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.

Three-minute meal. What's the catch?

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It looks like meat. It feels like meat in your mouth. But these "beefless tips" are made from wheat gluten and soy protein, and come with Burgundy-wine sauce and vegetables, and rice -- in pouches. Sold under the Gardein label (garden protein), this refrigerated meal from Canada weighs a total of 10.5 ounces.


I plated the contents of the box, managing to squirt sauce on my shirt, pants, shoes and the kitchen floor. I microwaved the tips, sauce, rice and some leftover broccoli, carrot and red pepper for close to four minutes, but the rice remained hard.


I ate everything but the rice and put it back in the microwave for two more minutes, cooking it. The tips had a nice texture, but they didn't taste like any meat I have ever had. I was filled after finishing everything, but only because I ate a big romaine lettuce salad with slivered almonds a couple of hours earlier. I found Gardein's Burgundy Trio at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Click on the link below to go to the company's Web site and see other meatless meals that resemble chicken breasts, pulled pork and kabobs.


Garden Protein International

(Photo: Wheat gluten flour.)

Grass-fed beef is a natural

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Grass-raised and finished beef is a rarity in most supermarkets. It's more expensive than conventionally raised beef, but it cooks faster and is better for you. Here is more about grass-fed beef from Whole Foods Market, whose blog (Whole Story) is listed to the right of this post. The Paramus store has sold grass-fed beef raised in New Jersey for $9.99 a pound (on sale). Just click on the link below:
 
Whole Foods Market blog

More shopping notes

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I stopped at Costco in Hackensack to buy Earthbound Farms organic salad mix today ($4.49 for one pound), and was impressed by all the fresh, wild-caught fish fillets available.

There was wild ahi tuna from Micronesia, haddock from Canada, Pacific cod from the U.S. and flounder (from I'm not sure where). I bought the cod for $5.99 a pound, and we'll fry it up for dinner. Leftovers will make quick fish tacos.


'Cheap' wine


One of the comments I received on the ridiculous mail-in rebate for Turning Leaf wine (see Wednesday's post) claims it "served me right" for buying cheap wine. Of course, the comment was anonymous, and I rejected it.


If this person wants to spend $50 or more on a bottle of wine from a first-growth chateau in France, be my guest. But please stay out of my business.


I've purchased hundreds of bottles of wine for $5 to $10 that have been perfectly drinkable, and I'll continue to do so. Today, next to Costco, I bought a bottle of California cabernet sauvignon for $4.49, and I'm looking forward to drinking it. (Photo: Cabernet grapes.)



I'll be sure to toast the commentator's ignorance.

ShopRite takes on Stop & Shop

At the ShopRite in Paramus in 2014.

 ShopRite has a full-page ad in The Record of Woodland Park today, trying to document its claim of being the "low-price leader" over Stop & Shop. 

You might have seen all the TV ads touting Stop & Shop's prices recently.

ShopRite says it has more than 700 items in its circular, compared with about 280 items in the Stop & Shop flier. 

"Where do you really think you can save more money every week?" 

The ShopRite ad lists 22 items with prices from both stores, and says ShopRite saves you $36.84 or 36%.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Trader Joe's is still on my list

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Before we pledged to eat meatless meals more than two weeks ago, Trader Joe's was a reliable source for uncured, preservative-free bacon, hot dogs and cold cuts, and incredible, naturally raised, fully cooked St. Louis-style ribs from the Niman Ranch -- all at good prices.


When I found myself in Westwood yesterday, I dropped into the Trader Joe's there to see what else might help us diversify our homemade dinners.

I went looking right away for one of our favorites -- sliced yogurt cheese with jalapeno ($4.69) -- and discovered shredded soy three-cheese blend ($3.79), and other soy cheeses for future shopping trips. I also picked up some great hand-made tortillas -- flour and whole wheat ($2.49 each) and habanero lime ($2.69).

And I bought another bottle of raw organic agave sweetener ($2.99) , which is terrific over yogurt or pancakes, and Trader Joe's premium extra-virgin olive oil ($7.99 for 32 ounces). The front label says imported from Italy, but on the side, it lists four countries for the product: Italy, Spain, Argentina and Greece.

