't being sold at a discount. Bottles of sparkling, 100% juice from Spain weren't on sale, and, in fact, there were none on the shelf. The oversize, bronze-cut pasta and the extra-virgin olive oil, both from Italy, also were regular price.

Barilla pasta was three for $4 or nine for $10. DeCecco pasta was knocked down to $1.50, from $2.49, not to 99 cents, as I wrote previously.

Unexpected buy on organic chicken

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I went to ShopRite in Hackensack this morning to buy Readington Farms chicken for my wife and son, who have resumed eating meat. But I bought Coleman organic chicken instead, because it was nearly half the price.

There was nothing in the sales circular about the organic chicken, and I figured it was a misprint. And there were only skin-on legs available. But at 99 cents a pound, a tray of four legs came to around $1.50 or less, so I bought seven trays, most for the freezer.

Readington Farms legs were selling for the usual $1.89 a pound. And the store was having a 40%-off sale on crappy Perdue chicken. ShopRite rarely has a sale on drug-free chicken.

Both Readington Farms and Coleman raise their chickens on vegetarian feed and without antibiotics. All bets are off on how Perdue chickens are raised, but the parts are much bigger than their naturally raised cousins -- likely as a result of the antibiotics they receive.

My wife likes to rub drug-free chicken legs with Grace-brand jerk sauce (hot), put them in the refrigerator for several hours, then roast them in the oven. We use a meat thermometer, because they take less time to cook than conventional legs.

 

Good buys on imported food

Image via Wikipedia

ShopRite in Hackensack is having a four-day "price break" and there are deals on a couple of imported items, including extra-virgin olive oil from Italy and sparkling 100% juice from Spain. The sale at this and other ShopRites ends Saturday.


The sparkling juice from Spain comes in 750 milliliter bottles for $1.79 each with the store card, compared to the regular price of $2.29. There is a limit of four. Flavors include red grape, white grape, peach and apple -- all 100% juice -- and pomegranate-apple, which is not all juice.


The sparkling red grape is so thick and robust, I sometimes dilute it with plain seltzer or the white grape juice.


The ShopRite extra-virgin olive oil is exclusively from Italian olives, unlike others that blend oil from Italy and other countries, including Spain and Tunisia. A 1-liter bottle is $4.99, compared to the regular price of $7.99.


This is a great everyday oil, especially for salads and to moisten leftover pasta, but I also fry eggs in it.

Not all of ShopRite's imported items are on sale. Two that are being sold at full price are bread sticks and oversize, bronze-cut pasta, both from Italy.

Frustrating search for fresh fruit

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After dinner Wednesday night, I went searching for fresh fruit. I started at H Mart, the Korean supermarket near the Little Ferry Circle, because I also needed hot pepper paste with vinegar, just the thing to spice up the firm tofu I have been cooking.


With my wife and son away, I passed on the watermelons, afraid I couldn't finish one by myself. Ditto for the huge jack fruit, which I have never eaten. California peaches were shrink-wrapped a dozen to the tray, too many for me. I couldn't find New Jersey peaches, and the only blueberries were from Canada and Michigan. In August? Where are the Jersey blues?


I left the Korean store for ShopRite, which is on the way back to my Hacensack home, certain I could find Jersey fruit. I did find hard Jersey peaches that need ripening on my counter (69 cents a pound), but the blueberries came from Michigan and were two pints for $5, which is high. I bought one, along with a half-dozen peaches, and went home.


I emptied half of the blueberries into a bowl, and washed and ate them, but too many were soft. At least they were sweet. This afternoon, I ate the rest out of the plastic package after washing them, and they were sweet and a lot firmer.


The peaches are still hard, so I still need fruit.

(Photo: Jack fruit, the national fruit of Bangladesh.)

The Can Can Sale at ShopRite

Image via Wikipedia

The Can Can Sale at ShopRite isn't what it used to be, but there are still several bargains to be found that allow you to stock up on favorite items.


It's been a couple of years since ShopRite would knock off $2 from the price of canned red salmon from Alaska, selling it for $2.99 during the Can Can Sale. I used to buy 10 cans at a time. Now, the best you can do is a 50-cent discount on Bumble Bee-brand red salmon, or $4.59.


On Monday, at the Hackensack ShopRite, I found five dozen cans of Adirondack seltzer (lemon-lime and mandarin orange) for $1.99 a dozen -- a savings of $1.50. This brand has a lot more fizz and a lot more flavor than the store brand or others in large, plastic bottles, and doesn't go flat as fast.


Extra-virgin olive oil from Italy, sold under the ShopRite name, is $4.99 for the 33.8-ounce bottle -- a discount of $3. This oil isn't a blend from Italy, Greece, Turkey and other countries; the olives were grown in Italy and the oil was produced there, the store says.


I bought three bottles for dressing salads, frying eggs, dipping bread and other every day uses.


I also picked up Goya beans -- black, red kidney and so forth -- at three cans for $2.

If you think deciphering parking signs in Manhattan is difficult, the Can Can sale shelf tags would challenge a Talmudic scholar.

In the produce section, I found a 16-ounce plastic tub of Earthbound Farm organic spinach leaves. I looked over the shelf tags and found one that read something like this,  "EFB baby spinach, $4.99, $1 off." When I got home and looked over my receipt, the spinach had rung up at $6.99.


This morning, I returned to the store and the produce section, and looked at the shelf tag again. I said to the man stocking produce nearby that I had been overcharged, but he said the sign was for the 11-ounce package, not the 16-ounce one I had selected. Indeed, I had missed the the number "11," which appears on the sign in red.

I left the store with two 64-ounce containers of Florida's Natural orange juice (two for $5) and a dozen 4 Grains cage-free brown eggs, which are from chickens that receive no antibiotics or animal byproducts ($1.69).

Another fast one at ShopRite

The ShopRite in Hackensack pulled another fast one on me today. I needed sweet peppers, an onion and garlic to prepare arroz con pollo with chicken thighs I defrosted, and also picked up lactose-free organic milk and seltzer while I was there.

I glanced at the receipt in the store, but didn't look at it more carefully until I got home, which is where I saw I was charged $3.49 for a head of elephant garlic, not the $2.99 listed on the sign. Mierda! Don't you hate that?

How likely is it that I will be going back there for 50 cents, since it is my least favorite ShopRite? About the only thing it has going for it is that, out of three ShopRites, it is closest to my home -- the reason I went there in the first place.