Where do you shop for groceries?

Several places...sometimes

I am a block from Super Target so often ordering most things on the app & picking them up via Drive Up. This has been a godsend--between COVID, Mom going into Hospice, Dad moving to assisted living, selling their house, all the while finishing my last year of work....

But my TYPICAL weekly trips look like this:
Super Target for staples
Aldi (5 min away) for cheese, fruits & veggies, wine, milk, eggs
Costco for GAS & a number of items we buy regularly.
Hyvee--there are several specific items we can ONLY get there & we prefer their apples & bananas to Aldi

I will OCCASIONALLY stop at Trader Joe's.

We have a Sam's membership too (it was basically free--$40 got us a $40 gift card). They really only have 1 thing that I can't get at Costco. Torani sugar free vanilla syrup--twice the size for the same price as Target. But it is out of the way so probably will let it lapse. Our good friends belong so I can just have her get it for me!

I have 3 more days of work so hopefully will start cooking again...but I sure have gotten used to convenience meals or eating out!!
 
Most of our grocery shopping is at Costco, but we do Stop & Shop or King Kullen occaisionally for stuff costco doesnt carry. Wegmans recently announced they are opening a store about 10 minutes from us, and Amazon Fresh store is supposed to be opening in a month or so not much further than that.

We also have whole foods and trader joes nearby, but i dont fequent them. Dw does on occasion.
 
Librarian said:
I am a block from Super Target so often ordering most things on the app & picking them up via Drive Up. This has been a godsend--between COVID, Mom going into Hospice, Dad moving to assisted living, selling their house, all the while finishing my last year of work....

But my TYPICAL weekly trips look like this:
Super Target for staples
Aldi (5 min away) for cheese, fruits & veggies, wine, milk, eggs
Costco for GAS & a number of items we buy regularly.
Hyvee--there are several specific items we can ONLY get there & we prefer their apples & bananas to Aldi

I will OCCASIONALLY stop at Trader Joe's.

We have a Sam's membership too (it was basically free--$40 got us a $40 gift card). They really only have 1 thing that I can't get at Costco. Torani sugar free vanilla syrup--twice the size for the same price as Target. But it is out of the way so probably will let it lapse. Our good friends belong so I can just have her get it for me!

I have 3 more days of work so hopefully will start cooking again...but I sure have gotten used to convenience meals or eating out!!
Click to expand...

FIREing in 3? Congrats and enjoy!
 
Aldi-Wal-Mart-Sam's Club-Target-Cub Foods- & Hy-Vee all within 5 minutes.
Only shop at Hy-Vee. More expensive, but worth it.
I can't say any more than that.
 
The closest store is a Stop and Shop. It's a little expensive, but their produce is pretty good and it's only about a mile away and so convenient that it's become my main supermarket. Shop Rite and Target are occasional when I'm in the area stores.



All meat and dry goods are from Costco. It's about 5 miles away. We go about once a month and stock up. We are supposed to be getting a Wegman's next year which will be very close to the Costco. While I've heard great things about it, I doubt we will use it for anything other than occasional shopping.
 
Hannafords 4 miles away.

We have a Shaws and Walmart there also but rarely if ever shop there.

Occasionally I go to BJ’s. It’s about 20 miles from home.

Sometimes I’ll order on Amazon if I can’t get something locally.
 
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A couple local large groceries Byerly's and Kowalski's both about a mile away. Wife makes a monthly $300 pilgrimage to Costco (4 miles) for essentials and gas. The other main store here is Cub, but we don't frequent it. Many years ago Cub was a warehouse type discount store where things were on pallets in racks. Gradually it turned into a normal grocery store.
 
Aldi

Aldi open several stores in our area a few years ago and has become my “go to” for most items. They have incredible prices on fresh fruits and veggies, dairy, eggs, most staples. The selection is a little limited and I also occasionally shop at a local chain (HyVee) and Walmart for items I can’t find at Aldi.
We are fortunate to live within two miles of all the grocery stores.
 
CardsFan said:
How close are your stores?

What stores to you shop at?
Click to expand...

We have a small local grocery store in our town (1.5 miles from the house) with a great meat counter but their produce looks like it expired before they even put it on display. So we pretty much only buy our meats there.

In the next closest town, which is in another state, there are two local grocery stores. We usually shop for most of our other groceries at the (marginally) less expensive one with slightly better expiration dates. But the best produce we find still doesn't last us very long before it goes bad. For example, if I buy a 1 lb. bag of baby-cut carrots, the expiration date might be 7 or 8 days out. But it takes me 2 weeks to go through a bag so by the time I finish the bag, it's already expired.

Bread is another tough item for us. The best loaf of split-top wheat bread (store-brand) might be good for 5 or 6 days from when we buy it. I constantly have to check it for mold as we go through the loaf, which might take us 7 or 8 days.

I'm not sure why people even shop at the more expensive store, as we have to really check even their canned goods and Pepsi products to see how close they are to their expiration dates. The one thing they did have going for them was that they used to be open 24 hours, but due to a labor shortage, they are now closing from 10pm to 6am nightly. They have a decent in-house bakery (but no decent wheat bread) and a floral department, so I pretty much only go there for donuts or flowers.

