Althouse: At the Checkout Café...

March 8, 2010

At the Checkout Café...

... choose carefully.

62 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Even with the coupon taken off, that is about $12.00 in fresh food. The next economic shoe to drop will make it cost about $36.00 and the few jobs left will be paying a third less than they are now. So we better practice up on choosing carefully now.; 3/8/10, 2:43 PM
HKatz said...: Stonyfield's French vanilla is delicious. For plain yogurt I'm a fan of Dannon.; 3/8/10, 2:52 PM
Anonymous said...: I imagine Pogo looking something like Phil. And now I will imagine him with a chicken on his forearm.; 3/8/10, 2:56 PM
Unknown said...: It will still cost $20.; 3/8/10, 3:02 PM
Hazy Dave said...: Celery. You need a big bunch of celery sticking up out the top of your shopping bag when you walk out of the store. ;->; 3/8/10, 3:04 PM
Hazy Dave said...: I was doubting $12 until I looked more closely. It'd be more like $8 or $9 without the "organic" and "additive free" premium... You'd think some homeopathic remedy could be sprinkled on your eggs, apples and milk to counteract all that.; 3/8/10, 3:16 PM
KCFleming said...: "I imagine Pogo looking something like Phil. And now I will imagine him with a chicken on his forearm."

Bad news for Phil if he looks like me.
Every morning I forgive my mirror for its ruthless honesty.

But even if a looking glass had tact and offered wise sartorial advice, the brutally average face cannot be remedied by a nice-looking suit.; 3/8/10, 3:40 PM
former law student said...: Another closeted gay Republican came out this morning, in the wake of his DUI committed in a state car last week, with another man, after leaving a gay bar: State Senator Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield (Nashville West). He has a 100% perfect voting record on gay issues -- out Lesbian Sheila Kuehl had 0%.; 3/8/10, 3:41 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Eggs $2.70 (dozen)
Bread $3.95
Milk $1.99
Apples @.79 pound guessing 1.00 for the three
Yogurt $3.25

$12.89. Not so bad....for now, as traditionalguy points out.; 3/8/10, 3:45 PM
Sarah from VA said...: I have to join HKatz in my preference for Dannon plain yogurt. I stick it in a fine mesh strainer when I get home because I enjoy a thicker yogurt but haven't found a Greek yogurt brand I like, and then drizzle honey on top. I go through a jar in two days, usually. But I only let myself buy one jar a week, for the sake of balance.

But you seem to have a nice sense of balance here. I can never leave the grocery store with so little -- a side effect of growing up in a family of 9, where $300 grocery bills were par for the course.; 3/8/10, 3:49 PM
Eric said...: Where is the beer the donuts?; 3/8/10, 3:51 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: That cream top yogurt is good enough to make one wonder if being thin is worth it.; 3/8/10, 3:52 PM
Anonymous said...: That does have a Whole Foods look to it.

DBQ is right about prices at Whole Foods.

At our nearby cheapo Market Basket (yes, they have cheap food stores handy even to the tonier Boston 'burbs), you could knock about $2.00 off that price.

Yes, before the kids became teenagers and serious eaters, we, too, used to shop at Whole Foods.

Now, we shop where ladies in mu-mu's with small children who drive 15-year-old rusted Toyotas shop. The clientele is more congenial and the prices better.

And my wife, who learned to cook in France, has no problem turning the ingredients so obtained into very nice meals.; 3/8/10, 4:01 PM
Will said...: Seeing as how Althouse goes on about her abstemious ways, I'm assuming that's about three weeks worth of groceries.; 3/8/10, 4:03 PM
Trooper York said...: Of course it is more expensive if you shop at Whole Foods. The way you get cost containment is in portion control.

That is why you would split one egg every morning.

Jeez everybody knows that!; 3/8/10, 4:06 PM
Triangle Man said...: You could save a buck on the eggs alone at Woodman's, but it is not as convenient.; 3/8/10, 4:16 PM
Triangle Man said...: Cream on the top yogurt is healthier than a steak and doughnut sandwich.

For those who do not click. From Family Guy:

"Stewie: It's healthier than what they ate in the fifties...

Customer: Steak and doughnut sandwich please.

Waiter: You want cigarettes on that sandwich.

Customer: What do I look like a Mary? Of course I want cigarettes.; 3/8/10, 4:21 PM
bagoh20 said...: I like medium eggs; much better sized for hard boiling, and I get many thank-you-letters from the hens.; 3/8/10, 4:24 PM
KCFleming said...: When I was in 7th grade, my 5 sisters were still at home, and my Mom often sent me to the local grocery store to buy cigarettes and tampons.

I would have taken a bullet for my Mom over standing in line at the National T with the smirking checkout lady yelling at Bob for a price check on the extra large box of Tampax.

