Food budget thread

Sadly, midweek trips to Meijer are a no-go for me - too far away. Midweek, it’s Kroger or ALDI (or Walmart, which I rarely go to). That’s what we have in town.

The Walmart here in Frisco has a really good meat department. I don't know if it is just because of where it is located. This store seems nicer than Walmarts I've been to in other cities/towns. The bakery is good, too. But, the deli sucks.

CD
 
The Walmart here in Frisco has a really good meat department. I don't know if it is just because of where it is located. This store seems nicer than Walmarts I've been to in other cities/towns. The bakery is good, too. But, the deli sucks.

CD
The Walmart in town here is an unmitigated disaster. Old, limp produce, filthy in general, half the merchandise is just lying on the floor, blocking the aisles, terrible selection of bacon and sausage, which amazes me.
 
The Walmart in town here is an unmitigated disaster. Old, limp produce, filthy in general, half the merchandise is just lying on the floor, blocking the aisles, terrible selection of bacon and sausage, which amazes me.

I figure it is the location. Ours is in a very pricey zip code, I'm surprised they even built it. It is always clean, and the meats, bakery and produce departments are as good, if not better than my closest Kroger store. It only the Deli department that is below par.

I rarely see any customers that qualify for a "People of Walmart" video. :laugh: If anyone doesn't know what that is, Giggle it. Let's say it is ... enlightening.:eek:

I've been to some Walmarts that were disgusting. Usually in smaller towns where the competition is not great.

CD
 
I rarely see any customers that qualify for a "People of Walmart" video.
I think they’ve done a special just on Wilmington.

The worst - getting out of the car and nearly stepping in a pile of human 💩.

The funniest - the woman walking out of the store with a plastic Walmart bag over her head to protect her church hairdo. She even had the handles looped over her ears to secure it, and the wind was blowing, so it inflated the bag. She looked like something out of a low-budget ‘50’s sci-fi movie.

I've been to some Walmarts that were disgusting. Usually in smaller towns where the competition is not great.
That’s the way it is here. Small town, limited competition. The Walmart that was near my in-laws’ retirement community in Florida was a showplace.
 
If enough people are satisfied with the low price and the bad stuff they'll still leave their money at that Walmart.

In many small towns, Walmart is their only choice. Walmart moved to town, and the local stores couldn't compete with Walmart's prices, and went out of business. At that point, Walmart can let the stores turn to 💩 , because they have no competition.

CD
 
In many small towns, Walmart is their only choice. Walmart moved to town, and the local stores couldn't compete with Walmart's prices, and went out of business. At that point, Walmart can let the stores turn to 💩 , because they have no competition.

CD
That’s how it is here. Walmart is the only department store in town, unless you count Big Lots, and that’s not really the same thing.

If I need, say, an ink cartridge for the printer, I can drive 15 minutes to Walmart, or 30 minutes to Target, or 40 minutes to Meijer & Office Depot, or order it online and wait a week.

Weekend…I’ll make one of the longer drives, but if it’s during the week, I have to do that on my lunch hour, so that means Walmart.
 
I googled it, and now I wish I didn't have to live with these images in my mind :eek:
It's like watching a horrible accident, hard not to look but deeply disturbing. Well I suppose the accident is far worse, but still...
 
In many small towns, Walmart is their only choice. Walmart moved to town, and the local stores couldn't compete with Walmart's prices, and went out of business. At that point, Walmart can let the stores turn to 💩 , because they have no competition.

CD

The little town where my dad and stepmom lived before they died had only a cruddy Piggly Wiggly and a very limited food selec-tion at the Dollar Store in town. The PW eventually closed because it couldn't pass health inspection.

You had to drive about 45 minutes via mostly Interstate to get to a much larger town that had a Wal-Mart, a Kroger and a fairly large locally owned market. OR, you could drive about 20 minutes to a medium sized town that had a decent locally owned store, a small, but pretty nice gourmet upscale market with a cafe, and there were a couple of Dollar stores as well, with what they normally sell as far as food items. There were a lot of niche small businesses as well, clothing, pharmacy, jeweler, chotzkis, etc.

Well, Wal-Mart decided to buy some land for 1 of their smaller stores but with a grocery, and needed to get a zoning change in the medium sized town. The hue and cry that went up was unbelievable. Most of the townspeople were against it, but there were also a lot of people that wanted it. After a very contentious fight from what I was told, Wal-Mart gave up.
 
The little town where my dad and stepmom lived before they died had only a cruddy Piggly Wiggly and a very limited food selec-tion at the Dollar Store in town. The PW eventually closed because it couldn't pass health inspection.

You had to drive about 45 minutes via mostly Interstate to get to a much larger town that had a Wal-Mart, a Kroger and a fairly large locally owned market. OR, you could drive about 20 minutes to a medium sized town that had a decent locally owned store, a small, but pretty nice gourmet upscale market with a cafe, and there were a couple of Dollar stores as well, with what they normally sell as far as food items. There were a lot of niche small businesses as well, clothing, pharmacy, jeweler, chotzkis, etc.

Well, Wal-Mart decided to buy some land for 1 of their smaller stores but with a grocery, and needed to get a zoning change in the medium sized town. The hue and cry that went up was unbelievable. Most of the townspeople were against it, but there were also a lot of people that wanted it. After a very contentious fight from what I was told, Wal-Mart gave up.
I love it when small businesses win out over the titans! Walmart far too often wins, unfortunately.

For years I hated Walmart for more than just one reason. They had multitudes of discrimination (both gender and racial) going on but finally cleaned up their act as far as that goes. I will shop there occasionally, but I still prefer spending my money on small businesses whenever possible, even if it costs me a little more to do so.
 
We’re a town of 12K people, and we have…five dollar stores in town - three Dollar Generals, and one each Family Dollar and Dollar Tree.
The medium size town I was talking about has 3,300. The town my dad lived in was about 800. A very rural area.
 
The medium size town I was talking about has 3,300. The town my dad lived in was about 800. A very rural area.
What always gets me is I’ll be driving around the middle of nowhere, turn a corner…Dollar General.

I’m sure the people who live there like having some kind of shop nearby, but they’re everywhere. Remember when people made fun of Starbucks for being on every corner? Forget that, it’s Dollar General now.

About 30 miles or so from me is a Dollar General that’s the size of a regular Kroger. :eek:
 
What always gets me is I’ll be driving around the middle of nowhere, turn a corner…Dollar General.

I’m sure the people who live there like having some kind of shop nearby, but they’re everywhere. Remember when people made fun of Starbucks for being on every corner? Forget that, it’s Dollar General now.

About 30 miles or so from me is a Dollar General that’s the size of a regular Kroger. :eek:

I read an article about Dollar stores, and that is their primary business model. They locate most of their stores in "underserved" areas.

CD
 
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