I got an email the other day from my contact at Safeway, the other day. I guess they liked my review of their Just For U program. They’ve got something to promote and they are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Oh and if you don’t have a Safeway near you, but have a VONS, Dominick’s, Genuardis, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Pavilions, or Carrs you might want to stick around.
They are looking for people try their home delivery service. How much do they want you to try the service? They are offering $15 dollars and free delivery for new customers (use promotion code CHEER). That’s the kind of deep discount that put Webvan out of business. The code expires December 31st, so get to it.
In the next few hours I will be getting my first Safeway home delivery. Shortly after that, I hope to publish a review of the ordering process as well as some pictures of the food. I think I have a lot to say and I think it should be a separate post than this one.
Before I go too much further, I need to do a little do a little full disclosure. Safeway gave me some gift cards to test out the delivery service. Given the opportunity for free groceries, who am I to argue? However, as part of the deal, they offered me some extra gift cards to give to you… I love it when we all win. Finally, as Lazy Man, how can I turn down an incentive to have food brought to my door?
I’m going to give away three (3) $25 gift cards Safeway (which look to be good at VONS, Dominick’s, Genuardis, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Pavilions, or Carrs) to commenters below. How do you get your $25? I’ll be looking for the following types of tips:
- A Great Easy, Money-Saving Recipe – I found that this hummus recipe takes a couple of minutes and is a lot cheaper (and better) that what I can find in the store. It lasts all-week and we have a handy, healthy snack. I would love to find similar recipes that just wow me. No need to type up a whole recipe; if you can find it elsewhere on the web, just link to it.
- A Great Healthy Food – I’m trying to make a conscious effort to eat healthy. I found that Greek yogurt (Fage is one popular brand) is a shockingly nutritious food. Edamame and quinoa are great as well. Surprise me with some similar unsung foods that I should be order from Safeway’s
- A regional grocery food that you think I must try – In Boston, where I’m from originally, there is something called Ah-So sauce. I didn’t know it was a regional food until just a couple of months ago. I had just figured the company went out of business around the time I moved to California. Ah-So sauce is very much the pink sauce that you see in pork strips and ribs… I’ve seen a lot of similar sounding products, but none taste anywhere near it. (Oh and since Ah-So sauce is almost pure high fructose corn syrup, we’ll leave the healthy food option from above aside. Moderation right?)
Before you enter, let’s get a few notes out of the way. Please enter only if you can use the gift cards – I know these stores are regional. If you want to leave me a good tip on the above stuff, awesome, just leave a little note that you aren’t interested in the contest. Sometimes my spam filter is a little over-zealous, so I’ll be looking for the word “Safeway” in my spam comments. You would be wise to toss it in there in some form as it will help me search for and rescue them easily. Also be sure to sure to use a real email address. I can’t contact you to tell that you won and get the address for where to send the cards if you give a fake email address. I hate spam as much as you and will only email you in the event that you win. The contest ends December 24rd at 11:59 PT because I need to be asleep for Santa.
As a final note, the other thing that Safeway mentioned is that you can call their Holiday Hotline and have them do all the cooking for you. Just call in your order and pick it up at your local store. They have three menu options including turkey, ham, and prime rib. With the turkey serving between 6 and 8 people for $40, that seems like a good value. The prime rib serving 4 to 5 people for about $15-20 each looks to be a good deal as well. Just like how people are using stacations to squeeze extra value of their vacation budget, they can use picker-upper-supper to get a little extra value from their restaurant budget. (Yes, I believe I just made up picker-upper-supper.) It’s worth considering this holiday season.
I’m not interested in the contest, but here’s a quick, easy, cheap, and tasty recipe.
Take one can of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits (blue cardboard “can”)
flatten the biscuits on a cookie sheet
top with pizza sauce and cheese. I use Contadina brand squeezable sauce to avoid wasting unused portions of a can of sauce.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees
This is a lifesaver for me in Lent. I’m a Catholic who is allergic to shell fish and hates every other type of fish – so I hit these mini-pizzas hard on Fridays.
That actually sounds really, really good. I don’t know if squeezable pizza sauce has made it to Silicon Valley yet, but we’ll have to make due with the Ragu jar kind.
One thing I love to make people when I have a big group is apple pie singles. I get pillsbury buiscuit dough, form a shape of a cup with it, bake it, take it out put pie filling in it and bam its a pie! I let the people put topping they would like on it, like whip cream, nuts, so on.
we live very rural and safeway is actually the only grocery store in our closest town.
an easy and very healthy soup that i make all winter…
( not really a recipe as it is a little different each time, depending on what is in the fridge)
4-6 baby red potatos, cut up
half a cabbage cut up
bag of frozen cauliflower
(2)fresh zuchinni or 3/4 bag frozen
1 cup shelled edmame
(2 fresh or 3/4 bag yellow squash
1 can organic chicken broth
water to cover
throw it all in your huge dutch oven
simmer till soft.
I use my hand blender right in the pot to blend till mostly smooth
I add 1 package cut up leanest canadian bacon
some garlic (minced or powder)
sea salt to taste and about 4 tablespoons promise light butter (basil is nice in this also)
I add seasonings after it is blended b’c i found it has more of a kick.
serve covered in paremesan chese and use whole wheat bread sticks for dipping.
keeps well for several days and reheats even better on 2nd day.
