Shopping, European Style

First I discovered the Plainsboro Asian Market, with its amazing selection of highly affordable fish, produce, and specialty ingredients that were hard to find elsewhere. Then Trader Joe's opened, and there was much rejoicing. And now, I have completed my foodie trifecta with my exploration of the Amish Market in Kingston. I am now a very happy girl.

It used to be that I would haul myself off to the local Wegman's every week to do all the food shopping in one go, but recently, I've adopted a more old fashioned--perhaps you could say more European--method of shopping: going to a few different places to get the food where it's best and/or cheapest. I've never loved my local Wegman's. I've tried. I've tried really hard, but I don't love it. It's hideously crowded almost all the time, I've found rotting food in a couple of sections one too many times, and most of the workers don't seem all that happy to be there. Plus, they have major stocking problems, which makes it hard for me to plan any kind of menu or make a list I can rely on. I can count on one hand the number of times in the last 3 years I've gone there and haven't been frustrated in my quest for something relatively basic, like ground lamb or quinoa or cereal. Is Shredded Wheat 'n Bran that popular they can't keep it on their shelves? I don't buy it.

So why did I continue shopping there for so long? Well, unfortunately, the alternatives were...not great. Wegman's does do some things well, like offer loose teas (when the tins aren't empty, which happens more often than not) and their bakery section is quite good. Also good: their organic/natural section. And their prices were lower than a lot of other places. The only other grocery store in the immediate area had higher prices and an organics section that would have been laughable if it wasn't so sad. It was one shelf jammed, oddly, in between magazines and peanut butter. So, I resigned myself to the Wegman's experience.

But then something happened--I moved, and I discovered the Asian market not ten minutes from my doorstep. So, now I no longer had to go to Wegman's for fish and produce--yay! And right near the Asian market was a SuperFresh, which is smaller than Wegman's (read--less cavernous), and much less crowded. Not long after I started shopping there, Trader Joe's opened. I haven't been to Wegman's since.

The one problem is procuring good meat. Trader Joe's has it, but it's a bit pricy, and most of its preseasoned and marinated, which I don't care for. SuperFresh's meat selection--at least its chicken--was heavy on Perdue. But there was that Amish market up the road in Kingston... So, I hopped in the Mini and headed up there as soon as I had a free day, which happened to be this past Saturday. The freezer was starting to get a bit bare--time for a meat stockup.

About an hour later, I staggered out with enough meat to keep us (and probably some dinner guests) going for at least a month. For $50. $50! Not bad at all, really, considering I got a pork loin, ground lamb, a whole chicken, some Italian chicken sausage, spicy horseradish mustard, bacon, porkchops, pork cubes, and beef stewing meat. There's probably something I'm forgetting, but not a bad deal, overall, when you think about it. Especially since that chicken, which appeared on our dinner table Sunday and fed us and two friends, would also provide some chicken stock when boiled down. That market is great--there's a stall for everything, although I wouldn't go for the seafood. Deli meats; everything you could possibly imagine from a cow, lamb, or pig; poultry you wouldn't believe (including ducks and rabbits!); baked goods; dairy; eggs; preserves; fruits and vegetables--it's all there. Some prices are a bit steep, although you shouldn't be surprised at the ones that are (they're not growing oranges on the farms in Pennsylvania Dutch country, after all), but the meat prices are quite reasonable, and, if the chicken and the sausage are anything to go by, it's quite delicious as well.

This is what I do now--shop here and there, wherever I find what I want or need, and you know what? It's started saving me money. I'm not wandering the aisles of some giant supermarket, trying to find where they keep the hummus, being tempted by things as I pass. I have a targeted reason for going to each of the places where I now shop, which makes it faster and easier. Plus, as far as the Amish market goes, I actually feel like I'm supporting people, not a corporation, and I can get on board with that.

In Praise of Trader Joe's

Man, where has this place been all my life?

The much-anticipated Trader Joe's finally opened in Princeton, and I dragged A. there opening weekend to see what all the fuss was about. About an hour later, we staggered out, toting delicious sounding groceries we probably didn't need, grinning like idiots (me particularly), because it looks like I've finally found a way to move Wegman's out of my life completely (it's not that I hate Wegman's, really. Most of them are good, but not the one in Princeton. I've had too many frustrating experiences there.)

I think one of the best things about Trader Joe's is that it proves that healthy, organic food can actually be affordable. I know, I was shocked too. Organic whole wheat pasta for $1.29. Rolls of organic polenta for less than $3. Organic, fair trade coffee for $7.99 (about the same as the non-organic, non-fair-trade coffee elsewhere. And it's all good, too! So why is all this stuff so expensive everywhere else?

I try to eat healthy, like many people. I've been trying to work organic food into our diet as much as possible, but in a lot of cases, the price difference is just too high to justify the purchase. When you're looking at a $1 box of regular pasta and then a $4 box of organic, or whole wheat pasta (to get both in one is usually $5 a box, at least in the places I've checked out) well, it's hard to justify that week after week. It just adds up, and we're on a budget just like everyone else. So, we stick to the organic milk and free-range eggs and hope for the best. But now, hopefully, I can have my organic cake and eat it too. We now have some lovely organic wild blueberries in our freezer I'm hoping to work into some pancakes this morning, as well as the aforementioned pastas, a giant bag of large shrimp, and a package of highly addictive honey-coated plantain chips. Sooooo gooood! If I had to voice one complaint, it would be that the majority of their cereals (at least the ones with a decent amount of protein in them) are very high in sugar. At least it's not high-fructose corn syrup sugar (see, it doesn't have to be in everything!) but sugar nonetheless. I had to search high and low for one with more than 5 grams of protein and less than 12 grams of sugar. But the one I found was still cheaper than what I'd been buying elsewhere.

One more thing I like about this place: it's pleasant. It's not cavernous, the employees seem pretty chipper, and it plays homage to the area where it's located. The checkout aisles are all named after major roads in the Princeton area, and the mural on the walls depicts such Princetonite luminaries as Albert Einstein shopping there. Cutesy, yes, but I like to think that even Einstein would approve of Trader Joe's.