Is Safeway much cheaper than Trader Joe's? There's no safeway around here so I can't check but Trader Joe's is pretty cheap, it seems to me. (It's also hellatiously crowded in Manhattan- line snaking around the whole store- so I don't go that much. They do have fairly good deals on cheese. And why not save more and grate your own? (The only thing I don't do that for is parmesan, and there mostly because you can get it fresh and fairly cheap at Fairway.) For washing salads, one of those salad spinner things is really useful. I thought they were silly until I got one and now would not go back.
Matt | Homepage | 10.28.08 - 9:09 am | #

Good tips!
Anomie | Homepage | 10.28.08 - 10:17 am | #

It depends. I really do like Trader Joe's for some dry ingredients and some dairy products,but their produce is expensive when they sell peppers in shrink-wrapped packs of two rather than by the pound. I do get my lemons, butter, some cheeses, and pasta there. Meat isn't a great deal there, though. But buying flour or sugar there--ack. Also their food can spoil really fast.
Belle Lettre | Homepage | 10.28.08 - 12:16 pm | #

You're right about the dangers of the packaged produce at TJ's, and also that some of their stuff spoils. That, and many of the other frustrations there, come, I think, from a pretty serious problem with inventory control and stocking problems. They are clearly quite bad at that, including quite small things that make things worse (trying to use carts instead of well-designed hand trucks in crowded stores to take items to the shelf, they give clunky, hard-to-use box cutters to their stocking people, etc. (I worked in a grocery store, mostly stocking shelves (but also doing many other things) for nearly four years so I'm always surprised to see things done poorly at them, as they often are at trader joe's.)
Matt | Homepage | 10.28.08 - 1:22 pm | #

also, promise me that you know Grocery Outlet, on Fourth...because they largely use overstock goods, what they have in the store varies week to week, but its insanely cheap.
Sabrina Ross | 10.28.08 - 6:56 pm | #

I gotta try that place!
Belle Lettre | Homepage | 10.28.08 - 9:06 pm | #

Ooooh, yet more tips on coupons.
Belle Lettre | Homepage | 10.28.08 - 9:53 pm | #

While you can't make silk from a sow's ear, you can make a nice smooth leather I bet

Doubtful, but you can eat them.
ben wolfson | Homepage | 10.29.08 - 2:07 am | #