Blender Hollandaise and decadence at home!

by PATRICIA HolmesFood & Beverages

A few years back, we decided it was just so much nicer to stay home for Valentine’s. Saves money, less hectic, and just relaxing. Maybe it’s old age! LOL

All day yesterday, my internet was down. And I was so frustrated, because I wanted to tell everyone to do what we were doing, if you didn’t already have Valentine’s plans. But I’m telling about it today, because the great Valentine’s sales are still on. So…

If you’re a Vons or Safeway shopper, you could easily guess what we had as a main course and vegetable last night. If you missed the deals, today is the last day for Vons and other Safeway banners great Valentine’s steak and lobster deals! We had $6.99 lobster tails and $3.47/lb. NY steaks, 99 cents/lb. asparagus and hollandaise, and twice baked potatoes for our Valentine’s Day dinner last night! Still on sale today! Awesome! Decadence at a discount!

Our favorite hollandaise is SO easy too! We make it in the blender, and it’s just as good, if not better than all that double broiler ridiculousness!

Blender Hollandaise recipe

4 egg yolks in the blender –  separate cold, about 30 minutes before dinner to allow to come to room temperature

Add a dash of cayenne pepper into blender

In a clear microwave safe 2 cup measuring cup, squeeze juice of one whole lemon, and 3/4 stick of butter. 

Heat lemon and butter in microwave until almost boiling over (clear cup so you can watch it bubbling up, and catch it before it bubbles over). Then while whirling egg yolks in blender on low, quickly pour in boiling hot lemon and butter. Blend on medium speed for about 30 seconds. 

I always want a little thicker consistency. So I pour it back into the measuring cup, and back into microwave NO more than 10 seconds, and stir with a fork. It will thicken even more as it cools. So if it’s still a little too runny after the extra 10 seconds, it will be perfect once on the table or on the asparagus. 

Super easy! And always delicious!

Note: We like very “lemony” hollandaise. You can use half the juice, if you prefer.

Vons SoCal… What does “no more doubles” really mean?

by PATRICIA HolmesUncategorized

Vons in SoCal will stop doubling as of tomorrow, August 1st.

I know that none of us like to hear that, especially me! Vons has been my store since I got married in 1980. But… Even though Vons has been doubling for most of these past decades, some weeks, I shop at Albertsons, a “no double” store. Why? Because at TheGroceryGame.com , we have comparison shopping made fast and easy. It’s fun to log in and merge my “big 3″, Vons, Ralphs, and Albertsons, and sort by savings percentage. Within seconds, I can ascertain where the lowest prices and best deals are for my weekly grocery shopping. I also like to use the search feature to search all the stores’ deals for specific things I need, like orange juice, eggs, bread, and more… And lo and behold, there are weeks it turns out that Albertsons has the best deals, even though double coupons are down the road.

The fact that a non-doubling store could win my favor over a doubling stores is not surprising for two reasons: #1 the biggest savings are not about coupons, but about the sales. And #2, most coupons are for one dollar, and they don’t double anyway.

As we’ve done in the past, just to see what this really means, we did the numbers on the Vons list this week. There were (are) 169 blue and green deals on the Vons list thru July 31st. Noone would buy all 169 deals, but for the sake of this exercise, here are the #s… There were 229 deals on this week’s Vons list, of which 169 were blue for “investing”. IF you bought ALL the blue items:

WITH DOUBLES:

  • 169 blue items
  • Orig Total: 861.84
  • You Pay: 380.25
  • You Save: 481.59
  • Savings: 55%

NO DOUBLES:

  • Same 169 blue items
  • Orig Total: 861.84
  • You Pay: 391.16 (difference of 10.91)
  • You Save: 470.69
  • Savings: 54%

Even with coupons not doubling, the difference is barely noticeable, but we’ve got bigger problems to think about… If you follow my blog, you know grocery prices have been rising, and even the USDA tells us that in 2013, consumers will begin to feel it. But you’re not alone…TheGroceryGame.com has always been at the helm of steering Gamers to the best, fastest and easiest savings nationwide. The higher the prices go, all the more reason to get the best possible savings!

During a 4 week free trial of TheGroceryGame.com, even in the land of no doubles, most families save enough to buy a deep freezer!

Now is the time to dig in and play smart!