Grocery Store vs Trader Joe's vs Super Target vs Wholesale Club

[al_bundy]

grain fed usually means corn, because it's the cheapest. but it's also one of the most nutritionally worthless foods there is. it's high in sugar and is used to feed cattle because it fattens them up faster so they can me made into steak faster

for grass fed it means you need a lot more space for the cows to graze and to rotate their grazing areas to allow the grass to grow back

 

[randyman65]

The US Farm Bill heavily subsidizes corn, so that's what we use for feedlot animals. Elsewhere, corn is not as often used. Candada typically uses barley, and Europe uses wheat or barley depending on the price spreads. I agree, however, that commodity corn is pretty much nutritionally bereft, especially when raised solely on NPK fertilizers.

 

[tmm99]

Trader Joe has Kerry Gold Irish butter.

I just looked it up (Kerrygold website) and they do say their cattle are grass-fed. I just called TJ's and asked if it was grass-fed, and they said yes, and the price is only $2.69 (8oz) so $5.38/lb. OMG!!!!!! :-O
That is half price of what I pay to get Pastureland butter shipped to me. (Without shipping, it would be about $7/lb)

I will definitely go buy a block at TJ's this weekend and do a taste test against Pastureland.

I love this forum!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

tmm

 

[RonBoyd]

Avoid farmed salmon (they feed grains and such that wild salmons won't eat, so the composition of the farmed salmon is full of Omega-6 and some dye to make the color pink. I heard farmed salmons in some countries like Norway are feed algea and such that wild salmons eat, but not in US that I am aware of.)

I wouldn't (knowingly) eat farm Salmon from anywhere -- including Norway, Chili & Australia. (Use Google for reasons why.)

Even Salmon from the Pacific Northwest is a little iffy. See The Bottom Line on Salmon.

I have been saying this for 20 years and now it’s semi-official: When it comes to salmon, consumers don’t know what they’re buying.

Having said that, we eat a lot of Salmon -- to the exclusion of all other fish. That is about twice a week.

Omega-6, by the way, is one of the "good guy" essential fatty acids (EFAs) but you are probably thinking of the other "good guy"; Omega-3. See The Newsletter : Cutting-Edge Nutrition Articles about Essential Fats, Fish & Omega-3s : Babies, Children and Adults as a "take-off" point in gathering information on Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs).

In addition to the Salmon I eat, I take two 1200mg Fish Oil tablets every day. Fish Oil tablets, for what its worth, is the only supplement approved by the American Heart Association (among, I suppose, other medical groups).

 

[tmm99]

Omega-6, by the way, is one of the "good guy" essential fatty acids (EFAs) but you are probably thinking of the other "good guy"; Omega-3. ]

Just to add, from reading, I learned that we are overdosing on Omega-6 in relation to Omega-3. I guess the main thing is the ratio between the two that matters. (The American diet in the modern days being about 20:1 ratio, 20 being Omega-6 and 1 being Omega-3).

 

[ERD50]

I didn't know these things, but I have been a Trader Joe customer for about 10 years and I like it very much. ...

As far as customers being nice, I think that is likely more neighborhood dependent than store dependent.

ha

Well I can give you my viewpoint. Here, the TJ's is essentially in the same 'neighborhood' as our other choices (suburban shopping centers just are different from city neighborhoods, where you can go from upscale, gentile to crack-heads within a mile).

When I go to TJ's I kind of feel like I'm in some kind of time-warp, Mayberry RFD general store. The staff is nice and helpful, the people are nice. Generally very good products, some a bit more unique than your average grocery chain. Some prices seem high, many seem very reasonable.

DW actually had a staff member chase her down in the parking lot, and handed her (gratis) the product she was looking for, but he couldn't find on the shelf or the back room after HE asked her if he could help her find something (he just noticed her looking through the shelf - she didn't even ask for help). It wasn't even something she needed that day, she could get it next time she was there. But he looked again and found it.

That kind of service is rare. This might sound corny, but having a TJs nearby makes me feel a little more 'civilized'. Really.


As far as the organic/GMO/pesticide debate, I'll only say...

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/who-knows-about-milk-30257-2.html

Enjoy

-ERD50

 

[al_bundy]

i get that kind of service at Whole Foods. One time i was there to buy milk for my son. All the milk on the shelf had expiration dates that i thought was too soon. Asked someone and they got me a gallon out of the back with a later expiration date

 

[ERD50]

i get that kind of service at Whole Foods. One time i was there to buy milk for my son. All the milk on the shelf had expiration dates that i thought was too soon. Asked someone and they got me a gallon out of the back with a later expiration date

I've only been to Whole Foods a few times, it's a little further down the road for us, and TJ's is right were we would do any other shopping, so TJ's is kind of a 'default' stop for us.

