This is a Little Jeffie Housewife post

[titusnowl]

I used to go to Walmart as soon as I got off from work, do all the grocery shopping as quickly as possible, and come home. Now that I have to worry about price, and also have the freedom - if not the obligation - to eat more fruits and veggies and assorted other things... and besides which, now that I've worked at Walmart and grown thoroughly tired of setting foot in the building... I've found a new, better way to shop.

See, there are three and a half grocery stores in town: the Super Walmart, Brookshire's, Super One and some sort of crazy discount store where you can find expired boxes of store-brand cereal from the local chain back in New York. Walmart has the best selection in the non-perishables department, and they carry some things we like that no one else has; Brookshire's has the best service, and a full-service meat department; Super One has really good prices on meats, fruits and vegetables; and the crazy discount store is pretty much horrible unless you like botulism, but I still stick my head in once in a while to look at their dry goods.

So now I have this whole routine worked out, where I go to Walmart first and buy soda and boxed stuff like pasta, sugar and flour, that sort of thing. Then I go to Brookshire's, and check out their meat department; they have the best cuts of beef, so if we want to have a pot roast that week, I'll buy it there. I'll also check out their sales, because they have some good specials. Finally to Super One, where you can buy chicken breast tenderloins for $1.75 a pound (it's over $3.00 a pound at Walmart!), also to get fruits, vegetables, and herbs from the Plastic Baggy With A Piece of Paper Stapled To It With The Name of the Plant In Spanish ethnic foods department. Incidentally, this is also the most effective [i]driving route[/i] to all the stores, since they are all arrayed on the same road, with Walmart furthest out by the interstate, and Super One located right at the turn to get back to my apartment.

I don't bother clipping coupons. Or rather, I clip the hell out of coupons, and then never have them with me when I shop, because I'm kind of dumb that way. Forgetful, like.

[Poll #725506]

Comments

[geobabe1.livejournal.com]

Publix has carry-out service, but I've only used it once, when I did a big grocery run by myself--Bill and I usually go together. There are big signs at the front of the store saying that carry-out is a service they provide and not to tip, but it still felt kind of strange to have the guy put my groceries in my car for me and not give him a tip, since that feels like an extra service.

[chikkiboo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I shop at Brookshire's I actually make it a point to request paper bags and never buy more than will fit in a single bag, so I can carry it out myself. I feel weird leading a boy out to my car, empty-handed, while he pushes my cart. Like I should be wearing a top hat and a monocle. ::snaps fingers:: "Come along, minion!"

[emmycantbemeeko.livejournal.com]

I mostly shop at Publix, because it's on the way home from work and it has the consistently best prices and selection, especially on things like fresh produce and vegetarian protein products (morningstar and the like). Once a week or so I stop by the local hippie co-op, which carries a lot of expensive products, but also has good sales on certain things I like, as well as a good bulk dry goods section that is MUCH cheaper than the regular grocer and a good cheese selection. When I want something quickly, or weekends when they often have good loss leaders like cheap seafood on three-day sales, I go to Albertson's, which is right across the street from our apartment.

Winn-dixie is cheap but has an awful selection on everything except produce, and it's out of my way, so I rarely go there.

I think that covers all our local groceries, except for Wal*mart, where I'll buy groceries when I'm there on another errand, but not make a special trip just for groceries- the savings are cancelled out by the hassle of a long drive to the nearest one.