We have so many large grocery stores also. Along with 4 big Walmarts. Both twin cities together only about 187 population. although we do have the Big University with another 34000 students. Good as the compete a lot.  I love to grocery shop.I pick the one with best Veg area and a butcher shop, fish and best bakery.

Phyllis,I agree about the size of the stores.  Our local grocery has a nice little cooler right up near the entry.  You can get milk butter eggs and orange juice there.  The bread isle is directly behind it.  I've commended our owner for that little arrangement.  We have a Wegmans store about six miles from us but it is way too big for me to shop.  It is a lovely store but I get too distracted by all the variety.

People have been posting here about the Whole Foods grocery Chain. We do not have one here, nor have I ever been in one, but I saw this piece on Popsugar about store policies from a store vice president. So take it for what it's worth.

http://www.popsugar.com/food/Whole-Foods-Secrets-Revealed-41221331?utm_source=living_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=living_newsletter_v1_05092016&em_recid=171173695&utm_content=placement_1_desc

We have Shoprite!!

Kelly

Angel - Thanks for the positive article on Whole Foods Mkt.   People complain about the high prices there, but it's a beautiful example of "you get what you pay for". It's well worth it to pay just a little more for high quality, IMO.  I'm fortunate to have one in my neighborhood, and I shop there most of the time.  The meat and chicken is all free range, and the fish is fresh local. Salmon is flown in fresh from Alaska.  The bread is 50 cents to a dollar more per loaf, but no flimsy "Wonder Bread" style here! Eggs are local and free range.  Salad bar and hot trays are replenished throughout the day, so ready to eat food is fresh and delicious.  A take out (help yourself) meal  is charged by weight, so it can add up - but much less than you'd pay for a restaurant meal.  Read the labels and you will gladly pay a little more for soups, juice, cereal, dairy products, etc. 

No Shoprite Marilyne

Kelly

I need to put in my 2 cents worth here for Whole Foods.    I know I've said before that our grandson works for Whole Foods in Savannah, GA.    He has worked for W.F.s for nearly 10 years and they are a good employer.   He has advanced in his chosen work as a meat cutter and speaks very well of the company.   He is loyal to the product and it looks like it will be his lifetime place providing all goes well with the company.   I believe that like any store it is how you shop.   There is a new store coming to the Buffalo area (about 20 mi. from us)  and we most likely will visit on occasion.

I like our Whole Foods very much.  Always clean, fresh looking produce.  I don't shop there often because it isn't convenient to where I live and, yes, the prices are higher but when I am near them and in a splurging mood, I'll stop in.

Marilyne, I wish we had a Whole Foods store in our neighborhood, but Niceville is just a small town of 12,000 so not much chance of that happening.  However, I'll make an occasional trip across the Choctawhatchee Bay and enjoy it when I can.  It's close to a nice big Lowe's so that makes my husband happy.

Other than the smaller ethnic groceries, all the neighborhood stores have been squeezed out by Safeway and Fred Meyers, a subsidiary of Krogers. So we have Walmart, super center, Safeway or Fred Meyers. All grouped together, on both the east side and then the west side of town. Last spring, Walgreens joined them with their two stores.

It's a bus ride to either side of town where they congregate and a $9.50 taxi home with groceries from either the west or east sides of town. I will stick to the organic stores, ethnic groceries or farmer's shares or markets.

There was an antitrust suit some years back about Safeway and Fred Meyers conspiring to force smaller stores out of business and the judge did have Safeway give up some properties which now sit empty.

We were 100,000 at the last census, we could use some new groceries and have them centrally located!

Hi angel
You needs Shoprite store!

Kelly

Kelly, according to Google, Shoprite stores are independently owned and operated so it depends on the owner and the location. Also, the reviews are pretty standard and the stores in the US are only on the East Coast from what I've seen. Trader Joes was here in the mid-eighties but went under in less than three years, why I don't know but Safeway and Fred Meyers plus Walmart seem to have the town sewn up.

