Abundance Co-op

I can't believe I didn't know about the Abundance Co-op until a few weeks ago, especially since it's the closest grocery store to my house (located on Marshall Street, a stone's throw from the Museum of Play).

Abundance Co-op is a "natural products retail grocer" that has organic produce, bulk food and spice bins, and even an organic deli. Organic food stores are usually more (sometimes a lot more) expensive than, say, Price Rite, and Abundance Co-op isn't an exception to this, but they do have some great deals as advertised in their monthly flier.

One of their continuous deals is natural/organic "mystery butter" for 1.99/lb in the bulk foods section--depending on the day you stop by, it could be almond butter, peanut butter, or cashew butter (I'm not sure why they call it mystery butter since you can lift up the bucket and check what it is before you buy it). They also have all-natural honey (no runny bear stuff for them!) for 2.99/lb. Today I bought some steel-cut oats for 89 cents/lb. on a special sale. I've noticed that their organic produce is well priced, as organic produce goes.

Next time you're downtown, you should check them out. As you pull up, it looks like there is only street parking, but the parking lot is actually behind the wooden fence.

Sauder's Store

 Sauder's is a Mennonite-owned dry-goods/meat/lots of other things store outside of Seneca Falls, about a 55-minute drive from Rochester.  The variety of products is incredible--every kind of flour you can think of, spices, grains, home-style candies, baking necessities (soda, yeast, cocoa, brown sugar, etc.)--all neatly bagged in different sizes and on the shelf. They also have a deli (I'm not a meat connoisseur, but apparently you can get German specialty meat that is hard to find), inexpensive cheeses, fruit preserves, home-made syrups...the list goes on! 

Here's my best price summary: their big bulk items (50 lb bags of sugar, beans, etc) can generally be found for less at other places (Aldi, LDS Storehouse),  but Sauder's prices for baking supplies are hard to beat (and they sell them in hard-to-find quantities). 

Even aside from all practical matters, Sauder's is a very fun place to visit.  The distance is a drawback, but it's one exit away from the Waterloo Factory Outlet Stores, so you could definitely make a day of it (the flour picture is just a random one I found online, but Sauder's is so great I thought it deserved a graphic). 

Master Coupon Blog

At the RS retreat up at Seneca Lake, a lady from Pittsford (I think) came to teach a class about food storage.  I never really knew it was possible to store the variety of food that she does (she cans chicken, butter, and M&M's, and knows how to make eggs last a year).

The most intriguing thing about her presentation, though, was that she kept saying things like, "of course, I got them for free with coupons," or "after the rebate it was only 5 cents".  Rebates?  Coupons?  

Well, last night I finally visited her blog: kerricodi.wordpress.com.  It's very impressive, and since she's local, she has a lot of local deals.  I'm adding it to the links on this blog's sidebar.  

Price Rite

A friend emailed me some information about Price Rite. The highlights of Price Rite are cheap produce, cheap canned goods, and international foods (including an great assortment of Italian favorites at great prices... prosciutto and fresh mozzarella lovers take note!) They also have very inexpensive bulk spices. The nearest Price Rite is the one in Southtown Plaza. Bring your own bag!

Thanks for sharing!

Boneless Skinless Chicken $1.79/lb

Wegman's never-been-frozen, no bullion added boneless skinless chicken breasts are $1.79/lb in their flier this week. I always just freeze them...they're so good.  

Corn 7 ears/$1 at the Public Market

The public market is open all year, but I think it's best during the early fall when the local farmers are there with all of their corn/peaches/apples/tomatoes/potatoes/etc.  Last week I bought some sweet corn, 7 ears for $1!  

The market is open in the mornings on Tuesday (smallest number of vendors), Thursday (larger), and Saturday (an adventure! Tons of vendors, thousands of shoppers, competitive parking).   

Plenty of vendors are selling the same kind of produce you'd buy in the store (avacados from Chile, etc), but the local farmers are easy to spot with their "harvested yesterday" and "home grown" signs.  It's fun to see the farm trucks manned by entire families at the Saturday market.  

Beyond produce, we've gotten some great cheese from the Saturday cheese vendor (he might be there on Thursday), cheap spices, delicious baked goods from the Amish stand, and some good fish (inside the building).

Rent your cart, buy your bag

Aldi is a quirky little grocery store.  The selection is limited, but the price is right!  Aldi claims that its store brand products are often made by the same manufacturers that make regular national brands.  For instance, we think that their tomato soup tastes like Campbell's, but it costs a lot less.   Here are some other things that we like from there (with very approximate prices):

1) Tortilla chips for $1.

2) Cheap baking supplies & spices (generally less expensive that Wegmans/Walmart)

3) Bags of fresh spinach for $1.30.

4) Sour cream, butter, cream cheese for...cheap (I can't remember)  

5) Diced canned tomatoes for 45 cents 

6) Frozen ground turkey for 1.80/lb

7) Apple juice concentrate for 90 cents

 

If very low prices make you nervous (is this really turkey?) you should read their explanation of how they cut costs.  One way is to have you pay a quarter to rent your cart (you get it back!) and bring your own bag (or you can buy one for 6 cents).   The whole cart-deposit/use your bag model is a very European thing to do...which is why you should feel very chic and cosmopolitan when you shop at Aldi.

Freihofer's Bakery Outlet

What: 

A bakery outlet that sells many varieties & brands of bread, english muffins, bagels, etc. Any time you go you can find 100% whole wheat bread for about $1.70 a loaf, and, if you're lucky, you can get 3 loaves for $3 (they'll be on a table by the door).   Around December they hand out Freihofer's calendars that have monthly coupons (like a free loaf of bread with any purchase). They also have "frequent buyer" stamp cards.

Where: 

Genesee Valley Regional Market on Jefferson (map).  It is a big row of warehouse-looking buildings that house things like an organic food market, coffee outlet, etc.   Because of construction, the entrance is temporarily around the corner on Clay Rd.  After you drive into the warehouse area, look for the Freihofer sign in the window of one of the middle buildings.  TADCO Spices, which is two buildings down, is a good place to buy bulk spices (but not a great place to buy bulk grains).