chgoeditor

In part, I'm always jealous of what I call "suburban grocery stores" -- i.e., stores where you don't feel like a sardine. Wegman's definitely fits that category -- I read a stat that their typical store is 80,000 to 120,000 square feet. (Though we're getting more city grocery stores -- Mariano's and flagship Whole Foods -- that are 75,000 to 80,000 square feet, which is large by city standards.) I also like that Wegman's seems to have both "everyday" groceries and upscale stuff. For example, I can buy a $30 a pound cheese and a case of Diet Coke. At WF I can only buy the cheese, and at most other Chicago grocery stores, I can't buy the upscale cheese but can by the soda.

Wawa: Coffee and sandwiches!

Mary2e

Keep in mind that while Wegman's is huge... there are ALOT of people in it and it feels like it's much smaller.

Agree about the upscale stuff, but after a few years, much of it disappeared leaving only the items they sold a lot of. They've also replaced a lot of the national brands with their own brand, leaving ordinary groceries limited to only a few brands.

I would say 1/3 of the store is dedicated to prepared food and take out.

As for coffee... would you like some of the ground or beans version? I'm not 100% certain they sell it, but will gladly check for you. I never buy their sandwiches - there's an Italian deli across the street that I think is far superior

chgoeditor

That's not always bad. Mariano's, which is our local version of Roundy's, actually has great in-store brands.

No need! (My Mom's actually in Ocean County.) I'm not a coffee aficionado, but appreciate being able to pop into a convenience store while on longer trips and getting a decent cup where Starbucks doesn't exist.

Yeah, no doubt a real Italian deli is superior! My extended family did a house rental at the Shore last summer, and the first full day we were there I dragged my cousins to the best-rated Italian deli within walking distance and got a huge sub for $6 that could have (and probably did) feed three people. Growing up eating Jersey subs (to me, it's a sub if it's cold, hero if it's hot and hoagie if I'm talking to my dad, who's from PA) I know that no chain version really compares but Wawa does a solid job for what they offer. And they have the right kind of jersey sub roll -- sort of squishy but not soggy and just the right amount of sweetness to the bread.

(To take this even further OT: I don't really eat "regular" sandwiches. Never grew up with a mom who made PB&J, though I do recall the occasional open-faced havarti melted on pumpernickel. I probably eat one hamburger a year, and only if I've been day drinking starting at 8 am before a football game. Once a summer I'll made a BLT that probably costs me $15 in ingredients -- the freshest sun-warmed tomato, best loaf of gourmet bread I can buy, small-batch bacon, fresh-from-the-farm lettuce, etc. The last "hot dog" I had was about four years ago and was actually a foie gras dog on a pretzel bun. I do have a weakness for the pavot poulet from Paul in France and England. Anyway, I was thrilled a week or two ago when I convinced Mr. CE to go get us take out bahn mi sandwiches from a place that bakes the most perfect Vietnamese baguettes onsite. It was a miracle because he always swore he didn't eat bahn mi, but eventually admitted he'd never actually had one. And then a couple days later he suggested going to pick up a couple more! So that's a very long tangent about the fact that I'm a complete sandwich outlier but every once in a while a great sandwich gets to me!)3

milepig

We've been through three rounds of Home Chef.

In the first incarnation they had you using every pot and pan in the kitchen for every individual step. I found ways around this and sent them messages every time.

This got better and instructions now routinely say things like "reuse the pan no need to clean."

Stage two ended late last fall with a flurry of rotten ingredients and just general low quality stuff especially protein. Also sizing problems, for 2 portions we'd get 2 chicken breasts one three times the size of the other.

We took a break for weeks, and we must have not been alone as they wanted us back promising better. We're now getting fresh produce and in general higher quality ingredients. They also have further thought the pan situation and I'm using even fewer.

The recipes do get a bit repetitious but I can usually find 2 meals to select.

The trick for us is to spend a few minutes to prep everything before starting. Otherwise things can get hectic. Instructions are clear and mostly work, I do make adjustments to the order to avoid long pause. Most times I just need my own salt, pepper, and olive oil - lots of olive oil.

The ongoing issue for me is the incredibly wasteful packaging - pounds and pounds of it. But I'm not sure what other options to keep or cold exist.

Forget supermarket cheese. Even WF has little taste or personality. Pastorale on Broadway is not far from you and head and shoulders better.

gfunkdave

Oooh I'd forgotten about Pastorale! That place is great.

chgoeditor

Great cheese, lousy parking And sadly, Binny's near me got rid of its cheese counter, too. I didn't spend much time there, but finally got to the new WF on Ashland...at a glance, their cheese counter looks impressive!

United747

The Marianos at Broadway and Wellington has a pretty impressive cheese counter. I haven't made it to Pastoral yet since moving.

I should maybe put this in the vent thread in OMNI, but the Hello Fresh people have been out in force near the Belmont L stop trying to get people to sign up.

kipper

I cooked our two Plated meals today, packing them up for lunches. We decided that was the best way to use them, as we weren't going to use them for dinners, due to the prep time.

chgoeditor

How did you like the recipe and quality? A friend just sent me a coupon for a free box, and I haven't redeemed it yet, but from the reviews I've read, Blue Apron and Plated are generally regarded as the two offering the most gourmet of all dishes.

I've noted above that one thing I enjoy about Blue Apron is that it's introducing us to some exotic ingredients we hadn't previously cooked with. There is a downside to that: This weekend I tried to find freekah, pink lemons and labneh at Mariano's, which as I mentioned is one of our larger chains with a fairly large mix of more exotic ingredients. While they sell a frozen, prepared freekah dish, they didn't have the uncooked grain, nor did they have pink lemons or labneh -- all ingredients I needed to recook some BA dishes. For lemons, we'll just substitute regular or meyer lemons, but off to Whole Foods next in hopes of finding freekah and labneh (which I can make from Greek yogurt if necessary).

GUWonder

Just curious as I want to supply food for some visitors, but any recommendation about which of these meal delivery kit options may work out better for feeding fussy children?

gfunkdave

My parents are semi-fussy and like Home Chef a lot. Several of the services (including HOme Chef) let you select the meals you want from a list of ~5-10 options that change weekly.

kipper

Mr. Kipper tried one of the meals for lunch today. His comment was, "I don't care if it was free, I want my money back."

chgoeditor

Good to know!

For those who are Blue Apron subscribers: We just made the Taiwanese-style chicken and loved it. I was expecting it to be boring, but it was excellent...definitely one we'll repeat.

kipper

Mr. Kipper tried the second meal today and said that it was better than the first. Barely an improvement, but edible.

gfunkdave

What were they? Why didn't he like them?