1606 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

Is your scoop safe? Even if not, way to go aastra.

[aastra]

 

Things we would never have chosen arrived as "alternatives".

 

The alternative thing was working well at the beginning, but when you start receiving two bottles of Worcestershire sauce instead of a double Worcester cheese you know something is amiss. In my last order I received San Pellegrino and a cantaloupe instead of a watermelon.

 

Maybe the order forms should have a checkbox for "alternative alternatives"? Dear order packers: you know that questionable alternative that you were going to include? Try to find an alternative for that. You probably couldn't do any worse.

[Rob Randall]

Please tell me that's a true story.

[aastra]

I'm exaggerating ever so slightly, as per my habit. I'm sure everyone is doing their best. If the warehouse is mostly full of canned creamed eels and crates of giant jackfruit then I understand there will be some pressure to be more flexible re: the interpretation of the orders.

[aastra]

Seriously though, I have had a couple of WTF moments. And then you review the packing sheet and you laugh and say, "Oh, I see what they did with that. Bravo."

[rmpeers]

I'm not going to admit it's not a great value but I will point out there's a peacock missing from Beacon Hill Park.

Christ its a good thing you're not currently running for office. In the current toxic climate you'd be publicly shamed for that innocent joke. "Beleaguered Randall campaign issues apology to Chinese community."

[zoomer]

So just came back from this Oak Bay Junction new grocery store - Urban Grocer.

Nice and clean inside of course being a new store, nicely displayed food, nice spacing in aisles, although no Covid direction markers. Bigger than Reb Barn on Oak Bay Ave, but not by much to be honest.. maybe 25% bigger at most. Prices actually seem to be a little above Market on Yates, very few deals, except $1.99 on red peppers right now, but the produce is hand picked to ensure nothing there looks like its about to go off.

Other than those positives I hate to say it reminds me of a large corner store.. and maybe these urban grocery stores are just that. Very boring selection of products, just the basics, nothing where you say ‘man I gotta try to that!’. Deli and meat section is small. Not a lot of local specialities but that’s to be expected, they don’t have the buying power or history of a Market or Red Barn. Even the outside looks boring.. walking by I wouldn’t be enticed to go in at all, unlike say the Red Barn. Even if they went with a nice large font sign, or individual letters beyond the one they have there. Heck even that little corner store in Fernwood looks gorgeous from the outside. So, yah won’t be going there again, unless I happen to be at Vessel Liquor store and need some limes. Attached some pics original size for your viewing pleasure.

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[mbjj]

At least they sell Kleenex, unlike Root Cellar, lol. Still too far to walk though.

 

As far as the alternatives, I was unable to eat anything whole grain, and they gave me that instead of plain white. We gave it away.

[Redd42]

Walked up to the Urban Grocer this evening. Definitely more of a mini regular grocery store. Felt like a cross between the Fairway in Oak Bay village and the Market on Yates. They do have the full grocery store selection. Shelves are packed high to get it all in there.

 

Would agree the prices were on the high side.

 

Did get a nice chunk of rare roast beef so that will probably having me going back. Thrifty's has been cooking theirs to dust for quite a few years now.

[zoomer]

Actually that Fairways in Oak Bay comparison is a good comparison in terms of the grocery selection, but a bit less variety. Also did get a good steak for a decent price. Also reminded me of the standard selection you’d see in a Safeway in the late 1970s. So some people might love it actually, straight forward provisions.

Edited by zoomer, 18 October 2020 - 09:38 PM.

[kxl]

So just came back from this Oak Bay Junction new grocery store - Urban Grocer.

Thanks for the review. Good to know they carry ziploc bags (and not just any food-safe plastic storage bags), that they put it on their sign

[cfbnp200e]

They also have a counter serving 2% Jazz Coffee and baked goods from local bakeries (including the Dutch Bakery). Right across from a quick-serve cooler with grab & go items to snack/lunch on. Lots of Presidents Choice products as well. I liked it. I'll be back.

[mbjj]

I like Presidents Choice, so that's good to know. We get a lot of it from Oxford currently.

[Rob Randall]

I've never heard of bucatini but I'm craving it now after hearing it's the best pasta ever and there's a mysterious shortage of it involving "Big Pasta".

 

If you boil bucatini for 50 percent of the time the box tells you to, cooking it perfectly al dente, you will experience a textural experience like nothing else you have encountered in your natural life. When cooked correctly, bucatini bites back. It is a responsive noodle. It is a self-aware noodle. In these times, when human social interaction carries with it the possible price of illness, bucatini offers an alternative: a social interaction with a pasta.

...

I began my inquiry by reaching out to De Cecco, sending several messages to the Italian email address that had replied to my mom, then calling poor Brian and leaving him multiple messages. After a week, I had still received no reply, confirming my suspicion that something extremely insane was going on.

 

 

https://www.grubstre...estigation.html

[Mike K.]

I’ll be using that description in my snake oil recipe hitting the market soon. The bites back thing is pure gold!

[Mike K.]

Mike K’s Snake Oil

It bites back! ®

[m3m]

Zambri's used to do a killer bucatini all'amatriciana but I went just before christmas and they had removed it from the menu.  the shortage is real. 

[SimonH]

Its not just bucatini, try getting marmite or Hendersons relish.

[zoomer]

Or Bob’s Steel Cut Oats.. I’ve had to switch to bulk. Just as well, cheaper and likely the same thing. Worse yet is Market on Yates has been out of Italissima’s Blood Orange jam for a couple months. Mainly fruit, half the sugar and calories.

[AllseeingEye]

We changed from Costco (to avoid the lineups + the crowds in this Year of the Covid!) to Red Barn this year for our turkey which was (1) not cheap so if you're the, ahem,......"thrifty" type RB is probably not for you but (2) by far - bar none - the best turkey we've ever had, period, full stop. Can't say enough good things about it from a cooking/prep/carving and above all a taste perspective.

 

We'll definitely purchase from them again for future festive family occasions. Pre-ordered it online in advance, got notified when it was in and available for p/u, drove over and waited 20 seconds while a nice young lady brought it to us. Easy peasy. More than well worth the $.

 

On an unrelated note among other goodies including bonuses, my wife's employer gave all of them $125 Thrifty's gift certificates for Christmas which I used today; it was and will probably be the last time I ever walk out of a Thrifty's with four overflowing grocery bags costing me $2.08 out of pocket.