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I have had a similar experience comparing Whole Foods prices to other supermarkets, because Whole Foods chooses premium locations their food is marked up but often not as much as a chain supermarket will mark it up if they have a store in a similar location. That's one reason why leaving the city every couple of weeks to make a Wal-Mart and Shop-Rite run can make a great deal of sense, but so can shopping wisely at Whole Foods.
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Originally Posted by Harlem resident
Best Yet is not at all the same as Whole Foods. The difference in quality is staggering. This is the first time I have heard that opinion. Even one of the employee's admitted to my friend that he hoped Whole Foods would not open nearby because they could not compete.
Exercise caution when buying fish and meat at Best Yet. We have had several instances of things being spoiled when we got them home. Their better quality chicken is $1. more per pound than Whole Foods. The sales are good at Best Yet but like everywhere, they are raising prices.
Whole Foods is only expensive if you buy the expensive things - which they do carry. If you stick to the store brand and/or what is on sale, you can get great deals. Their store brand is vastly better quality than the name brands elsewhere, and it is also cheaper than generics in other stores.
That said, Trader Joe's is definitely the cheaper option and also the better one in comparison to most places.
I have had a similar experience comparing Whole Foods prices to other supermarkets, because Whole Foods chooses premium locations their food is marked up but often not as much as a chain supermarket will mark it up if they have a store in a similar location. That's one reason why leaving the city every couple of weeks to make a Wal-Mart and Shop-Rite run can make a great deal of sense, but so can shopping wisely at Whole Foods.
Back when I used to shop more often in Manhattan, I often was shocked at the high prices at the Union Square Food Emporium. The prices just seemed way too high for a regular supermarket. I preferred to shop in the Whole Foods that was nearby. I did shop wisely there, and tried to stick to the basics and generally felt ok about the prices of the items I was getting. I find the dairy items to be quite reasonable.
I order most of my dry goods/miscellaneous groceries online (Peapod Online Grocery Shopping and Delivery Service). It's a $5 delivery fee and I always leave a tip for the delivery person, but it really pays off if you can plan all of your meals in two week blocks prior to ordering. They have produce, but I still prefer to get fruits/veggies and I can see prior to buying (so I still shop around at 2-3 different places for those).
I stop by Bayard MM and the seafood place once a week. Another place you may like is New York Mart- which is close to the corner of Mott and Grand. They have a lot of fresh noodles, veggies, frozen asian foods, asian snack foods (I am addicted to Pocky and shrimp chips), dumplings and buns. I also stop by Hong Kong Market. However I don't buy meat or seafood from either of those places (HK and NY marts), I only get that at New Hang Kai or Bayard Seafood market (next door to the meat market).
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Thank you, Alkonost. I will gird my loins and attack the Bayard Meat Market and the Bayard Fish Market next week. I presume both are on Bayard St.?
I'll start small and easy with a couple salmon steaks, or better, whole trout if they have them.
The only place that I ever felt comfortable in was the large 2 story market near Wo Hop's <like 5 or 7 Mott Street a couple doors from Chatham Square.>) But they shut it down about 5 years ago, developed it for high rental, and it has stood empty every since. They spoke English, but you could see they HATED doing it!
I am getting SLIGHTLY comfortable with the large market on the Northeast Corner of East Broadway and Catherine St. (Got some delicious dried mushrooms quite cheap and some TERRIFIC large plums for $.20.)
Thank you, Alkonost. I will gird my loins and attack the Bayard Meat Market and the Bayard Fish Market next week. I presume both are on Bayard St.?
I'll start small and easy with a couple salmon steaks, or better, whole trout if they have them.
The only place that I ever felt comfortable in was the large 2 story market near Wo Hop's <like 5 or 7 Mott Street a couple doors from Chatham Square.>) But they shut it down about 5 years ago, developed it for high rental, and it has stood empty every since. They spoke English, but you could see they HATED doing it!
I am getting SLIGHTLY comfortable with the large market on the Northeast Corner of East Broadway and Catherine St. (Got some delicious dried mushrooms quite cheap and some TERRIFIC large plums for $.20.)
LOL, I love the term "gird your loins".
Bayard Meat Market and Bayard Fish Market are right where Elizabeth street meets Bayard. The exact address is 57 Bayard St. Here's a pic of what the inside looks like:
While the Bayard Fish Market isn't bad, I prefer New Hai Kang seafood for fish and shrimp even though it's a very small "mom and pop" looking place- don't let looks decieve you, all the seafood I've gotten from them is great (these are the peeps with $5/lb salmon steaks and $7/lb salmon fillet). New Hai Kang seafood is at 71 Mullberry street (close to where Mullberry meets Bayard).
New York Mart is at 128 Mott St (between Grand and Hester. serious eats did a little story on the place), and HK mart is 157 Hester (NE corner of Elizabeth and Hester)- they have a downstairs area with lots of tea, noodles and snacks.
Since there's so many stores packed into the area (which may be a little confusing), you may wanna google the address and look at the street view to see what the storefronts look like so you can spot them out once you get there.
The cheapest deals for meat/fish is definitely chinatown. The cheapest is probably the chinatown in brooklyn or flushing. For example chicken legs are 79 cent a pound, flank steak is 4.99 a pound. The fishes are so fresh, still in the tank alive and swimming, the meat is as fresh as meat can be, nice color to them. I know for a fact that their sell their seafood only like 20 cent above wholesale cost, so the only other cheaper place you can get seafood is the fish market in the bronx.
Whole Foods is only expensive if you buy the expensive things - which they do carry. If you stick to the store brand and/or what is on sale, you can get great deals. Their store brand is vastly better quality than the name brands elsewhere, and it is also cheaper than generics in other stores.
That said, Trader Joe's is definitely the cheaper option and also the better one in comparison to most places.
I agree with this.
After doing a lot of shopping around I found that Whole Foods had some of the cheapest prices in the neighbhorhood *if* you knew what to look for: cooking staples like canned beans (non-organic) with the 360 label, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, eggs, 360 cereals, 360 butter and strangely enough a damn good price for calabaro ricotta cheese. IF you catch a sale their prices for chicken isn't bad- but since I found Bayard Meat Market I do all of my meat shopping there, and get everything else from the Farmer's Market, TJ's or WF.
If you buy organic or processed foods, you will get gouged no matter what. But if you cook your own food and need the basics and are willing to stick to WF's store brand 360, WF has some damn good prices.
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