This Week's Hot Deals (IMHO)

We have new specials starting today at our Boulder Alfalfa's, Sprouts, and Sunflower, while the current sales continue at Vitamin Cottage and Whole Foods (click those links to see my prior reports). It's a good time to be a natural foods sales junkie, with all sorts of good things going on. Here are my thoughts on the best of the deals, IMHO, as always.

Alfalfa's new sale starting today will run all the way through November 1st and has some beautifully seasonal specials. Most notable are local, organic acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash from Full Circle and Grant Family farms at just 79 cents a pound, and they have a slew of organic apple varieties from the Western Slope for $1.49 a pound. Their homemade, spooky shortbread cookies look adorable at 50 cents each. In meat, you can get a pot roast package, with two pounds of potatoes and a pound of carrots free with purchase of three or more pounds of Meyer Natural Angus chuck roast at $5.99 a pound. They're advertising their "sustainable value everyday low price" for Diestel oven-roasted turkey breast, which is a surprisingly low $7.99 a pound, especially for an everyday price. Local Blue Moose cream cheese spreads and dips look good at $1 off, and local Evol's frozen flatbreads (they're so good) are $3.49 (select eight ounce packages). Finally, I haven't tried them, but I'm intrigued by Zevia soda, with no sugar and zero calories, my kind of thing, and six-packs are BOGO.

At Sprouts through the 12th, they're offering a stunner on farm raised fresh Atlantic salmon for just $4.99 a pound. I'd rather have wild, but all things have their season, and we seem to have reached the end of that one. Also looking good are my very favorite stuffed clams for just $1 each, and they'll keep well in the freezer if you get some that are still frozen. Sprouts is offering lots of BOGO deals this week, the most appealing of which to me are big 16 ounce Chobani Greek yogurts, Kashi GoLean cereals, Pita Pal eight ounce hummus, and Cascadian Farm 16 ounce frozen veggies. The six ounce size of Chobani Greek yogurts are just $1 each (same at Sunflower). In organic produce, gala or fuji apples or D'anjou pears are all $1.49 a pound, a one pound bag of Cello carrots is just 69 cents, butternut squash is 88 cents a pound (77 cents at Alfalfa's), red yams are $1.49 a pound, celery is 99 cents a bunch, and green or red leaf lettuce are $1.69 each. Organic broccoli is on sale for $1.49 a pound, but head to Sunflower for that, where it's just 77 cents a pound. Finally, Sprouts' bulk coffee, which I love because you can get Fair Trade and organic and decaf all together in one coffee, is great at $8.99 a pound.

At Sunflower through the 12th, the big draw for me will be asparagus for $1.77 a pound (it's conventional and obviously not local, but some things are like that). Boneless pork loin chops in their new line look good at $3.99 a pound (Sprouts' $1.99 a pound sale on chops that ends today is spectacular in price, but the new Sunflower chops promise no antibiotics, in addition to the usual suspects). Beef stew meat is good at $3.99 a pound, and they have wild caught king salmon for $10.99 a pound, but fresh/frozen isn't specified in the ad. They're having a BOGO sale on roasts, but I'm not sure what one would do with a second roast. Organic produce looks great, with broccoli a stunning 77 cents a pound, baby carrots $1.50 for a one pound bag, one pound packages of strawberries for $2.50 (yes, these are organic), yams and sweet potatoes $1.49 a pound (same at Sprouts for red yams), fuji apples $1.49 a pound (same at Sprouts), and red radishes 99 cents a bunch. If you're okay with conventional for your winter squash (I am), acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash are all just 77 cents a pound (88 cents a pound at Sprouts, but you can get actual organic, local squash at Alfalfa's for 77 cents a pound, see above). Finally, select Chobani Greek yogurts are very good at $1 each for the six ounce size (same at Sprouts).