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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2024 23:39:14 GMT
I live in what would probably be considered a suburb of a very small city (60K people in that town but the surrounding area is more than 150K I believe). My town has 20,000 people. We have two grocery stores (same chain, one is bigger than the other). We also have a new Aldi and a Walmart. The bigger town has multiple stores of the chain in my town (Coborn's for local people), Aldi, Fresh Thyme, Walmart, Target. Some of the Coborn's stores would be walkable for the people in those neighborhoods but overall it is best to have a car or take the bus.
I work with people who are disadvantaged and IMO, the bigger issue in my area is knowledge about (and interest in) cooking and nutrition. I work with people in their homes and often see what they are eating and it is usually mostly heavily processed and lots of sugar for the kids. For example, yesterday I was in a home and the kids were eating candy and little Debbie snacks after school and dinner was ramen noodles. That is pretty typical for them from what I have seen when I was there. Sometimes mac and cheese instead of the ramen. It's such a touchy subject, though, that I have a hard time bringing up that there may be a connection between the kids' behavior and what they are/aren't eating.
ETA that I forgot about Sam’s and Costco.
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Post by monklady123 on Nov 12, 2024 23:43:46 GMT
Northern Virginia, across the river from DC. I have a Trader Joe's I can walk to in about 15 minutes. Since I don't do all our shopping at TJ's I often use that as my destination for a walk. I hate just walking, so if I have a goal then I do better. lol. -- I can drive less than 10 minutes to two Giant Foods, two Harris Teeters, and a Safeway. A bit longer drive, maybe 20 minutes because of traffic, would get me Aldi, more Giant Foods, several Safeways, and probably Harris Teeters that I don't know about. Oh and another Trader Joe's. -- In the summer there are two farmers' markets within a 10-minute or so walk from my house, and another big one that's about a mile away. We often walk to that one simply because the parking is difficult around it. And yet just across the river there are parts of DC that are food deserts. Where the only source of easy food are the quick mart kind of place where nothing is healthy.  eta: I totally forgot about Costco which is where I do a lot of my shopping. lol. |
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Post by epeanymous on Nov 13, 2024 0:13:46 GMT
Houston, TX - we have the country's best grocery store, HEB! Haha. And some other, inferior grocery chains as well. TJ and Aldi, Kroger, Randall's, Food Town, Foodarama, Whole Foods, Sprouts, multiple farmers' markets each weekend plus the giant one on the north side that's open 7 days a week. Target and Walmart, Costco and Sam's. That’s not even counting all the ethnic grocery stores. And as of yesterday we now have six restaurants with shiny, new Michelin stars. BUT there are also large areas of my city that qualify as food deserts. Various groups have worked to at least bring in a produce truck a couple of times a week. There was a tiny grocery store called Little Red Box whose mission was to bring in healthy food at reasonable prices, but they seem to have closed. When I lived in NYC, two of my apartments were right by grocery stores, but when I got priced out of Manhattan and moved to a then-not-fancy area of Williamsburg and literally no grocery anywhere. I lived over an Italian cheese shop and restaurant and pretty much only ate what I could get there or what I got as takeout at work (I usually left work after 9PM). It was nuts. |
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scrappinmama
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,127
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Nov 13, 2024 0:21:56 GMT
Pretty luck here. I live in the suburbs of Kansas City. I have a Whole Foods, Trader Joes and about 5 or 6 large chain grocery stores all within a 10-minute drive. I also have 4 Targets and 2 Walmarts within a 10-minute drive. I also have a Sam's and Costco. I eat mostly healthy and tend to shop at either Whole Foods, Trader Joes or a chain grocery store close to my house.
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,441 
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Post by huskergal on Nov 13, 2024 0:23:33 GMT
I live in a small town that is near a large suburban area. We had a small grocery store in town that we used for meat and emergency supplies. I shopped at a grocery store near my work for major shopping. We now have a larger chain grocery store in town, Fareway, and a year ago, the largest Hy-Vee ever opened in town so we have a lot more choices. We also do a lot of shopping at the Costco that is about 10 miles away.
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,159
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Post by teddyw on Nov 13, 2024 1:12:56 GMT
I live in a suburb near a larger city. Stores are close but there’s no sidewalks on the main roads so walking is out.
