This Week's Hot Grocery Deals (IMHO)

Good morning on this dark, kind of spooky Boulder morning.  Whoops, and here comes the rain this very second, yay!  We have new sales starting today at our local Sprouts and Whole Foods stores, while the current one continues through Saturday at Vitamin Cottage.  Here's what's looking good to me now.

After that rather spectacular big brand sale that Sprouts ran for two weeks (concluding today, last chance!), their new sale through June 5th is perhaps a bit meh in comparison.  I am liking grass-fed organic ground beef at $4.99 a pound, ground pork for $2.99 a pound, and chicken breast tenders are okay at $2.99 a pound.  Huge 16/20 count raw shrimp from the USA are $8.99 a pound, pretty good, but they have been lower, and ditto for Alaskan cod fillets at $7.99 a pound (both fish previously frozen).  Organic produce is looking good as usual, with on-the-vine tomatoes great at $1.99 a pound, one pound bags of baby carrots $1.49 each, romaine, red or green leaf lettuce all $1.29 a head ($1.50 for the red or green at Whole Foods, where the heads are often, but not always, larger), broccoli is $1.29 a pound, and bulk mixed greens or spinach remain fantastic at $3.99 a pound, plus there are some nice organic fruit deals.  Elsewhere in the store, I'm liking Seapoint Farms edamame at $2 a bag, Cascadian Farm organic cereal $3.50 a box, Spectrum Essentials chia seeds $8.99 for a 12 ounce package, some BelGioioso Italian cheese wedges $4.99 for a half pound wedge, and Mozzarella Fresca fresh mozzarella balls $3.99 for a half pound ball.

Whole Foods has really been keeping my outdoor grill busy recently with some very fine fish, including both halibut and Copper River salmon last week, both of which were excellent.  So I'm pleased to see the options continue, since their new sale through June 11th includes fresh albacore tuna for $14.99 a pound. We also like their salmon burgers (although we find they do better indoors, since they'd dry out quickly on a grill, or at least on ours), and the new sale's option is a citrus bbq salmon burger for $7.99 a pound).  In produce, conventional corn is four ears for $1, as we wait another month for our local corn to start arriving.  In organic produce, I'm pleased to see red seedless grapes for $2.49 a pound, and green or red leaf lettuce are both $1.50 a head.  From the deli, if you're headed out for a picnic (or looking for an easy dinner at home, hmmm), their own buttermilk brined fried chicken looks fantastic at $4.99 a pound, $3 off (we don't often eat fried stuff like that, but for a once a year indulgence, and especially at that price, we'll go for it).  Plus, they have Mom's macaroni salad right next to it in the deli for $3.99 a pound ($2 off) to go with it.  Delicious Parrano cheese is $9.99 a pound, $6 off, and if you haven't already stocked up on sunscreen for the summer, select Jason ones are 40% off.

And a Copper River salmon alert.  I last paid $22.99 a pound at Whole Foods for Copper River sockeye salmon, and when I looked a couple of days ago, that was still the price.  Sprouts at the time didn't have any fresh wild salmon.  Prices tend to trend lower as the season progresses, so it's worth noting that Safeway today is advertising fresh Copper River sockeye for $14.99 a pound (Club price).  King Soopers is silent on it in this week's ad.