produce

[forgotten_aria]

Where would you go, in a car, (local to somerville/boston) to get your produce?

I'm sick of star's horrible produce.

Comments

[eisenbud.livejournal.com]

Whole Foods? Or Harvest Coop?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

#1 - Farmer's Market in Davis Square Wednesdays noon-six (or the Arlington one around the same time). I find that parking is pretty easy on Day Street.

#2 - Market Basket. Limited selection, but almost all of what they have is definitely in season

#3 - Pemberton Market on Mass Ave just outside Porter Square (toward Arlington). Too pricey for my regular shopping, but very nice stuff.

#4 - Stop & Shop on McGrath Highway (near 93). Not quite as nice as Pemberton, but a pretty good produced department.

If you list types of produce you usually buy I might come up with a different ranking.
Good luck in the quest for quality consumables!

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

Tomatoes, lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, red potatoes, dill, white mushrooms.

Occationaly green pepper, onions, carrots and colliflour.

The hardest to find good stuff of is tomatoes and lettuce, but about half the time, the potatoes have fruitflies.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

For at least the next month or so, the farmers' markets will be reasonably
cheap and good places for tomatoes and lettuce. I think tomatoes might
then start to peter out. If Wednesdays are bad, there is also a farmer's
market in Central Square on Mondays, and one in Union Square on Saturday
mornings that I know of.

For the other stuff, Whole Foods is not so cheap but will typically have
nice stuff.

fruitflies in potatoes? weird.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

The farmer's market won't have everything you want to buy, but it what it does have will be very good. I only buy fresh strawberries/blueberries when they're in season, the rest of the time I make due with frozen, so I don't know what their average quality is like at the other stores.

Aside from that I think any of those stores should have acceptable produce; I dunno which will be the best fit for you. (The times I have gone to Whole Foods I have not been excited by their produce, although I do like the produce from Harvest co-op, but you didn't state organic as one of your criteria.)

[warlord-mit.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind the drive, Wilson Farms in Lexington has AWESOME produce. Some of it can be a little pricey (but not moreso than Whole Foods), but it's always awesome. They also have to-die-for Italian Bread. To drive there: Route 2 to Route 4/225.. Take a right onto 4/225 and follow it until you get to the farm. You can't miss it (on the right).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's where it is.

[jadia.livejournal.com]

All you people are making me craaaave fresh produce.

[gmpe.livejournal.com]

I do most of my grocery shopping at The Super Stop&Shop near Wellington that was mentioned above. Their veggie selection is always good quality for what you can get at a large market. When it's in season, I buy my veggies at the farmers markets (I go to Davis on Wednesday, but also to Harvard Square on Fridays and Sundays if I miss that for some reason.) I really prefer veggies, and particularly fruits, in season. Still, there are some things, like Rainier Cherries, that I can't get at the farmers market because they just don't grow those here. In the winter, there is no farmers market. :)

Note that the Super Stop&Shop doesn't get veggie deliveries on Tuesdays, so I don't recommend going on Tuesdays. Also, the first Monday of the month, the store is chock full of old people (presumably people who live off social security checks, or something) so it's kind of frustrating to be there then.

At Thanksgiving time, the Market Basket across from the Lowe's at the intersection of 93 and 95 in Woburn has great selections of pre-packaged traditional Thanksgiving veggies like green beans and pearl onions. I am not usually a fan of pre-packaged veggies, but their selection of those seemed good and they were a lot cheaper than other places. (Plus, it was a fun place to interact with the other Thanksgiving shoppers.)

Don't get onions at Costco unless you're going to use them right away because they always seem to get moldy and rot quickly. Their six-pack bags of mixed colored bell peppers also tend to spoil quickly. I think, in general, it may be a case that you need to consume Costco veggies or fruits quickly.

Pemberton Farms tends to have more types of veggies than some other places. In the same week, I will be able to find things there that I can't find elsewhere. I usually don't care unless I want to do something more exotic. I shop there for certain spreads and other such things that I can't find at other stores.

I've never been disappointed by the veggies at the Whole Foods. I don't know if they are better enough to be worth the oten higher prices. Still, consistency is nice.

[coraline]

better than any of these places, and relatively reasonably priced too: russo's, in watertown. best produce, anywhere. farmer's markets are often as good, but they don't have the same selection. i do'nt want to oversell it, but i've been to all the places other people have commented, and russo's is better than all of them.

[dmaze]

narya and a couple of my coworkers are also big fans of Russo's. It's on Pleasant Street in Watertown, almost-but-not-quite in Waltham, which makes it somewhat inconvenient to get to from starting in Camberville.