I have shopped at Dollar General when we go to the lake and the first aisle you walk down is fresh fruit & veggies. It’s not a big aisle though.
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Post by snugglebutter on Nov 13, 2024 1:47:29 GMT
We have so many choices that I probably couldn't even list them all. Tom Thumb, Kroger, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Target, Walmart, Trader Joe's, Central Market, Aldi, Sam's, Costco, Whole Foods, HEB, Winco - and so many international options.
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Post by chaosisapony on Nov 13, 2024 5:13:00 GMT
It takes me about 45 minutes to get Winco and they are my preference for shopping. Good selection, good produce and unbeatable prices. If I only want to drive about 30 minutes I can get to a Walmart, Savemart, Raley's, and Costco. Most of all of those places either don't sell a good variety or their prices are too high for me. I admit to buying more groceries at Walmart than I want to simply for the convenience of curbside pickup. It's a huge time saver.
The past couple of years I have fallen into a rut of not cooking as much as I used to. I'm just so tired all the time and I have no energy to shop or cook like I should. I have relied too much on convenience foods. This year I have made an effort to cook big meals on the weekends so I can just reheat leftovers during the week. I was also pre-making breakfast meals that I could easily reheat but I got tired of those after a while.
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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 13, 2024 5:38:46 GMT
I am also pretty lucky. I can walk (but I don't) to a Safeway, close to a Raley's, Nugget & Target. A few miles down the hill to the next town are Costco, Sam's, Walmart, another Target, another Raley's and Trader Joe's with a huge parking lot that is never full. Since I am type2, we eat pretty healthy.
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Post by mikklynn on Nov 13, 2024 14:16:01 GMT
If we drive about 45 minutes to an hour we have a Hyvee, I lived in Iowa for 4 years right after I got married, many years ago, and I still miss HyVee.  I love Hy-Vee. They carry so many dairy free products. I live within 15 minutes of every kinds of grocery store one could want. In a pinch, I could walk about 2 miles to a Kwik Trip gas station/convenience store that has a lot of grocery items, including produce. I try to remember how blessed I am to have access to, and the ability to pay for, food. |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Nov 13, 2024 15:04:19 GMT
There's a LOT of small towns a ways out from StL but the only stores you can count on are Dollar General, ...thinking about this more last night- Dollar General stores are on every other street corner around here in the rural, small towns... they do have some groceries, but they're more expensive (per weight, volume, etc.) than a 'regular' grocery store. And guess where the non-food items are made in those dollar stores? Mostly China!! The Dollar Tree is already the $1.25 store (which is a VERY HIGH percentage increase); think what will happen when the tariffs go into effect! |
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Post by lainey on Nov 13, 2024 15:34:46 GMT
We live just outside a major city so we have a good choice of shops, we have Aldi, Lidl,Tesco and Supervalu (neither super nor value!) for supermarkets. The English Market for fresh fruit, veg, bread (meat and fish if you like that sort of thing) two really good Polish markets, lots of small health food shops, a speciality Italian food shop, Asian shops, and a rooftop farm shop that sells organic produce grown on a rooftop in the city centre.
We really should eat better than we do!!
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Post by needmysanity on Nov 13, 2024 17:29:38 GMT
I am privileged where live to have so many choices of places to shop for food. My office is three miles from my home, and in that three miles, without going out of my way on the way home from work, I can stop at Walmart, Aldi, 2 different Schnucks (local grocery chain) and a Fresh Thyme. If I go a few miles out of my way, I have a Super Target, another Schnucks, and a different local chain. From my house, all of those stores are less than 5 miles away. Walmart and Aldi I can walk to if I had to for some reason. Oh, now I want gooey butter cake from Schnucks! My mom lives in Moscow Mills, and my aunt lives in Wentzville. Every time I visit them, I bring home multiple butter cakes. I live in West Knoxville, TN, where we have several grocery stores to choose from, including Kroger and Costco/Sam's Club, all within a 10-minute drive. However, if you go to East Knoxville, it's a food desert with a severe lack of food options. This area is also home to many lower-income communities. There's always talk about potential solutions, but so far, I haven't seen any real changes. My mother-in-law lives with us and cooks dinner during the week. My husband loves to BBQ on the weekends, and typically, he takes the leftovers for lunch. Our son works with him, and they keep a decent amount of food at work, so they don’t eat out much. I work down the street from Trader Joe's, so I buy a week's worth of lunches at the office and try to avoid eating out. We don't really budget for groceries. Although prices are higher, we still buy the brands we like. I know this is a privilege that many families don’t have. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Nov 13, 2024 17:42:26 GMT
I nearly cried when Publix opened in my town a number of years ago if that tells you how limited our choices were. There were regional chains but nothing that carried some of the specialty options I wanted. I do shop Aldi a lot too and they are a five-minute drive from me. We have other grocery options but I virtually never go to any of them.
