New In Stores, March 08

I’ve found some interesting new-to-me food items in grocery stores recently.  Here are a few that may interest other frugalistas.

At Baker’s, I had to do a double-take in the freezer aisle.  Nestled between the Kroger brand vegs and the frozen potato products, sit bags of Private Selection (their premium house brand) frozen rice.  Plain, and two kinds of seasoned rices, all long-grain white.  They look convenient and tasty.  Price check: $2.49 for 16 oz, 2-4 servings.  What?! 

Now, I understand that someone dashing into the store for immediate fixings for, say, stir-fry (vegs for which are naturally right there, too), might want such a product.  But the real cheap thrill for this gal is that I can grab a 3# bag of long grain white rice for .99.  (But I would opt for long grain brown rice, instead.)  From that 3#, I can get 30-35 servings.  I can season it up myself, knowing what goes into it (with much less salt), bag it and freeze it myself.  Even including seasonings, and with the quart-size freezer bags (if you don’t reuse them), that comes to a mere three and a half cents per serving.  You’ll pay for $1.25 per serving for the convenience of buying the frozen.

Let’s talk about organic products just for a minute.  I love truly organic, locally-grown, in-season produce.  I heartily approve of the organic/naturally-raised meat product concept.  And I do understand and believe that there are things in many conventional dairy products that are causing health issues.  However, this product floored me.  One gallon of name-brand organic milk was $5.99!  OUCH!  This is the kind of thing that will bankrupt people.  Some folks must consume organic, they have no choice other than to starve.  The excuse of high gas prices, because of high corn prices, because of high energy costs, affecting production and transportation costs…is not cutting it when a gallon of milk costs $6, and goes through as much processing as a conventional product.  At this point, this product does not fit the “green” profile.  Drink less of it?  You bet!

Maybe soon we’ll thaw out, and folks can plant with the promise of real locally-grown produce in a few months.  Meanwhile, what new items have you found in the grocery store lately?