Is there no end to food shopping?

Image by Sarolazmi via Flickr

Champagne mangoes.

I twisted my wife's arm to grab the Costco Wholesale coupon book and make a trip to the warehouse store in Hackensack today, but when she didn't find an item on her list, I had to run out to another store for it.


On Monday, my wife and my mother-in-law made a trip to ShopRite in Rochelle Park, as well as to Hackensack Market, but Costco was closed for the Labor Day holiday.


At ShopRite, my wife picked up cabbage, potatoes, bananas, apple sauce and condensed sweet milk.


At Hackensack Market on Passaic Street, she concentrated on Jamaican products, including 12 cans of a collard-like green called callaloo, in salted water; Grace-brand juice and pumpkin-soup base; Lasco-brand soy drink, Ting grapefruit solda, Foska oats and Excelsior water crackers.


She also bought green boiling bananas and yellow, soon-to-be-sweet plantains.


At Costco on Tuesday morning, a dozen 6-ounce cups of Stonyfield Farm organic, low-fat, fruit yogurt were $7.89 or 65 cents each; two 28-ounce loaves of 100% whole-grain Kirkland Signature bread were $4.19; and two 3-pound jars of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter with sugar were about $4.20 each.


Four pounds of red seedless grapes were $1.75 a pound. Grade A medium-amber maple syrup from Canada, in a 32-ounce bottle, was $12.99.


My wife used Costco coupons for a total discount of $9, but she couldn't find preserves without high-fructose corn syrup.


So, later in the day, I made a trip to the International Food Warehouse on Essex Street in Lodi, where I found 12- and 13-ounce jars of strawberry, plum, peach and raspberry preserves with sugar for $2.29 to $2.79 each.


I also picked up four half-liters of Capitolio organic extra-virgin olive oil from Chile for $2 each. Fresh Jersey corn were six for $2, but the four ears I bought are small and I'm not sure how sweet they are.


Taste of the islands


My wife brought home a single mango from Jamaica that was a revelation, compared to the fruit from Mexico and Brazil I've been buying in North Jersey.


The color of the flesh was close to orange and the taste was even sweeter than Champagne mangoes. 


They are sold by street vendors in Jamaica for $3 to $4 each.

One-stop food shopping -- some day

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I buy a great deal of food at Costco in Hackensack, but it still has a way to go to become the only store I visit.


This morning, I picked up three half-gallons of 1% organic milk ($8.99), but I have to go to ShopRite for lactose-free milk.

Five pounds of lemons from Chile were $5.99. Three pounds of wild-salmon burgers  were $12.99, and Costco also stocks fresh and frozen wild sockeye salmon, wild-caught flounder and haddock, whole red snapper and other seafood, including prawns and crab, so I don't really have to buy fish anywhere else.

Sunset-brand Roma tomatoes were two pounds for $2.99, lower than they were at the beginning of the summer; and three, large burpless cucumbers, also from Sunset, were $3.49. All Sunset-brand vegetables are grown without herbicides. Earthbound Farm organic salad mix was $4.49 the last time I bought it, a price you can't beat elsewhere.

Three pounds of conventional bananas were $1.32. A pound of organic spinach was $3.99 -- great sauteed, in a salad or piled on top of a pizza or foccacia.

We're not eating poultry or meat now. If we were, I'd have to go elsewhere for antibiotic-free turkey and dark-meat chicken and Australian free-range beef. Costco only carries grass-fed ground beef and organic breast meat or whole chickens. 

Drug-free chicken sausage, organic ravioli, and fresh and frozen pizza are just the tip of Costco's food iceberg.

The selection of bread and rolls is terrific, including two loaves of 100% whole-grain, sliced bread for $3.99. Ditto for spices, juice, cheese, vegetables and fruit, though some of the large sizes are not suitable for a family of three. Ketchup, mustard, diced tomatoes, pasta sauces, dried pasta, maple syrup -- it's all there -- plus everything you need for the clean-up.