June 2009 Grocery Outlet

[chocolateninja]

9th already and no one has started June's thread yet? *confused look* :-P Ahem...anyway, just a few things I thought might be of interest when I stopped by Santa Rosa's GO this afternoon:

Sabra Roasted Garlic Hummus, 10oz, $2.99
Challenge salted butter, 1lb, $1.99
Cabot butter, 1lb chunk, $1.99
Lots of Martinelli's sparkling cider, $1.69 a bottle
Good Karma Organic Chocolate Rice Milk (made from whole grain brown rice), $1.29
Amy's Pizza, Vegetable Combo w/organic veg, $3.99
St. Dalfour Organic Tea bags (10 pack) in Ceylon and Darjeeling, $0.99
Yogi Tea, boxes of 16 teabags, in Chai Redbush (caffeine free), Green, and Green w/Ginseng, $1.99 a box. I really enjoy this brand. They do a good chai, and this is a good deal.
Decent-looking limes from mexico, 10/$1
Rapunzel organic dark baking chocolate, 55% cocoa, 9 oz bag for $1.99 I think this would be really good for melting and making chocolate-covered strawberries, now that strawberry season is starting up. I was sad at the lack of any other kind of good eating chocolate...but that kind of find is hit or miss at the SR GO, I think.

There was also a huge selection of name-brand cereals, raisin bran, cheerios, etc, including the "limited edition" box of Cornflakes (I think...or was it cheerios?) with the Spock/Kirk characters from the new Star Trek movie. :D

I also picked up a Spanish Rosado, Marques del Puerto, Rioja (50% tempranillo, 50% garnacha) for $1.99, since I'm partial to Spanish wines, and I thought a nice light rose might be nice if it warms up this week. I have no idea if it is any good, but I'll find out! And hey, if not, I was only out 2 bucks.

Oh, and it isn't food, but SR GO has a nice selection of Nature's Gate organic shampoos/lotions/bodywashes in various scents right now, for between $1.99 and $3.99, which is a great deal.

[Columba]

COUPON
$3 off $20+ purchase, good through July 5
http://www.groceryoutlets.com/adres/b...

Santa Rosa yesterday:
no sign of hemp milk
Still have plenty of cheeses
Chilled pomegranate juice is tasty
B&J & Haagen daz ice cream pints $1.49
Some mini bars of HD coffee ice with chocolate coating

[rworange]

Thanks for the heads up on that coupon.

Berkeley store

99 cents - lots of De Cecco pasta the most interesting - festonati and galletti, a frilly elbow
$1 - 3 lbs Fuji apples ... they looked good
$1 - 15 limes ... also good looking
$1.99 - Maxwell house coffee bricks 11.5 oz , decaf and lite (lower caffeine)
$2.99 - O Basics organic EVOO 6.5 oz
$3.99 - Vinces wild caught Coho salmon (frozen). Looked very good. Also mahi mahi & snapper. There was also frozen squid for $2.99
$4.99 - O Basics organic EVOO infused with Tahitian lime 8.5 oz

There were also Lindt bars ... Lemon, raspberry filling and truffled cake $1.99

If using the coupon, there are lots of deals on cleaning supplies especially if you like All detergent.

[ernie in berkeley]

Berkeley recently: 47-Pound Rooster non-vintage California pinot noir for $3.99. This label has shown a lot of quality variation between batches, from pretty good to discard-without-even-drinking. The current batch is decent if a little thin, maybe like a bourgogne in a so-so year, fine for the price.

[Hao Chr]

RWC today:
Frontera frozen pizza 13.x oz., cheese, with "Mexican spices" and Rick Bayless' smilin' face on the back of the package $3.99 (I tried it; not bad at all, and the jalapenos gave it kick)

Mollycoolz chocolate fusion ice cream beads, 4 for $1. I tried one for a quarter, and was pleasantly surprised. Tasty and easy to eat in the car without a spoon.

