We love Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods stores. We had them in Sacramento and in Albuquerque. We purchased much of our total grocery items at Trader Joe’s and supplemented from regular grocery stores. At Whole Foods (or whole paychecks), we only could get several items we liked. the produce is fantastic, but you can pay $3 for a head of cauliflower when you can one at Smith’s for $1.50 or lower.
One of our favorites at Whole foods is the challah bread with raisins – a big round loaf for $4.99. We’d have it every day, slicing off pieces until it was gone. Another was Zen party mix – Asian crackers with almonds and peanuts – in the bulk foods section. I’d eat these in my art room only while creating collages. It’s funny the little scenes you make up in order to begin painting. We’d also buy chocolate bars – the dark chocolate with the higher cacao content. Sometimes we’d get shrimp – about a quarter of a pound and have that for dinner. I loved their macaroni salad in the read-to-eat section. They used to make some squash and pumpkin soup that was great in the winter, but they discontinued it.
So it is with anticipation that we set out yesterday to go to Atlanta to visit our favorite stores. Well, Costco was closed for the 4th of July – HUH? Oh well, we found a Whole Foods and they do not make macaroni salad or challah bread. No Zen mix either. But we did have lunch there and I had a Classic Tuna Fish Salad Wrap – delish and Mike had a cheese calzone with tomato sauce on the side. We were stuffed.
We then found Trader Joes after a long search – it’s really hidden in a fancy shopping center. Here’s a list:
- Birds Nest veggies – No
- Our brand of veggie burgers – No
- Puffins cereal – Yes
- Pomegranate tea – Yes
- Ice tea lemonade – No
- Frozen chicken strips – No
- Two-buck Chuck – yes, but it’s 3-buck chuck (wine)
Oh well, I hate to see what Costco does not ship here. I need my veggie burgers! so it’ll be a path to getting substitutes, but there are a lot of farmers markets here and good grocery stores. Publix is very expensive, but it does have great red potato salad I love. In fact, it’s time for lunch right now!
Filed under: Writing & Other Creative Endeavors