Web site: Trader Joe's

Shopping and tasting notes

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Say hello to haddock

I never know what I'll find in the seafood cases at Costco in Hackensack, where I shop weekly on Mondays or Tuesdays. Tonight, my wife coated thick, meaty wild-caught haddock fillets from Canada in Indian spices and flour, and fried them. Me and my son loved them. (Photo: haddock.)

On Tuesday, I first looked at and rejected lobster tails that had been treated with a preservative ($16.99 a pound). I also walked past the many trays of artificially colored farmed salmon and found the haddock among trays of wild-caught flounder (from Canada or Iceland). I bought a pound and a half or so of haddock at $7.49 a pound.

I also picked up a pound of preservative-free smoked wild sockeye salmon ($14.79). Costco also carries frozen Alaskan wild sockeye salmon fillets (about $8.50 a pound) , which we steamed for dinner Monday night.

Korean barbecue without the guilt

On Sunday morning, I pulled out two freezer bags with thin-sliced Australian beef in Korean bulgogi marinade. This was the free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic-free whole tenderloin sold at ShopRite under the Nature's Reserve label for as little as $3.99 a pound with a store card.

While the beef was defrosting, I went to H Mart in Little Ferry for two heads of red-leaf lettuce (two for $1), but couldn't find the scallion salad usually served with Korean barbecue. I cooked the beef on a stove-top grill with scallions and garlic, and served it with steamed Korean dumplings, white rice and kimchi -- we wrapped beef, garlic, kimchi and rice in lettuce and went to town.

Mexican dinner from a can

We eat a lot of Readington Farms chicken -- at least once or twice a week -- and in the freezer, I found a tray of wings and another of leg quarters I bought at ShopRite. The chickens are raised on vegetarian feed and without antibiotics. Unfortunately, rarely are they on sale.

We breaded the wings in chili spices and baked them at 375 degrees, but I pan roasted the leg quarters and then let them finish cooking in mildly spicy chipotle sauce and peppers. The sauce came in a 7-ounce can under the La Morena label; the peppers in adobo sauce in a similar can under the La Costena label. I found both at Hackensack Market.

I plated the chicken and plenty of sauce on top of yellow rice, and served them with a salad of organic sprinx mix.

'I hate to eat healthy'

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix is an important part of a healthy diet, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I recommended this food blog to a lawyer I met yesterday, he immediately came back with: 

"I hate to eat healthy."

From his conversation with others, I guessed that his wife is not much of a cook and that the most he could expect at home that night was a warmed-up meal from a nearby takeout place. 

When he was growing up, did his mother put a delicious, home-cooked meal on the table every night, as my mother did, fostering a life-long appreciation for good food?

I would imagine he has never stepped foot inside a food store or looked carefully at labels on the processed stuff that passes for food these days. 

Does he know that most of the poultry and beef sold in supermarkets was raised in horrible conditions on factory farms, pumped up with antibiotics and stuffed with feed containing bits of dead animals? 

Or that most salmon served in restaurants is artificially colored? 

He doesn't seem to care.

When I looked at this man, who appeared to be in his late 40s and wore a standard-issue, off-the-rack suit and a boring tie, he didn't really look that healthy. 

At one point, I said I had forgotten his last name and he told me he was "Joe Shmoe." That said it all. He probably shoves any old crap into his mouth.

"I hate to eat healthy."  Isn't that a ridiculous statement? That lawyer is out of order. Naturally raised food tastes far better than conventionally raised fare.

A salad of organic greens is so far above what is served in most places these days, it is a thing of beauty. 

(Indeed, we sent out for lunch and I couldn't finish a Greek salad delivered by a local deli: iceberg lettuce, crappy sliced tomatoes, no stuffed grape  leaves.)

Finding healthy food in supermarkets and on restaurant menus is so worth the effort. 

The feeling of well-being when you sit down to a great meal -- dining in or dining out -- cannot be matched by blindly stuffing your face. 

And an added bonus is gathering family or friends around you for a daily celebration of life.

Shopping, tasting and recipe notes

At ShopRite in Rochelle Park, not one of my favorite stores, I had to buy a half-gallon of Organic Valley lactose-free milk for $4.99 yesterday instead of Horizon organic lactose-free milk for $4.19, because the Horizon half-gallons were setting on a shelf covered in milk and I couldn't tell which one was leaking.

