Where do you grocery shop in San Diego? (middle-class, how much)

[moved]

I live by myself and I shop at Costco. The difference is that I only buy certain items. I buy rotisserie chickens, cheese, sometimes meat, canned chicken, gas and other items. I don't buy huge boxes of cereal though.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by thepinksquid

It's interesting that I see a lot of people here shop at Costco... I assume you have families/households larger than 2 people? There's one LITERALLY across the road from me, but whenever I've gone into wholesale stores like that I feel like there's no way we could get our money's worth there. The sizes are huge!

We're just two of us. We get a few things from Costco. We get two loaves of bread and freeze one. We get a package of their filet mignon, divide it into eight servings, soak them in marinade, and keep those handy in the freezer. We get Stacey's Pita Chips, which you can get by the single bag. We get the huge bottle of Jim Beam from their and pour it into our smaller bottle as we need it.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by f_m

Costco, 99 Ranch Market, Smart & Final, Fresh & Easy, Ralphs, sometimes Henry's/Whole Foods/Trader Joe's if I have money to spend.

99 Ranch...good one! I used to go there all the time.

But I'm surprised you put Henry's and Trader Joe's in the "money to spend" category -- I've found those places to be amazingly cheap. (Henry's for produce and Trader Joe's for dried goods/snack foods and specialty items.) Certainly cheaper than Ralph's - heck, on average I've found Ralph's to be more expensive than Whole Foods!

[Encinitan]

Originally Posted by Radical347

99 Ranch...good one! I used to go there all the time.

But I'm surprised you put Henry's and Trader Joe's in the "money to spend" category -- I've found those places to be amazingly cheap. (Henry's for produce and Trader Joe's for dried goods/snack foods and specialty items.) Certainly cheaper than Ralph's - heck, on average I've found Ralph's to be more expensive than Whole Foods!

We like TJ's for the pre-made food. They honestly have the best frozen Mac n Cheese I've ever eaten. Our kids swear by it. And their Mandarin Orange Chicken, the Three Cheese Pasta Sauce with the pancetta added in. Can you tell I haven't eaten dinner yet and I'm starving? But we don't buy staples there. Who wants to buy 6 avocados bundled together in green plastic netting? Not me. That's what farmer's markets are for.

[Radical347]

When I lived in SD, it was about 40% Zion Korean Market 30% Henry's and 20% Trader Joe's. The other 10% was split between Whole Foods (when I felt like indulging once in awhile), Baron's (enjoyed this place but a bit too far out of the way), Mitsuwa (when I wanted fish for sushi), 99 Ranch (I used to go here a lot more at the beginning), and North Park Produce (for olives and cheese).

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by Encinitan

We like TJ's for the pre-made food. They honestly have the best frozen Mac n Cheese I've ever eaten. Our kids swear by it. And their Mandarin Orange Chicken, the Three Cheese Pasta Sauce with the pancetta added in. Can you tell I haven't eaten dinner yet and I'm starving? But we don't buy staples there. Who wants to buy 6 avocados bundled together in green plastic netting? Not me. That's what farmer's markets are for.

Mmm, all those sound good & agreed about the avocados, the fresh produce at TJ never really interested me. My regular purchases from there are Mediterranean Hummus, baked blue corn chips, spicy soy/flaxseed chips, olive oil, eggs, goat milk, and almond butter.

[thepinksquid]

Originally Posted by Encinitan

Who wants to buy 6 avocados bundled together in green plastic netting? Not me. That's what farmer's markets are for.

haha I totally agree... or the red bell peppers in a shrink wrapped meat tray?

[f_m]

Originally Posted by Radical347

But I'm surprised you put Henry's and Trader Joe's in the "money to spend" category -- I've found those places to be amazingly cheap. (Henry's for produce and Trader Joe's for dried goods/snack foods and specialty items.) Certainly cheaper than Ralph's - heck, on average I've found Ralph's to be more expensive than Whole Foods!

Yeah, I think it's just because when I go, I spend more than I expected, but when I go to 99 Ranch I spend less than I expected (and they have a big selection of some things I buy). Just depends on what you buy. In comparison their prices aren't too bad, but I don't buy enough there to go often.

The "big 3" (Ralphs, Vons Albertsons) will generally be more expensive than regional places because they have a larger overhead and unions. Whole Foods just tends to be expensive due to the products they carry, but it depends on what you buy.

[eastsandiegobornandraised]

I forgot to mention 99 cent only

[skeke]

Vons most of the time. Sometimes I stop by Windmill Farms, especially to get the Bread and Cie bread. I miss the easy access to farmer's markets I had in Sacto. Sacto is a major ag area with fab produce. There was a farmer's market downtown in Cesar Chavez park with live music and great produce. We would all walk out of our offices, get our fruits, nuts and veggies and head back to our offices. Haven't been to a farmer's market since I moved back to San Diego.