Grocery Outlet - March 2010

[rworange]

San Pablo

69 cents - Hagen Daz raspberry sorbet and vanilla yogurt bars
99 cents - Little Bear organic baked cheese puffs 4.5 oz
99 cents - Granny Goose cheese puffs - big bag
99 cents - Boticelli 3.5 oz 70% chocolate bars (raspberry or cranberry)
2.99 - Ritter Sport gold 8.8 oz

I'm not sure if the shelf was mislabeled for the Little Bear cheese puffs. The bag said 'original' all natural, but I didn't see the word organic. They did seem to go on and on about being earth friendly and sustainable and all that. Larger bags of Granny Goose unatural kill-the-earth-and-eater cheese puffs were also available.

I just never got into the whole Ritter thing. However, this was a huge slab of Ritter chocolate wrapped in gold.

Probably my last GO visit for a while. Adios, Grocery Outlet. I'll miss you.

[ML8000]

Oakland - Muir Glen organic mild salsa, 16 oz. for $1.99

[calmonte]

And a reminder: the 20% wine sale starts on 3/30. Stock up on wine for summer!

Also in RWC this week:
- California Olive Ranch 2009 Olio Nuovo marked down to $2.99, they seem to have a lot of it, it's not the best olive oil I've ever bought, but was fine on a salad and the price is great.
- Tons of easter chocolate/candy
- Monterey Pasta Company sun dried tomato-basil-mozzarella ravioli the Costco sized double pack for $3.99
- Small but tasty avocados for $.50
- Band aid brand band aids for $1.00. Spring is here and my kids to through these like crazy
- Ham in stock in the cooler section

If you plan to hit the wine sale go early - it's usually a mosh pit and the good stuff will be picked over fast.

[rworange]

San Pablo

33 cents - Chocolate bunny near cash register

Second one I bought and it was a nice pick me up when we reached indio .... yay ... we are FINALLY on the road. Them bunnies is good

[Wheetie]

RWC:
Jolly Llama push up sorbets. Strawberry, Blueberry and Acai 4/$1.00
http://www.jollyllamasorbets.com/
Sconza Chocolate Covered sunflower seeds 99 cents/pkg

[rworange]

San Pablo

$5.99 - 1.5 liter Cook's Brut Sparkling wine

Given this is twice the amount of booze at less than the usual price, quite the deal. Given I am STILL in San Pablo tonight with a new exit date of Saturday ... and every nerve i have is frayed at this point ... I intend to drink every last drop

[lexdevil]

I think you require something stronger than wine.

[AntarcticWidow]

Berkeley store on 3/22:

Santa Cruz organic sparkling lemonade - $1.49. People were buying them by the case (6pk) but I'm pretty sure the price is by the bottle.
Skinny Cow skinny dippers (ice cream bars) (darn, camera missed the price)
Publix Fudge bars - $1.49/box
Haagen-Daas frozen yogurt or Baileys ice cream - $1.49/pint
Old European Edam Ball in red wax - $4.99 for 2lb ball
Naked Juice Green Machine - $1.99/bottle (pint?)
Thai Kitchen instant soup packages (thai ginger and vegetable) - 2pkgs/$1.00
Smuckers Magic Shell (cherry, chocolate or s'mores) - $1.59
Stouffer's Chicken Cacciatore Rustica - $6.99 / 34 oz, frozen tray
Tonnino (yellowfin) tuna fillets with oregano in olive oil, $2.99/jar
De Cecco Gnocchetti sardi, No. 83 - $1.29 / 1lb box
Goldbaum's brown rice spaghetti pasta -$1.99 / lb pkg (box says made in Canada)

-----
Thai Kitchen Restaurant
538 E Cotati Ave, Cotati, CA 94931

[chowmeaow]

Last week, the frozen section of GO at Newark was not very interesting. that is none of the items I wanted to buy.
No pizza or organic entries.
We got few wines, opened one of them this week. Its called 'Oops' I think, chardonnay form S. America. distinct notes of pear, I liked it.
oh and I also found Jason organic mineral sunscreen.

[Columba]

Santa Rosa on Tuesday 3/23 -

A good variety of frozen organic entrees & pizzas. Lots of that rice pasta. Canned green chiles for $.59 & $.99 - lower priced below higher. Dagoba chocolate for $1.99.

In cosmetics aisle they had 4 types each of Jason sunscreen ($2.99 for 4.5 oz) and Alba Botanica ($1.99 for 4 oz.). This is about 3/4 off suggested retail price. Oh, facial sunscreen too.

[Ruth Lafler]

I saw the Alba Botanica at Oakland this week, too. It's very good sunscreen. Thanks for reminding me to tell my sister they had the Alba Botanica for kids.

[choctastic]

I wasn't a big fan of the Alba Botanicas that I got (I got one of each kind that our GO had), but I LOVE the Jason mineral sunscreen. Conversely, I HATE the Jason active sports type sunscreen because it has a strong coconut smell.