Sun Tropics Calamansi juice is also here, 64 oz., $1.99

Scharffenberger chocolate bars, 62 percent cacao, 3 oz. semisweet, $1.99

Red bell peppers for 50 cents apiece

[rworange]

Santa Rosa

Oddly enough after developing a recent interest in Gouda ....

Waiting for Gouda - what's your favorite?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/629831

... the SR store was carrying Beemster XO (aged 26 months) 5 oz shredded $1.99

I passed since I'm planning to buy a wedge of that exact Gouda at Berkeley Bowl ... and I couldn't think how I would use shredded aged Gouda.

25 cents - Mrs May's freeze-dried fuji apple chips .35 oz.
99 cents - Good Health Olive Oil protato chips (didn't buy)
$1.99 - Vendange 1 liter boxed (tetra-pak) chardonnay
$1,99 - Maxwell House coffee (Regular, South Pacific blend, Lite (less caffine, vanilla
)$1.99 - Lindt creation 70% cacoa with bittersweet orange / chocolate mousse filling
$4,95 - Porto Redino Tawny Portuguese port
$12,88 - LARGE 68 oz can of Botticeli extra virgin olive oil

Haven't tried the apple chips yet, but the cashier said they were very good.

The orange Lindt is good but not as good as the chili cherry.

Don't know how that olive oil is, but it looked like a deal. There was also a bottle of eevo from Italy for $4.95 ... but I have a few bottles still at home of various olive oil, discount and farmers market.

The port isn't bad ... not great ... but smooth.

[Markb]

Pay attention to the $4.95 olive oil. If it is in a tall facetted bottle-read the label. I bought a bottle recently, got it home, and noticed it was aged balsamic vinegar. Pretty good, though not olive oil!

[rworange]

It wasn't that bottle. It was a smaller bottle that with square corners

[rworange]

Berkeley

50 cents - Lucerne sour cream 8 oz
69 cents - Knudsen sour cream 8 oz
99 cents - Dannon plain yogurt 32 oz
1.99 - Scharffen Berger 62 % chocolate bar 3oz
1.99 - Lindt lemon twist bar
1.99 - Tropicana reduced acid orange juice 64 oz
1.99 - Earthly delite pommegranite juice 32 oz (next to the Tropicana in the cooler All juice, no sugar or stuff)

[rworange]

San Pablo

Pay attention people ... $1.99 - Lindt 70 % cacoa sour cherry & chili bar

I was walking by the chocolates and giving the LIndt bars an evil eye for going up to $1.99. However the cherry/chili combo intrigued me and I picked it up to check out the ingredients.

Whoa ... it was bigger ... 5.3 oz instead of visa versa ... the usual 3.5

The ingredients list sour cherry concentrate.

I circled the store a few times looking at other items but got pulled back.

I'm not a fan of liquid fillings but Lindt did one fine job here. The filling isn't too much or too sweet. The chili provides heat. There's also a slight bit of chocolate mousse in the filling giving it an extra creaminess. I'm having this right now with a bowl of fresh Ranier cherries and my cup of coffee and really digging it. This blog says it best ....
http://www.chocablog.com/reviews/lindt-creation-70-chilli/

"So somehow those clever so-and-so’s at Lindt have managed to produce a bar that releases it’s flavours over time. First you get the luscious dark chocolate, then comes the sweetness of the cherry filling, and as you’re finishing your mouthful, the chilli element creeps out onto your palate for a gentle, warming finish. A marvellous achievement on their part"

The other flavor is orange. There were more of those than the cherry chili.
http://www.lindtusa.com/product-exec/product_id/52/nm/Creation_Cherry_Chili_Bar

This averages $4.49 on the web with some places selling it at over $6.