But Whole Foods had good 'ambiance', too and some interesting products. I thought the prices were generally high (hence the nickname "Whole Paycheck"), but just like TJ's, it might be a matter of getting familiar with what is a deal and what isn't.

It's good to have choices. Especially good ones.

-ERD50

 

[al_bundy]

TJ has that killer wasabi mayo

secret to whole foods is stock up on the on sale meat and that will be most of the savings. have the same mentality as if you're shopping at costco

 

[CuppaJoe]

TJ has that killer wasabi mayo

secret to whole foods is stock up on the on sale meat and that will be most of the savings. have the same mentality as if you're shopping at costco

Yeah, Whole Foods meat and seafood are the best, I trust them but never thought about freezing even though I do freeze supermarket chicken.

My delivery market stopped stocking the "killer wasabi mayo" so I bought a tin of powdered wasabi and just stir it in.

I just discovered a new TJ near me, wow, what's the scoop on the low prices, is it a non-union shop?

 

[Bestwifeever]

...I just discovered a new TJ near me, wow, what's the scoop on the low prices, is it a non-union shop?

TJ's is now owned by the same German company/brothers that owns discount Aldi. There are a lot of similarities--almost everything is private label, limited number of items, careful selection of store sites, etc.--that help keep prices low.

I don't know if TJ's (or Aldi) is non-union, but according to a previous post the TJ people are well-paid.

 

[randyman65]

TJ's is non-union. When LA grocery storee employees went on stirke several years ago, TJ's was the only one which remained unaffected (unless you count the extra business).

Contrary to popular belief, unions do not guarentee quality or better wages for their employees. TJ's pays its non-union employees more than other chains pay their union employees, gets better service and more productivity. If a union became active among TJ' employees, it would likely kill the company, as they tend to do with most companies.

 

[FUEGO]

Contrary to popular belief, unions do not guarentee quality or better wages for their employees.

Being from the non-union south, I don't have hardly any experience dealing with unionized industries. But is there really a popular belief that unionized work forces guarantee quality goods or services?

I have always assumed the opposite. I mean you have a group of employees who are highly immunized to termination for producing substandard quality goods or services. Isn't the logical outcome that you would have a lower quality end product?

 

[randyman65]

I believe a more appropriate term would be that there is a lot of union-generated propaganda that unions guarantee quality and safety, an assertion which has not been borne out in my experience (I'm in NY, so I have lots of experience with unions).

Not to politicize the argument, but unions have often devolved into serving their own interests rather than those of workers. The most striking example is a housekeeper (non-union) that we hired. We pay her $12-13/hr, plus free, generous benefits. Her previous job was working as a cleaner at JFK airport. She made $6.50/hr, minus parking, minus union dues. Her union membership actually meant that she was making less than minimum wage.

 

[al_bundy]

Being from the non-union south, I don't have hardly any experience dealing with unionized industries. But is there really a popular belief that unionized work forces guarantee quality goods or services?

I have always assumed the opposite. I mean you have a group of employees who are highly immunized to termination for producing substandard quality goods or services. Isn't the logical outcome that you would have a lower quality end product?

bit OT, but there is a lot of variety in unions

the most unionized company in the USA is Southwest Airlines

unions like the UAW are having a hard time because they bankrupted their employers. unions like the SAG and a lot of the skilled worker unions are doing just fine because the extra pay their people get is balanced out by the fact that they finish a job faster and do better work and save their employer money in the long run.

 

[al_bundy]

Yeah, Whole Foods meat and seafood are the best, I trust them but never thought about freezing even though I do freeze supermarket chicken.

My delivery market stopped stocking the "killer wasabi mayo" so I bought a tin of powdered wasabi and just stir it in.

I just discovered a new TJ near me, wow, what's the scoop on the low prices, is it a non-union shop?

i'll wait until a deal on meat and buy a lot and freeze it. i've frozen it for over a month and it's still good. tomorrow is the last day for $2.99 ground beef. my wife bought some and i'll probably buy some more tomorrow and throw it in the freezer

be careful with some fish though. any fish that is previously frozen you don't want to refreeze.

