In today’s New York Times there is an article about a recent shift towards smaller grocery stores from the all-in-one-place supermarkets that have become so prevalent. The article discusses how consumers don’t necessarily want an expansive variety of food products all the time, quoting a supermarket adviser who says, “If you’ve got 50 feet of ketchup and what you want is Hunt’s 64-ounce and you can’t find it, people get overwhelmed.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 2% [?]

It seems I’ve turned into the grocery store reviewer, as I’m about to tell you about a new Whole Foods that opened up last week in Northbrook. And as is becoming my customary practice, I just happened to be around for the grand opening. Or maybe I just have a fetish for awesome grocery stores (is that so crazy?) Either way, it was definitely a grand opening, and I was definitely there (thanks to the heads up from mom.)

To begin, I think the produce section fell from heaven. While I’ve seen somewhat nicer displays (though don’t get me wrong - the display was nice!) I have never seen such a wide variety of different fruits and vegetables in a grocery store. You want eggplant? Ok…did you want a Chinese eggplant, a Japanese, white, purple zebra, or Indian? They have them all! Oh and peppers…they had a HUGE variety of peppers. Bell, fresno, anaheim, habanero, jalapeno…you name it, and they’re lined up next to eachother. Ok wait, I know there are thousands and thousands of peppers so maybe don’t name one, it’d be impossible for them to have them all.

I had the pleasure of not only seeing but holding a passionfruit for the first time, which I have to say is much lighter than I would have ever imagined. I even debated taking home a stalk of sugar cane, or a cactus pad, but in the end, my better judgment trumped my excitement. I learned about things I had never even heard of before, like a batata or a sapute (ok don’t pipe up telling me you’ve heard of those, I haven’t.)

The store is just absolutely huge and they make no sacrifices. The cheese section was enormous (that’s where I saw the largest hunk of cheese I’ve ever seen,) as was the meat section and everything else under the sun, er…roof.

BUT the best part is that they have an in-house sit-down sushi bar! They don’t just sell and prepare fresh sushi, you can sit down and eat it right then and there (if you want…) Sushi not your thing? How about some gelato to eat on the way out? Coffee? Another hot meal? They have it all! So I guess it’s really not just a grocery store, it’s a restaurant. And what a great idea that is, because if there is any place where people probably want to eat, it’s the grocery store.

In a nutshell, I loved the place, and I even missed all the free samples. The only thing is I probably couldn’t afford to go there often, because with great quality comes great (as in the large definition of the word) prices. But, I did notice that POM Tea glasses were only $2.99 whereas the grocery store I was forced to go to back in Champaign sold it for $3.99. Not sure how much that means to you…

Either way, Whole Foods = A+!

-Hillary, going camping this weekend for the first time in her life
Editor, Recipe4Living

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but yesterday was my first time shopping at Trader Joe’s. I’ve had experience with their products, like I knew they sold the awesome mochi ice cream, but I had never actually been there myself.

I’m not sure what I thought. They definitely had some amazing and unique products (like Indian snacking chips, Casaba melons, and acai jelly) but I thought there would be MORE of a selection than there was. It seems my expectations were built up far too high because I was anticipating a Jewel or Dominick’- sized grocery store of organic, unique and quality foodstuffs, but well, I just found it to be…small.

While I know they hand pick their products for quality, and don’t try to offer every brand known to man, I was missing a few things in my grocery shopping search. It’s probably hit-or-miss sort of situation, but it seemed that everything I was looking for wasn’t there. I wanted a lingonberry spread to make Swedish pancakes at home, and they didn’t have one. I wanted flavored Fage yogurt and they didn’t have that either. I wanted some fresh basil. The list goes on - I could have used more chocolate, more tea, more of a whole bunch of things!

I did, however, come away with some interesting and satisfactory purchases. To name a few, I bought some ginger snaps, chocolate covered blueberries, fage yogurt, matcha latte powder, granola, and of course…mochi ice cream. So far I’ve tried the ginger snaps and they’re delicious!

While their chocolate section was lacking in my opinion, they did have these awesome bricks of Ghirardelli baking chocolate. That was pretty sweet.

Would I go back? Yep! I bet I’ll get addicted to a whole bunch of their products…as if I’m not already (see below.)

UPDATE: I’m fastly becoming addicted to those Ginger Snaps, AND I give the frozen Trader Joe’s meal that I had for lunch an A+.

-Hillary, planning on eating some mango AND green tea mochi tonight
Editor, Recipe4Living

Popularity: 2% [?]

I’ve seen Mickey Mouse on apple slices. I’ve seen Sponge Square Pants on my carrots. I’ve even seen a Pluto sticker on a peach (ok, that I bought intentionally.) But, what gives?

I don’t know if Disney is trying to make the world its Disney World, but I’ve noticed lately that Disney characters are dominating grocery stores all over - particularly in the vegetable and fruit aisles. Honestly, what does Mickey have to do with apple slices?

I mean, I do understand that it all has to do with marketing and they’re probably just trying to make fruits and vegetables appealing to kids. Parents can now point to Disney Garden products and say “Look sweetie, Mickey Mouse likes apples!” I can just see the behind-the-scenes marketing every time I look at a bag of Sponge Bob Square Pants carrots: “Kids will be nagging their parents for these carrots and the parents will love it!”

But what about us non-kids? I swear to G-d, one time I was grocery shopping, the ONLY mini bags of carrots they had were the Sponge Bob Square Pants ones. So I wound up buying them and now I’m a 22-year-old with Sponge Bob Square Pants carrots at work. Does anyone else find themselves stuck in this situation?

None of this is really the end of the world, but I find it ironic that so many cartoon characters are plastered all over the most natural products on Earth.

-Hillary, admitting that putting Pluto on anything will still work on her
Editor, Recipe4Living

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of farmers’ markets. Not only is fresh produce so essential to good cooking, but also, I like to support local agriculture as much as possible. The supposed higher price of the farmers’ market is probably the biggest reason many people avoid it. Luckily, Becks and Posh did a comparison shop between a major grocery store and a popular, local farmers’ market. While certainly not all farmers’ markets or grocery stores are the same, the results of this experiment are quite interesting.

Becks & Posh: The Farmers’ Market versus Safeway

Popularity: 2% [?]