Shopping Fancy at the Ghetto Kroger

I live in a working class neighborhood. The houses are modest. The cars are practical, and most pools you see are inflatable. I absolutely love it: lots of families grilling out, lots of neighbors waving, lots of dogs being walked. It's a fantastic community.

Another wonderful thing about my neighborhood is there are four grocery stores within a 3 mile radius. There's the international grocery store; the bargain basement/questionable produce/don't buy the meat store; the fancier upscale store; and the ghetto Kroger. I spend time at all of them, but the ghetto Kroger is my favorite for being a vegan on a budget.

The ghetto Kroger is massive, but its health food section is not. In other parts of the city, you'll find sprawling displays of gluten free, vegan, or dairy free food. You'll find prepared meals and frozen veggie burritos. The ghetto Kroger has one small cooler with veggie burgers and soy milk and not much else. Not a lot of vegans shop there, I don't imagine. (The meat coolers, however, go on for miles.) At first I was frustrated by this. I thought I'd have to travel across town to Whole Foods or Trader Joes to find food for me. Oh man, was I wrong.

Here's the thing I love about the ghetto Kroger: fancy overpriced vegetables! Why? Because no one buys them. It's not the kind of neighborhood that $7 portabello mushroom caps are gonna fly off the shelves. I certainly wouldn't buy them, and I don't blame others for not touching them either. This situation makes for an abundance of Manager's Special clearance stickers.

On a recent trip, I found pre-seasoned brussels sprouts for $1.99, sliced portabellos for $2.49, and organic spring mix for 89 cents! The regular bulk produce is rarely on clearance (except for mushy bananas, woot!), but I always check the display cases where premium produce is kept. Pre-diced onions, celery, and carrots are always on sale. Last week, I found baby carrots and sugar snap peas on sale for a dollar. Items that weren't in my budget before are now prize dinner items.

I always check the health food shelves also. Ground flaxseed is almost always on clearance, as well as quinoa. So, that's today's advice, kids. Go to the grocery store in a meat-and-potatoes neighborhood to scan the fancy shelves with one pinkie up and one eye out for those Manager's Special stickers.