a new little market opened up a few towns north of us. i met a gal this weekend who described herself as a "food snob" and said she really liked it. so, today, since it was raining cats and dogs for the millionth day in row and a certain momma was going stir crazy... we headed up to above mentioned new store for a little activity.
the store is called fresh and easy (it'll be sweeping the country in no time flat so don't worry your pretty little head). in the words of e, it is a cross between trader joe's and whole paycheck (with a little safeway mixed in... that's wegmans for you east coasters). anywho, it was divine. it is small like both trader and whole but has a good blend of yummy eats. i'll take you on the verbal walk through.
when you walk in you are met by a small floral department. it is small in size but has pretty reasonable prices and lower end (but stunning flowers). i think they had some daffies in a dozen bundle for a buck ninety nine. then you get to produce land- it is very much like the trader (packaged, not loose) but they have a 24 hour farm to store policy. essentially, everything they sell hits the shelves on a rapid time table. the items we purchased from the produce section also came dated (they stand by that 24 hour thing by putting it into print). i am a fan of transparency, so this works for me. they also indicate the city where the produce was grown and have a commitment to local. that means that they get what you need from the closest supplier who follows their farming criteria. we bought some nectarines in a 4 pack. all 4 were bruise free upon arrival home and two of them sat in the fridge for over a week without spoiling.
next was a ready made section. they had all sorts of boxed meals that were marked "no preservatives, no additives, no growth hormones etc. we tried out some soup (broccoli cheddar = delish), kiddo spaghetti and meatballs (two thumbs up from e and d) and some breaded chicken with mashed taters (with hidden peas and corn mixed in)... 1 1/2 thumbs according to my girls. i think they didn't like the breading, but upon interior inspection it looked like quality white meat rather than some of the pressed stuff you find on the interiors of those nasty nuggets.
then you have a meat/cheese/dairy aisle. i found things like flap meat (which was wonderful with a little homemade chimichurri sauce), chicken thighs for under $2 bucks a pound, ribs, all sorts of fresh looking fish etc. as for the cheese/dairy side... i didn't get a great inspection in as there was some kiddo melt-down issues, but it didn't look like a ton of selection but did appear to have some great prices. we opted for some yogurt squeeze tubes (d is obsessed with those) and they were about 60 cents less than safeway. not bad.
you then have a bunch of aisles of dry goods and canned goods. great prices on things like garbanzo beans, pearled barley, rice, olive oil (all sorts of organic selection by country- we went with italian extra virgin but they also had spanish and a variety of press styles). i was a fan. to further my excitement, they also sell the usual suspects that are the most popular from the traditional local grocery in your hood- they have cheerios, kids gummies, rice krispy treats etc. you know, the things that just can't be imitated without loosing the exact thing that makes you want them in the first place. i respect this. if i want cheerios, i want the real thing (or at least p does... she doesn't accept substitutes). this makes shopping easier. you don't have to add in an extra trip for those hard to imitate items.
there is a small bakery selection and then a big frozen section. we tried some shrimp skewer appetizers, two pizzas and some fruit for smoothies. all great prices. all great flavor.
lastly, smack dab in the middle of the store was a large wine section. with the three in tow i didn't feel super comfy spending a ton of time surrounded by glass bottles, but i did do a quick tour and grabbed a bottle of $5.99 pinot noir. i felt like pinot would be a good test of the cheaper stuff. if a $5.99 bottle was any good then it spoke well about their selection (or else i just got lucky). above mentioned bottle was actually just fine- drinkable, some good fruit notes and affordable.
then we got to the checkout. all of the lanes are self-checkout, self-bag. it was a bit irritating with such a large load and so many pint sized helpers, but the staff was right there with assistance to speed this momma up and offer some help. overall, this part was a downer for me. while i like self-checkout a lot, not everybody was designed for its use. i can see this being a problem down the line for this new find, but i think the good in this place far outweighs this little hiccup at the end.
oh, and that picture of those cupcakes? who could resist. i dragged the girls out in a rainstorm, daddy was at a work function, and momma needed a little bribery to get them back home. they were wonderful!
if this post piqued your interest and you're a local, have no fear. a p-town opening is just around the corner! i can't wait.