And we won't even buy meats at either of the grocery stores in that town. Their hamburger is $4.59 a pound and no matter when you buy it, it seems to always expire tomorrow. At least in the little store in our town we can buy hamburger ($3.99/lb.) and the expiration date is 5 or 6 days out. Not that we wait that long to use it, but it's nice to have the flexibility to push a planned meal out a day if we want to.

There is also a Wal-Mart in the next closest town but we don't buy a lot of groceries there. I picked up two ears of sweet corn there yesterday. (not locally grown, as the cornfields in our area are just being planted and won't be ready until fall) We had it with our dinner tonight and it was okay, but not all that sweet. Hopefully we can get better corn as summer approaches.

There are no bulk stores (Sam's Club, Costco, BJs, etc.) within 100 miles of us. There is an Aldi about 50 miles away but we rarely go in that direction.
 
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In order of frequency...

-Aldi
-Publix (for BOGOs and stuff I can't get at Aldi's
-Wal-Mart (every now and then if I'm there anyway for some non-food item)
-Costco (about once every couple of months)
-Trader Joe's (for some unique items they have)
 
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There are multiple Publix's close to me but I stopped shopping there exclusively when my grocery bill skyrocketed. I make a weekly list and the go to the following stores in order until I get everything on the list:
Aldi
Whole Foods
Publix

We go to Costco once a month.
 
KarenF said:
There are multiple Publix's close to me but I stopped shopping there exclusively when my grocery bill skyrocketed. I make a weekly list and the go to the following stores in order until I get everything on the list:
Aldi
Whole Foods
Publix

We go to Costco once a month.
Click to expand...


What do you mean by skyrocket?
 
Walmart BC they deliver. Couple things from walgreens on super deal
 
ArmchairMillionaire23 said:
We have a small local grocery store in our town (1.5 miles from the house) with a great meat counter but their produce looks like it expired before they even put it on display. So we pretty much only buy our meats there.



In the next closest town, which is in another state, there are two local grocery stores. We usually shop for most of our other groceries at the (marginally) less expensive one with slightly better expiration dates. But the best produce we find still doesn't last us very long before it goes bad. For example, if I buy a 1 lb. bag of baby-cut carrots, the expiration date might be 7 or 8 days out. But it takes me 2 weeks to go through a bag so by the time I finish the bag, it's already expired.



Bread is another tough item for us. The best loaf of split-top wheat bread (store-brand) might be good for 5 or 6 days from when we buy it. I constantly have to check it for mold as we go through the loaf, which might take us 7 or 8 days.



I'm not sure why people even shop at the more expensive store, as we have to really check even their canned goods and Pepsi products to see how close they are to their expiration dates. The one thing they did have going for them was that they used to be open 24 hours, but due to a labor shortage, they are now closing from 10pm to 6am nightly. They have a decent in-house bakery (but no decent wheat bread) and a floral department, so I pretty much only go there for donuts or flowers.



And we won't even buy meats at either of the grocery stores in that town. Their hamburger is $4.59 a pound and no matter when you buy it, it seems to always expire tomorrow. At least in the little store in our town we can buy hamburger ($3.99/lb.) and the expiration date is 5 or 6 days out. Not that we wait that long to use it, but it's nice to have the flexibility to push a planned meal out a day if we want to.



There is also a Wal-Mart in the next closest town but we don't buy a lot of groceries there. I picked up two ears of sweet corn there yesterday. (not locally grown, as the cornfields in our area are just being planted and won't be ready until fall) We had it with our dinner tonight and it was okay, but not all that sweet. Hopefully we can get better corn as summer approaches.



There are no bulk stores (Sam's Club, Costco, BJs, etc.) within 100 miles of us. There is an Aldi about 50 miles away but we rarely go in that direction.
Click to expand...
Do you keep your bread in the fridge? Delays mold IMO
 
I shop at Costco first, then Raley's for smaller sizes of vegetables and occasionally Trader Joes and Whole Foods.

Before the pandemic, I shopped at Trader Joes regularly but changed my shopping habits to use Costco delivery and other stores pickup.

I'm not back to pre covid normal, using delivery occasionally and self check at Raley's and Whole foods.
 
somebody hits Costco at least once a week. It's 12 miles, but two of us work in that direction.
We are in the boonies and the closest stores are a Fred Meyer and a Safeway, each about 5 miles away in different directions.
The new property is 1 mile from a Safeway and 1.25 miles from Costco and Walmart, and 1.8 to a QFC.
 
I currently have a Sam's membership but I do not care for it very much (not the things I prefer buying). That is an "every month or so" shop. Then any rest is at my local "King Soopers" (Kroger). I find it best to just stick to one location of that store because I know the layout and can finish my shopping quicker. I will occasionally go to Trader Joes(for some reason their bananas are a LOT more flavorful) but that's out of my way so I stop there only if I am already in the area for something else and heading back home.
 
I can actually walk to 3 grocery stores in less than 10 minutes:
Ralph's (Kroger)
Trader Joe's
Whole Foods

I mostly shop at Ralph's and Trader Joe's.
 
Roughly:

By Money:

Costco: 55%
Sprouts: 35%
Vons/Safeway:10%
Other: 5%

By Time:

Costco: 30%
Sprouts: 45%
Vons/Safeway: 15%
Other: 10%
 
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