I doesn’t cost much at all to make and my kids ask for it all the time
around thanksgiving i make it with turkey meat and dump in the leftover stuffing and it is sooo good that way.
eggplant,jicama, artichoke heart and celery are all good in it also.
my hub likes johnnies season salt on his.
I have a family favorite that’s healthy and inexpensive per serving. It’s Turkey Taco Soup which I guest posted at Coupon Cookin’: http://www.couponcookin.com/recipes/soups/turkey-taco-soup/
Someone emailed me the following. We’ll leave it anonymous, though the entry still counts since I can contact them:
Low-fat Hot Chocolate
¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/3 cup spring water
3½ cups low-fat milk
¾ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. pure almond extract (optional)
Serves 4
Serving size: 1 cup
1. Whisk the cocoa, sugar, salt, and water together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the mixture boils. Boil, whisking, for 30 seconds.
2. Pour in the milk and whisk for 5 minutes or until hot””but don’t let the milk boil.
3. Remove from heat, add vanilla and almond extract (if using), and pour into a heatproof pitcher.
Nutrition facts
Fat-free-milk exchanges 1
Carbohydrate exchanges 0.5
Fat exchanges 0.5
Amount per serving
Calories 150
Calories From Fat 24
Total Fat 3 g
Saturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 15 mg
Sodium 190 mg
Total Carbohydrate 23 g
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sugars 20 g
Protein 9 g
Sea salt vs. table salt: Which is healthier?
from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
Sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value “” both mostly consist of two minerals “” sodium and chloride. However, sea salt is often marketed as a more natural and healthy alternative. The real differences between sea salt and table salt are in their taste, texture and processing, not their chemical makeup.
Sea salt is produced through evaporation of seawater, usually with little processing, which leaves behind some trace minerals and elements depending on its water source. These insignificant amounts of minerals add flavor and color to sea salt, which also comes in a variety of coarseness levels.
Table salt is mined from underground salt deposits. Table salt is more heavily processed to eliminate trace minerals and usually contains an additive to prevent clumping. Most table salt also has added iodine, an essential nutrient that appears naturally in minute amounts in sea salt.
By weight, sea salt and table salt contain about the same amount of sodium chloride. Your body needs only a couple hundred milligrams (mg) a day to stay healthy, but most people get far too much “” mostly from sodium in processed foods. So regardless of which type of salt you prefer, keep sodium consumption between 1,500 and 2,300 mg of sodium a day if you’re a healthy adult. People with high blood pressure, African-Americans and anyone middle-aged or older should aim for the low end of that range.
California grown Hass Avocado a healthy regional food:
http://www.avocadocentral.com/
I actually used the Safeway deli turkey dinner for Thanksgiving — supplemented with a family favorite salad and veggie dish — and it was FABU!
The veggie was Carrots & Leeks: simply clean and slice leeks and peel and slice carrots. When you’re about 30 minutes away from serving (or ahead of time if you prefer), put some EVOO in a wok and stir fry leeks until barely tender. Add carrots and stir for a while; lower heat and cook covered until tender (do check and stir frequently so the leeks don’t burn). During about the last five minutes add dried thyme (I probably use about 1 tsp. per pound of carrots).
I also love these carrots as leftovers topped with some good seafood stew (TJ’s has a decent frozen cioppino) and some garlic bread. YUM!
Safeway’s Ranchers Reserve Meat is the best in my area. I mean 1/2 the other stores meat — well, isn’t fit for human consumption…But Safeway… perfect everytime. Plus when it’s on sale, I am there…loading my cart.
Easy, fast meal – Chicken Quesadilla’s. I use the previously cooked and easily available at Safeway Chicken breast (southwest variety).
Heat frying pan, put in a flour tortilla, add previously cooked chicken breast, onions, peppers, mushrooms (anything else you like in thre) and cheese. Fold over, and let cheese melt to hold it together. We also like our outsides a little brown.. but hey you are done. My family loves these, and ingredients, can be varied, just make sure you use cheese to hold them together…
1prizewinner(at)gmail(dot)com
We have Genuardi’s here, so count me in. What we like to do is saute a whole bunch of fresh vegetables (and the beauty of this is you can pretty much use whatever you have, or what’s in season) add a little tomato sauce, and then spoon it between two slices of hearty sourdough with some low-fat swiss cheese, and grill it like a grilled cheese. Delish, and fairly healthy. We use olive oil for sauteeing.
i don’t do much cooking anymore since my son is grown and i live by myself so i find the prepared foods at von’s to be just my thing. i also try to eat healthy and use a lot of yogurt – the greek is wonderful – and hummus on whole wheat crackers or as a dip with raw veggies. different sauces ccan also be mixed with plain hummus or plain yogurt for extra flavor. von’s is in my area so i can use the gift card if i win. thank you.
Try tofu and kale. Tofu comes in several forms, you can start with tofu wrap/noodle.
Safeway has the best chips! They are the Blue Corn Tortilla Chips With Flax from their O Organics line. Organic, and full of fiber with the flax. These are a great addition to any salsa or dip!
You should try Lefse (a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread) It’s good…homemade is usually better though. There is also lutefisk. Never tried it myself….but someday I will.
There is no Safeway where I live, but I am entering for my brother. I will give it to him if I win one. (he is in Montana)
When we’re in need of a healthy snack and don’t have a lot of time, we eat Athenos brand hummus. It goes on sale for only $1 several times a year. We eat it with whole wheat bread and apple slices.
We like to eat salsa and (baked)chips. I figure that’s pretty healthy.