Anonymous wrote:I can't shop at Giant. They treat their employees like crap, worse than at any other chain. Talk to them privately and you'll never want to shop there again. We shop at Safeway, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but will not set foot in a Giant.

Giant employees are unionized. So if they have grievances, is their union not stepping up to the plate?

They all suck but there is nothing better. The organic stores are processed foods too, just with and organic word slapped on the box. Do not kid yourself in thinking they are better. We do not do organic because of cost.

I can't shop at Giant. They treat their employees like crap, worse than at any other chain. Talk to them privately and you'll never want to shop there again. We shop at Safeway, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but will not set foot in a Giant.

Anonymous wrote:Wegmans is better than all of them. By far!!!

I'd love wegmans but they are so far all still too far out. Giant is consistently better for us than Safeway but ymmv with individual stores.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with OP Safeway and Giant sell nearly rotten industrial meat. With the exception of Arlington Blvd, their stores are horrible.

Do you honestly think that the store on Arlington Blvd gets special shipments of food and are somehow any different from the other locations??

If you don't want to buy processed crap, avoid the middle. Duh. Like ANY of those stores aren't full of processed foods!

Wegmans is better than all of them. By far!!!

I love Giant. True, it's overpriced, but this is DC. I love their produce. Sometimes it's actually better than Whole Foods. The meat is more variable, but it's sure better than Safeway.

I don't shop at Giant generally and there is one .2 miles from my house. For someone who likes to eat organic there just isn't that much there for me.

I prefer Roots.

...then what will Giants eat?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stores stock based on what people buy.

Where I live, there's a MOMs and a Giant. Guess who does better business? Giant.

Why? MOMs is expensive. Their produce especially. And they have actually less variety in produce than Giant. And honestly, they stock just as many processed foods. They just market them as healthy.

You do understand why MOMs and organic markets generally carry less produce, right? It's because they tend to not carry things that are no in season or produced locally. So yes, Giant has plenty of produce grown in Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand, etc. And organic produce tends to not look as "nice" as genetically engineered produce that is waxed and polished before coming off the crate weeks ago.

But I do agree that all of these places stock plenty of processed crap.

Serious question - what exactly is being locally grown in Dec, Jan and Feb?

In the Washington metro foodshed--the agricultural area within a 1.5-2 hour drive--at this time of year I've found (at market) greens of all varieties, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, radishes, beets, celeriac, turnips, brussel sprouts, chestnuts, mushrooms. You can also get local meats and dairy year round.

Anonymous wrote:Stores stock based on what people buy.

Where I live, there's a MOMs and a Giant. Guess who does better business? Giant.

Why? MOMs is expensive. Their produce especially. And they have actually less variety in produce than Giant. And honestly, they stock just as many processed foods. They just market them as healthy.

I find Wegmans to be too much like Whole Foods. Everyone tells me they are "cheaper than Giant or Safeway," but that hasn't been my experience at all. I also don't believe they're any healthier. They seem to have just as much high calorie, high fat items. Again, they're just marketed differently. I also think that Wegmans tries to do too many things. They almost remind me of those super Walmarts, with all kinds of different sections. Of course, they're more upscale.

I've never tried Aldi. I do like Trader Joe's, but they don't meet all of my grocery needs, so a trip there always means a trip to another grocery store to get the things they don't have. But I do feel like I get a lot for the money I spend at Trader Joe's.

Well over a decade ago, I used to live near a little tiny independent grocery store. That was actually my favorite. They had everything I needed, reasonably priced. They didn't have all the bells and whistles, but my shopping experience was always fast, pleasant, and reasonably priced.

10:33 here.

Again, I mostly buy store brand for staples and Wegmans is so much cheaper than Giant/Safeway. For example, 15 oz canned veggies are 49 cents at Wegmans. Giant has them between 79 to 99 cents. Last month I got 28 oz cans of TuttoRosso whole tomatoes on sale for 99 cents (iirc regular price is 1.39). I've always wanted to try them but would never buy them from Giant because they're around 1.99 their. Wegman's brand pasta is 79 cents; Giants is usually 99 cents. Milk at Wegman's was around 3.39. I could go on and on. I also love the way they package their meat so that each piece in a pack is indvidually shrink wrapped. I can chuck it wholesale into the freezer and cut off as much I need as I go.

Aldi is owned by the same company as Trader Joe's but I'm not sure if there's a lot of overlap. They're selection is a lot smaller, but in my experience it's a good bargain. They also have seasonal things that are there until they sell out. It's also very no frills: they've always been a bring your own bag store, and you have to rent carts for a quarter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stores stock based on what people buy.

Where I live, there's a MOMs and a Giant. Guess who does better business? Giant.

Why? MOMs is expensive. Their produce especially. And they have actually less variety in produce than Giant. And honestly, they stock just as many processed foods. They just market them as healthy.

You do understand why MOMs and organic markets generally carry less produce, right? It's because they tend to not carry things that are no in season or produced locally. So yes, Giant has plenty of produce grown in Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand, etc. And organic produce tends to not look as "nice" as genetically engineered produce that is waxed and polished before coming off the crate weeks ago.

But I do agree that all of these places stock plenty of processed crap.

Serious question - what exactly is being locally grown in Dec, Jan and Feb?

Greens, squash, broccoli, potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips, beets, apples...not as wide a variety as warmer months but plenty of options.

I agree with OP Safeway and Giant sell nearly rotten industrial meat. With the exception of Arlington Blvd, their stores are horrible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about we focus the energy on educating people about good food choices and increase the community gardens by 50 percent each year. Reclaim vacant land in the city and plant, plant, plant. Detroit is doing just that and other cities are too.

God, you give liberals a bad name. First of all, where is all this vacant space in DC? Second of all, people struggling with two jobs and kids DON'T HAVE TIME TO GARDEN. Third of all, poor people struggling with jobs and kids don't need just education, they need $$ and time to eat well. None of this is going to be solved by freakin' community gardens.

You have time to garden. If you have time to write all the crap you do on this site, you have time to garden. Just get your life organized and prioritize.