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We had a great showing last Thursday but the @hatchdetroit competition was strong. 🙏🏽 THANK YOU ALL 🙏🏽 for your votes, support and love. @neighborhoodgrocery @fairo_rafa and I will continue to drive forward because our communities need good groceries. 🍎🍉🍑🍆🥑🍞🍳🥫♥️ Stay tuned for our equity crowdfunding campaign launching this fall! You can be a part of bringing good groceries back to the neighborhoods. . . . . . . . . #feedtolead #neighborhoodgrocery #groceryshopping #foodinsecurity #detroitfood #hatchdetroit (at The M@dison Building) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnL2ep1gLmy/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fnqkdc0hg6a9

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I resemble this remark

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GET IT?! 

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lol #groceryjokes 

Shopping with my family is always so much fun

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Conscious Capitalism in 2018, aka #BrandsTakingStands

One of the very first brand sponsorships I remember was the Red Bull air race back in the 90s. Red Bull was relatively new - energy drinks were just starting to take hold as a category - and I had no idea what an air race was, so the dissonance was particularly jarring. “What even? Is this?!”

Photo credit: GeneralAviationNews.com

The brilliance in this sponsorship was that extreme sports had little to no marketing presence at all before Red Bull started to put their name all over those events. They cornered the market by creating the market, in a sense. As a result, the image they were trying to project as a brand - you can do anything if you drink Red Bull! - was encapsulated in this specific type of advertising and customer outreach. Success, defined purely as brand recognition, was achieved through a new type of sponsorship.

Fast forward, and we see brands making alliances everywhere - from the ubiquitous Coca-Cola and Olympics partnership to Rap Snacks - but marketing success isn’t so narrowly defined anymore. Basic sponsorship is table stakes, so companies are going a step beyond to ensure that their customers know what their brand stands for. Refreshingly, this now means doing more than just throwing advertising dollars at an event. In response to consumer demand, some companies are making real change to their products, practices and partnerships: the new bar is brand associations with concepts, political movements, or social change, aka #BrandsTakingStands. This isn’t always simple or easy - my favorite recent news story about stellar grocery chain Wegmans and Trump wine may give you a chuckle - but most companies are tackling it in one way or another.

Photo credit: Getty Images via NYTimes

Pepsi’s purchase of SodaStream made headlines this past week, an example of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies amping up acquisition, an age-old business practice that is often exercised to increase that company’s market share. We know that companies aren’t just purchasing smaller brands out of the goodness of their hearts; there’s business behind that business, but what exactly is the primary motivation? I believe (as many folks do) that older CPG companies are seeing the power and relevance of their core brands fade as millennials come into their buying power. In response, some have begun snapping up the smaller brands to fortify their sales, market share and brand image. These smaller companies often lead with a social mission (like Ben & Jerry’s, acquired by Unilever), make a point of minimizing environmental impact (Sweet Earth, acquired by Nestle), have a focus on health (Rx Bar, acquired by Kellogg’s) or otherwise tout more than a single bottom line. This all goes to show that today’s consumer is very much aware of the impact of their purchases: the millennial shopper is voting with their wallet, and finally the big brands are taking notice.

An interesting aspect of this capitalistic evolution is the recognition by powerful CPGs that the future of market dominance doesn’t look like a single, megastar brand anymore. Instead, companies like PepsiCo are focusing on how to develop smaller brands that reach more niche audiences. We see the same development in grocery, with small markets reaching customers in a more personally engaging fashion, a move that giant chains can’t emulate. In fact, according to a study by GlobalData, 42% of consumers trust small grocery brands more than the big guys.

Source: GlobalData Research

Grocer Girl’s Take: This self-conscious movement gives me some hope for the future of capitalism as we know it. Conscious capitalist brands *can* help communities economically, socially, and environmentally - instead of being extractive, we can be additive. This particular approach to brand leadership is really only possible if you truly know your customer and community, otherwise the new branding is just another version of sponsorship. At Neighborhood Grocery, we’re starting a conversation with our neighbors, leading from the customer and her needs - and developing our brand from there. That’s our #BrandsTakingStands approach at Neighborhood Grocery.

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GrocerGirl on Grocery: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Is there any there there?

