This Week's Hot Deals (IMHO)

Ah, Wednesday again. Time to redeem myself from last week, when the confluence of a jury duty summons and a stomach ailment conspired to prevent me from posting anything beyond the flyers for last week's sales. This blog is a labor of love after all, and when you can't stomach looking at a flyer of food pictures, there's no reason to push it. But health is restored, and the sales march on! We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts and Sunflower, while the sale that started last Wednesday at Whole Foods continues. There also should be a new sale at Vitamin Cottage, which I'll get checked out as soon as I can. Here's what's looking best to me of the sales in front of me now.

At Sprouts through April 11th, chicken breast tenders are looking very good at $1.97 a pound (but see below for boneless breasts at Sunflower), and you can also get Sprouts' fresh free range turkey for that same price. All chicken sausage (pork, too) is $2.99 a pound, and ground chicken, pork, or chicken breast also looks good at $2.99 a pound. They have spiral sliced hams for just $1.97 a pound, but if you care about things like nitrites and are shopping anywhere but Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage, it's always best to read the labels. Also, their presidential-cut standing rib roast or fresh Atlantic salmon are both $8.99 a pound. But the thing that totally excites me is seeing Imagine's wonderful broth at $2.50 a box. You can do even better at Whole Foods by using Whole Foods' own $1 off coupon, but that purchase should theoretically be limited to one box at a time. Sprouts' sale is a real stock-up opportunity. Organic produce continues to look good, and a five pound bag of organic russets for $2.99 will be handy this holiday weekend, while red yams are $1.29 a pound, celery is just 89 cents a bunch, Cello carrots are 89 cents for a one pound bag, onions are $1.99 for a three pound bag, and apples and pears also look good. In conventional produce, pineapples are just $1.50 each (even cheaper at Sunflower below, but consider the Whole Trade ones on sale for today only for $3), asparagus is $1.99 a pound (same at Sunflower), and their usually handsome avocados are 77 cents.

At Sunflower through the 11th, boneless skinless chicken breasts, which I'd prefer over tenders that Sprouts has on sale, are particularly good at $1.99 a pound for family packs, and I've been liking Sunflower's big 16/20 wild domestic raw shrimp, which are $6.99 a pound this week. Spiral sliced ham is $2.49 a pound, with the caveat above about reading labels. Several ground meats, including chicken or turkey breast or pork, are all 25% off, but that's hard to compare to Sprouts' prices above. In organic produce, sugar snap or snow peas look good at $3.99 a pound, red or green leaf lettuce is $1.50 a head, and bunch carrots, kale, or arugula are all $1.50 each (happy spring!). In conventional produce, Sunflower matches Sprouts with $1.99 a pound for asparagus and whops them on pineapple at just 97 cents each, but again, please consider today's one-day sale at Whole Foods for a Fair Trade pineapple.

Whole Foods' current sale started last week and runs through April 17th. They have American Homestead or Wellshire spiral sliced hams for $4.99 a pound (and they also usually have a nice selection of unsliced hams, including some demi sizes and even small Black Forest hams for those of us who aren't trying to feed an army). Fresh Norwegian salmon is $14.99 a pound (the Norwegian is rumored to be the finest, but for basic fresh Atlantic salmon, that's $8.99 a pound at Sprouts). Whole Foods' own yummy lemon thyme wild salmon burgers are $7.99 a pound, and beef sirloin tip roasts are $3 off at $4.99 a pound. Organic mini carrots are very good at $2.50 for a big two pound bag, and oatmeal or chocolate chip 2 Bite cookies look dangerous at $3 a container. My favorite Market Made large cinque formaggio pizza is a must at $7.99, and in the Bakehouse, both honey chia and rosemary sourdough breads are good at $2.99 a loaf. Finally, I've already mentioned that Imagine's wonderful broths are on sale for $3 a 32 ounce box, and that there's a $1 off coupon for it in the Whole Deal (in stores and online), giving it an excellent price of $2. But see also Sprouts above for a $2.50 stock-up price, where you wouldn't be limited to one box per coupon.

Happy shopping for this holiday weekend!