Where do you go for grocery shopping in mpls? (Minneapolis: co-ops, home)

[venti]

where you can have a lot of varieties and reasonable prices.

[Kebinminn]

Originally Posted by venti

where you can have a lot of varieties and reasonable prices.

Cub and Rainbow are the two big grocery chains. SuperTarget has a smaller grocery area but still a good sized selection and decent prices. Most Targets have some sort of grocery now. Aldi is the bargain basement priced chain. I went for the first time yesterday. All I bought were clementines but they were .99 for two lbs and are surprisingly good. People have told me Wal-Mart has the cheapest groceries but I haven't been there.

Cub has a good sized organic section. Otherwise there's Whole Foods but it's not cheap. Fresh and Natural Foods in Plymouth is a nice choice for that but I think Plymouth is the only location. There's also a host of co-ops around and it seems most areas have access to a farmer's market.

Lunds and Byerly's are both nice to shop in but cost more. Festival is more in the middle. There's cheaper stores but it's not as expensive as some.

You can get cheap meat at a place called Fare for All in New Hope. They're open every other Monday attached to the food shelf. No income or need based shopping, it's for everyone. They buy in bulk, freeze the food and sell it frozen past the freeze buy date. There's a lot of ground turkey products. Today we actually have a turkey in the oven from them.

Coborns Delivers does home delivery. I used them when they were Simon Delivers and liked them a lot. Great produce, prices more along the lines of Festival. They were a lifesaver when I couldn't grocery shop and if I were too busy I would consider going back.

Now I get mine at farmer's markets, Costco, Fare for All, Trader Joes and Target. I was couponing at Rainbow for a while, that's the best place for couponing, but I burned out on it.

Probably more than you asked for but there you go.

[ceeb4]

Originally Posted by Kebinminn

Cub and Rainbow are the two big grocery chains. SuperTarget has a smaller grocery area but still a good sized selection and decent prices. Most Targets have some sort of grocery now. Aldi is the bargain basement priced chain. I went for the first time yesterday. All I bought were clementines but they were .99 for two lbs and are surprisingly good. People have told me Wal-Mart has the cheapest groceries but I haven't been there.

Cub has a good sized organic section. Otherwise there's Whole Foods but it's not cheap. Fresh and Natural Foods in Plymouth is a nice choice for that but I think Plymouth is the only location. There's also a host of co-ops around and it seems most areas have access to a farmer's market.

Lunds and Byerly's are both nice to shop in but cost more. Festival is more in the middle. There's cheaper stores but it's not as expensive as some.

You can get cheap meat at a place called Fare for All in New Hope. They're open every other Monday attached to the food shelf. No income or need based shopping, it's for everyone. They buy in bulk, freeze the food and sell it frozen past the freeze buy date. There's a lot of ground turkey products. Today we actually have a turkey in the oven from them.

Coborns Delivers does home delivery. I used them when they were Simon Delivers and liked them a lot. Great produce, prices more along the lines of Festival. They were a lifesaver when I couldn't grocery shop and if I were too busy I would consider going back.

Now I get mine at farmer's markets, Costco, Fare for All, Trader Joes and Target. I was couponing at Rainbow for a while, that's the best place for couponing, but I burned out on it.

Probably more than you asked for but there you go.

This was very informative. Thanks!

[StilltheSame]

I buy everything I can at Target with the exception of specialty items, meat, fruit and produce.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

We are within about 8 blocks of Cub, Rainbow, Aldis, Target and 5-6 small corner Mexican and African supermarkets as well as the Midtown Farmer's Market. Since all of these places offer different products we mix it up quite a bit. The only places we really don't go to for groceries are Target and Rainbow because we aren't impressed with their selection or prices. Target has a good selection of frozen goods, which is essentially worthless for our household.

[GBCommenter]

I generally go to Super Target or Cub. Both have decent variety and generally reasonable prices, unless you really need a specialty item. Target (at least mine in Roseville) tends to have some balance of organic and specialty foods (not to the degree of say a Whole Foods, but you also don't pay the premium for the Whole Foods name and philosophy). Target also generally has better laid out and maintained stores (again, using Roseville as my reference).

Cub tends to be a bit utilitarian as far as atmosphere, but not terribly so. Again, prices are there and they actually do have some organic or specialty. In fact, the eggs I like to purchase are available at Cub but not Super Target (Eggland's best Brown eggs, vegetarian fed, and somehow have less cholesterol - perhaps being veggie-fed?).

Rainbow is probably okay on pricing, but I don't personally like the layout and atmosphere, and the other two are more convenient to my home.

[kuan]

In the summer I get almost all my fresh produce from the MPLS farmer's market. You can't beat the prices.

[ceeb4]

Originally Posted by kuan

In the summer I get almost all my fresh produce from the MPLS farmer's market. You can't beat the prices.

Thanks! Where is the farmer's market? We have just moved here, so still finding our way around. Also, can anyone recommend a good place to buy meat/deli meats? (preferably in the Southern suburbs but we will drive anywhere if necessary.) We were surprised when we went to Cub foods & Rainbow that the deli meat was presliced and not fresh sliced. Do all the stores do that here?

[audadvnc]

Mpls Farmers Market is by Lyndale and Glenwood. It's packed every Saturday and Sunday morning, with good reason - it's a lot of fun.

[northsub]

Originally Posted by ceeb4

Thanks! Where is the farmer's market? We have just moved here, so still finding our way around. Also, can anyone recommend a good place to buy meat/deli meats? (preferably in the Southern suburbs but we will drive anywhere if necessary.) We were surprised when we went to Cub foods & Rainbow that the deli meat was presliced and not fresh sliced. Do all the stores do that here?

There are farmer's markets all over the metro. It's never been clear to me why people are so big on one particular one in Minneapolis.

It also seems weird to me that "normal" grocery stores here lack proper meat counters. I'd expect to find a meat counter in a Byerly's or Lunds. I'd suggest Bob's Produce Ranch in Fridley, but there has to be a decent place much closer to you.

Also, I think Kowalski's is missing from the grocery store chain list. It's kind of like a Byerly's or Lunds.

Oh, there's a Fresh and Natural Foods in Shoreview and Hudson as well as the one in Plymouth.