I also bought a pound of Sunset-brand, herbicide-free kumatoes, which are black-purple outside, black-purple and red inside, for $2.50. Today, I opened the package, only to find two of the five tomatoes were slightly bruised and mushy. They originally are from the Galapagos Islands. I tried slices in pocket-bread sandwiches with tuna-red salmon-sardine salad (chopped onions, Dijon mustard, cumin and lime juice, plus all the liquid from cans), salad greens and thin-sliced Swiss cheese.Yum.

I counted nearly 20 greens at H Mart in Englewood on Friday, where I stopped after dropping off my son for his piano lesson. I saw Korean mustard greens, collard, a variety of Chinese greens and vegetables, and fresh spinach. I bought a nice bunch of spinach ($1.49), and at home, chopped off the ends, quickly blanched it in boiling water and sauteed it with olive oil, powdered garlic, black pepper and salt. I served it with Murray's antibiotic-free chicken leg quarters, baked Korean yams (bought from an employee tending an oven outside the store) and small salads.

Since the first of the year, we have eaten beef only once. We continue to consume a great deal of seafood for breakfast and dinner, at home and in restaurants, including the canned fish salad I referred to above, wild red snapper, grouper, frozen wild salmon, salmon sashimi, wild-caught shrimp (with orzo in tomato sauce), smoked wild salmon, fresh and canned sardines and Korean-style, pan-fried whiting. All of them are low in mercury.

I even ordered a pizza last night and asked for half with anchovies and hot peppers, from Metro Gourmet Brick Oven Pizza and Restaurant, Hackensack's newest pizzeria (my son got sausage and hot peppers on his half). It was a delicious pie, with a thin, well-baked crust (I asked for it well-done).

On my weekly trip to Costco last Monday, I picked up three quarts of Bolthouse Farms organic carrot juice and noticed the price had dropped to $5.89, from a high of $7.50 (which was already a great price for 100% juice). That night, I thawed, seasoned and steamed three fillets of Costco's frozen wild sockeye salmon with red wine, a little olive oil and lime juice. In a covered Pyrex dish on top of a pot of boiling water, they cooked in seven minutes (medium rare). Delish.

Metro Gourmet Brick Oven Pizza & Restaurant, 
111 Anderson Ave. (next to the tracks), Hackensack;
201-488-2511; open seven days, free delivery.

Passing along a guide to some healthy foods

After reading my previous post on sardines, a  friend sent me a link to a New York Times blog on those mighty little fish and 10 other "best foods you aren't eating." Here is the link:

11 best foods you aren't eating

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Food prices go up and down

You can find wild Alaskan sockeye salmon three ways at Costco -- canned, smoked without preservatives and frozen in fillets. I picked up the last two yesterday at the Hackensack store and one pound of the wild lox rang up at $14.79 -- a hike of 80 cents and the first price change in a long while. Even at the higher price, you won't be able to find smoked wild-caught salmon for less at Trader Joe's or Fairway Market.

Three pounds of frozen wild salmon runs about $8.50 a pound at Costco. I put these fillets into a glass dish and place it over a steamer. I cover the fish after adding cheap sake, sesame oil and some fish sauce, and steam them for about 15 minutes for medium. I've cooked them frozen and defrosted.

Also at Costco, small, round Campari hot-house tomatoes were $4.99 for two pounds -- 50 cents less than a couple of weeks ago. These are not herbicide-free, however.

At H Mart, the Korean supermarket near the Little Ferry Circle, five pounds of Earthbound Farms organic carrots were $5.49 on Saturday, according to the sign on the shelf, but mine rang up at $4.99, the old price. Green Swiss chard was $1.49 a pound, according to the sign, but mine rang up at 79 cents a pound. I bought collard greens there in previous weeks that also rang up less than the price on the sign, but eventually the store computer caught up. At ShopRite, my experience often is the opposite -- the register charges you more than the sign price -- and you curse if you don't see that until you get home.

Also at H Mart, I bought 20 pounds of Kokuho-brand, yellow-label, California-grown rice for $12.99, on sale from $19.99. This rice also was on sale a month ago and that's what we've been eating ever since. In the southern United States, some rice is grown in old cotton fields and carries traces of the arsenic used to kill pests.