BTW, the same blogger liked the orange a lot too
http://www.chocablog.com/reviews/lindt-creation-intense-orange/

"dark, dark chocolate, truffle mousse and bitter orange flavours ... Dark chocolate oozing what looks like marmalade (made with orange juice and 1% orange, so the package tells us), and it smells delicious too ... When I finally popped it into my mouth I was rewarded with a fantastic blend of the two flavours. The ‘orangey bit’ is wonderfully bittersweet and balances with the dark cocoa flavours in a tongue-tingling mix of citrus highs and dark chocolate lows. It’s a real mouth-waterer, and once the orange has left your mouth the dark cocoa flavours linger on"

Not avaliable at GO, but the blog reviews a hot papaya ... "Inside the chocolate is a fine layer of mousse which I’ve raved about and enjoyed before and could quite happily do a bellyflop into. On top of this mousse is a thin, orange marmalade-like layer of liquid papaya syrup infused with fiery chili. Not unbearably painful sweat-under-your-eye-balls fiery, but enough to add an extra ‘Wow’ to the zesty zing of papaya and have the imbiber automatically reach out for more"
http://www.chocablog.com/reviews/lindt-hot-papaya/

Another fan of the cherry chili bar
http://zomgcandy.com/2009/02/25/lindt-cherry-and-chili-and-lindt-hot-papaya/

The Lindt site also mentions Mango & Cayenne Bar
http://www.lindtusa.com/product-exec/product_id/292/category_id/27/nm/Mango_Cayenne_Bar

Grenadine (Pomegranate) & Chili Bar
http://www.lindtusa.com/product-exec/...

More mundane stuff ...

$3.99 - Aidell's Roasted garlic and guyere cheese. Haven't seen this before.

The cute 25 cent 2 oz honey is back

[baron45]

Oaktown GO:

Lots of good dry cereals this week, such as Cascadia Farms Organic Granola and Valley Creek Farms Cereal ($1.49-1.99). There were three varieties of the VCF, but I bought the Blueberry Apple.

J&J Clean & Clear facial cleanser ($3.99) which I saw at Walgreens for $6.49.

2006 Domaine Alfred "Da Red" (Pinot Noir/Syrah blend) for $2.99. This is/was a very good winery that made some excellent PNs but was sold off to a large corporation (the name of the winery has changed now). I assume this is the old stock that they wanted to unload, but it was a $16 bottle before.

[Ruth Lafler]

Why is it I can never remember the recommended wines when I'm there?

Oakland now only has the 62 percent Sharffen Berger bars, but they have a lot of them.

Soymilk, rice milk and hemp seed milks -- among the several brands/types of soymilk was Meijer's organic chocolate (99 cents/quart) and VitaSoy "lite" chocolate (less sugar, no artificial sweeteners).

Aidells' charbroilers are back -- $3.99, two or three different kinds.

If you're having a picnic/BBQ for the Fourth, there were lots of Miller dogs of various kinds, and Johnsonville smoked brats (Pork, water and 2% or less of the following: salt, corn syrup, sugar, potassium and sodium lactate, monosodium glutamate, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, natural and artificial flavoring, collagen casing), 3.5 pound box for $5.99.

McCormick garlic and sea salt in a grinder -- $1.99 for the large size.

Microfiber kitchen towels 4-pack for $4.99

Earth Balance vegan margarine $1.29/lb (use for baking for my vegan friends)

Pacific Roasted Carrot soup -- 99 cents/quart

Mozzerella Fresca boccancini -- $2.29/tub

Sun Tropics Calamansi lime juice (no HFCS --- lovelovelove) $1.99/half gallon; they also had mango

They had some interesting looking Danish Roquefort knock-offs for $10/lb

[chowmeaow]

How does the hemp seed milk taste?

[Ruth Lafler]

Chocolate Alert!

Oakland GO had the large (3 oz./85 gram) Scharffen Berger bars for $1.99. They had four different bars: 41 percent milk and 60, 72 and 82 percent dark (the blue, yellow and brown bars). http://www.scharffenberger.com/prodin...

Also:

99 cent/jar North Coast Gravenstein applesauce -- I bought some of this 18 months ago and it was so good I've been looking for it ever since

Nonfood:

Seventh Generation toilet paper, $1.29/4-roll package

[rworange]

Their chocolate prices are creeping up. The one Lindt bar they carry at San Pablo is up to $1.49 from 99 cents. it seems like $1.99 is the standard. I can pay less than that at Walmart and they take coupons.

