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Aloha Jerry
Yes your post does help. I had been to all but Cost U Less and now know about that one. Agree about Long's Drugs and Safeway as well, though at present we are carnivores. Maybe that will change when we become Puna residents. Also thanks for letting us know about the weekly ads, coupon booklets, publish dates, sale dates, etc. Things we need to know to be good kama`aina consumers in Puna, yes? Mahalo again!
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For meat, Puna Fresh foods has the typically good pricing on it and their meat is usually better than the others. The store itself is sometimes a little scary, kinda dark and dinghy but if you look hard enough they have odd sales which beat others. I shop Safeway alot not because they most resemble a mainland store but simply because other than Walmart they have the best Diet pepsi pricing. KTA was $1.69 SALE priced last week... And then since I am there, many of their items I purchase are on sale and I have coupons too. But then again KTA's laulau's in the deli section are da kine. We buy ahi & other fish at the fish market rather than grocery store... Ahi in Kansas at begining of Dec was $37/lb (and I am sure at least 3 days old because it came from HILO!!! ha ha - the grocer told us).
So actually I guess I am like Jerry - I shop the sales and end up at any one of the locations once a week or so........ except Malama Market which I avoid due to high prices unless it is an absolute emergency!
And personally I am sometimes happy it is a unpleasent cost of living or all those in CO under feet of snow would be moving here next week.
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The meat at Malama Market is awesome. When we were visiting in Nov we wanted to grill steaks. Ribeye is our favorite cut. I couldn't find one out front and one the employees could tell I was looking for something. As soon as he knew I wanted ribeye he ran back and cut two fresh ones to my specifications. I was so impressed. The meat was pretty good, just as good as what I pick up at Whole Foods in Atlanta. They also have nice pieces of fish as well.
Atlanta/Pahoa
Atlanta/Pahoa
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I echo Cat about Puna Fresh Foods and Malama Market. If you look REALLY hard and don't mind the dark atmosphere and occasionally rotten produce, you can find some genuine bargains at PFF in Keaau. Just be sure not to buy anything else. PFF rarely advertises in the paper, but I think they do sometimes have a little sheet of store specials posted. (Correct me if I am wrong on this, Cat.)
Malama is owned by Foodland/SacNSave and they advertise, but sometimes (not always) they charge a little more for the same things Foodland/SacNsave feature in their ads. I treat Malama like a convenience store and have never bought more than four or five items at a time.
Aloha, Punagirl. I am glad you found good ribeyes at Malama. As a former resident of Atlanta, I know that being a Whole Foods shopper, you probably did not find Malama's prices bad at all. And I have to say that their meat specials are things that I sometimes buy there.
Cheers,
Jerry
Edited by - JerryCarr on 12/30/2006 11:26:54
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Jerry, Punafresh does have an ad sheet that comes in the mail (in Keaau) every Tues. for their Tues-Mon. sales, & then for special sales (got one in the mail today for their New Years sale). Although they are way close, they are not my 1st choice because of ther produce, but we do go to the Keaau farmers market very often.
Aloha, Carey
PS, Just read in the paper today about a NEW higher cost for water for all serviced by Hawaiian Beaches Water Co. OUCH! over double the price within 11 months from now! (and connect fees are going to be close to catchment install!)
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In order to really save money on groceries...one has to go to four or 5 different stores.
For example.... Butter at Safeway or KTA can be up to $7.00 a lb when its not on sale and even when it is on sale it's usually about $4.00. Walmart always has butter for $2.25 when its available.
A loaf of bread is another item that can be anything from $3.00-$6.00 depending where you shop. We find that safeways 7 grain bread is our favorite at $3.29 (everyday price and made there daily)
I also would have to agree that Puna Fresh foods has the best meat selection.
For fresh and reasonably priced produce and fruits... I either go to KTA or buy from the Farmers Market.
And lastly...The best prices for wine and spirits is Costco in Kona followed by Cost U Less in Hilo. The best selection though is KTA..