Photo credit: InTheVintageKitchen.com

Food companies everywhere, offering yogurt cups to fine dining menus, are trying to sell You the Consumer on a pastoral dream: evidenced by the green, rolling hills on the front of those butter sticks and by the farmers that are referenced by name on that restaurant menu. What these companies are selling, though, isn’t farming, exactly; instead, they’re selling a throwback, a desire to return to simpler times. Grocery stores, too, are lured by this marketing muse, driven by the rise in popularity of farmers’ markets: artfully stacking pears on wooden produce crates and packaging products in brown kraft paper instead of plastic. But is that really “the way things used to be” in grocery?

*Photo credit www.OrganicValley.coop

Grocery shopping back in the day, for me, wasn’t a particularly poignant, agricultural scene. Growing up in suburban Florida, my fond memories are of clinging onto the grocery cart side bars while my grandmother wheeled it around a giant, brightly lit, chain grocery store stocked with every chemically perfected food brand that a middle class mom might want. To be honest, unless you grew up in small town America, most Millennials will recall a similar scene: a fairly bland and inoffensive chain offering that served what our parents most desired: quick and easy homogeneity.

In the pursuit of streamlining the shopping experience, offering less shopping stops and more choice for lower prices, somewhere along the way, we lost the soul of grocery. We took the humanity out of one of the most common modern human experiences: shopping for food to feed our family.

Innovation Disruption in Grocery

This streamlining continues today, with what seems like ever increasing velocity. Every week, we read headlines of big food companies merging with or acquiring other big food companies to dominate more than one category, or area, of the store. All these moves culminated in what might be deemed the Biggest Grocery Headline Ever (So Far): Amazon buying Whole Foods. Many people have opinions on what this means for grocery everywhere, and some say this huge move was a result of Whole Foods (WFM) innovative approach. It’s worth acknowledging that WFM did portray an aspirational brand over the years: an organic dream, replete with lots of fresh and local foods, and a health focus that still resonates today. One thing we know for sure is that Amazon signaled a change in the future of grocery retail with that big wad of cash. What that future will look like has yet to be determined.

We can look to other major chains to show some of the ways the grocery game has changed over the years, though I wouldn’t exactly say these are grocery innovators. They have, however, affected some positive disruption. Trader Joe’s, for example, has slowly shifted the customer away from an aversion to private label, or “brand X” items, commuting purchases of Trader José’s salsa and Joe-Joe’s into a status symbol and a mark of enjoyable grocery shopping.  

Photo credit: mantoujoe.blogspot.com

On the other end of the spectrum, massive international chains such as Aldi and Walmart continue to drive the more humdrum of grocery strategies and tactics, such as which categories are loss leaders (carbonated soft drinks are still in there, but now so are eggs). But that doesn’t mean shoppers like it, even though they spend 25% or more of their grocery dollars at Walmart these days.

So how do we take back the aisle?

We can all agree that whichever major chain we spend the majority of our grocery dollars in, we’re not 100% satisfied with the experience: either the products that are on offer aren’t what we want to buy, the prices are too high (though oddly sometimes very low?), the shopping experience is overwhelming with choice and exhausting, or the customer service is nonexistent. In the pursuit of standardization - which is the standard of good business in some respects - these chains have lost the art of customer engagement.

Grocery chains today are exchanging “service” for “loyalty,” substituting big data for authentic connection.

A few weeks ago, the NYTimes ran an article on how small stores are addressing the needs of customers that big box stores and consolidated chains haven’t been able to meet. These needs range wide and the solutions vary: from the desire to reduce packaging, a small store that offers only bulk items; to offering a larger selection of natural and organic products to a small population of shoppers, a store that lowers overhead with minimal employees. To address the low income customer that doesn’t have as much to spend on fresh foods, an innovative approach by The Salvation Army in Baltimore utilizes community support to lower prices, and ensures that culturally relevant groceries are featured heavily, so customers feel welcome, comfortable shopping, and are able to buy exactly what they way. “[The store managers] ... are learning what customers want. They added Goya products, fresh ginger and tofu, which is popular with college students and older shoppers. Bagged salad mixes didn’t sell, but prepared ones did.” It seems simple - listen to your customer, and they’ll enjoy shopping with you more (and spend their dollars with you). But simple doesn’t always mean easy, and that may be exactly what holds major grocery chains back from total dominance in today’s market.

