Shopping at regular supermarkets

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:33 am

Where do you do your food shopping? Do you shop at regular supermarkets such as stop and shop, ShopRite, pathmark, etc.. Or do you only shop at kosher supermarkets only? The reason why I'm asking is because I find myself very uncomfortable shopping at stores like ShopRite and I only shop at the kosher supermarkets. However, when my husband goes shopping, he'll primarily go to stop and shop or shoprite. My husband thinks that it's very unhealthy that I only feel comfortable in the kosher supermarkets. I just wanted to know where others shop because I don't know, maybe I'm wierd for being so uncomfortable in regular supermarkets.

groovy1224

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:37 am

I shop at both. The prices on some items (canned goods, national brand items, cereal, etc) is way cheaper at non kosher gorcery stores.

Why are you uncomfortable??

pesek zman

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:51 am

Why are you uncomfortable?

I do 95% of my shopping for food at regular supermarkets. I do 100% of my clothing shopping at regular stores. No discomfort here

mommyhood

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:55 am

I do a lot of my shopping in regular stores like Costco, Target, Shoprite and the farmers market. It saves me a fortune on toiletries and many groceries like pasta, cereal, canned goods, flour. I also shop in kosher stores since it's more convenient and things like meat/chicken/fish/dairy aren't available in regular stores but if I shopped there exclusively my food bill would go way up.

I'm not sure what is uncomfortable for you? I'm always meeting other frum people at regular stores. There is one store nearby that isn't in the nicest neighborhood and attracts a less than ideal crowd so I go a bit further for a nicer clientele.

mha3484

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 11:02 am

I get the majority of my staple items at Trader Joes. I usually go twice a month and get most of my kids snacks, pantry items like pasta, rice, beans, quinoa, nut butter, jelly, frozen fruit and veggies,. nut milk etc. Even the empire chicken and ground turkey is cheaper then my large kosher store.

I go to my local chain store that has a huge kosher section for items like yogurt, cheese milk etc. I save so much money this way.

gingleale

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 11:20 am

I prefer the regular stores (Shoprite, Costco, Walmart and Trader Joes) to the kosher stores. Selection is better and staples are way cheaper than the kosher places. I use the kosher stores for hard to find items and chicken/meat.

dankbar

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 11:46 am

Buy in BJ's club all paper stuff like paper towel, tissues, silver paper, garbage bags etc & toiletries, detergents.
Buy in bulk & save lot of money.
Also would buy like Gatorade or bottled water but not much more in food, as we use mostly only heimishe hechsheirim.

exhausted

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 12:01 pm

I shop a lot in regular stores for all my non-food items, so much cheaper. I also use Amazon subscribe and save, shop online at Target and Walmart.

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:49 pm

I can't really pin point what makes me so uncomfortable. I'm just so used to shopping at kosher supermarkets and with other Jews. I really don't see so many frum Jews at ShopRite. I guess not shopping with other frum Jews makes me very uncomfortable. I know that seems weird but I can't seem to shake that feeling when I'm in a regular supermarket. I guess I just feel more comfortable around other frum Jews. My husband thinks that it's really bad that I live in a bubble but I can't seem to help it. I also find it really uncomfortable having to look for hechshers and not be able to just grab anything off the shelves.

mig100

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 8:20 pm

I basically only shop at kosher supermarkets. I'm al ways afraid I'll come home with something not kosher if I do otherwise

icebreaker

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 8:23 pm

There are no kosher supermarkets by me. I go to Costco, BJs, other regular supermarkets. For meat and something specific, I make the trek to the nearest kosher store.

singleagain

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 9:37 pm

mig100 wrote:

I basically only shop at kosher supermarkets. I'm al ways afraid I'll come home with something not kosher if I do otherwise

Please note through no one's fault... A non kosher food item can end up on the shelf in the kosher supermarket. For instance Chobanu makes a seasonal yogurt. Maybe the pumpkin is fine, but the gingerbread isn't. Yet, it's the same item that gets ordered.

Or perhaps the supermarkets accidently got a case of meat tomato sauce instead of mushroom and it also ended up on the shelf.

Or maybe you don't like that hechsher but th other is ok.

Or this product suddenly switched to real cheese instead of synthetic and now it's dairy.

moral of the story ALWAYS LOOK.

singleagain

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 9:39 pm

RW wrote:

Everyone today is so careful to look for vegan/gluten/nuts etc... I'm sure no one is thinking twice about your examination of the package.

Cheiny

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:18 pm

RW wrote:

He says it’s unhealthy? What’s unhealthy about it?

DrMom

Tue, Mar 19 2019, 1:31 am

What exactly is the concern?

Do you think people are staring at you?

Thinking badly about you?

Does this happen in other settings with non-Jews (walking down the street, going to work, taking a public bus) or just supermarkets?