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quote:
In order to really save money on groceries...one has to go to four or 5 different stores.
For example.... Butter at Safeway or KTA can be up to $7.00 a lb when its not on sale and even when it is on sale it's usually about $4.00. Walmart always has butter for $2.25 when its available.
A loaf of bread is another item that can be anything from $3.00-$6.00 depending where you shop. We find that safeways 7 grain bread is our favorite at $3.29 (everyday price and made there daily)
I also would have to agree that Puna Fresh foods has the best meat selection.
For fresh and reasonably priced produce and fruits... I either go to KTA or buy from the Farmers Market.
And lastly...The best prices for wine and spirits is Costco in Kona followed by Cost U Less in Hilo. The best selection though is KTA..
what are you paying for Milk in Hilo? On Oahu depending on where you shop can be very scary if you don't know better. Tourist are paying over $6.00 a gallon for milk in Waikiki, talk about a suddle reem job! Foodland on any given day is the cheapest. It runs about $3.75 a gallon.
Here on Oahu I shop only at Safeway for special items, or when they have their two for the price of one sale. Typically Safeway's meat prices are out of this world. I'm not sure who can afford it?.
Don Quote, formally known as Diai has some fair prices, but since the switch over I've noticed a slight price increase. Perhaps due the store upgrade in all their stores.
But lets not get fooled by a lot of misconception either. Not everything in Hawaii is more expensive than the mainland. Just like everything in Mexico is cheaper than California...but I found that intrue too. While living in the State of Jalisco i realized that the Mexican's main staple of veggies, onion, potatoe, and tomatoe where all cheaper in California!!!!!!
By the way, where is the Safeway located on BI?
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Support the 'Jack Herer Initiative'NOW!!
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Milk is the same here, Walmart always has mainland milk for $3.75, and Safeway (Hillo right off HWY 11 in the mall - Kailua Kona on Henry & 19, with Walmart) , Foodland & KTA usually do on sale. Cost-U-Less has the cheapest island milk, $4.29/gal, when it is in stock. I am pretty sure that Oahu & Hawaii island Safeway ads are the exact same...but not positive. The farmers markets do tend to take some of the sting out of the produce prices (It always amazes me when Safeway has papaya and tiny avacados priced at a dollar a piece (with that splashy 10 for $10 sign) Why does anyone buy them at that price? Papayas here range at 4-8 for a dollar at most vendors....and you normally can get a lot of fruit from neighbors, coworkers and the like...I know that many of our neighbors trade (we have a hyper navel orange, bilimbi, bitter melon, guava & weed cherry tomatoes that are often traded for grapefruit, lime, lemon, avacado, beans, & pineapple - even eggs!)
It sure bets letting the fruit rot on the ground (speaking of which, many of our older neighbors have asked us to pick as much of their fruit, as they no longer can deal with the work & mess. We have made it a point to offer this fruit (that the neighbors don't want) to the Hawaii food bank, Students at the University & Peanut Butter Ministry. That way there is a way to get this much needed produce to those who have a hard time payiing the supermarket prices.
Aloha, Carey
Edited by - Carey on 01/04/2007 09:36:52
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Once a year we go to Safeway to buy Thanksgiving turkeys on sale. Safeway is behind where Liberty House to be - currently that is now Macy's.
Generally we try to buy all our groceries at KTA since they are locally owned and buy a lot of produce from local farmers.
There is also a lot of food that falls from heaven which does help keep the food costs low.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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We buy wine / spirits at Kadota Liquors in Hilo. If you havent been in there, it is a trip. Some dusty shelves, the entrance hidden behind cases of beer pallets. But da kine wine & spirits selection and most of the clerks are incredibly knowledgable. Their prices are fairly competitive to Cost U Less around the corner but for character and helpfulness I shop Kadota's - plus locally owned non-chain WITH low prices.
And they dont pay me for this endoresement!
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