This Week's Hot New Grocery Deals

It's a welcome view from my house this morning, little to no smoke coming over the mountains, thanks to yesterday's huge firefighting efforts.  Let's hope the weather and everything else cooperates today to keep it going in that direction.

That said, it's Wednesday, so it's time for the new sales.  I mentioned months ago that Sprouts had acquired Sunflower, and it looks like this week is the first where we're actually seeing the impact.  Our Boulder Sunflower will eventually be rebranded as a Sprouts, and while the two stores are still issuing separate sales circulars, this is the first week I'm seeing their sales coordinating, at least among the featured ones.  Here's what it looks like in a quick perusal.

At both Sprouts and Sunflower through July 4th, previously frozen seafood seems to be the highlight, with center-cut swordfish steaks, Alaskan cod, 16/20 count really big raw shrimp, and crimson snapper (opakapaka to those of us who've had it as such in Hawaii) all $6.99 a pound.  The meat sales between the two stores are 99% identical, with all chicken sausage $2.99 a pound, boneless skiness chicken breasts also $2.99 a pound (not a particularly low price, and we'll miss the competition there), whole or cut-up chickens $1.49 a pound, beef short ribs or stew meat $3.99 a pound, and boneless ribeyes $9.99 a pound.  The one odd difference comes in the grass fed ground beef that both are offering at $5.99 a pound; the Sunflower ad says 93% super lean, while the Sprouts ad says theirs is organic.  Conventional corn is also a shared price at four for $1 (as are prices on some other conventional produce that I'll only eat in organic).

Differences appear to remain between the two stores in organic produce, at least in terms of what's highlighted.  At Sprouts through the 4th, one pound bags of baby carrots are good at $1.25 each, but Sunflower beats that at 99 cents, acorn or butternut squash are both 99 cents a pound (same at Sunflower), grape tomatoes are $2.50 a pint, red potatoes are $3.99 for a five pound bag, and strawberries are $2.99 for a one pound clamshell (whopping Sunflower and also Whole Foods on that one).  At Sunflower, baby carrots are just 99 cents a one pound bag, red or green kale is $1.50 a bunch, broccoli or yams are both $1.50 a pound, leaf lettuce or romaine are both $1.50 a head, grape tomatoes are $2.49 for 10 ounces, celery is just 99 cents a bunch, and four types of hard squash are 99 cents a pound.

Whole Foods' new sale runs all the way through July 17th, and organic yellow peaches look good at $1.99 a pound, but the other stores are beating them in the other organic produce that appeals to me.  Whole Foods has organic cherries for $4.99 a pound, but they're $3.99 a pound this week at Sprouts, one pound containers of organic strawberries are $3.99 each at Whole Foods but $2.99 at Sprouts, and Whole Foods' $2 a bunch sale on organic celery gets whopped by Sunflower's 99 cent a bunch price.  I do love Whole Foods' Bakehouse baby boules, which are great at 99 cents each (although their everyday price is good too), Hatch green chile cheddar sounds intriguing at $9.99 a pound (everybody knows my fetish about all things Hatch green chile), and my favorite in fresh mozzarella, Crave Brothers, has eight ounces of bocconcini for $3.99 each.  Since this sale runs all the way through the 17th, we might be able to pair the mozzarella with some local tomatoes by then.