Trent's Bargains of the Week

Ledger resident foodie and restaurant reviewer Trent Rowe scours the food ads each week to find the best buys at each supermarket chain.

Publix: Ground chuck at $1.99 a pound

Winn Dixie: Iceberg lettuce for 79 cents a head.

Albertsons: Easy Mac, six packs at 98 cents with in-store coupon.

For people on the go who brown bag it the modern way, and watch their calories, it's hard to go wrong with lean Cuisine at 50 percent off at Publix and Albertsons.

Publix has top sirloin steaks at $3.99. That's $1 for four ounces, what the experts says makes a serving. Isn't it nice when the price helps us be healthy?

It's hard to say it, but a one-pound loaf of multi grain bread is a bargain at $2.99.

It's time to hit the garage sales and pick up a bread maker. After the initial investment in ingredients, you can have a lot of fun with one and make some really great whole wheat, peanut butter and jam bread with sunflower seeds.

Excuse me, I'm going to the storage room and dust ours off.

There is a page of “percent off” items. The easiest way to figure what you will pay is not to multiple then subtract (20 percent of $5 subtracted from $5) but multiply by the percent that's left ($5 times 80).

Here's the Bummer of the week. $4.99 for pork tenderloin. It was $3 somewhere else last week. Hope you stocked up. If you want the Greenwise version of the same cut, it will go for $11.59 a pound ON SALE. Hope you stocked up.

Tomatoes on the vine have not been hit by the salmonella scare. Most, if not all, of them, are hot housed in Canada. $1.49 a pound.

Baby portabella mushrooms go $1.50 for eight ounces. Let them grow up and they will cost you $2.50 for six ounces at Winn-Dixie.

You have to keep your eyes open for the coffee bargains. Last week it was Chock Full of Nuts. Folger's is $5.99 for assorted varieties. Often, the bargain is for the bottom of the line coffee in that brand.

Here's a stock-up buy. Classico Pasta Sauces are $2 each. That's about the same price as Wal-Mart. And Publix has a wider variety.

In the Buy-One-Get-One department ... Kozy Shack puddings are great for kids. Nothing artificial. Peter Pan peanut butter is BOGO, too. Cookies, chips, candy ... a lot of that good stuff is BOGO.

Bird's Eye frozen vegetables go half off.

Blueberries and blackberries are are three for $5. That's $1.66 a package.

Winn-Dixie's ground beef is still $1.99 a pound.

Boneless pork chops go BOGO at $4.99 ($2.50 a pound) or you can buy a whole center boneless pork loin and have it sliced in the meat department for $2.59 a pound. It's a better cut.

There are a bunch of BOGOs, but other than pineapples for $2.99 not much else stands up and shouts “stock up.”

Albertsons' shoppers get better deals closer to Orlando. The ad in the Sentinel that comes to us in Winter Haven has better prices on the big deals than you pay here. The on-line ad is accurate for us. The difference is about a dime per pound or per piece.

Boneless beef chuck roasts and boneless, skinless chicken breasts are $1.78 a pound. New York strip steaks run $5,98 a pound. Boneless pork sirloin roasts are $1.88. Thus has been as low as $1.69 in the past few months. It's a nice cut to roast and slice for sandwiches.

Cherries go $2.99 a pound, and pints of blueberries are $1.99. Asparagus is $1.99. Fresh Express salads are $1.99 and mangoes are two for 99 cents. Even small mangoes are a bargain at 50 cents each.

Check the BOGOs. Eggland's Best Eggs and Nature's Own English muffins are two for $3.99.

The back page of the flier is BOGOs. It's hard to go wrong when the store gives you one for nothing.

Happy $hopping.