"Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
...
> Terry Pulliam Burd wrote:
>
> > I gotta admit, I don't shop prices and I don't clip coupons. We both
> > work full time and the idea of studying market ads and the Sunday
> > coupon section to save a few bucks isn't worth the aggravation to us.
> >
> > My idea of cost cutting is to know that whatever I buy at Bristol
> > Farms is going to be more expensive than at Gelson's and Gelson's is
> > going to be more expensive than either Von's/Pavillion's or Ralph's,
> > so when I'm buying just everyday *stuff*, I go to Von's/Pavillions or
> > Ralph's. When I want sushi grade fish and the best meats, I go to
> > Bristol Farms. I want the best produce, I go to Gelson's. Shopping for
> > everyday *stuff* means blasting into and out of a market at warp speed
> > at 6 p.m. on a weekday. Creating a nice dinner involves Bristol Farms
> > and Gelsons with little thought to the cost or how much I hate
> > shopping after work :-(
> >
> > OTOH, we do Costco about once a month for paper goods and such, which
> > is a total dichotomy given the above. Go figure.
>
> Funny how differently we see things. I buy virtually all my big-ticket
> food items at Costco. Their beef is consistently the best in this
> market, always at the best prices - I usually buy whole rib sections
> and cut steaks from them. On weekends, they do their seafood
> promotions and I buy bags of mussels, salmon filets, U-15 shrimp, huge
> scallops - at prices significantly lower than even Wal-Mart's
> superstores, at way better quality. Boneless pork loins are up to
> $2.09/lb and a good deal. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs for $1.69.
> Bulk cheeses, etc.
>

I refuse to buy regular supermarket beef - it is fed with animal byproducts
and the risk of mad cow, however slight, turns me away. I buy beef at Whole
Foods or from a local farmer where the feed contains no animal products.
Ditto for pork - the standard factory pork in the supermarket is too lean
and is rather tasteless so I get the Niman Ranch pork from Whole Foods or
buy from a local farmer. I will say that Sams Club often has some really
good New Zealand lamb but we have stopped shopping there out of disgust with
Walmart's treatment of its employees. The factory chickens at the
supermarket are best avoided for both taste and humane reasons - I prefer to
buy kosher chickens or preferably free-range organic ones - so much tastier.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.