I’m an hour away from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Costco.
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,118
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Nov 13, 2024 19:52:35 GMT
I live in a rural area, but Walmart is only 3 miles away. Within 10 minutes, I can get to Aldi, Kroger, Sam’s, and Giant Eagle.
Most of my shopping is done at Kroger focusing on the sales flyer. Walmart and Aldi are my go-tos for items not on sale at Kroger. Giant Eagle has the best in-store bakery, and they occasion as lily have killer deals on meats, but I don’t shop there regularly.
Within 15 minutes I can get to PriceCutter, but I don’t go there unless they are having a great weekend sale.
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craftymom101
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,798
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Post by craftymom101 on Nov 13, 2024 20:06:30 GMT
We leave adjacent to a small town of 26,000 people. We have a Publix 2.5 miles from our house and a Winn-Dixie about 4 miles from our house. However, I've heard rumors the Winn-Dixie is going to transition to an Aldi within the next year and I'm thrilled. We love Aldi! The only other option for shopping is Wal-Mart, which is a 15ish minute drive from our house. We don't have any local butchers, but we do have a new farmer's market that opened behind the Publix and we go there occasionally for fresh produce. I also have a pretty large vegetable garden in my backyard, and I grow a lot of our produce.
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Post by compeateropeator on Nov 13, 2024 20:22:56 GMT
I live in the most populated area of my state and therefore have a lot more choices than many here.
In my area I am within 5 to 20 minutes of a variety of grocery stores and food places. But nothing is really within walking distance. I have closest to me a Hannafords and a Price Chopper/Market 32. But truthfully for a lot of my groceries I go to a smaller local store called Macs.
There is a Costco close (the only one in Vermont), also a Trader Joe’s, Shaws, some specialty stores such as Asian markets, locals products, a bunch of farm stores and stands (when in season), a couple of big co-op/healthy living type places that offer a lot of local , organic and bulk products. I have a variety of choices in a variety of categories and actually use all of them some.
My parents are in a smaller town, but still in a semi populated area and have the option of a Hannafords, Shaws, a smaller market, and a big co-op.
Up where our camp is there is a couple smaller markets about 15 minutes away. But for a larger store you need to drive at least 30 minutes.
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Post by jill8909 on Nov 13, 2024 20:43:49 GMT
I live in a well to do area of Texas with many many food choices, but the produce here is poor. I have never found a fresh tomato in any store or even farmer's market. they are tasteless.
Not sure what is going on.
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Post by Linda on Nov 13, 2024 22:07:16 GMT
Up where our camp is there is a couple smaller markets about 15 minutes away. But for a larger store you need to drive at least 30 minutes. My sister lives in VT - there are a couple of smaller markets in the towns nearby but she drives to New Hampshire to do a proper grocery shop (over an hour) |
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Post by Merge on Nov 13, 2024 22:22:01 GMT
I live in a well to do area of Texas with many many food choices, but the produce here is poor. I have never found a fresh tomato in any store or even farmer's market. they are tasteless. Not sure what is going on. You know May is peak tomato season here, right? |
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Post by cmpeter on Nov 14, 2024 1:56:59 GMT
We just moved and I’m now 15 minutes from a Walmart and 20 minutes from a Safeway, Costco and Albertsons.
Before I was 5 minutes from an Albertsons and 10 from a Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Costco.
So further away, but still lots of choices. And the move to as made knowing all of this.
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