Chuck, one of my readers, reports that Murray's free-roaming, antibiotic-free boneless chicken breast is on sale this week at Kings Super Markets for $1.99 a pound, a great price.

In Englewood, don't forget the food

I headed for Palisade Avenue in Englewood yesterday to buy a Christmas present for my son, but I made sure I didn't leave the city without stopping at three of my favorite food places.

On the way there, I hit the kimchi factory on Englewood Avenue that has been my source for spicy cabbage kimchi (photo) and side dishes for about a decade. I bought a 64-ounce bottle of mahk kimchi ($9.99) and a small package of sesame leaves in a sweet-sour sauce ($3.99).

After I picked up the present, I headed down South Dean Street to Balthazar Bakery for two of their signature baguettes, still $2 each six years after the place opened, but couldn't resist an artful, 7-inch pear and hazelnut galette ($6.50) that I'll save for our Christmas dinner.

Back in the car, I continued on South Dean to Jerry's Gourmet, where the lot overflowed, so I parked on the street. I picked up three $6.99, restaurant-quality dinners for tonight. Mine had three Italian favorites in one container -- chicken francese, eggplant parmigiana and sausage with onions and peppers, plus a little pasta and string beans. What a great meal, and all it needed to make it complete was some of that great baguette and a glass of red wine.

Also yesterday, I stopped at Costco in Hackensack to get more organic spring salad mix ($4.49) and bought a boneless Australian leg of lamb, split in two, for $3.99 a pound. This lamb is free-range and grass-fed. I also picked up two loaves of  Kirkland-brand 100% whole grain bread for $3.99.

Today, I found the small Christmas ham I was looking for at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. This applewood-smoked petite ham from the Niman Ranch is vegetarian-fed and nothing but meat -- no antibiotics, no growth hormones, no preservatives ($7.99 a pound). I also got three types of organic beans ($1.09 each) and a six-pack of Red Stripe, the Jamaican beer, on sale for $6.49.

In the seafood department, wild clams from Sandy Hook Bay cooled their heels on ice, but I didn't wait around for a dozen because the single worker had several people to wait on before me. I would have been happy to select my own, if only there were plastic bags nearby.

Arirang Kimchi (Gaboh Inc.), 191 W. Englewood Ave;
Englewood, 201-503-1314.

Two more meatless meals

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Tonight, I plan to serve my wife and son spaghetti with sardines in tomato sauce as a follow-up to last night's meal -- one of Jerry's Neapolitan pizzas with a big salad and Italian red wine.

We're trying to cut down on our consumption of beef, but we're not giving it up altogether. In fact, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm heading to the ShopRite in Rochelle Park today to buy an Australian whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon -- on sale for $4.99 a pound with a store card. The cattle are free range and grass fed, and raised without antibiotics and growth hormones.

I'll trim the fat, slice this beef  thin and store it in freezer bags with Korean bulgogi marinade from H Mart. Then, we'll be able to enjoy Korean barbecue at home without having to fret over the mystery meat most restaurants serve for cooking on the table.

And Sunday night at home, we did enjoy Australian shoulder lamb chops I bought at Pathmark for under $3 a pound. I served them with mashed potatoes and sauteed broccoli.

Strategies for avoiding beef

For the past month, we haven't knowingly eaten beef in a restaurant or at home, as we try to boost our already large intake of fish, pasta, vegetables and fruit.

We haven't been able to give up poultry, though, and rely on antibiotic-free chicken or turkey for home-cooked meals at least once a week. And we have had a couple of meals of naturally raised Australian lamb. But we also have had dinners of falafel and cheese-and-spinach ravioli, and try to eat a salad with every meal. We don't eat dessert, preferring fresh and dried fruit and nuts, though we occasionally eat sweet rice cakes or other cakes stuffed with red bean paste (Korean or Japanese).

Only my wife's and son's complaints prevent me from preparing pasta two times a week. And I usually have to serve it with drug-free chicken meatballs or sausage I get at Costco.

Having said all this, I did notice today that ShopRite will be putting on sale free-range, grass-fed whole beef tenderloin from Australia, for $4.99 a pound with a store card, from Dec. 6-12 at  the Rochelle Park, Paramus and Englewood stores. Average weight is 6 to 8 pounds. We have bought this beef in the past to prepare Korean barbecue, which used to be one of my son's favorite meals.