How Neighborhood Grocery intends to flip the script

Photo credit, Honeybee La Colmena: dresscodefinder.com

So the question in my mind is: how can we, as Detroiters, learn a bit from each of these big chains and small entrepreneurs and create a grocery model that fits the needs of our neighbors? At Neighborhood Grocery, we have a few ideas. Let’s say we design a small but elegant store that focuses on fresh foods in a welcoming environment (tip of the hat to WFM). Then, we go right to the customer and ask them what they would like to buy in order to make it easier to cook at home - collards, kimchi, pierogies? - and stock those items at fair prices. Let’s also reduce the number of items we sell so things don’t sit on the shelves, letting our experience be our curator, developing trust with the customer so they begin to be excited about buying which salsa or cookie they find in stock. Finally, let’s greet each customer that graces the threshold of our store with a warm smile, showing them how grateful we are that they live here and shop with us - right before we offer them their regular order. Now that sounds like someplace I’d like to shop. It sounds like a Neighborhood Grocery.

Photo credit: Grocer Girl

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Sometimes, pie

You make all of these plans to write healthy recipes and chart meal plans and then life happens. And maybe you have pizza instead of all that, you’re only human.

Instead of facing our sky-high aspirations, let’s make orphan apple pie. 

I pulled all the grandpa fruit from our fridge, which, since this is winter, was mostly apples, some green, some red, and a withered little asian pear. Peel, slice, top with spices of your choice, which in our house is lotsssss of cinnamon and a bit of microplaned nutmeg. A scattering of sugar (maybe 1/4 cup), a pinch of salt, a dash of vanilla, the zest and juice of a clementine, and stir.

Pie dough comes together in a cinch, I’ll share my recipe some other time but it’s pretty close to this. (That butter and water need to be v.v. cold!) Chill in freezer for a few hours after shaping (that’s how I get the crust to keep those pretty ridges). Fill with apple mixture that’s been macerating in the fridge while the dough chilled; top with streusel. Streusel is so easy: 2 parts sugar to 1 part melted butter to 1 part flour, combine and stir with fork. I used brown sugar. Sometimes I add oats, or almond flour, or crushed nuts, just depending on how I feel that day.

Then bake at 375 for ~45 minutes or until the crust is browned. Enjoy.

xoxo

Grocer Girl

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Chicken Mole Pizza: Recipe & Results

We had one unusually sunny Wednesday in Detroit last week, what a relief! It’s been so very cold, and I’m still adjusting to winter as a life-long sunny state resident. Despite the icy conditions it brings, I’m glad for these rays of sunshine. Here’s what I cooked for dinner on that sunny day.

I ad-libbed my way through this pizza, with no recipe for anything but the dough. And it turned out alright! Some tweaks for next time and I think it will be a weeknight favorite, since it really only took an hour start to finish (if you include the dough rise and rest, 2 hours). I used an old recipe I found in my recipe book, above; I think I haven’t made this dough since the early aughts. It’s not my favorite - more bread than pizza - but it has a nice flavor from the honey and wheat mixture, and it worked for a school-cafeteria-french-bread-pizza situation like we had going on that night.

This dough comes together very easily. 1:2 white to whole wheat dough (I used King Arthur Flour’s White Whole Wheat for the ww, so it was pretty soft); a tablespoon of honey softened with a packet of yeast and 1 1/4 cups water (this took a minute to bloom), mix it all together with a small amount of kneading right in the bowl and let it rise in a warm spot. We’re lucky, in that our oven has a proof function, and doughs rise really well in there. You can see my kneading on Instagram - the dough doesn’t get super smooth, since we’re not developing a lot of gluten - but it comes together nicely into a soft, slightly oily ball.

I used the shredded chicken I had remaining from last Sunday night’s roast chicken dinner, and simmered it with a tablespoon of olive oil, a cup of water, and 1/3 cup of mole paste until thicc (I bought mine at Honeybee La Colmena, it’s the Super brand). This fast-and-easy mole does not have the same flavor as you’d get an authentic restaurant, but it’s a good facsimile if you live in the midwest and are cooking on a budget :D Next time I think I’ll add some sugar and spice, as this mole is somewhat bitter and flat; it’s really a base, not a sauce.

I topped my dough (which I just rested, rolled out and stretched - no real kneading and definitely no pizza-tossing) with this chicken mole mixture, about a half cup of regular tomato sauce (I swear if I wasn’t already married I would propose to Ms. Rao, this stuff is that good), some torn mozz and a shower of shaved parm, and finally some sliced serranos for heat. (I might add the peppers after bake next time - they wilted a bit too much for my taste.) Don’t forget to S&P that puppy. 

Here’s the dressed dough before I baked it.

Then into the oven at 450 for about 15 minutes, and we had pizza for dinner. I also made a good salad with baby spinach, the beets I roasted on Sunday, poppyseed dressing. Oh, and some sliced radishes because radishes make everything better, right? No? That’s just me? 

