New England B.S. Thread

We do an aldi/Hannaford mix. Market 32 is garbage, and that's about all we get up here. Wegmans would be sick...

 

How, why, or both..haha

 

Aldi has the best frozen pizzas hands down. You have to thaw it out first, but their thin crust is amazballz

 

I've had both WaWa is better.

 

I dont know about that haha. I know Wawa quality has gone downhill, but their hoagies and soft pretzels are still pretty good.

Yea I figured there's more closer, like Concord, NH probably has one or 2. I can't remember if we drove by any in the Auburn, ME area or not.

Yea I hear ya. Not like down south where there's 4 or 5 big grocery stores to choose from. Although Westfield isn't too bad. Aldi, 2 BigYs, Stop n Shop, Wal-Mart, plus a small Victory and another small to medium sized grocery store in the Hampden Pond plaza. Then Costco is a town over and BJs is 2 towns over

 

They have this Thai coconut Chilli packet that feeds both of of easy and tastes way better than it has any business tasting. Aldi has a bunch of gems like that

 

Interesting. Will have to try it.

Aldi used to be next to my old office. Now it's across town and I have to pass 4 grocery stores to get to it so it's a little silly but it's still only 10-15 minutes. Don't get there much.

Market basket bought the old movie theater in Seekonk but with the Arty T moves, not sure if that jacked up plans.

 

I've only been to an Aldi once, because both of the ones "near" me are about 35 minutes away. I'll have to make a point to stop in next time I'm near one.

 

I've been to a few Aldi's and other than Avocado Oil never bought a thing.

 

Aldi is good for a lot of things. Their store brands are better then Stop & Shops store brand, a lot of items being as good as name brands. They also have a lot of random items you can't find (or I haven't seen) at other stores. Their produce is hit or miss though. Since Aldi's prices are overall cheaper, I used to start there, and fill in the rest at S&S.

 

Given what I saw at Stop and Shop during and after COVID, Aldi has a low bar to leap over. We stopped going to Stop and Shop during COVID and switched to a mix of Roche Bros, Market Basket, and BJs.

 

Might depend on the location. I have two near me and I drive a bit further to the other location because it's nicer.

The Market Basket near me is always crazy busy. I usually go for only a few items. Their sushi is good too. Probably the best outside of an actual restaurant.

The wife has a BJs membership, but for some reason we barely go anymore.

 

I used to go to the MB in West Bridgewater even though Rte 106 is a PITA. So, for that matter is the WBPD. They seem to have a couple of units that do nothing but traffic enforcement. That aside, the store is nice and was generally well stocked. BJ's converted to mostly being a grocery store about ten years ago in order to survive. They are mostly an east coast chain, so we have a Sam's Club membership instead.

 

For sure. We never expect to find the good stuff there. We sometimes do, but usually we don't get produce there. It's very European in that most Europeans don't go to the supermarket for produce.

https://www.thekitchn.com/french-produce-shopping-tip-22933446

They'll go to Aldi et. al. for the staples (flours, dried pastas, canned goods, beans, etc) and then go to a regular, always there, accessible farmers market for the produce. So Aldi US is kinda the same approach, they just give their produce a solid meh attempt.

Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud (north and south) split off a couple years ago. In the US, Aldi Nord is Aldi, and Aldi Sud is Trader Joes. (Or visa versa, couldn't tell you).

The only downside. We have a couple. Attleboro is through Providence, Fall River is shenanigans to get to and not on the way to anything (except the beach, so we do go sometimes....), I think there's one in Johnston and Warwick, and the Rhode Islander in me says no to that. Mostly because I'd pass a dozen grocery stores just to get to one.

We have a BJs closer than the closest grocery store, with a gas station. If it wasn't for that we'd be there far less often. Costco is 30 minutes away now in Sharon MA and I wouldn't even consider it.

 

Market Baskets seem to be always crazy wherever they are located. We rarely go because of that even though it’s cheaper. We started going to the new Costco in Sharon and I think it is much better than BJs. They have a better selection of produce, meats and other groceries.

 

While I was in Germany, I stopped in an Aldi out of curiosity. I do remember the lack of produce there, but assumed it was because it was a small location. (Only 3 aisles)

I also saw one while I was in Austria, but they call it Hoffer there.

 

I think Costoco > BJs too, but it's just not as accessible. I'd rather get the close option that's a solid A-

In Salem there was 2 MB's, now there are 3 and you can hit them all with a tennis ball from each other, shenanigans. There's a Price Rite right up the road from me, so that's nice enough. MB has a bitchin' caffeine free diet cola we load up on whenever we go to one

 

I think they had just started working on that Costco when we moved. Costco has the best meat selection and good prices at every store I've gone to. I've had mixed experience with their produce though.

 

Blade tenderized steaks, watch out for that.

Also their tortellini pasta salad.... it's just in such a quantity that by the end of it, you're tired of it. It's so good though.

 

I was able to to get 2 pork shoulders for Thanksgiving for like 30 bucks at Costco, I miss it dearly but supposedly there's one going in Albany soon so...