 

[randyman65]

"unions like the SAG and a lot of the skilled worker unions are doing just fine because the extra pay their people get is balanced out by the fact that they finish a job faster and do better work and save their employer money in the long run."

Um, my finacee is a member of SAG and the PGA. She hates, hates, hates unions with a passion. There is absolutely no difference in skill level between a SAG, IATSE, DGA, or PGA member and a non-union member. These are "guilds", which have the intent of limiting membership and increasing salaries. The big stick they use is the Teamsters Union, which will strike and kill any production which is not 100% union. Union "electricians" are not electricians - they are semiskilled workers who plug in lights and make $300/day. There is a very real reason that so much production takes place in Canada - the unions in LA and NYC make local production very, very difficult on a feature with a budget of less than $4 million.

 

[randyman65]

"be careful with some fish though. any fish that is previously frozen you don't want to refreeze."

Almost all fish is frozen at sea. Its generally safer to buy frozen fish or shrimp and thaw it at home. I've found the TTJ's cryovac'd fish to be of excellent quality and a good value.

 

[al_bundy]

"unions like the SAG and a lot of the skilled worker unions are doing just fine because the extra pay their people get is balanced out by the fact that they finish a job faster and do better work and save their employer money in the long run."

Um, my finacee is a member of SAG and the PGA. She hates, hates, hates unions with a passion. There is absolutely no difference in skill level between a SAG, IATSE, DGA, or PGA member and a non-union member. These are "guilds", which have the intent of limiting membership and increasing salaries. The big stick they use is the Teamsters Union, which will strike and kill any production which is not 100% union. Union "electricians" are not electricians - they are semiskilled workers who plug in lights and make $300/day. There is a very real reason that so much production takes place in Canada - the unions in LA and NYC make local production very, very difficult on a feature with a budget of less than $4 million.

there are skilled unions in NYC that do things like dig tunnels for the subway. i read last year when they OK'd the 7th line extension that the MTA had to pay a lot more in labor than they originally planned on due to the shortage of skilled labor

 

[al_bundy]

"be careful with some fish though. any fish that is previously frozen you don't want to refreeze."

Almost all fish is frozen at sea. Its generally safer to buy frozen fish or shrimp and thaw it at home. I've found the TTJ's cryovac'd fish to be of excellent quality and a good value.

I think WHole Foods carries unfrozen fish that is transported on ice and that's it

 

[randyman65]

Seafood | WholeFoodsMarket.com

While its possible that your Whole Foods only carries fresh fish, I would consider it unlikely. Most seafood that is not used locally or delivered live is frozen at the onshore processing plant or aboard ship. If I wanted local, fresh seafood here I would be restricted to lobster, clams, fluke, flounder, blufish or striper. Salmon comes from the north pacific, and would be virtually impossible to delliver fresh.

 

[haha]

"be careful with some fish though. any fish that is previously frozen you don't want to refreeze."

Almost all fish is frozen at sea. Its generally safer to buy frozen fish or shrimp and thaw it at home. I've found the TTJ's cryovac'd fish to be of excellent quality and a good value.

This is not true of the high value catches from Alaska in season. Also not true of much local Washington fish, such as Pacific Cod and snapper and rockfish.

Ha

 

[CuppaJoe]

I discovered the new TJs while walking to the major supermarket chain which is a union shop and located kitty-corner to the new TJs. I use that supermarket a lot because they deliver. I've just started looking into this; apparently TJs delivers in NYC, will be interesting to see if they start that here on the west coast as well.

When I bought $10 worth of stuff at TJ's and took a bus home, many of the passengers had TJ bags, the paper, cloth and vinyl kinds, saw no bags from the big supermarket. At first blush, it looks to me like the "Starbucks effect." But this city seems to have both chains and local stores thriving side by side. My new avatar was taken at a long-existing family business still thriving in a touristy area.

 

[randyman65]

NYC is a somewht unique market in that almost everyone delivers - grocery stores, restaurants, etc. TJ's is particularly popular there since they carry a lot of small portion items which suit small NYC kitchens, NYC has a large transplant population which may have shopped at TJ's in the past, and the store location in Union Square is of particularly high value. And despite the population and density of people, NYC does not have a corresponding large number of supermarkets. The stores tend to be smaller, and people eat out or have food delivered a lot. And since car ownership is relatively rare, many people have Fresh Direct deliver groceries to their doors.

 

[al_bundy]

a lot of the new condos are even fresh direct certified or partnered or whatever