I topped the pizza with some cilantro and a squeeze of lime. The Doctor doesn’t like cilantro, so I got extra. Yum. That bit of freshness goes a long way in winter. Forgive this lackluster plating, we were hungry!

If you’re interested in how much it cost us to make this dinner (4 servings - we’ll eat the rest for #leftoversforlunch), the calc is below.

Chicken Mole Pizza:

Flour (~$0.25/cup) $0.75

Honey $0.25

Yeast $0.43 per packet

Mozz $2.50

Parm $0.10

Chicken $4

Mole paste $0.20

Sauce $0.20

Cilantro $0.20

Serrano pepper $0.05

Total $8.68 ($2.17 per portion)

Salad:

Spinach $0.50

Beets $0.42

Radishes $0.10

Total $1.02 ($0.51 per portion)

Total meal: $3.19 per person

Pretty good eats for pretty minimal cost. *high five*

xoxo Grocer Girl

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#GroceryHaul Week of Jan 14

This week, I had good intentions of getting all of my produce at Eastern Market but when I got there on Saturday it was half closed for an auto show event. Such is life in the #MotorCity, I suppose. There were still a handful of vendors, though most prepared foods or crafts, so I grabbed a few bags of Michigan potatoes and headed out to Meijer for the rest.

I want to keep my grocery dollars in Detroit but I have yet to find a store within 8 mile that I love. It’s mostly party stores, a few independents and just a single Meijer. Even this Meijer, which is at 8 mile is... substandard. So I’ve been heading out to Madison Heights every weekend recently for my shop. I hope this changes soon, I have plans in this area!

I got a few great deals, using my mPerks and hunting for deals on shelf. The store looked great and I had a great time shopping general merch for post-Christmas clearance deals :) 

You can see my Michigan potatoes in back there, one bag of boilers and one of purple. I stocked up on some of my fave cereal from Quaker, some condiments we were low on and unbleached bread flour from King Arthur since I’ve been trying to lose my sourdough training wheels. 

For this week’s meals: I snagged turnip greens as they were the cheapest, freshest greens on the wet rack so I doubled up on 'em, and got some happy bacon to make real simmered greens, my favorite. I got buns for burgers (we have some ground protein in the freezer) and some chips for nachos with The Doctor since she missed out on my lunch nachos last week. I still have quite a few staples from last week’s haul so TBD on the rest of this week’s dinners, but I’m sure we’ll have plenty to choose from.

I think I’m missing some nutrients, because all of the fruit this week! I got some additional ingredients - blackberries, sweetened condensed milk, green beans, Misfits nectarines - to play around with, because they were great price points and looked enticing.  I’m planning on trying to make millionaire’s shortbread since I miss Scotland so much after our trip in November, but I’ve never made a caramel from sweetened condensed milk, so it’ll be an adventure.

Check back tomorrow for this week’s meal plan and some new recipes I’ll be taking for a spin in the kitchen.

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#WhatWeReallyAte: Jan 8-13

Meal prepping and planning is awesome for making sure you’re ready to cook at home every day... but I’m terrible at sticking to a plan! The good thing is, we’re still cooking at home, we’re still making #deliciousandnutritious food and we’re still saving money.

Here’s what we actually ate last week, compared to what we planned!

Monday

Planned: Golden curry with veggies and rice

Actual: Golden curry with veggies and rice! 

Tuesday

Planned: chicken mole enchiladas with beans and salad

Actual: chicken mole pizza (see my last post)

Bonus: I scavenged the leftover mole chicken and made nachos later in the week, yum 

Wednesday

Planned: nothing because it was date night <3

Actual: for brunch, The Dr made us udon noodles with gochujang, fried eggs and sautéed spinach, kinda like Thursday’s plan but swap noodles for ttoek-bokki; for dinner, frozen trashy favorites (this means a whole meal of tater tots for me, #realness, you don’t wanna see pics of that tho)

Thursday

Planned: Ttoek-bokki with spinach, ground beef and gochujang

Actual: I made homemade english muffins that afternoon, so we made lil’ muffin pizzas out of them. Heavy sauce just like we like!

Friday

Planned: Mushroom udon (still searching for a recipe!)

Actual: Steamed rice, soy sauce tofu and wok-sauteéd veggies, wholesome and so #delicious (I also simmered stock all day, with Sunday’s chicken carcass, this day)

Saturday:

Planned: no plan!