If you go ethnic, there are small, usually, family owned, groceries such as Italian, Hmong, Hawaiian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese. There is also a great restaurant and grocery called The Loose Moose, love that name, that features and sells Alaskan and Native products.

The chains have tried to force them out and even lauded in adverts about great inexpensive "ethnic" areas in their chain stores, but the smaller grocers are stubborn and backed by the new urge for fresh and local foodstuffs.

Safeway also dominates here in Northern California. We have one within a few blocks of our house. They're huge supermarkets, and I have to say that the prices there are cheap . . especially the weekly sales, or $5 Friday. I don't care for the meats, chicken, bakery items, or fresh veggies from there, but I do buy laundry and cleaning products, cat food, pantry staples like canned beans and soup, and personal items like toothpaste, aspirin, etc. They also have an excellent pharmacy. 

Everything else I get at Whole Foods or our local family owned markets.  I like shopping at the Mexican market.  Good fresh bakery products, and we love the desert that's made from jello, called Gelatina Mosaica de Leche. See here >>> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=Mexican+gelitin+dessert&gbv=2&oq=Mexican+gelitin+dessert&gs_l=heirloom-hp.12...1152.22521.0.24765.27.11.3.13.3.0.199.999.10j1.11.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-hp..11.16.1036.38-wghU7BW8

Hi angel
I was only joking about Shoprite as they are local mostly to Scotland and the Isle of Man.

But I wondered  who would look Shoprite up on Google! 

We have Tesco's, Shoprite and the Co-op of the larger stores.  Though Aldi's are looking tom open a store here, I hope not!

Kelly

Kelly, my motto is Google is your friend! 

How can Shoprite be local to the UK if it is in other countries as well?

Marilyn, the Mexican Gelatina Mosaica de Leche sounded and looked good in your links!

We have three different Mexican restaurants here however one although longstanding, is obivously an American idea of Mexican food. There is a Mexican restaurant advertising Mexican beers and there is a Japanese resturant where they cook your meal directly at your table.

Hi Angel
Good thought!

Kelly

I have Aldi's right across the street from me.  Very handy for certain things. I am surrounded with large stores so have lots of choice.  I was use to Aldi from them being in the UK for years. Getting very popular here. Fact they seem to be larger stores than the UK ones.  have 4 in this town now. Lot of stuff from Germany comes in.

Now I thought that Shoprite were sort of a Coop Store. Located all over.  There are some in the US. ShopRite Supermarkets is a retailers' cooperative (co-op) chain of supermarkets in the northeastern United States, with stores in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Figured they where In all the British Isles not just UK.  Could be use another name in some Areas. Don't think I have used any other than one in Connecticut

Jeanne, you are lucky to have choices. The stores here have a bad rep due to the obvious takeover attempts and the resulting well publicized antitrust suit! We are lucky it's a farming community with available shares or work shares, and organic/ farm stores and summer's farmers markets.

I also feel that the ethnic groceries are wonderful and bring so much to the table that is authentic, For example, I'm sure you know what an American burrito is. One here is a white flat bread or tortilla filled with spices, potatoes, and meat. It's delicious, quite large and filling.

I made this  last night from a handout recipe from the Indian market, Sweet Potato, Cauliflower & Eggplant Curry. It was different and enjoyable, not standardised and while at the store I picked up a reddish spice mix called "Bottle Marsala."

We don't have Aldi's here in California, but we do have Trader Joe's.  I know I'm in the minority here, but I do not care for TJ's.  Yes, the prices are reasonable, (cheap), but the quality is not good, IMO. There is a store right near me - a block from Whole Foods.  I've tried to like it and to shop there, but why people are so fond of it, totally escapes me? 

Produce is old and dried out, and never says where it is from? (Looks like it made a long slow trip from China or thereabouts.)  The dairy, bread, and most of the frozen and ready to eat foods are all TJ brand,  so you have no variety to choose from.  The entree's are frozen, or packaged and refrigerated. The fish (all frozen) is from other countries, as are the frozen veggies. No butcher counter or fresh wrapped meats and chicken.

