Speaking of grocery spending: I need to keep better track of this.
Yesterday I spent $32.96 and got:
taco shells
crackers
parmesan
blue cheese crumbles
2 avocados
vegan hot dogs
hot dog buns
peanuts
bananas
peanut butter
almond milk
brown rice pasta
spinach/arugula mix
ETA: we’ve cut down our Imperfect Foods delivery to every other week. I kind of want to ditch them because they are expensive, but if delta keeps getting worse it will be helpful to have groceries delivered and not need to tip or pay for delivery (over $60 order). Plus, there’ll be some value to it in the winter when it’s a gazillion degrees below zero and it’s too icy to safely walk to the store. Here, if you cancel it can be hard to sign up again and get deliveries again immediately.
I really like her idea that you should assess your previous year and figure out why you didn’t meet the goals you had. Also this is the Frugal Chic podcast lady, I guess she also has a youtube!
I like this one too, haha BINGING over here while I do chores
One thing she talks about in this video is addressing your childhood money baggage, and I think that’s so important. I like how she talks about past things as issues that can be worked through and moved past.
My random feelings
I feel like way back in the day there was this idea that what you’d been through was in the past was over and shouldn’t affect you at all in the present (i.e. therapy is for crazy people).
Now I feel like things have swung too far the other way. I find more and more people are talking as if their patterns or views are set in stone, and inevitable, due to past experiences. Sometimes these are experiences that happened 10-20-30 years ago, or only lasted a very short time. I see this most in the assumption that anyone who has worked through things must have never been through anything difficult, because if they had they would also have xyz issue. It’s very strange and so counter to human wisdom through the ages!
I feel like people are being disempowered and told they can’t change things and are just victims of their circumstances forever. Do other people see/encounter this trend a lot too? It seems very new in the last 10 years or so and I think it’s wildly destructive. I like that Nicole takes the middle road view, that we might have baggage but that we can move through it with journaling and therapy and choose to go beyond it. It’s a much more hopeful message overall and I think it has the added benefit of truth.
It’s a stand-alone store that primarily sells produce. The store I go to now also has a small deli attached and sells eggs and a few dry goods, which is super convenient. The store I went to in queens was produce only. Here’s my past produce store, which was 24 hour, to give you an idea:
The one I go to now is much less pretty looking and doesn’t have outside displays. The outside is just a boxy building and it’s called “Something Something Produce” (don’t want to give away exact location) but it’s fantastic. It’s just a normal store, pay in the usual way, etc, and most of them seem to also take EBT and stuff. The one I go to now is in a residential area, so it pays to really drive/walk random streets and dive in if you see one. Sometimes they are crappy and sad, basically glorified bodegas, but sometimes they are wonderful. Usually prices are written on signs because they change so fast, and there is usually an ultra discounted area for things they’re trying to get rid of ASAP. I recommend only shopping those items if you intend on using them within a couple days, as they can be a bit older.
IMO the best produce stores are in areas with varied income people but skewing lower, so working class/middle class. Rich areas have the absolute worst food shopping in general, if you ask me, I think because they don’t cook as much so have no idea what things are worth. Rich neighborhood produce stores are like little fake old-timey grocery stores and are best avoided. Rule of thumb: if they’re spelling the word shop as “shoppe”, RUN. LOL.
So, like, I have never seen anything like this in any city I have ever lived in. Maybe Boston has this but I seriously doubt my city does. I think more than likely we just shop “ethnic” stores and hope for the best.
We have a lot of the glorified bodega types I think?
Farm stands 100% depend on where you are. Side of the road, and you park near horses on gravel or wheat chaff? Probably gonna be good produce. Dolled up cottagecore spot in the middle of a city that sells tiny air plants in decorative pots and essential oils? Overpriced and probably not even local produce lol.
Farm stands depend hugely on the area and how close it is to true agriculture areas (i.e. not hobby farms). When I lived in more rural areas I hit up cheap farm stands a lot! City farmer’s markets can be good too, they’re hit or miss, you just have to go and see for the most part.
Also for what it looks like, I’ve also never lived anywhere else that had something that looked just like that picture. In most cities produce stores are just in regular cinderblock buildings. I posted that photo because you can see the inside of the store so I thought that might be helpful.
We had a produce store in Pittsburgh, which catered to Orthodox Jews (which you could tell because it had a big sign about Shabbat candle lighting time) and it was great. I haven’t seen one since, except in Philadelphia I guess.
Farm stands in Ohio tend to be run by the Amish, and of course, they are closed in the winter.
CSAs are actually pretty good value for the money if 1) the weather and yield are decent and 2) if you can cook to the produce they give you instead of buying the veggies you want for a specific recipe. When I had a half share I basically didn’t buy any other produce for a whole summer and it was like $300.
The ones I have seen/used, key words include “fresh market” “fruit market” “produce”, some are little ethnic stores, but some of those have really expensive and not so good produce, it varies. Also “markets” can be the bougie cottagecore places mentioned above so proceed w/ caution.
I actually haven’t found (good) tiny produce stores in LA (those experiences are from Chicago and the bay area), but here we have chains of Armenian supermarkets that IMO fill a similar niche (Jon’s and Super King). Also a Mexican chain (Vallarta).
IMO good indicators are (a) milk crates and cardboard boxes, no nice supermarket displays, (b) ugly produce (bent cucumbers, variously sized apples, etc); sometimes you have to pick through to find ripe/unbruised/good items because a store worker doesn’t do it for you.
It’s best not to set hard and fast rules for this IMO. Food is always trial and error, in every new place you live. So I wouldn’t count out CSAs because they didn’t work in one area at a certain time! Different CSAs, produce stores, co-ops, farmer’s markets, and even regular grocery stores are really really different in various locations and at different times. In some places bargain grocery stores are the best bet, in others it’s co-ops, or even big chains.
My current produce store absolutely looks like a grimy bodega from the outside, but it’s fabulous. The co-op near me now is a joke (so overpriced and not that great) but in a different city I had a fantastic co-op that I adored! In other locations I’ve shopped mostly at “ethnic” stores. Sometimes the best places are online and have lots of yelp reviews, sometimes they don’t even have a website. You just have to go out there and try allll the things!
And is all this produce shop hunting because you’re trying to hit a certain grocery budget? If you can share some food numbers we might be able to help further because it’s entirely possible you’re already getting a good deal on produce and are overspending in other areas food-wise.
Same! Which was less of a big deal during lockdown when I had nothing better to do outside of work than figure out WTF a sunchoke or fennel bulb goes into. I didn’t sign up this year because I couldn’t handle the quantity of root veg. I STILL have frozen shredded carrots from last fall in my freezer!
International Fresh Market https://maps.app.goo.gl/A5pmm6YJtNSFLszt6
(this one is an outlier because it was decorated, roomy, and clean but still had the produce store prices)
Well I just bought the CSA because it is also a great weekend activity my kid loves (generally running around farms is his primary activity these days), so I am going to need all the root vegetable recipes.
