A guide on grocery shopping in Usa for Indian buyers

USA is the home of supermarkets. You will rarely find separate small shops for grocery, household or clothing as in India. And after a lot of experience of buying things from these supermarkets, I am sharing my views here.

Grocery from Fry’s(Kroger)

Website : https://www.frysfood.com/products/start-my-cart(You can view the products entering sample zip code-85029)

Vegetables

This was our favorite grocery store in Phoenix, Arizona. The greens available there were usually fresh. As you enter this market, you will find the vegetables on the left if they have not changed the sequence. You can choose between the organic and normal ones. Organic ones usually cost very high and normal ones work well. We used to buy veggies like spinach, bell peppers, green chili, cucumber, broccoli, lettuce, mushrooms, green beans, cauliflower from here .You can make a lot of Indian veg recipes from them using potato. But please make sure you do not buy a lot of them. Buy as much as you will really need because it can prove costly. They also have packed salad, carrots etc. if interested . You can find turnips, brinjal(eggplant), okra(Bhindi) occasionally. If you found them, then your tour to Indian supermarket for grocery is saved.

We also used to buy ginger, garlic from Fry’s as per our need. They have good quality of these products. For potatoes, you will find a little sack of russet potatoes (10 lb) lying there. There are a variety of potatoes with confusing names in USA. We usually buy this one .Tomatoes by the name- “organic on the vine” are best to buy but can prove little costly. You can buy the other ones also as there is hardly any difference in taste. The former last longer.

Dairy

We used to purchase full-fat milk cans from here whenever we need a single can or a two. We prefer organic ones. There are a lot of cheese varieties available. You can try each one of them. But we preferred to buy Mexican Four cheese shredded one. This one, when put in garlic bread and when grilled tastes wonderful. Sometimes we bought pepper jack cheese slices also for a change just to eat raw. Buying cheese is little difficult as every single of them tastes different. I remember buying Velveeta cheese bar occasionally. 

For butter, we preferred to buy Land-O-Lakes Salted one and sometimes Kerry gold pure Irish butter. Believe me, your money is spent good . For yoghurt, we preferred to take simple truth plain Greek yoghurt. There are flavored ones available too. But it depends on your taste.

For bread, we used to buy Dave’s Killer Organic one but better buy it from Costco. As you can get two in the price of one.

Dips, Spreads

So, we usually buy hummus either from fry’s or from Costco. Other favorite one is Bakery Fresh Goodness Garlic Spread that we usually buy with the Sourdough bread. Sometimes I have bought Guacamole also but do not prefer to buy it because homemade is best. Moreover, they only last for two days once opened. There is this dip we loved by the name Spinach Artichoke. Try them with nachos or chips and you will thank me later. You can opt for whatever brand you like.

Fruits

In apples, prefer Gala ones. Buying Avocados was frequent for us. For oranges, prefer seedless mandarins. There is a huge variety of apples and oranges and a lot among them tastes not good specially as per Indian expectations, so pick wisely. Other than that, there are usual bananas, watermelons, pears easily distinguished. Also grapes, berries all types of them are available every season at discounted price.

Remember this grocery market can prove costly if you buy things in bulk.

Grocery from Costco

Website: https://www.costco.com(You can view the products entering sample zip code-85029)

Costco is a wholesale supermarket for grocery. About some things you already know that they will be needed in large quantity and of supreme quality, prefer purchasing it from here. We used to go once a month on an average. You have to take the paid membership to shop here. Let us take oil for an example, you can get a 2 litres olive oil bottle for approximately 1000 Rs. And that will not end anytime soon. Huge pack of snack bars are there available at a genuine price. Then there are organic pumpkin seeds, flax seeds available in very good quality and taste. But this was not our regular buying product.

I remember buying dry fruit from there only. For example, cashews whole pack of 1 kg costs near about 1250 Rs. We prefer buying them once in every 3 months on an average. Also, they have dried dates which are super yum in taste. We got addicted to them. Then comes the sugar, we used to buy a sack of Kirkland organic sugar (5 kg approx.) at 800 Rs.