Just not the way I like to shop, but I know it is very popular, and there is usually a crowd when I have been there or just driving past.  I don't know if Aldi's is set up the same way or not?

Marilyne, the Aldi where I shopped also sold mostly their own brands, frequently German (since it is a German-owned company).  I almost always liked their products very much.  No, they don't have much of a fresh-meat selection/department.  It's one of the ways they keep their prices low.  And they have very few employees in the store at any one time.  Admittedly not a lot of choices in produce, but (at least in my store) very fresh, and very good, IMO.  I've never shopped a Trader Joe, so I can't comment there.  I never thought the merchandise at a Fresh Market or Whole Foods store was worth the high prices charged. I guess it comes under the heading of what's important and what's not-as-important to the individual shopper. And since I don't shop for groceries any more, it's a moot point for me.  LOL

Angel.  My area now very International. So lots of Indian, Asian. Mexican stores.  I love to cook Indian and Chinese.  Now that Burrito sounds good.  What and how you make your mix to go in it? Can you post?  I don't know a lot of Indian dishes . Took classes few years ago. Use lot of their spices but not like they do. Some recipes have to many.
Like going into their small stores and walking around them. big one in the cities like China Towns are great.

Hi JeanneP
Not the same Shoprite in America that is here in the UK and the Isle of Man

Kelly

Didn't think so.  Lots of businesses over here use the same name as many in Britain . My SIL had a Computer business and one in UK had the same name. No crime. Just can't do it in same country. It was just that the Web page was confusing.

They have the makings for tortillas and the other items in the grocery attached to the restaurant and while I have never made it at home, I've had it there and at a friend's home who is from Guadalajara, Mexico. You make the tortilla, then fill it with a cooked, grilled steak, cut up fried potatoes and various spices. Wrap it up and you're good to go. It is dinner plate sized. The tortilla is cooked on a griddle or special pan.

There is a very good recipe book about Indian food written by a woman from Mumbai, India. I'm not sure of the title, but it's something similar to "Beyond Curry."

Sort of like a English Meat Pie.  I use Tortillas a lot now replacing bread.  Makes a good sandwich . Can stick anything in one.
I do have a couple of good Indian recipe books.

I like Nachos

kelly

Here you go, Kelly; nachos with everything and you can also wrap it up in a flour tortilla, forgoing the chips!

Recipe by: Campbell's Kitchen
"Taco-seasoned ground beef simmered with tomato and rice is topped with salsa, cheese and lettuce for a tortilla chip-dipping meal."

Ingredients
    1 pound ground beef
    1 (1.12 ounce) package Pace® Taco Seasoning Mix
    1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup
    1 1/2 cups water
    1 1/2 cups uncooked instant white rice

    Pace® Thick & Chunky Salsa
    Shredded Cheddar cheese
    Shredded lettuce
    Tortilla chips

   Directions
    Cook    15 m   Ready In     15 m

    Cook beef and taco seasoning in skillet until browned. Pour off fat.
    Add soup, water and rice. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 5 min. or until done.
    Top with salsa, cheese and lettuce. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

Or, also  by Campbell's Kitchen
"Favorite flavors of the Southwest, featuring salsa, tortillas, and melted cheese, will make this easy skillet supper a family favorite."

Ingredients
25 m 4 servings
    1 pound ground beef
    1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup (Regular or 25% Less Sodium)
    1/2 cup salsa
    1/2 cup water
    6 (6 inch) flour tortillas, cut into 1-inch pieces
    1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions;
    Prep    5 m    Cook    20 m    Ready In     25 m

Cook beef in 10-inch skillet until well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.
Stir in soup, salsa, water, tortillas. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes Stir. Top with cheese.

Hi angel
Thanks for the recipe.

I am lucky as there is a product called Doritos that are nearly as good.

Kelly