Journal

2012 - Week 37 Cooking

I find Whole Foods to be a mixed bag.  After going the opening day (people were packed in with a crowbar) and then a trip this past weekend to find a decent tomato (two hot house varieties, neither being heirloom, at that's it?) because I ran out of money at the Farmers Market (paid back the $0.50 that Blue Gate discounted me last week) and another trip on Thursday (day off) so Shannon could go without the crowd.

I also find their use of the term ​Local to be odd, from their website:

​While only products that have traveled less than a day (7 or fewer hours by car or truck) can even be considered for “local” designation, most stores have established even shorter maximum distances. Ask a team member for your store’s definition of “local”.

To me, Chicago products shouldn't be counted as local to Des Moines (No offense to my Chicago friends).  In fact, they can almost have South Bend, Indiana listed ​as local (downtown 12 minutes over).

That being said, I'm not unhappy that they are here.  Competition has produced better prices for the consumer (though the smaller margins is not as good for the owner).  I've already noticed some price declines for products that I use occasionally.  They also have a decent looking collection of lamb (which is a pain to find).  Plus a few products that I know that I've had a problem finding in the past (lemongrass, for example).  So it'll be added to the specialty shopping, I have more stuff to try there (I was recommended their bread).  But as an example, Shannon and I went, purchased a few things (lemonade is pretty good), headed home and stopped by La Mie to pick up a ciabatta (to make into bread crumbs).

So my food preference chain has been updated (based on availability​ of products and specialness of meal):

  1. ​The Cheese Shop of Des Moines, La Mie, DTFM
  2. GWM, Hy-Vee (my general shopping is done here)​, Hy-Vee Drugstore (health stuff, Beer, Liquor generally)
  3. Dahls, Whole Foods​

And there's nothing wrong with Dahls, I just like the layout of Hy-Vee better, especially with the tiny Beaverdale Dahl's store.​  Some of this has to do with what I've been used to, or the path I can take home.  GWM is the larges modifications to my path home, The Cheese Shop and La Mie are minor modifications, and Dahl's is a slight overshoot of home, or on the way home if I stop by GWM.  Hy-Vee is because I used to live in Windsor Heights and it's where I like going (a lot of the people know me there).  If they were to build one that was closer (It has been a while since I heard rumblings about the corner of Douglas and Beaver), I'd probably go there.  It looks like I am about equidistance between the one in Windsor Heights and the one on MLK.  Anyways we'll see how it goes.

For this week, we're going to touch back to a few things, and get a bit creative.​