I shoulda gone for the trifecta and tried to buy condoms..; 3/8/10, 4:29 PM
SteveR said...: With three girls (19, 16. and 13) I've not had a checkout that small or simple in a long time, nor expect to for awhile.; 3/8/10, 4:51 PM
Anonymous said...: There's a little farm (yes, a real farm where they grow vegetables and raise chickens) down Rt. 62 in the Bedford direction from here. (Drive past Emerson's grave, and keep going.) I'm not talking about the little Italian truck farm and stand. (Everybody loves them.) No, it's the egg operation a little further along, down Hartwell Ave. in Bedford.

The same family's been running the place since 1941, and they have a GREAT little old-fashioned general store. My oldest worked for them last summer. Got stung by a lot of bees, but learned something about real work. Wonderful family, and it's great to see the third and fourth generation of local farmers coming along.

Their eggs are noticeably better-tasting then anything else I've tried, even the exquisite, plastic-boxed eggs otherwise from Whole Foods that cost $1.50 more. Yes, they supply the local Whole Foods with real, LOCAL, and cheap eggs. But only the Whole Foods in Bedford. Sometimes, when I'm forced to go to Whole Foods for something else, I'll buy their eggs there. But mostly, I love to go to their store, where, except for the prices, it remains 1941.

And the prices aren't too far off the mark, either.

One of the charms of the penumbra of suburbs trailing Boston in three directions is the survival of small, old, formerly Yankee farms, who sell to local people. Although originally a Californian, I can't tell you how much I've grown to love New England.

One of the reasons is that you actually CAN eat quite well from local produce, as long as some of that lettuce continues to dribble in from the Imperial Valley, and the hothouse tomatoes show up from Holland or New Jersey (and maybe some fruit from Chile, if we're not talking too big a carbon footprint).; 3/8/10, 4:56 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/8/10, 4:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Did Barack Obama sell you those apples, Ann?

Because, according to Dan Rather, Barack Obama is not a very good fruit salesman.; 3/8/10, 5:11 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: You left coupons off the tags.; 3/8/10, 5:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: It's not Whole Foods. It's the Willy Street Co-op.; 3/8/10, 5:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Good! You just saved $3.00.; 3/8/10, 5:43 PM
michaele said...: I can't quite make out the variety name of the apples. If they're Honeycrisp, the amount of the bill will go way up. I have paid over $3.00 a pound for Honeycrisp apples which sounds obscene but once you have tasted one, they are hard to resist. They are not available all year long so I splurge when I find them. I am an unpaid Honeycrisp evangelist.; 3/8/10, 5:43 PM
MadisonMan said...: Sugar River yogurt is the only yogurt you should be buying in Dane County. Although you may not have had a coupon for that.; 3/8/10, 5:45 PM
El Presidente said...: Oh the irony. Making fun of homeopathic remedies while paying 50-100% more for 'organic' and 'cage free'.

Find your bliss where you like but people who live in stone houses shouldn't throw glass.; 3/8/10, 5:47 PM
garage mahal said...: I think Ann likes it on the hippy dippy side of town. Now a blog post inside Mother Fools of some Fair Trade coffee, or a sampling of vegan only menu, and I'll be genuinely impressed!; 3/8/10, 5:48 PM
garage mahal said...: Also, check out Jennifer St Market if you already haven't.; 3/8/10, 5:50 PM
ricpic said...: Egg sandwiches for the whole gang!; 3/8/10, 6:00 PM
former law student said...: Real apples don't have stickers, but I note these stickers say "gala".; 3/8/10, 6:06 PM
kentuckyliz said...: You should make your own yogurt. Far, far better than anything you'd find in the grocery. That Stonyfield crap is way too sugary.

WV getspor
If you shop at Whole Foods too much, you getspor; 3/8/10, 6:06 PM
former law student said...: I don't know about Madison Trader Joe's, but the cream top yogurt in that we get here in quarts is very nice.; 3/8/10, 6:09 PM
Penny said...: And that, my friends, is why I skip breakfast and go straight to lunch.; 3/8/10, 6:12 PM
kentuckyliz said...: If you are using eggs in a recipe (eckspecially baking), use large eggs. The recipes are written assuming large eggs. Choosing another size could ruin your results.; 3/8/10, 6:19 PM
former law student said...: You should make your own yogurt.

We used to, back when ovens had pilot lights. Whole milk, with Sanalac nonfat dry milk whisked in, brought almost to the boil, then cooled, inoculated with a little Dannon, and left in the oven overnight.

I think Sanalac is long since discontinuted but it worked better than Carnation.; 3/8/10, 6:20 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: If BHO has his way, he'll outlaw the milk and the eggs and make us all eat apples. Apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's all part of the progressive plan to weaken the U.S. and prepare us for WorldCommunism, using the AlinskyiteClowardPiven scheme. BHO is doing this under orders not from Moscow as some say but from HugoChavez. I know all of this because I heard it from the teapartiers. So, it must be true.; 3/8/10, 6:29 PM
El Presidente said...: Lonewacko:

http://willybova.com/depression_apples.gif; 3/8/10, 6:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Sheila Kuehl was Zelda on "Dobie Gillis." I can't believe that she has a zero percent voting record on gay issues (although I may be confused as to what that means). She also taught (still teaches?) at Loyola Law School. I did not hear good things about that.; 3/8/10, 6:50 PM
rhhardin said...: Milk is $1.99 a gallon, eggs $.99 a dozen (large), cottage cheese $1.00 for 16oz, where I go. Probably loss leaders.

