grocery shopping

I do all my fruit and vegetable shopping at SuperHMart/HanAhReum (the local Korean grocery store) now and here's why:

3 pink grapefruit * $1.00/3 = $1.00
4 Sunkist oranges * $1.00/4 = $1.00
4 Granny Smith apples = 1.72 lb * $0.89/lb = $1.53
5 Fuji apples = 2.50 lb * $0.79/lb = $1.98
4% VA Tax = $0.22
Total = $5.73

This is unbeatable -- under six dollars for one week's worth of fruit. (Almost as cheap as the time Alicia and I went produce shopping on a stormy afternoon in San Francisco's Richmond "new Chinatown" District.) Not only is the fruit so much cheaper than at Safeway or Giant, the fruit tastes better too. I don't have all the prices from Safeway to show you, but I know Fuji apples at Safeway are $1.99/lb, over double what SuperH charges. The variety at the Korean grocer is also much wider (in terms of variety of items and quantity of each item) compared to Safeway. However, I suggest going only at night to avoid the ridiculous crowds during the day and to avoid having your ankle jammed by an aggressive shopper's cart.

In terms of a fun food shopping experience though (removing cost as a factor), I think Whole Foods in Clarendon wins the award. I went there with crhino on Saturday morning to get a Jamba Juice (only the Whole Foods in Clarendon has a Jamba Juice in it) and we roamed around the store trying out all the samples: wine, bread, spinach and feta dip, salsas, about six cheeses, some fruit, and some herbal elixir that looked like it should have been sold out of the back of a Conestoga wagon. Everything in Whole Foods looks quality, the fruit and vegetables, the meat, the food bar, the dried goods, and even the shoppers (who made me look terribly out of shape). Of course, we walked out with just our Jamba Juice because if we actually shopped there, we wouldn't be able to make our rent payment. Sometimes it is worth it though, as their bakery and sushi is awesome. The sushi at Whole Foods Clarendon is made by chefs from Sushi-Ko, who've been in Glover Park (sometimes called Upper Georgetown) since 1976, and in my opinion has some of the best sushi in Washington... try the tuna sashimi there if you ever go, as I sat there at the dinner table stunned for about five minutes at how amazing it tasted.