America's 10 healthiest grocery stores.

[ChefJune]

ILoblaws (major chain supermarket) is right next door. I get creeped out by their 1st quality produce. Vegetables and fruit just shouldn't be that uniform.

but sadly, that uniformity is what many folks think of as "top quality." I agree, the two have little in common.

 

[mollyanne]

Thank you for posting that interesting info MsMofet...but Food Lion??? I've always thought that was the low-man-on-the-totem-pole.

Stocks in Whole Foods are doing quite well by the way....$50 a share now I think.

 

[snickerdoodle]

Loblaws (major chain supermarket) is right next door. I get creeped out by their 1st quality produce. Vegetables and fruit just shouldn't be that uniform.

I used to work at a local fruit/veggie farm (a GREAT experience) and we had to sort the produce into 1st, 2nd and 3rds. The 1st's were the nice looking uniform ones, 2nd's were one step down and 3rd's were sold at a pretty steep discount. Some of the local grocery stores ordered produce from the farm and we were only to sell the 1st's to them. In the small shop at the farm where the produce was sold, all varieties sold very well. The 1st's weren't grown any differently, they grew on the same plants as the 2nd's and 3rd's. We pay more for perfection. I don't mind when my produce is perfectly imperfect (just like me!)

 

[bakechef]

Thank you for posting that interesting info MsMofet...but Food Lion??? I've always thought that was the low-man-on-the-totem-pole.

Stocks in Whole Foods are doing quite well by the way....$50 a share now I think.

It really depends on the Food Lion. Some in my area are very very basic, others are nicer, depending on the neighborhood. The one I go to most has an entire aisle of organic including a freezer and cooler. The deli has organic breads and gourmet imported cheeses. In other parts of town, especially where there is more of an ethnic clientele instead of all of the organics/gourmet and such, there will be lots of Hispanic groceries. The rural stores are different yet again. They seem to be stocked according to clientele.

I think that having Bloom as an offshoot helped get them on this list, they are more of an upscale type of store, but still part of Food Lion.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

The best supermarket in the UK is Waitrose own by the John Lewis group, every employee is a share holder so they have a vested interest in the success of the stores.

 

[LAJ]

I read the article and found two of my favorites were included: Trader Joe's, a store I frequent quite often. Organic items at the best prices. And, Publix stores in Florida. When I visit, I make a trip to Publix- first thing. I do miss shopping at Publix now that I moved north. My area is not famous for great grocery stores. I shop Trader Joes, independent seafood stores, and buy local grass fed beef from local farms. We used to have Farmer Jack stores. Kroger stores are around here but pretty low quality goods. I dont shop there very often. I look at the windows and the floors of a grovery store. If they are dirty, that is a good indication I dont want to shop there. Same goes for restaurants.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

During the spring/summer/fall, we shop at farm stands and farmers markets first.

Next we hit a locally owned grocery store that stocks lots of local goods and will get pretty much anything you want with a couple days notice (they send box trucks to the North Shore and Boston every other day for out-of-season produce and fresh seafood). They have a close relationship with a few boats, so if I want something particular like Monkfish heads, they'll get it super fresh. We also get 95% of our beer and wine there.

Then we hit Whole Foods for anything we can't easily get at our local market (such as specific imported chocolates, fresh roasted/ground PB, etc).

Finally we hit BJ's (a Wholesale Club) for non-perishable goods such as Toilet Paper, Tin Foil, Printer Ink, etc.

I visit a local package store every couple months to replace any "hard" alcohol that we might use up (such as Baileys, Patron, or Absolut).