Yogurt is $.41 for a 6oz cup; I don't know it for other sizes.

I microwave the eggs.

Ohio doesn't mess around.; 3/8/10, 7:05 PM
MadisonMan said...: Michaele, the apples are Gala. I'd be very surprised to see Honeycrisp (delicious, I agree) at this time of year. Usually by late November any I find are going mealy.; 3/8/10, 7:09 PM
chickelit said...: It's not Whole Foods. It's the Willy Street Co-op.

Tell me please, is the Mifflin St Co-op still around?

Control of Our Food Is Control of the Life in Us; 3/8/10, 7:30 PM
rhhardin said...: Mike Munger podcast on fair trade coffee.; 3/8/10, 7:51 PM
knox said...: Let's all remember that the Whole Foods CEO took a lot of grief for speaking out against Obamacare and in favor of free market solutions. Cheers, Jonh Mackey, even though your food prices are wack.; 3/8/10, 7:59 PM
MadisonMan said...: Mifflin Street went under 2 or 3 years ago.; 3/8/10, 8:06 PM
garage mahal said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/8/10, 8:06 PM
garage mahal said...: Let's all remember that the Whole Foods CEO took a lot of grief for speaking out against Obamacare and in favor of free market solutions.

Tax cuts, tort reform, and o yeah, shop at my stores!; 3/8/10, 8:08 PM
Cedarford said...: I do as much shopping as my wife these days in grocery stores and a few other food places that fall closer to "my rounds" than hers.

Go with what is on sale, then work around those basic ingredients. Amazing what a few different spices or veggies can do. Curry, Mexican Mole`.

Summer and fall are stops at orchards and vegetable farms and prices that average less than in discount supermarkets. Home garden, even get surplus fish from parties at local marina for about 1 dollar a pound.

Food is still cheap, and you can eat well, if you stick to a few simple cost-savings things.

I have noticed that the food distributors are now the ones practicing cost containment/max profit through involuntary portion control. In the last 10 years I've watched the size of cans, containers shrink progressively.; 3/8/10, 8:14 PM
pm317 said...: Milk $1.99?!

The Lactose free Organic Valley milk I get at Whole Foods is over $4..; 3/8/10, 8:16 PM
knox said...: Tax cuts, tort reform, and o yeah, shop at my stores!

Well, the last part worked. I think a lot of people who normally don't shop there decided to patronize WF after his editorial. ...we can only hope for success on those first couple items!; 3/8/10, 8:25 PM
chickelit said...: Thanks for the intel Mad Mad!; 3/8/10, 8:52 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The milk container is oddly shaped... only a quart.; 3/8/10, 9:56 PM
Meade said...: Three under $3; 3/8/10, 10:24 PM
traditionalguy said...: This post reminds me of an excellent Audiobook narrated by its author, called "French Women Don't Get Fat". She says to eat natural and not processed foods, in small portions. In France she says that wine is never sipped alone like a cocktail, but it is always eaten with other food as a mood and flavor enhancer.; 3/8/10, 10:29 PM
Opus One Media said...: Well there goes a full week of food stamps.; 3/9/10, 6:35 AM
former law student said...: In the last 10 years I've watched the size of cans, containers shrink progressively.

The "pound" of coffee has dwindled from 15 oz to 12 oz.

Lactose free milk? You can't expect milk that has been specially processed to cost the same as commodity milk. "Organic" milk is priced to cover the costs of certification as well as the cost of organically produced feed.; 3/9/10, 9:38 AM
former law student said...: tradguy: traditionally the French took their big meal in the middle of the day, over two hours, with plenty of chatting with their companions. We tend to bolt a lot of food rapidly close to bedtime.

vw: guido
When is Jersey Shore on?; 3/9/10, 9:41 AM
former law student said...: Another incident of lactose intolerance: A 31 year old Kentucky woman arrested for public drunkenness was further charged with assault for squirting her breast milk at a jailer:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0308101milk1.html; 3/9/10, 9:46 AM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/10/10, 3:25 AM
traditionalguy said...: Wacko...You are not alone anymore. That was a good analysis @ 6:29. Until comrade Chavez has mastered English, comrade Obama will still be delagated ruler over this part of The Americas. But the great People's Windmills Cooperative may need some help meeting energy demand from Chavez's experts when in the meantime continuous winds don't blow as predicted when Obama eliminated all Carbon Filth methods of energy production and make the US a leader in purity and poverty. It was for Science, you know, peace be upon AlGore.; 3/10/10, 3:29 AM