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Traveling on your stomach at Costco

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Costco in Hackensack has become one of my favorite places to shop for food -- despite the crowds, the frantic parking lot and some inconsiderate shoppers, who think nothing of leaving a cart up against your fender.

You never know what you'll find there or how far it has traveled. And no store in North Jersey I know of can match the prices for this quality food and produce. It's even a better deal when you consider the cash rebates from the American Express Costco credit card easily reimburse you for the annual membership fee.

The past two Fridays, I saw whole red snappers from Nicaragua in the fish case. Smoked wild sockeye salmon (preservative free) from Alaska is now sold year-round under the store brand, Kirkland. Last night, I finished the last fresh flounder fillet from Iceland we had fried Friday.

Last week, I bought a 12-pound box of oranges from South Africa. The antioxidant-rich acai berry juice in my fridge is from Brazil. For my espresso machine, I've also brought home a 4-pound bag of whole coffee beans grown in Africa. And I'm working on a big wedge of Manchego sheep-milk's cheese from Spain.

Costco sells a ranch full of beef and pork, but all of them are conventionally raised with antibiotics, except for organic ground beef. What you want is the grass-fed, free-range lamb from Australia, usually available as chops or boneless legs.

The store also stocks a lot of terrific food grown domestically, such as the one-pound package of Earthbound Farms organic spring mix I eat weekly.

Of course, there is also the possibility you'll buy and like an item, then find the store no longer stocks it. I recall fondly the fully prepared, drug-free lamb shanks in mint sauce from New Zealand that we enjoyed on a few occasions, but never saw again.

For commentary on food coverage in The Record, see:
http://eyeontherecord.blogspot.com/

Back in the food-shopping game

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I'm back to food shopping after a few days off and really enjoying it. I am going to try and avoid visiting a store just because it has a sale. See earlier post, "Are we sick of food shopping yet?"

We go through a ton of Halloween candy every year, so I headed to Costco in Hackensack for my weekly trip. I picked up 600 to 700 pieces of candy, plus 100% whole grain bread, smoked wild salmon, ravioli stuffed with cheese and spinach, and organic salad greens -- all at great prices. That was yesterday.

Today, I drove to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater for its autumn food fair, sampling ramen made by Master  Kenji Chiba, owner of a Tokyo noodle-soup shop, Chibaki Ya. I learned that ramen broth isn't always made with pork. This one takes six to seven hours to prepare from fish and chicken. The fair ends Sunday. Nice.

To take home, I bought one of my favorites, a log of smoked mackerel sushi imported from Japan ($29). It comes wrapped in a leaf, inside a box. I also bought two scrumptious, freshly made rice balls with fish roe, wrapped in seaweed. I wolfed those down as soon as I got home. My third purchase were Kobe-style pancakes stuffed with sweet bean paste, made on the spot.

After I left Mitsuwa, I stopped at Trader Joe's, which is just down the road, picking up drug- and preservative-free Applegate Farms cold cuts, two packages of uncured, preservative-free hot dogs; and sliced yogurt cheese with jalapenos.

I also purchased a T.J.'s five-gallon, reusable, insulated bag to replace one I lost, at a bargain price of $1.99. The store doesn't give you any credit for bringing reusable bags, but almost makes up for that with this low price.

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Food coverage in The Record

In the Better Living section of The Record today, on Page F-1, 2 and 3, a staff written story on Jewish deli maven David Sax and a so-called 15-minute pork-chop recipe from the Chicago Tribune fail to discuss whether any of the meat was raised on factory farms with antibiotics, growth hormones or animal byproducts (bits of dead animals and kitchen scraps), or whether the hot dogs contain preservatives linked to cancer.


The paper's food coverage rarely discusses these issues, whether in a feature story, restaurant review or recipe. I've always been in favor of reviewing supermarkets, rating them on price and how much naturally raised food they stock. But For The Record, that might jeopardize sorely needed advertising revenue.

On Page L-10 of The Record, in business news, there's no mention in the Start-Ups column of whether the sea salt being promoted contains iodine, a necessary nutrient.