That being said, at San Pablo

33 cents - Starbucks dark chocolate bars ... uh, about an ounce or so. I finally broke at this price and got one. Not bad.

50 cents - Lindt Excellence 70 % dark chocolate 1.2 oz

50 cents - Scharfen Burger (sp?) 60 % semi-sweet chocolate

20 cents - Cool Soup gazpacho ... I tried this a while back. While it is not greatness, for 20 cents it makes a nice lunch ... if you like cold soups

50 cents - purple 7 antioxidant juice 10 oz. Actually tasty. All juice - Açai, Black Cherry, Pomegranate, Black Currant, Purple Plum, Cranberry and Blueberry
http://www.drinkpurple.com/

69 cents - 6 Shurfresh English muffins in the refrigerated section ... from Skokie, IL. If I wasn't cutting carbs I'd be tempted ... in the refrigerated section

$1.49 - Breakstone 4% cottage cheese 16 oz

$1.99 - AU Chardonnay ... not amazing, but better than two buck chuck.

$1.99 - 1 lb Cabot butter

$1.99 - 9 Berry Juicy Juice boxes 6.75 oz each ... Good pirice. I buy lots of Juicy Juice. Not only have prices skyrocketed, they cut juice boxes from 8 oz to the smaller size.

$1.99 - Horizon Organic chocolate milk

$2.99 - Grate if Fresh parmesan cheese 7 oz. Big chunk of parmesan made in the USA, in a grater container. I was actually tempted ... still thinking about it. The ingrediant list was ok.

$3.99 - Saags sausages - Bockwurst, smoked brats, Louisiana hots

[Bruce in SLO]

Look for the 2005 Ravenswood Rosato, a dry rose with nice flavors at $ 2.99.
We found the 2006 Villa Santa Maria Dry Riesling at $3.99 which is over $ 10 in some stores.

[Ruth Lafler]

I almost bought that riesling. Is it good?

[Bruce in SLO]

The Villa maria Riesling is excellent. We bought a case of the 2005 Rosato
for $ 1.99 each and some DA Red for $ 2.99 in San Jose on Sunday. Didn't see any of the Villa Maria.

[Columba]

Santa Rosa is all about lots of ice cream today. Five flavors of Ben & Jerry's and three of an organic brand. All pints, sorry I didn't check price.

Still have an end aisle of the $1.69 Martinelli's sparkling apple cider.

Didn't check on other items.

[Hunicsz]

Yesterday at the Oakland GO:

-30 pack of Fiber One bars, $3.99 (much cheaper than they've had them in the past)
-2 pack of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, $3.99
-Gertie's Artichoke Tapenade (33.5 oz), $3.99---I love this stuff. Not sure I would call it tapenade, though. Ingredients: artichokes, olive oil, green olive, key lime, vinegar, salt. Very nice in scrambled eggs or omelettes, or on a sandwhich.
-Sabra supremely spicy and classic hummus, $2.99
-Naked brand "mango madness" smoothie, 32 oz, $1.99---pretty good, but not super-mango-y. Also contains banana and apple. Expiration dates end of June.
-California Pizza Kitchen Ham & Swiss pizza, $2.99--- tasty. Lots of caramelized onions and ham. The swiss is a little odd, though.

[Ruth Lafler]

Oh, that Gertie's tapanade is one of my favorite convenience products. I keep a jar in the fridge (where it keeps approximately forever), and add a spoonful to all kinds of things -- the olives add a meatiness, and the lime and vinegar give it a good tang and add oft-needed acidity to a dish.

Anyway, I've been falling down on the GO scouting -- I was on vacation last week, and the week before I left I was trying to use up stuff in the fridge/freezer/pantry and this week I haven't had time yet.

[sydthekyd]

Three-box (25 bags per) package of Good Earth original sweet and spicy herbal tea for $4.99 at West Berkeley this morning.

[Melanie Wong]

Remember that if the wine is in bad condition, you can return it for a refund.