Actual: Southwest-style pasta e fagiole using my stock and grilled cheeses

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Making good use of those super affordable pinto beans from Honeybee along with some collard greens I had on hand. 

Beans and Greens Recipe

1# dried beans

A few dried chiles

Bay leaf

Parmesan rind

2 tsp salt

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Olive oil

Add first 6 ingredients, 2 cloves of the garlic, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 8 cups water and cook, covered, until beans are tender (1-2 hours, but depends on your beans age and type).

In a separate pan, sauté celery, onion, and 2 remaining garlic cloves in olive oil with a pinch of salt to soften. Once soft, spoon half beans into pan (smush a few to introduce a creaminess). Cook over medium heat until fragrant; top with 4-6 cups greens. Turn beans and greens over in the pan with tongs until greens are wilted.

Squeeze half a lemon over the top (or stir in a tablespoon of vinegar, if you prefer). Serve with parmesan grated over the top and crushed red pepper or hot sauce to taste.

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For real though. Citrus season and all I have for selection are these sad CaraCaras in a 5 pound bag for five dollars! 

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Mega Meal Plan Jan 8-12

After my epic grocery haul this weekend I took a few days to work out what we’d eat from all that awesome. Then The Doctor asked for Golden Curry so I rejiggered the whole mess! The joy of having a little extra time at home these days means I can do that easily :)

Minimal work ahead this week: yesterday, I spatchcocked and roasted a whole chicken for us for late dinner, and while I had the oven at 400 I also roasted a bunch of other veggies for us to add in over the week. (Check out some pics of this prep on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/grocer_girl_detroit/) 

So for #mealprep we have roasted and ready to cook with:

a few yellow potatoes, small dice

a couple grandpa sweet potatoes, medium dice

a handful of shallots, halved

4 big ole beets, peeled

pinto beans slow cooked with chiles, rosemary and parmesan rind

remaining chicken meat 

chicken carcass

Why these items? The Doctor makes a quick breakfast burrito each morning with cheese, potatoes, eggs and sour cream (and sometimes other veggies if I have a hand in it), so the yellow potatoes are prep for that. The sweet potatoes can be used in a bunch of ways, I didn’t have a plan at the time but tossed them on the baking sheet anyway; shallots, same. I knew I wanted sliced beets to make a quick pickle or serve on salads, so they went in early (took about 2.5 hours to roast these monsters). 

Last but not least, I love to make a whole chicken at the beginning of the week because it goes soooo far (and this week at Meijer it was the cheapest chicken on offer at $1.99/lb, which is awesome). We’ll both eat it for dinner that night, leftovers for The Doctor for lunch the next day, scrap meat into a dinner later that week, and stock. I always make stock, even if I don’t have a plan, and freeze it in quart bags. This way, I have delicious stock for building up a soup or stew, and I never have to spend money on inferior tasting chicken stock at the store.

Monday Jan 8

Breakfast:

Potato & egg burrito for The Dr.

Oatmeal with roasted sweet potatoes (also toasted almonds and cacao nibs, brown sugar and milk, these are #pantrystaples for us)

Lunch: #Leftoversfromlastnight: roast chicken with beans and greens

Dinner: 

Golden curry with carrots, shallots, potatoes and tofu; over steamed rice (I got this new

Sekka rice, can’t wait to try it)

Tuesday Jan 9

Breakfast: same as above Lunch: #leftoversfromlastnight Dinner: Chicken mole enchiladas with pinto beans and salad

This day I plan to make bread, if my sourdough starter revives, so stay tuned. I’ll also make stock so the carcass doesn’t sit too long in the fridge.

Wednesday Jan 10

The Doctor and I have a date, so Wednesday is TBD, we’ll probably eat out.

Thursday Jan 11:

Breakfast & Lunch:

same as Tuesday

Dinner:

Ttoek-bokki with spinach, ground beef and gochujang

Friday Jan 12:

Breakfast & Lunch:

same same

Dinner:

Mushroom udon (I’ve never made this before so I’m actively searching for recipes, please share if you have one!)

Saturday Jan 13: 

Breakfast:

The Doctor would usually make buttermilk pancakes for breakfast on Saturday, but since duty calls, I may make them on my own. Or quick&dirty french toast.

Lunch:

leftover scrounge or PB&J, not sure what we’ll have by then

Dinner:

classic grilled cheese and soup - I have a tetra pack of tomato soup in the pantry, so we may eat that, or make a scratch chicken veg soup since we’ve got stock.