[calmonte]

RWC also had a lot of Blue Diamond brand Almond butter, in both crunchy and creamy. Not the most organic, but really tasty. $1.50 for 12 oz jar. They also had a lot of sporty clothes from Target, hoodies, t-shirts etc, and a new stock of DVDs that looked pretty recent for $7.00.

[Ruth Lafler]

I keep forgetting to mention that Oakland has had a good supply of pasta, including two or three different forms of the gluten-free brown rice pasta as of Sunday.

[rworange]

The days are starting to run together for me at this point, but a few days ago the San Pablo store had Mueller's pasta, the twisty kind for 79 cents for 12 oz. It was some sort of healthy whole wheat kind. It was ok for what it was. I made sure to negate the health factory by making macaroni salad with whatever generic mayo GO sells. I thinkj Banquet.. The mayo was actually quite good and had a nicce ingredient list. San Pablo also had a big selection of pastas

[dump123456789]

It's best to think of the brown rice pasta as Asian rice noodles. After you boil them, you're supposed to shock them. The resulting texture resembles thick pad thai noodles. Don't expect the texture of Italian pasta, or you'll be disappointed.

[hhc]

Newark GO on Sun 3/14/10:

Triscuit reduced fat crackers $1.99
3 lbs small Gala apples in a bag $2.99
Tom's of Maine toothpaste 2pk for $4.99
Superior Nut Company Hot & Spicy peanuts 1.62lb huge can for $2.99

Didn't buy, but really wanted:
Viennetta triple chocolate frozen dessert $1 for per box. Either triple chocolate or vanilla
Sheer Chocolate covered pomegranate bars 3 in a box for $1.99

[rworange]

I was tempted by the Viennetta but a few months back someone reported it wasn't very good so it has been easy to pass by. I like those Sheer Bliss bars.

[calmonte]

RWC on 3/13 - excellent assortment of shrink wrapped cheeses - Stilton, Swiss Emmental, UK Cheddar and Dutch goat's milk Gouda. Also a ton of nice sized avocados for $.50 each many were just ripe, but if you dig you can find them still hard to pace your use. Also the unsweetened greek yogurt was back in stock - forget the brand, but I've had it before and it was fine.

Wine was a pretty big miss this week - there's an Australian Shiraz in stock (Mt. Langhi) which is nice and a great deal at $4 but that's about all. The Pepi Pino Grigio in stock the week before was gone, it was the wine to grab in quantity of you want a nice white on hand.

And Thomas' Bagels in sale for $2.50 a sleeve, not my style but people seem to like them.

[ML8000]

Quick note: Oakland, Tom's of Maine Peppermint toothpaste, 2 pack (6 oz. ea.) for $4.99 which is half or less then many retail stores.

[chowmeaow]

Yes, found that at Newark 2 weeks back. I am always hunting toiletries at GO.
I also found 'E•sen•cia Styling Mousse', it smells so good and its 99% organic.

[hhc]

Chowmeaow: is Tom's toothpaste still there? I want to try it. Thanks for the tip on the Styling Mousse - I've got to check it out.

If u notice any expired food let the manager know, he might lower the price.

[Ruth Lafler]

Oakland today was crowded (first of the month checks). The candy aisle had the Ritter Gold bars RW mentioned, and also the Ritter marizpan, $1.49; the Ritter cappuccino were at the checkstands. Ice cream case had some Breyers (strawberry, butter pecan and extra creamy); still plenty of the Haagen Dasz 5 brown sugar flavor and vanilla honey frozen yogurt.

Newly spotted:

Yellowfin solid tuna steaks -- $1.99 for 12 ounce can, Polar brand, "wild caught" product of Thailand. I wouldn't call these steaks, but there were three big (and a few smaller) chunks of tuna in the can. Just tuna, water and salt. I like yellowfin better than bland, dry alabacore, and thought the price was good for the quality/quantity.

Also, in the snack/granola/nutrition bar section:

Mariani Honey bars (two flavors, with cranberries and without). Ingredients on the cranberry bars are: peanuts, honey, cranberries, raisins, dried apricots and almonds. 3/$1 -- tasty!

For a while they've only had the 1 lb blocks of Challenge butter, but today they also had Land O Lakes butter ($2.49/lb).

[pilinut]

Oh, that Haagen Daz Five Brown Sugar is DELICIOUS! Lovely muscovado flavor of caramel and coconut. Draeger's used to have it, but I haven't seen any in months. I hope it's still in production.

[PorkButt]

Berkeley

$1.49 Niman Ranch sopressata, 8oz chub, made by Columbus so my expectations aren't too high

[Columba]

Santa Rosa

99 cents Byzantine roasted eggplant with tomatoes and feta 5.5 oz. - a dip/spread/sauce sort of thing, surprisingly tasty.

59 cents Zapata diced green chiles - 4 oz.

lots of Spectrum products still floating through.
Pacific hazelnut milk appears to be gone.
Comforts creamy ranch dressing a fairly healthy version of that old favorite - made with expeller pressed canola oil.

[gordon wing]

San Pablo ....... Quart of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip Ice cream for $1.99.
There was still some of the Pacific Hazlenut/Chocolate milk today.