What Supermarket Produce Do You Use?
- Thread starter The Late Night Gourmet
- Start date
There is a Jaguar/Land Rover dealership a few blocks from my Kroger store. Perhaps we have our priorities a bit off. 
That's where I get lucky having a three-store "chain" called Dorothy Lane Markets, out of Dayton, somewhat nearby (the closest is about 35 minutes away).
They're a gourmet grocery store, so much smaller than a Kroger, though they carry all the essentials, but they're famous for their bakery, butchery, produce, and deli departments - all the fresh stuff. Plus, their shop's branded items are generally far superior to any national brand. They're routinely named best gourmet grocer in the US, and I feel blessed to have them.
Workers who actually know their product, produce and meats that are local, trained and certified fishmongers, cheese mongers, and sommeliers, butchers who'll cut anything any which way you want, they're wonderful.
Of course, you pay for the privilege. They're extremely expensive, so I still get the majority of my stuff from Kroger, but if it's bakery, deli, cheese, or meats, I get a lot of that from DLM.
They're a gourmet grocery store, so much smaller than a Kroger, though they carry all the essentials, but they're famous for their bakery, butchery, produce, and deli departments - all the fresh stuff. Plus, their shop's branded items are generally far superior to any national brand. They're routinely named best gourmet grocer in the US, and I feel blessed to have them.
Workers who actually know their product, produce and meats that are local, trained and certified fishmongers, cheese mongers, and sommeliers, butchers who'll cut anything any which way you want, they're wonderful.
Of course, you pay for the privilege. They're extremely expensive, so I still get the majority of my stuff from Kroger, but if it's bakery, deli, cheese, or meats, I get a lot of that from DLM.
Most of my supermarket shopping is online and mainly with Ocado which is an up market on-line only supermarket. When I'm at home in Maidstone then that is usually where I but produce - I'm rarely disappointed and they do stock items which are impossible to find in other supermarkets.
When I stay with my friend in Saffron Walden (I'm off there next week) then its a real treat because there is a twice weekly market in the town square with fresh vegetables. On Saturday a fishmonger comes to the market selling fresh fish from Lowestoft. Its expensive but excellent - lobsters, crab, turbot plus oysters. The town also has two excellent butchers who age there own meat (its in temperature controlled display cabinets in the window) plus local game such as pheasant, partridge etc. The best fillet steak I've ever eaten came from one of those butchers.
So I suppose I'm lucky - the best of both worlds.
I also shop at Aldi for day to day stuff as they are incredibly cheap. There is an Aldi at the end of my road so its a few minutes walk. They do have some very good produce too.
When I stay with my friend in Saffron Walden (I'm off there next week) then its a real treat because there is a twice weekly market in the town square with fresh vegetables. On Saturday a fishmonger comes to the market selling fresh fish from Lowestoft. Its expensive but excellent - lobsters, crab, turbot plus oysters. The town also has two excellent butchers who age there own meat (its in temperature controlled display cabinets in the window) plus local game such as pheasant, partridge etc. The best fillet steak I've ever eaten came from one of those butchers.
So I suppose I'm lucky - the best of both worlds.
I also shop at Aldi for day to day stuff as they are incredibly cheap. There is an Aldi at the end of my road so its a few minutes walk. They do have some very good produce too.
Aldi has a bit of a reputation here. When they first came to our area, maybe 30 years ago (or more), they were definitely seen as a place people of less means shopped, partly because of the no-frills approach to the store (BYOB bags, products sold out of shipping containers), and partly because of their second-tier brand names, with labels that seemed to be just this side of violating trademark laws.
Now, though, it's become somewhat shabby-chic to say you got something from Aldi's...but only certain things. They get good reviews for their coffee, for example, and people here go crazy for their wine, beer, and cheese advent calendars - those sell out same-day.
Elawin
Guru
I bulk bought some stuff recently which was very cheap. People were querying why the labels had Chinese on them (they also had French and German) and said it must be rubbish. If they'd have looked carefully at the bottom of the list of ingredients, they would have seen "Produce of the UK". Still, their loss.
Elawin
Guru
I rarely buy fresh produce from supermarkets. Most of mine comes from Riverford which is a group of organic farms in the UK, and their food reminds me of the stuff that used to come out of my parents' garden when I was much, much younger, but mainly because I like to know where my food comes from. They do buy some of their fruit and veg from abroad, but it is all traceable and has to meet strict UK organic standards (which are the same as or better than EU standards). I tend to buy their meat too, in spite of the price, but as I only eat meat occasionally the price does not matter.
I find that most supermarket fruit and veg, even their organic produce, is watery and pretty tasteless, although there are a few exceptions. Sainsbury's organic potatoes are very good, and the onions and cucumbers I get delivered by the milkman are excellent, but from either source their tomatoes are only ever any good for making sauces or putting in highly spiced foods such as curries - they are very similar to the "frying tomatoes" we used to get from our local greengrocer, I.e. too soft for eating but not soggy enough to bin (or plant). I did give in to temptation and bought a couple of pears from Tesco a fortnight ago for ripening up but they are still like bricks. I should have known better - I made it a rule some time back never to buy fresh from Tesco. Sainsbury's also do a nice organic bacon too - good for when I get the urge to eat bacon and don't want enough meat to warrant getting it from Riverford. I do buy class A human grade chicken from the supermarket (and also sausages) but they are for the dog, although I must admit to pinching some of the chicken drumsticks for myself on the odd occasion.
Tinned foods I usually get from the supermarket - the organic equivalents can be quite or very expensive - although our town market and our local pound shops are good for some items, all well-know grand names and usually a few days off their best before dates but very good for batch cooking.
