>
> The best part is we have a small vegetable garden, about 17 X 25 feet,
> plus several dwarf fruit trees. Unfortunately we've been in a deep
> drought for about two years and our city now rations water. Fortunately
> we've gotten over an inch of water in the last three days, that helps.

Here in the San Gabriel Valley, in SoCal, a new player came into town
about four years ago. This is the Fresh & Easy chain, owned by Tesco
the big British retail company. I usually get to the local store
(about 1/4 mile away) either at around 11:00 AM or a bit later after
the staff has pulled all of the stuff that will be out of code within
the next two days. Excellent buys on the majority of stuff that I
eat/ Lots of produce packed in "3 fers" @ .98 cents per package,
apples, onions, pears, etc. I like to get the small salads that
usually retail for $3.99/ea for about $2.75 that are about one day
out; the bread that I prefer is the ciabatta loaves, regularly priced
at $3.99, go for $2.89/ea, etc. The markdowns include the meat &
chicken items also. Dairy is fair-traded in California to 15% of
retail price, but that's a good deal.

Since Azusa is a university town, (Azusa Pacific University and Citrus
Community College) both across the street from the geezer park where I
live, there are lots of students shopping along with the geezers, and
everyone is looking for the best deals. Two doors down is the $.99
cent store that I sometimes shop at for the dried noodle soup
packages.

Harriet & critters in Azusa