Check back later this week for the reality! #whatwereallyate

xo Grocer Girl

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Can’t wait to try this recipe!

Parotta Recipes (Laccha Paratha (Wheat Parotta), Parotta, Chicken Kothu Parotta) by VentunoHomeCooking

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#groceryhaul full monty! I spent a total of $155.33 at three stores. This is a little more than my budgeted $100 per week, but lots of this will stretch for the next month or more; check out my earlier and later posts with #mealplan deets and #crossshop #pricecomps.

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#groceryhaul @meijer , Honeybee La Colmena and 168 Asian Mart yesterday. Wish more of these stores were within 8 mile!

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Grocery Haul Jan 2018

For the first haul of 2018 I drove all over Detroit for the best deals, enjoying my Saturday afternoon of grocery shopping and stocking up my pantry for what is already proving to be a v. v. cold winter. I shopped at Honeybee La Colmena, 168 Asian Mart, and @meijer.

Honeybee La Colmena: this awesome store in Southwest is a great destination for Mexican pantry staples, and they stock my favorite tortillas in all of Detroit - La Michoacana (they’re made right down the street in Southwest!). 

At Honeybee I purchased: some of those delicious tortillas; produce (spring onions, radishes, bell peppers, a bulb of garlic, a few Serrano peppers, and red beets); our favorite local Calder Dairy milk; and bulk beans. Beans, such an affordable protein, and so much cheaper when you buy in bulk at a store like Honeybee than buying at at conventional market.

Those 5 pounds of beans will last us a while.

Next, I journeyed out to 168 Asian Mart, the largest asian market in Michigan! (according to their website). This place is amazing, seriously, if you haven’t spent a few hours of your life wandering the aisles of a non-traditional market like this one, run, don’t walk, out to 14 mile to see and snack for yourself. I’d been meaning to get out there for a few months because The Doctor has been missing good udon noodles and a selection of legit gochujang for one of our favorite quick dinners, saucy gochujang noodles with fried eggs. So this was a stock-up haul for us (that’s why I was okay going over budget this week).

Chief among the things I loved about 168 Asian Mart was their amazing boba tea bar, ideally positioned right as you walk in. I got the BOSS earl gray (earl gray tea with sugar and milk, grass jelly, and boba (if you like the pearls)(you should like the pearls) to drink while I shopped.

At 168 I purchased: 5 packets of those udon noodles (they keep for months in the fridge), tofu, a few kinds of tteok-bokki (these freeze and keep well also), 15# of new crop rice, good soy sauce, fish sauce, gochujang, some good mushrooms, and bulk spinach and medium sized kabocha squash. 

Those last two items are a great example of why shopping at different markets makes sense for your wallet. For bulk spinach, I saved over half the shelf price for more poundage on this staple that we buy weekly, and the kabocha was at least a 1/4 of the cost of buying a similarly sized winter squash at an American store.

Last but not least, I visited my favorite conventional market, @meijer. You guys are going to hear a LOT about how much I love Meijer’s thrifty acres. You can buy anything there, from Cuties to Tshirts to guns - I literally wander these aisles for relaxation. Unfortunately, we don’t have a Meijer in metro Detroit, so I usually shop at the one at 8 mile, but since I was out in Madison Heights I went to that location. Pretty good selection, minimal out of stocks and great service (as always, love Meijer for that). 

At Meijer I purchased a few of our preferred brand staples, like Seventh Generation TP and Brianna’s poppyseed dressing, since they were on great sale - I’ll often buy more than one of our favorite items when they are discounted, since that saves us money in the long run. I use Meijer’s mPerks for tracking the circular and for coupon clipping, like the King Arthur AP flour I bought ($0.50 off coupon through mPerks). I rounded out the basket with ingredients for this week’s meal plan, including a long loaf of bread and pepper jack for grilled cheese later this week, fresh herbs, frozen veggies, jarred pimentos, lotsa eggs, and a whole chicken.

One of my tried and true #GrocerGirlTricks when I’m shopping items for which I’m not brand loyal (which is most things) is to compare the package styles between private label and national brand. Often, if the packaging style is the same, the private label is manufactured by the national brand - so you can get almost the exact same product for a much lower price. See the comparison examples below of frozen peas - both organic and conventional.

That concludes my shopping adventures for this week. Check out my Instagram account (grocer_girl_detroit) for some snaps while I was in store and exciting things I found on shelf, and more information later this week on #mealplan and what I’m cooking and baking at home for The Doctor.

Happy shopping!

xoxo Grocer Girl