A third choice that I find to be a good middle ground is Trader Joe's. A little lighter on the "organic" emphasis (the actual benefit of which is still debatable in many cases, IMHO) and a bit cheaper in general than Wild Oats or Whole Foods. PLUS they have a very nice wine department with good prices! One thing I like is their "Punjabi spinach sauce" in a jar. I like to pour it over sauteed chicken breasts. 1/2 cup has 6 grams of carbs, I usually use about half that or a little more, than add a slightly lesser amount of 1/2&1/2, plus a dash of cumin, cayenne & turmeric. Brown the breasts, then add the sauce, cream etc & whisk a bit. Quick, easy & really very tasty with a reasonably authentic Indian flavor, great with a big salad (I LOVE the local vegetarian Indian place, but sooo many carbs!!! ;-( TJ'S has lots of stuff like this, plus a good selection of higher-end frozen entrees, though these generally are not "low carb".
Dan
Doug Freyburger said:
Anthony said:
The Whole Foods chain has opened a big (26000 sq ft) store in our
town.
Quoted message said:
Wow, what a difference from our other supermarkets, organic
everything -
Quoted message said:
well almost--a really good cheese counter staffed by people who know
about
Quoted message said:
cheese, great produce, meat, fish. Went on Saturday and bought a
fillet of
Quoted message said:
wild salmon, a bunch of chard and some cheese for lunch. They even
have
Quoted message said:
valet parking. Feel almost sorry for the other shops with "gourmet" pretensions.
Other than the parking, another similar chain is Wild Oats Market.
"Dan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
A third choice that I find to be a good middle ground is Trader Joe's. A little lighter on the "organic" emphasis (the actual benefit of which is still debatable in many cases, IMHO) and a bit cheaper in general than Wild Oats or Whole Foods. PLUS they have a very nice wine department with good prices! One thing I like is their "Punjabi spinach sauce" in a jar. I like to pour it over sauteed chicken breasts. 1/2 cup has 6 grams of carbs, I usually use about half that or a little more, than add a slightly lesser amount of 1/2&1/2, plus a dash of cumin, cayenne & turmeric. Brown the breasts, then add the sauce, cream etc & whisk a bit. Quick, easy & really very tasty with a reasonably authentic Indian flavor, great with a big salad (I LOVE the local vegetarian Indian place, but sooo many carbs!!! ;-( TJ'S has lots of stuff like this, plus a good selection of higher-end frozen entrees, though these generally are not "low carb".
Dan
Doug Freyburger said:
Anthony said:
The Whole Foods chain has opened a big (26000 sq ft) store in our
town.
Quoted message said:
Wow, what a difference from our other supermarkets, organic
everything -
Quoted message said:
well almost--a really good cheese counter staffed by people who know
about
Quoted message said:
cheese, great produce, meat, fish. Went on Saturday and bought a
fillet of
Quoted message said:
wild salmon, a bunch of chard and some cheese for lunch. They even
have
Quoted message said:
valet parking. Feel almost sorry for the other shops with "gourmet" pretensions.
Other than the parking, another similar chain is Wild Oats Market.
You guys are so lucky! I haven't even heard of these places except on here. The grocery stores in my hillbilly town are Super Store Wal-Mart, Kroger and Save A Lot! I wish there were more choices around me.
Where do you live, Julie? I'm in "Klummus Ahia" which has more than a subtle hillbilly flavor as well. We have Wild Oats and just got our SECOND Trader Joe's, this one much closer to where I live (yippee!). I spend a lot of time in LA, where they have all 3. I still prefer TJ's. There's a WM "Supercenter" near my Ohio home. I get the impression they're trying to move a bit "upscale"; they have a line of deli products (prima della, I think it's called) with some very nice 12 month old Asiago cheese and also a very good Gruyere, and some decent cold cuts. They also have a selection of flavorful chicken/turkey sausages I like, with types like habenero & queso fresco, smoked mozzarella with artichoke & garlic, and several others which escape me at the moment. They have sliced smoked wild salmon (lox) which I like to put in scrambled eggs with capers & a bit of the aforementioned Gruyere cheese. I've bought lobsters there & they're good for things like frozen Tyson chicken (I like the rock Cornish hens, they're fun to eat and unlike the other chix products are apparently not "enhanced" with a solution of preservatives & other trash. Their produce is usually lousy and I would never touch their fresh meats (beef, pork etc.), which even the butcher admitted "they pump full of all kinds of [censored]... ". They're EVEN beginning to add more types of non-screw-on-cap WINES!
Dan
Julie said:
"Dan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
A third choice that I find to be a good middle ground is Trader Joe's. A little lighter on the "organic" emphasis (the actual benefit of which is still debatable in many cases, IMHO) and a bit cheaper in general than Wild Oats or Whole Foods. PLUS they have a very nice wine department with good prices! One thing I like is their "Punjabi spinach sauce" in a jar. I like to pour it over sauteed chicken breasts. 1/2 cup has 6 grams of carbs, I usually use about half that or a little more, than add a slightly lesser amount of 1/2&1/2, plus a dash of cumin, cayenne & turmeric. Brown the breasts, then add the sauce, cream etc & whisk a bit. Quick, easy & really very tasty with a reasonably authentic Indian flavor, great with a big salad (I LOVE the local vegetarian Indian place, but sooo many carbs!!! ;-( TJ'S has lots of stuff like this, plus a good selection of higher-end frozen entrees, though these generally are not "low carb".
