Trader Joe's/Whole Foods Market

[Pedal Wench]

yeah - I don't go to TJ's for the fresh produce - they just don't have a large selection. I never pay attention to their prices for produce, because I don't really buy any there.

Whole Foods has nice produce, but yikes - it's pricey. Except for bagged lettuces, which I buy for my daily lunch (I eat a whole bag for lunch) and it's significantly cheaper - $1.99/bag versus $2.69 for the store brand and $3.69 for the Fresh Express at my supermarket.

[Cataboo]

If I go to a korean supermarket and I want to make curry - I can walk out of there with all the ingredients for about $12. If I go into whole foods, it ends up being something like $40 (I did it once and never did it again). And I find the korean supermarket'll have better selection. (However, maybe if I was trying to make meatloaf or a casserole, i'd find the selection pretty limiting in a korean supermarket). I haven't checked the produce section enough at trader joes to really know how feasible it would actually be, but I'd guess curry ingredients would be more on the order of $20-25 or so.

Now that's not taking into watching sales, etc and going with a specific list of ingredients in mind.

[msincredible]

I like Trader Joe's to stock up on things like canned beans and soups, frozen veggies, soy milk, etc. as they do have great prices. I agree about the produce though, most of the time it is not that good.

I go to Whole Foods once in a while for things that I can't get anywhere else, but the prices are too high for most shopping. Most of the time I go to local stores with good selection of natural foods, I generally avoid the big chains.

There is a farm store with nice produce, lots of lentils and beans, etc. that is ~7 miles away, I do a lot of shopping there on my bike.

[tulip]

I'm a Kroger girl, myself. Or Food Lion. Luckily there's a farm stand between me and Kroger/FL for my produce. And we have farmers markets almost every day now. I live on the Other Side Of The Tracks, and the WF, TJ, and our local healthfood store are on the Right Side Of The Tracks. I only go to that part of town for haircuts and sushi every couple of months, and my dog's overpriced dogfood. Everything else I can find Over Here.

Both Kroger and FL have organic milk, beer, dried black beans, cheese, salsa, cereal, flour for my bread, the occasional Dr. Pepper, orange juice, yogurt, soup, spaghetti, and canned tomatoes for my sauce. My veggies I get from my backyard or from the farm stand or farmers markets. I get my beef and chicken from a farm.

[Norse]

Agree on TJs produce. I grow it, get it from the local Farmer's Market or from the local grocery store. But for nifty, fun, tasty, usually all natural, often organic and inexpensive stuff, it's TJs.

Special loves: their peanut butter, garlic hummus, fruit cereal and trail mix bars, cheeses (and what a selection), lamb marinated in burgandy with pepper (easy roast one night, great leftover lamb sandwiches the next night), salsa, sun-dried tomatoes, frozen lunches - especially the eggplant parmesan and spinach lasagna - their puddings, No Pudge Fudge (just add yogurt, I cannot believe how rich it tastes), biscotti, Apple Blossoms, which we have with the soy vanilla ice cream, and oh, the gruyere and ham tart/pizza is to die for.

Now I am hungry.