fave grocery stores/etc.

luvs · Jan 21, 2012

where is your favorite place or places to buy food & food-related items & why-

my favorite, most beloved would be iggle's market district stores. the stores, they're kinda amazing compared to any other i've seen. i have yet to get to this newest one, though a store w/ alcohol on tap to have w/ dinner- now that's a store!! i'm used passing the wines that they recently began to sell @ the one i most frequently shop at. not this, tho. the new one sounds like the best, yet!

i love the food, the atmosphere, the selection, the expertise. i'd say 99.5% of my food is from a market district. i hopefully shall get to this new one soon.

here is why:- (interesting article)
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/54165-giant-eagle-new-market-district-location-pittsburgh-north-hills

tell us of your fave(s).......

Mama · Jan 21, 2012

I'm not too picky, it's whoever has the best sale. I go to several stores. For produce, if the local fruit stand is not in season or they don't have what I need, I go to Ingles or Publix for my produce.

luvs · Jan 21, 2012

boy, mama, i know several people in my family that wouldv'e preferred i were not too picky before i got my own car & my own place. i'm stubborn as a mule on food, tho.
like they say, variety is the spice of life! sounds like you!

Leni · Jan 21, 2012

We also go to several stores depending on what they are offering.

lilbopeep · Jan 22, 2012

Shop-Rite - I like alot of their store brand foods (example is the bacon and butter) and the in store bakery seeded rye bread

Stop N Shop - I like their in store multi-grain bread and whole wheat rolls. They have some good in store manager meat sales Plus I can find some healthy things there I can't find other places

DiPiero's Farm - I can find Lundberg rice blends, oils, bread and imported pastas that I can't find anywhere else. ALSO the only place I can get my rose hip and hibiscus tea that I love and it REALLY does help break a fever and speed recovery from a cold or flu (NOT a cure but loaded with vitamins).

A produce/farm market - Has good prices on USE now RIPE produce when I want to make something and don't want to wait a couple days for something to ripen.

belaine · Jan 22, 2012

Gelsons, Bristol Farms and local Pacific Ranch Market. I avoid large chain markets with the exception of Stater Bros.

BreezyCooking · Jan 22, 2012

It depends on what I'm shopping for.

Canned pet food, kitchen goods (like alum. foil, Ziplock bags, etc.), smoked turkey drumsticks & other poultry products - WalMart.

Paper towels & toilet paper, bulk marinated artichoke hearts & olives, certain fresh pastas, nuts, etc., etc. - CostCo.

Seafood, produce, deli, etc. - both Wegmans (which is about 45 minutes away) &/or our local Martins. Also a semi-local Harris Teeters.

Wine - definitely Wegmans. HUGE selection, & prices are at LEAST $3-$4 less than other markets.

lilbopeep · Jan 22, 2012

lilbopeep said:
Shop-Rite - I like alot of their store brand foods (example is the bacon and butter) and the in store bakery seeded rye bread

Stop N Shop - I like their in store multi-grain bread and whole wheat rolls. They have some good in store manager meat sales Plus I can find some healthy things there I can't find other places

DiPiero's Farm - I can find Lundberg rice blends, oils, bread and imported pastas that I can't find anywhere else. ALSO the only place I can get my rose hip and hibiscus tea that I love and it REALLY does help break a fever and speed recovery from a cold or flu (NOT a cure but loaded with vitamins).

A produce/farm market - Has good prices on USE now RIPE produce when I want to make something and don't want to wait a couple days for something to ripen.

I forgot to add:

Trader Joe's for pasta, cheese, crackers, oils and peanut butter along with a few other things.

Whole Foods - For organic/natural foods I love (cream on top yogurt is wonderful), cheeses, soy products and imported foods.

Meats - I like Shop-Rite or Stop N Shop

Produce - I get the bulk of my produce from Shop-Rite because hub works in the produce dept and gets from the fresh boxes.

luvs · Jan 22, 2012

plenty of variety amongst you guys!

peepz, that's sweet that hub can score u the best produce. i would get to fruit markets tho they have so much selection here. & that's why i get that liberte yogurt, the coconut kind u'd seen in a pic i think the 14th15th, peep- the cream layer is so good!! 280 calories, meh. matters not when good food is involved.

belaine, i have somehow heard of bristol farms. the others i haven't. i would luv to see the difference between east coast & west coast shopping. (not to mention northern states, southern states, places overseas & places in-between.)

haven't heard of many of yinz' stores/places to buy food.

lilbopeep · Jan 22, 2012

luvs said:
plenty of variety amongst you guys!

peepz, that's sweet that hub can score u the best produce. i would get to fruit markets tho they have so much selection here. & that's why i get that liberte yogurt, the coconut kind u'd seen in a pic i think the 14th15th, peep- the cream layer is so good!! 280 calories, meh. matters not when good food is involved.

belaine, i have somehow heard of bristol farms. the others i haven't. i would luv to see the difference between east coast & west coast shopping. (not to mention northern states, southern states, places overseas & places in-between.)

haven't heard of many of yinz' stores/places to buy food.