Dan
Doug Freyburger said:
Anthony wrote:
>The Whole Foods chain has opened a big (26000 sq ft) store in our
town.
>Wow, what a difference from our other supermarkets, organic
everything -
>well almost--a really good cheese counter staffed by people who know
about
>cheese, great produce, meat, fish. Went on Saturday and bought a
fillet of
>wild salmon, a bunch of chard and some cheese for lunch. They even
have
>valet parking. Feel almost sorry for the other shops with "gourmet" >pretensions.
Other than the parking, another similar chain is Wild Oats Market.
You guys are so lucky! I haven't even heard of these places except on here. The grocery stores in my hillbilly town are Super Store Wal-Mart, Kroger and Save A Lot! I wish there were more choices around me.
I live in the Kentucky coal fields, Columbus is a big city to us! We come up to your neighborhood a lot to go to the National Trail Speedway just outside of Columbus. We go to the Spring Nationals and Super Chevy Shows.
I think Wal-Mart and Kroger both have a pretty good selection. I haven't come across any ingredient that I couldn't find at one or the other. Neither of them sell wine where I live though, that would be nice. I agree on the meat department. Fortunately there are a couple good meat markets near me. My SIL has a small farm and we buy beef and pork from her sometimes too. I just think it would be nice to have a Trader Joe's to explore, it sounds like they have a lot of good stuff :o)
Julie
"Dan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Where do you live, Julie? I'm in "Klummus Ahia" which has more than a subtle hillbilly flavor as well. We have Wild Oats and just got our SECOND Trader Joe's, this one much closer to where I live (yippee!). I spend a lot of time in LA, where they have all 3. I still prefer TJ's. There's a WM "Supercenter" near my Ohio home. I get the impression they're trying to move a bit "upscale"; they have a line of deli products (prima della, I think it's called) with some very nice 12 month old Asiago cheese and also a very good Gruyere, and some decent cold cuts. They also have a selection of flavorful chicken/turkey sausages I like, with types like habenero & queso fresco, smoked mozzarella with artichoke & garlic, and several others which escape me at the moment. They have sliced smoked wild salmon (lox) which I like to put in scrambled eggs with capers & a bit of the aforementioned Gruyere cheese. I've bought lobsters there & they're good for things like frozen Tyson chicken (I like the rock Cornish hens, they're fun to eat and unlike the other chix products are apparently not "enhanced" with a solution of preservatives & other trash. Their produce is usually lousy and I would never touch their fresh meats (beef, pork etc.), which even the butcher admitted "they pump full of all kinds of [censored]... ". They're EVEN beginning to add more types of non-screw-on-cap WINES!
Dan
Julie said:
"Dan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
A third choice that I find to be a good middle ground is Trader Joe's. A little lighter on the "organic" emphasis (the actual benefit of which is still debatable in many cases, IMHO) and a bit cheaper in general than Wild Oats or Whole Foods. PLUS they have a very nice wine department with good prices! One thing I like is their "Punjabi spinach sauce" in a jar. I like to pour it over sauteed chicken breasts. 1/2 cup has 6 grams of carbs, I usually use about half that or a little more, than add a slightly lesser amount of 1/2&1/2, plus a dash of cumin, cayenne & turmeric. Brown the breasts, then add the sauce, cream etc & whisk a bit. Quick, easy & really very tasty with a reasonably authentic Indian flavor, great with a big salad (I LOVE the local vegetarian Indian place, but sooo many carbs!!! ;-( TJ'S has lots of stuff like this, plus a good selection of higher-end frozen entrees, though these generally are not "low carb".
Dan
Doug Freyburger wrote:
>Anthony wrote: > > >>The Whole Foods chain has opened a big (26000 sq ft) store in our > >town. > > >>Wow, what a difference from our other supermarkets, organic > >everything - > > >>well almost--a really good cheese counter staffed by people who know > >about > > >>cheese, great produce, meat, fish. Went on Saturday and bought a > >fillet of > > >>wild salmon, a bunch of chard and some cheese for lunch. They even > >have > > >>valet parking. Feel almost sorry for the other shops with "gourmet" >>pretensions. > >Other than the parking, another similar chain is Wild Oats Market.
You guys are so lucky! I haven't even heard of these places except on here. The grocery stores in my hillbilly town are Super Store Wal-Mart, Kroger and Save A Lot! I wish there were more choices around me.
I've found that the meats at BJs (one of the warehouse type chains in the Northeast) are generally excellent, I like them over any of the local supermarket chains. I have tried several local independent butchers, and have not been impressed. Higher prices and the same or even lower quality meats. We used to have a Dutch (as in Amish) Farmers market in town that was open a few days a week, I especially liked the chicken wings one of the butchers sold, they were much meatier than the usual store bought wings. Unfortunately the market was forced to move to a new location about 30 miles further away.
