Grocery Stores Recommendations? (Portland, Tigard: buy, salary, living)

[wanderbygrace]

Originally Posted by Twincam666

Do they have Super Wal Marts there...Can't get much more discount than that?

They do, but (1) I'd really like to get out of the habit of using Wal-Mart and (2) they're pretty far away from me - closest one would be in Wood Village, and that's kind of pushing it for me - probably around 1/2 hour away. What I'd lose in higher costs at others closer in, I'd save in gas.

[Skippy Weaselpants]

I notice that nobody has mentioned Target. They now have quite a large grocery section - at least their Tigard store does. No fresh meat or deli, but tons of packaged foods at really low prices. My wife goes there a lot, and I've found it has the lowest prices, by far, in the area on dog treats. I stop to pick some up for my pooch most of the times I drive by there.

[Yankeemama]

Target has amazing low prices on ice cream!

[wanderbygrace]

Oddly enough, there's an ad for Target on tv as I type this....

We go to the Clackamas Target on occasion. I definitely liked Target more than Wal-Mart back in Ohio, and it is nice that they've been expanding recently into offering more groceries.

Target also allows you to piggyback regular coupons on top of Target coupons.

[gma221]

Originally Posted by davemess10

what are you not finding between Trader Joe's and New Season's? Trader Joe's does only their own brand or "granola-type brands" (Kashi, Tom's of Main, etc....)

My staples include some weird stuff like chia seeds, cacao powder, kefir, ayurvedic toothpaste, etc. (Wow, I sound like a Portlandia episode in the making.) I am also fiercely loyal to certain brands. For example, even though there are a dozen brands of almond milk out there, I prefer Pacific Foods because they do not put soy lecithin in their almond milk. You could say I am very particular about my groceries. I can find just about all of the foods I want/need between all of the different grocery chains in Portland, but what would really make me happy is if I could do all of my grocery shopping at just ONE store. Also, I have yet to find a store with a really good health/beauty section. Most of the personal care products I use are made by Aubrey Organics, as it's the only brand I consistently trust not to hide strange chemicals in its products. Unfortunately, I'm having a very hard time finding it here. Thank goodness for vitacost.com!

Re: the brands you mentioned above -- Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate and Kashi is owned by Kellogg's. (Stonyfield Farms yogurt is owned by Dannon, Burt's Bee's is owned by Clorox, the list goes on...) I consider all of these "fake" natural brands and generally try to avoid them. You can probably tell that my shopping habits are the result of years of research and label-reading.

[hamellr]

You should probably check out New Seasons again. My wife also buys the Pacific Foods Almond Milk.

[Yankeemama]

Whole Foods carries Aubrey Organics, I believe. I don't know about New Seasons but I wouldn't be surprised. The Hollywood Whole Foods has a nice cosmetics/ skin care section but if you go out to the location in the mall called Bridgeport, I think that is the name, there is a bigger skin care section. There is a also a Pharma in NW which has some harder to find natural products. Welcome to Portland. We do have a lot of great shopping options here though it may take time finding all of your favorite places. I swear I can find most of the random brands I used to buy in NYC and the shopping the web is great for harder to find brands. Good luck>

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by gma221

My staples include some weird stuff like chia seeds, cacao powder, kefir, ayurvedic toothpaste, etc. (Wow, I sound like a Portlandia episode in the making.) I am also fiercely loyal to certain brands. For example, even though there are a dozen brands of almond milk out there, I prefer Pacific Foods because they do not put soy lecithin in their almond milk. You could say I am very particular about my groceries. I can find just about all of the foods I want/need between all of the different grocery chains in Portland, but what would really make me happy is if I could do all of my grocery shopping at just ONE store. Also, I have yet to find a store with a really good health/beauty section. Most of the personal care products I use are made by Aubrey Organics, as it's the only brand I consistently trust not to hide strange chemicals in its products. Unfortunately, I'm having a very hard time finding it here. Thank goodness for vitacost.com!

Re: the brands you mentioned above -- Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate and Kashi is owned by Kellogg's. (Stonyfield Farms yogurt is owned by Dannon, Burt's Bee's is owned by Clorox, the list goes on...) I consider all of these "fake" natural brands and generally try to avoid them. You can probably tell that my shopping habits are the result of years of research and label-reading.

Is that possible in any city? Were you able to do that elsewhere? When I lived in Chicago we shopped in several stores for different items because no one store carried every brand we wanted. And the stores there are huge.

Portland has come a long way in supplying people with more choices when it comes to food shopping. I think it has greatly improved over the years.

[CantStandTheHeat]

Originally Posted by gma221

My staples include some weird stuff like chia seeds, cacao powder, kefir, ayurvedic toothpaste, etc. (Wow, I sound like a Portlandia episode in the making.) I am also fiercely loyal to certain brands. For example, even though there are a dozen brands of almond milk out there, I prefer Pacific Foods because they do not put soy lecithin in their almond milk. You could say I am very particular about my groceries. I can find just about all of the foods I want/need between all of the different grocery chains in Portland, but what would really make me happy is if I could do all of my grocery shopping at just ONE store. Also, I have yet to find a store with a really good health/beauty section. Most of the personal care products I use are made by Aubrey Organics, as it's the only brand I consistently trust not to hide strange chemicals in its products. Unfortunately, I'm having a very hard time finding it here. Thank goodness for vitacost.com!

Re: the brands you mentioned above -- Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate and Kashi is owned by Kellogg's. (Stonyfield Farms yogurt is owned by Dannon, Burt's Bee's is owned by Clorox, the list goes on...) I consider all of these "fake" natural brands and generally try to avoid them. You can probably tell that my shopping habits are the result of years of research and label-reading.

Wow!! A kindred spirit! You sound just like me (when I dare to spout off about why I buy what I buy) I shop at a store called Sprouts (Henry's in California) and it is too bad that it sounds as though there isn't a store quite like it in the Portland area. You would love it. Chia seeds, Pacific Foods Almond milk, and the full line of Aubrey Organics (I love their shampoo/conditioner). All that and so much more and at really great prices. I guess I should be sure to stock up on my Aubrey products before we move!

But don't get me wrong! I LOVE grocery shopping and I am really looking forward to exploring all the different stores up there. Yet, I completely understand wanting to be able to get everything under one roof. I have 3 young children and I really appreciate that I can get just about everything I need at my local Sprouts. Having to visit multiple stores with kids in tow is a PITA!

[gma221]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Is that possible in any city? Were you able to do that elsewhere? When I lived in Chicago we shopped in several stores for different items because no one store carried every brand we wanted. And the stores there are huge.

Portland has come a long way in supplying people with more choices when it comes to food shopping. I think it has greatly improved over the years.

Yes. Surprisingly, it was possible in Dayton. They have a store there called Health Foods Unlimited (not a chain, just a single store) that carried every "natural" product you could possibly imagine. I had never seen anything like it! When I lived in NYC, I shopped at Whole Foods, but the stores there were almost twice the size of the ones here (71,000 square feet in NYC compared to 38,000 at the Hollywood location here). I'm going to try the Bridgeport store this weekend... it's quite a trek for me, but doing that once a week wouldn't be too bad, I guess.