Sometime the produce is good, sometimes it's bad. With the weather being freaky the way it has been there isn't much you can do about it. No matter where I go it's the same. Unless it is just my area. LOL

luvs · Jan 22, 2012

it's namely tomatoes & hericot vert here in this weather. duh on the tomatoes, lol. lots of root veggies & winter squash in the chilly months.

lilbopeep · Jan 22, 2012

luvs said:
it's namely tomatoes & hericot vert here in this weather. duh on the tomatoes, lol. lots of root veggies & winter squash in the chilly months.

Shop-Rite has wonderful vine tomatoes all year. Look at some of my recent pictures with tomatoes. They look that good all the time.

joec · Jan 22, 2012

I'm usually shopping for freshest in vegetables and that is either Meijer's or Kroger here. Meats I generally buy on the hoof from a local farm or a local meat market here in town. Can goods and other non perishables it is mostly by brand and sale price will decide it for me most of the time. Seafood is again who has the freshest. Whole Foods and Liquor Barn for hard to find items in my area. Asian and other ethnic foods from smaller local ethnic grocery that specialize in a particular type. Paper products, condiments, pet food etc I go also by brand and where it is on sale if possible. So basically though I'm picky on some things not so much on others.

rickismom · Jan 22, 2012

We don't have any of those stores here on the West Coast lol - It's WinCo for me! Employee owned so the prices stay low

)

luvs · Jan 22, 2012

lilbopeep said:
Shop-Rite has wonderful vine tomatoes all year. Look at some of my recent pictures with tomatoes. They look that good all the time.

those & cherubs 'er the only i'll buy in winter...... & the cherubs, they're 4 garnish.

luvs · Jan 22, 2012

joe, liquor barn sounds interesting. yeah, gotta look for fresh stuff. i used to luv the polish market & went to specialty shops when i lived in another section of pgh, tho they weren't as clean as i'd like., that closed tho. it was beyond cheap, too.

rickimom, employee owned is good. cheap is better. won't see much of that here. there's some in the suburbs, tho.

joec · Jan 23, 2012

luvs said:
joe, liquor barn sounds interesting. yeah, gotta look for fresh stuff. i used to luv the polish market & went to specialty shops when i lived in another section of pgh, tho they weren't as clean as i'd like., that closed tho. it was beyond cheap, too.

rickimom, employee owned is good. cheap is better. won't see much of that here. there's some in the suburbs, tho.

It really is luvs. Besides being a liquor store on steroids in that the sell every brand with even some of the hard to find imported ones they have a super selection of wines from all over the world. Now I'm not personally a drinker so what attracts me is their Ultimate Deli section and Imported foods.. Here is the store I shop at which is about 10 minutes from my place.

http://www.liquorbarn.com/deli.htm

luvs · Jan 23, 2012

neat that u have that place to utilize, joe. looks good & well-stocked! now your talking.

joec · Jan 23, 2012

luvs said:
neat that u have that place to utilize, joe. looks good & well-stocked! now your talking.

Their olive bar alone is worth going. They have to have about every type of olive know to man and fresh also. Their cheese, hot sauces, BBQ sauces and imported ingredients sections, I could spend an hour just going through it all. It is one of those store you have a list made up of exactly what you need get it and get out. If not you might not have enough money when it comes to check out. :readytoeat:

luvs · Jan 23, 2012

that's like my beloved market district! the olive bar, (also, the antipasto bar, the olive oil/vinegar bars, the bulk items,....... the cheeses!) i have thrown in the towel on making a list as the food selection changes & some intrigue me. others i need. i equip myself financially when going there as i have gotten there; hear me on that! generally, i'll buy well over that that 1 person needs in a bi-weekly visit tho lack for foods i would like on most given nites. i have the stores fairly well mapped, thankfully, so as to avoid the aisles that i'll only re-purchase an item i have too much of already.

there's one olive from that i've gotten once & avoided for years since, years ago; oil-cured black olives. the shriveled ones. those were from a regular 'iggle, before they expaned into market districts.

ur my kinda shopper, joe, lol.

