Speaking of cooking shows, here's a great bunch of French Alpine recipes from Laura Calder

They're the highest priced store over here in Greensboro. I much prefer going to EarthFare, a local

health food market - Better inventory, better prices, and better vibes.
I also prefer Harris Teeter and Fresh Market over Whole Foods - actually any store is better than Whole Foods, as far as I'm concerned.

No matter which Whole Foods I've ever gone into in various cities, it's always had cold vibes - not so much from the employees, but from the customers. The overall atmosphere is a real drag, EarthFare has a much better selection of health food items, at least the ones I buy on a regular basis, plus very friendly vibes, both from the employees and the customers. They just opened a Whole Foods here in April, and I went there once - that was enough. Ugh. They're so overrated. Just one example of their overpriced items - They were selling filet mignon for $30.00 a lb, and it wasn't even Prime. Ridiculous.

 
I checked out the 365 Brand, and it was still not priced well, compared to

the other stores here. In a way, I'm glad - I won't have any reason to shop there!

 
I have my eye on the Potee, when the weather cools down. It was served with the Bertoud cheese dish.

We have to plan our winter dishes carefully here because winter lasts about a week and a half.

 
Butter is cheaper at WF than TJ's here. And WF's has organic that TJ's doesn't so can't compare

Last year a friend who shops only at WF and insisted they weren't as expensive as I made them out to be, resulted in me doing a head to head comparison on about 10 basic foods. I compared 3 stores: Safeway, WF, and TJ's (wish I could find that darn list to share). I was surprised that WF often came in with the lowest or 2nd to lowest price except on meat, which was really high, but also often organic/grass fed/etc that one couldn't compare.

Prepared foods/middle aisle type foods, yes, more expensive/more expensive brands, but on staples, not so much after all.

 
For me, the "whole paycheck" reference means that there's so much cool stuff, I want everything!

I find some things there are price competitive, others not. I shop there mostly because when I'm tackling a recipe, usually they'll have any unusual ingredients I need. BUT, as with both Whole Foods and Trader Joes...I always end up going to a "normal" grocery store too.

 
Yeah, there are certain things that only Whole Foods has. Like rye flour, green lentils,

white chocolate for baking, etc. Their fish is not cheap but it is always of excellent quality.

 
In which city did you go to CM? There's one here in SA, I love going there, but it's not in a very

convenient location. The upside is they have all those hard to find ingredients. I finally found the Diamond Crystal 3 lb box of salt there, after thinking I was going to have to go to Austin to get it.

I lived in Austin when the very first Central Market opened and really grieved when we moved to Florida a year or so later. We stopped there on the way out of town to stock up on a lot of stuff, including herbs,spices and chiles. Every trip back meant a trip to Central Market.

I've wondered why they haven't expanded more, the SA store is always packed and it's difficult to find a parking space. With Whole Foods building another store and Trader Joes moving in, I'd think CM would want a bigger piece of the pie.

 
Their fish guy refused to sell me mussels once, saying, "They shouldn't even be on display."

They were past their prime and he knew it. I've always found their meat/fish guys particularly helpful.

 
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