Food Markets?

[Alkonost]

Originally Posted by HellUpInHarlem

the farmers market in union square is chaotic. you gotta go when it's pouring raining. that's the best time to go.

8am is also good! Most people aren't even out of bed at that time.

[Kefir King]

The Union Squarre farmer's market prices are just incredible though. GOD, Brussell Sprouts for $5 a pound...it takes my breath away. Apples at $2.99???

If I made $100K I wouldn't wince but I just cannot afford crap like this in retirement.

I DO wish Chinatown were closer but it is a haul from the UES to buy a piece of fish and some nice veg. No way I can do it in less than an hour each way,

[Vic Future]

Being up here in the BX, I'm more than an hour from Chinatown, which is where I used to get my Asian veggies and frozen seafood. Still make the trek for fish sauce and the various curries I enjoy - but i shop local now 99% of the time.

I am lucky, here in Pelham Parkway we have a pretty good veggie market right on the main strip and the smaller grocery stores sell better cuts of meat than the local Key Food. I feel Key Food is very over priced, but if you read the circular and have a club card you can snag a lot of deals on household items.

I find that on average I have to shop at 5 different stores to save enough $$ to have some left over at the end of the week. Its hard work, but by shopping at one or two stores we were burning through $300./week on food - and thats no good with 1 income.
With my new "pub crawl" method I spend $160./week and that feeds 3 ppl & a cat, well.

[Kefir King]

I do the same Vic,
It is 5 places for me before I am finished. I start with Milk, butter, half and half, eggs, croissants, roast chicken at Costco (117th and East River) and then flesh out the rest of 2 weeks with a mix of Associateds, Key Foods, Walgreens (a lot of good sales,) Rite Aid, local fruit stands, and the occasional shopping trip to Chinatown...dried mushrooms, yummm (with a big Won-Ton soup stop at Wo Hop's.) I went wild and bought a PEACH at Fairway 2 months ago...and a grapefruit on sale at Gristede's...maybe next year I'll buy a piece of fruit at Whole Paycheck. Best laugh was Sh itake mushrooms at Whole Paycheck $50/lb.

For two of us it's about $300/month IN, and $300/month OUT (rarely anything fancy more than once a month...I'm the King of the $.99 pizza joints) But it takes a lot of work to keep the price tag down.

New York City is OVERALL just DREADFUL for buying food. Sometimes it seems that restaurants can do it cheaper than I can...and I can smell a bargain a mile away.

I have a KEY FOOD close by and their beers are very reasonable...$1.50 per 24 ounce can of any domestic (Usually Millers High Life or Draft, or Coor's or PBR.)

[Vic Future]

Originally Posted by Kefir King

I do the same Vic,
It is 5 places for me before I am finished. I start with Milk, butter, half and half, eggs, croissants, roast chicken at Costco (117th and East River) and then flesh out the rest of 2 weeks with a mix of Associateds, Key Foods, Walgreens (a lot of good sales,) Rite Aid, local fruit stands, and the occasional shopping trip to Chinatown...dried mushrooms, yummm (with a big Won-Ton soup stop at Wo Hop's.) I went wild and bought a PEACH at Fairway 2 months ago...and a grapefruit on sale at Gristede's...maybe next year I'll buy a piece of fruit at Whole Paycheck. Best laugh was Sh itake mushrooms at Whole Paycheck $50/lb.

For two of us it's about $300/month IN, and $300/month OUT (rarely anything fancy more than once a month...I'm the King of the $.99 pizza joints) But it takes a lot of work to keep the price tag down.

New York City is OVERALL just DREADFUL for buying food. Sometimes it seems that restaurants can do it cheaper than I can...and I can smell a bargain a mile away.

I have a KEY FOOD close by and their beers are very reasonable...$1.50 per 24 ounce can of any domestic (Usually Millers High Life or Draft, or Coor's or PBR.)

that's hyperbole, right?

[UpsonDowns]

How much space would a pound of ****ake mushrooms take? They weigh next to nothing, it's not like they are portabellas.

Agreed, TJ's produce sucks, except for the bagged salads and you really have to check the dates. However, their shortcut products are cheap and amazing. Their no-boil lasagna noodles mean I can get 4 days of dinner in the oven before my baby notices I'm not in the room. Puff pastry turns into palmiers for guests in 15 minutes. Crackers, chips, and sauces incredibly handy. Agreed, many of the frozen meals suck, but the bao rival the ones I've bought in Chinatown and many of the other single item frozens are great (gyoza, biriani, mac n cheese, etc).

I guess since I grew up w/ TJ's I know what is good and how to get in and out fast. Also, you can return anything you don't like and you can ask a staffer to open anything you want to sample.

[Kefir King]

Originally Posted by Vic Future

that's hyperbole, right?

Alas, Vic it is NOT hyperbole: $50 a pound...but I have have spoken too fast and the price might have been for MORELS.
(I'll double check when next in Union Square...I frequent a couple theaters in the neighborhood.)