You would love the Granny Smiths I have in my fridge. I won them in a raffle (!) along with pears, sweet apples, a marrow, a pumpkin, all grown by fellow greyhound owners on their allotment and all organic. They are exactly how Granny Smiths ought to be.
There used to be shops like this locally in the 1980s, but they weren't Aldi or Lidl. I can't even remember what the company name was, but they seemed to take over empty shops and pile them with boxes of all sorts of packets and cans. There are 3 Aldi stores, all about 3 miles away, and a Lidl just up the road but I rarely buy food from them, although for non-food items (and in the case of Aldi electrical items) they are fine. To me their food seems to be the cheap supermarket equivalent of a KFC - for desparate emergencies only (even my dog won't eat anything from a KFC!).
I do miss the food I used to have in Austria. My friend's mum owned a village store. Fruit and veg were all local produce. The milk used to come in churns from the village dairy and the cream used to be scooped from the top of the churns as and when required. Butter and cheese came in huge blocks to be weighed out as required. Anything left over at the end of the day was used to feed us with a generous helping of locally produced beer to wash it down (or good old-fashioned Fanta - not the chemicals that are sold under that name now). The highlight of our day was to scoop the milk out of the bottom of the churns - it was thick and yoghurt-like, but not "off". As for when I was in other villages, I do miss the SPAR grocers that abounded - a group of local stores that sold locally produced fresh produce, although their milk came in bottles and their butter and cheese ready weighed and wrapped. The SPAR grocers in the UK were never like that. Even the small village stores here vary so much, but some are superb.
I find that most supermarket fruit and veg, even their organic produce, is watery and pretty tasteless, although there are a few exceptions. Sainsbury's organic potatoes are very good, and the onions and cucumbers I get delivered by the milkman are excellent, but from either source their tomatoes are only ever any good for making sauces or putting in highly spiced foods such as curries - they are very similar to the "frying tomatoes" we used to get from our local greengrocer, I.e. too soft for eating but not soggy enough to bin (or plant). I did give in to temptation and bought a couple of pears from Tesco a fortnight ago for ripening up but they are still like bricks. I should have known better - I made it a rule some time back never to buy fresh from Tesco. Sainsbury's also do a nice organic bacon too - good for when I get the urge to eat bacon and don't want enough meat to warrant getting it from Riverford. I do buy class A human grade chicken from the supermarket (and also sausages) but they are for the dog, although I must admit to pinching some of the chicken drumsticks for myself on the odd occasion.
Tinned foods I usually get from the supermarket - the organic equivalents can be quite or very expensive - although our town market and our local pound shops are good for some items, all well-know grand names and usually a few days off their best before dates but very good for batch cooking.
You would love the Granny Smiths I have in my fridge. I won them in a raffle (!) along with pears, sweet apples, a marrow, a pumpkin, all grown by fellow greyhound owners on their allotment and all organic. They are exactly how Granny Smiths ought to be.
There used to be shops like this locally in the 1980s, but they weren't Aldi or Lidl. I can't even remember what the company name was, but they seemed to take over empty shops and pile them with boxes of all sorts of packets and cans. There are 3 Aldi stores, all about 3 miles away, and a Lidl just up the road but I rarely buy food from them, although for non-food items (and in the case of Aldi electrical items) they are fine. To me their food seems to be the cheap supermarket equivalent of a KFC - for desparate emergencies only (even my dog won't eat anything from a KFC!).
I do miss the food I used to have in Austria. My friend's mum owned a village store. Fruit and veg were all local produce. The milk used to come in churns from the village dairy and the cream used to be scooped from the top of the churns as and when required. Butter and cheese came in huge blocks to be weighed out as required. Anything left over at the end of the day was used to feed us with a generous helping of locally produced beer to wash it down (or good old-fashioned Fanta - not the chemicals that are sold under that name now). The highlight of our day was to scoop the milk out of the bottom of the churns - it was thick and yoghurt-like, but not "off". As for when I was in other villages, I do miss the SPAR grocers that abounded - a group of local stores that sold locally produced fresh produce, although their milk came in bottles and their butter and cheese ready weighed and wrapped. The SPAR grocers in the UK were never like that. Even the small village stores here vary so much, but some are superb.
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Yes - they are very good. But I simply don't get through enough veg to be ordering a box weekly. Maybe I should be eating more veg!
Elawin
Guru
I get veg boxes + milk every two weeks. The other two weeks I get milk, eggs, butter, garlic or ginger, and tomatoes and top it up with cereal, Brown Cow yoghurt plus extra fruit or veg to make it up to their minimum non-box order (£15). Every now and then I get fruit and salad bags or meat instead of the veg box, or just dump the boxes and bags and make up my own order - no need to get a box! They've reduced a lot of their prices lately which makes it easier.
Mountain Cat
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I buy my pork from a farm share, raised outdoors and free-ranged. Yes, they get feed - pigs don't pasture like cattle or sheep. There's a definite taste difference between this and store-bought (I never buy the store bought, but I'm fed it when I visit friends.)
Probably true with a lot of other foods as the commercial interests go more for having food "keep" than having food "taste". As noted, it happened years ago with tomatoes.
Dad lost a lot of his tasting abilities during his 80s. When he'd been working for Seagrams (the whiskey company) he had been noted for a discerning taste ability to recognize various types of whiskey and whisky (Scotch). As he got older the only tastes he retained were Sweet and Spicy hot. He wanted a lot of either. Probably salty as well. Nuances were gone. He moved from his once-loved decent dry red wines to the sweetest of Reislings. (Bleah - I hope this doesn't happen to me!)
Mountain Cat
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I do want to clarify from my earlier post - I prefer to purchase produce at roadside stands and farmer's markets. But we're now in the time of year where these things are shutting down for the season. Alas.