Quaker oats of 2.2 kg are available at 800 Rs. You can get huge cans of peanut butter, jams, Nutella, mayonnaise, spreads at a very genuine price. But we do not prefer to take these from here as these are difficult to finish and can be boring sometimes because of the same flavor lasting longer. For these, we prefer Fry’s.

Then I would like to suggest you buying laundry detergent from here only. A Tide Pack with size 4.25Kg is sold at 1500 Rs. Then you can get a pack of 3 or more all–purpose cleaners for your house at a discounted price. During the corona times, I remember buying Clorox wipes to just sanitize everything. We used to buy a huge cart of paper towels and toilet rolls from there. All these things are very economical to buy from Costco. Trash bags also come in bulk here, so grab them too.

The milk cans we talked about earlier, yes the organic ones are available in Costco as well. Here is a cart of three cans are available at a discounted price.We prefer buying it from here whenever we are visiting Costco for grocery.

 Other than buying things in bulk, you can shop for some good quality clothes available at cheap prices. I remember buying my first denim shorts from there. You can purchase good quality casual wear from here. Just they are not trendy stuff but basic ones.

Grocery from Walmart

Website: https://www.walmart.com/blocked?url=Lw==&uuid=5d97999d-2088-11ec-b2c3-6b655a696577&vid=&g=b

Except the things I mentioned above, we prefer buying everything else from Walmart. As the price here is less comparatively. You can buy any kind of décor, household essentials, undies, clothes, electronics and the quality is not bad. Then comes the furniture, stationary, grooming stuff, sports and industrial equipment. What it means is everything except food we prefer to buy from Walmart. It is our personal choice. There are a lot of people who buy their grocery from Walmart. But we had just some bad experiences regarding the quality of food in there.We used to visit Walmart only when there was a requirement of above mentioned things.

Grocery from Dollar Tree

Website : https://www.dollartree.com/

These are like not too big stoes but have a lot of things in small quantities. You can buy anything here at nearly $1 price. A lot of people buy food, candy and drinks from here, but we have never bought any such stuff. You can find makeup and wellness products lying there. Then there are bath and body supplies, cleaners and toilet paper. I would not recommend buying these products from here as you will find a cheaper price but poor quality. I once researched about them and found how they cut the quality of the products to cut price. So buy these products if you are in worst economic condition only. It can affect your health. 

Although there are some products which you can purchase from here. I like to paint occasionally so I would buy my art and craft supplies from there. It does not matter to me if the quality of the item is poor. You can buy toys, books, puzzles, games from here for a formality gift or if your kid just want a new thing every week. I also remember buying home décor like candles or fake flowers from here as it is quite cheap. Party supplies like birthday caps, cards and stuff are also worth buying. I liked their kitchen liners as well. I mean buy only those things if quality can be compromised.

Indian stores

Website: https://lotusindianmarket.com/

Now what to buy from an Indian store. We have not talked about the :-

• Lentils without which it is hard to survive for an Indian. Hence, this is the place for you to go for.
• Mustard oil
• Indian utensils like the chakla/velna for making chapatis, pressure cooker and other steel stuff even you can find the festive thalis(plates) here also.
• Veggies like brinjal, okra and other seasonal vegetables like bottle gourd, pumpkin etc.
• Green chilies like in India are only found here but we were ok with the Fry’s one.
• Sweets available occasionally like jalebi.
• Oils, soaps, lotions from Indian brands.
• Indian pooja(prayer) accessories.
• Patanjali products are occasionally available.
• Breakfast stuff like poha, vermicelli and other instant cooking material.
• Indian spices are all available here even including the tejpatta or kadi patta.
• Wheat Flour– We also used to purchase wheat flour from here but as we moved to Indiana, wheat flour was available in Costco as well.
• Dairy like Amul ghee,paneer as well.

A lot of items vary on change in location.Let me know in the comments your views and experience as well.

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