PanchoHambre · Jan 23, 2012

there's a shop'n bag in pennsauken, generally a horrible low end chain but this once caters to a large central american population so lots of great mexi cheeses, chilis, cheap lemons limes avocados and the like and right on my way home from work love it as all that stuff is pricy at the supermarkets in my area where box foods rule

luvs · Jan 23, 2012

yes, i agree. imported foods can be sooooo pricey @ megamarkets. i dislike boxed food, too, avoid them unless too hungry to mind. thank goodneess ther're places to find fresh. i mean, i have canned/boxed,a few different forms, ya know, not most. cheap lemons/limes rock, & especially your cheeses! good u've got the place.

PanchoHambre · Jan 23, 2012

yeah luvs... ethnic shops always better than the mass market markets that charge premium for the same stuff. I buy my cheese anc chilies at the central american place, pickles and smoked salmon at the russian market and my local meats and dairy from my csa, buyers club or farmers market (lancaster county meat and dairy is amazing, love the amish) and save the big name supermarkets for the big brands when they go on sale. grew up in an italian american home where pretty much everything but cereal and soda came from ethnic shops.

Kimchee · Jan 23, 2012

Where I live, selection is limited. Kroger is the only "full service"
grocery store in town. There are a couple Sav A Lots and an Aldi,
plus Walmart and Meijers.
Lucky for me, Krogers was already my favorite grocery store.

(But we ARE planning a road trip to http://www.junglejims.com/
sometime soon. Eight aisles of Asian groceries alone! wooo hoooo)

luvs · Jan 24, 2012

awesome stores abound! pancho, dunno amish people, tho we have farms in the rurral areas. family included. not my Mom & Dads, lol, u know, tho.

kimchee, that sounds like the lesser-populated suburbs, here, those stores. we haven't a kroger, tho. not 1 that i've seen anywhere unless not in town or maybe not noticed. we've gone places when my Parents travelled & when they took us kids to fla & that. then, i just put stuff i wanted in the buggy. i member a piggly-wiggly near cocoa beach or somewhere on the way in from there, & that or another similar store years ago in ohio when i went there to watch my 'lil cousin for a week years ago. maybe it was a kroger.......

Guts · Jan 24, 2012

ever since Ralph's / Kroger close their store in the city I live in some year half ago. I haven't been in a "regular type" grocery store. I do most of my shopping at Costco,smart and final, restaurant depot, and a local produce type of store here locally. the smart and final store has changed over from a restaurant supply to a somewhat store like Safeway, Von's, Ralph's, your chain stores. The smart and final still carries a lot of the restaurant supply stuff and some big-box stuff. For beef/pork. I generally buy this at Costco it seems to be pretty good in my opinion.

The reason I shop big-box stores is simply convenience,but there are some things that the restaurant stores have that you can't find in regular chain stores. Shopping these big-box stores you save money but you have to have the place to store your purchase. That's another reason I'm in the process of making a new pantry where my old furnace was.

luvs · Jan 25, 2012

oh, the urges that i've fought to not enter restaurant-supply places, guts. i'd camp there for daze. in the aisles. there's one i used to pass daily. it was tough not to enter.
i stick w/ market district, williams-sonoma & dean & deluca for the vast majority of stuff like that. they have some le crueset & that @ 'iggle, some of it being practical for 1.

PanchoHambre · Jan 25, 2012

ah I love restaurant supply but mostly for cookware, I am on self imposed cookware ban for now though there is not much I could pretend I "need"

luvs · Jan 25, 2012

thank goodness some of my stuff was school-issued, knife-wise & that, so my student loans took care of those. tho i have an affinity for certain brands that the school issues not. tho they have some sweeeet wusthof in a seperate 'lil shop i used to visit near-daily. i got my wusthof from w/s, tho. for a great price, too.

joec · Jan 25, 2012

luvs said:
oh, the urges that i've fought to not enter restaurant-supply places, guts. i'd camp there for daze. in the aisles. there's one i used to pass daily. it was tough not to enter.
i stick w/ market district, williams-sonoma & dean & deluca for the vast majority of stuff like that. they have some le crueset & that @ 'iggle, some of it being practical for 1.

I only buy one item for William-Sonoma and that is Demi-Glacé. At their prices thankfully it lasts a very long time and little is ever needed at a time. The little food products they sell makes Whole Foods look like Walmart in comparison. Their cookware is also darn near list priced and too rich for me.

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