Weekly survey: Low grocery prices, spotlight on Irish-Italian

This week, we found some of the lowest overall prices yet t with no one cracking $80 and two of the five supermarkets we survey weighing in at $70 or less.

There's also an ethnic bent to some of our Market Basket surveys this week, with Italian food featured in one and a hint of things to come for St. Patrick's Day in another.

Here are highlights from our visits Thursday to five local supermarkets.

Publix

Publix is feeling its inner Jersey Shore this week, and put a slew of Italian food on sale.

Italian sausage is on sale for $2.49 per pound, save $1.50. Classico pasta sauce is BOGO, save $2.65. And there are discounts on tiramisu, Mueller's pasta, lasagna from the deli, minestrone soup, pre-made pizza crusts and Italian subs from the deli.

Even cannoli went on sale, $3.49 for two, save 30 cents. But the biggest savings are on New York strip steaks, $6.99, save $4.

Richard Mullins

Walmart

You'll have the luck of the Irish if you are looking for corned beef at a great price this week.

Walmart has the flat-cut variety for $3.13 a pound and the point cut for $2.12 a pound.

Add a pound of fresh carrots for 74 cents and a head of green cabbage at 68 cents a pound and you have a meal fit for St. Patrick.

Janine Dorsey

Winn-Dixie

Here's a tip for Winn-Dixie shoppers in the mood for salad this week: Find a good recipe for kale.

Kale - that hearty, vitamin-rich green - is on sale for $1.69 a bunch. That's a good deal, and kale isn't often sold by the bunch.

Iceberg lettuce is going for $1.49 a head, and even though the price is up 50 cents from last week, it's still a pretty good deal considering the heads we checked weighed in at about 2 pounds. That's about twice the size we found in other stores.

Romaine lettuce is selling for $1.99 - higher than other stores, but not by much - and the sizes we saw were about a pound.

Jeff Scullin

Target

Some Target stores were out of strawberries this week. But don't worry, Saturday shipments were expected to replenish the supply. When they are in stock, it'll cost $3.99 for a 16 ounce container.

Honeynut Cheerios are on sale, $2.75 for a big 25 ounce box. That's a deal considering an 18 ounce box of regular Cheerios is $3.79.

Oreo cookies are back to the old price of $2.79 but get them while they're cheap. The sign advertising this week's special says they'll soon be back to $2.99.

Shannon Behnken

Sweetbay

The highlight of the week: Boneless chuck roast is $1.99, almost half off.

The price of strawberries keeps falling, too, and now they're as low as we've seen them at Sweetbay: $1.99 a pound.

Some stores are having trouble keeping the locally grown crop in stock, but one produce manager said to expect them back by Tuesday.

Dennis Joyce