Grocery Shopping!

Cooking secrets, tips, recipes and discussions featuring The Lakewood Observer's head chef, Chef Geoff (Jeff Endress), conversations about food, and restaurants.

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Phil Florian
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Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:24 pm

Grocery Shopping!

Postby Phil Florian » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:16 pm

Holy moly! Gas prices spiking is one thing but food costs have taken a hit, too. Prices on many products have gone up quite a bit. I am looking to see how folks rank local grocery stores for quality of product vs. price. In particular, I have been tempted by Regos at Kamms as I have gone the Giant Eagle, Heinen's and Marc's route. Each of these stores have something to offer over the other but no one makes for a nice overall stop because either I leave with a sore wallet or leave with maybe inferior products. I am definitely looking at LEAF this year and have tried out Nature's Bin more for certain products but it would be nice to do some one-stop shopping when at all possible. Thoughts on shopping, this week on Chef Geoff.

:-D


Brad Hutchison
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Postby Brad Hutchison » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:16 am

We do Giant Eagle for most of our overall shopping... the store has made huge strides in quality over recent years, they have an affordable line of organic products (Nature's Basket), and Getgo helps save on gas.

I treat myself to Rego's occassionally and usually go to Heinen's for meat. I work evenings, so it's easy for me to go the Lakewood Farmer's Market, and more and more produce is starting to show up as summer rolls on. At Crocker Park's FM, you can get everything from meat and cheese to olive oil, so that might be a one stop shop.

I think Marc's is the most awful place on the planet. I don't mind sometimes getting a few things (non-perishables like cereal) but I would never buy meat or produce there.

FWIW...


Be the change you want to see in the world.

-Gandhi
Jim DeVito
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Location: Lakewood, Ohio

Postby Jim DeVito » Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:11 am

Brad I would not go as far as to say Marcs is the worst place on earth. Marcs is not really a pleasant place to shop but every once in a blue moon the have a killer deal on stuff like hot dogs. The kind of deal that makes toy think Giant Eagle is trying to kill you with prices. With that said we do most of the shopping at Giant Eagle. The fuel pecks are a real helper when gas is as high as it is. And when feeding alot of people you can gain them pretty quick.


Lynn Farris
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:24 pm
Location: Lakewood, Ohio
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Postby Lynn Farris » Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:59 am

We did CSA for the last 2 years and really enjoyed it. The key to making it cost effective is to figure out how to use what they supply. That may mean making food that you normally don't. But with the internet you can normally come up with some good recipes. If you are throwing half of it away, it isn't a good deal.

If you have room, we have used GFS for supply type of items, like rice, pasta, canned items etc. The price here is amazing. Then we get fresh produce and perishables locally. We have just discovered Giant Eagle on Clifton. It is great. It is usually not very busy and has a nice selection.


"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." ~ George Carlin
sharon kinsella
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Postby sharon kinsella » Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:32 am

One stop per week is a better way. So one week Aldi's, one week Marc's and actually I do Heinens once a week for produce and buy their meats when they are marked down, but I usually only eat chicken. They have Amish free range chicken and eggs that are both raised locally. Most of their produce is locally grown. They have a direct deal with 45 farmers who they buy from directly and it's very competitively priced.

The employees will tell you how well they are treated, I ask. I won't shop Giant Eagle, I don't like the way they treat their employees and you can feel it when you walk in the door.

I'm on a very low fixed income and frankly, penny for penny Heinens is a better deal when augmented by the other two.


"When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde

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