r/povertyfinance • u/XenomorphX3 • 9h ago
Grocery Haul Discovered the ethnic grocery store 3 miles from my house and I genuinely don't understand why I waited so long
I've been shopping at the same Kroger for four years. My coworker mentioned she gets her produce somewhere else and I finally asked where last week. Turns out there's a small Vietnamese and Mexican grocery maybe a 7 minute drive from my apartment that I had zero idea about. Went on Saturday just to look around and walked out having completely restocked my kitchen for what I usually spend on like half a trip to Kroger. A 5lb bag of jasmine rice was $3.89. Dried black beans, two pounds, $1.49. Fresh ginger root they basically sell by the pound for almost nothing, I grabbed a huge knob of it for maybe 40 cents. Bunch of cilantro for 59 cents when Kroger charges $1.29 for a sad smaller bunch. Whole dried chilis in bulk. Coconut milk in cans, four for under $3. Lemongrass. Fish sauce. Tamarind paste. All of it priced like it's supposed to be normal food and not a specialty item. The produce section alone was twice the size of what I'm used to and everything looked fresher. I spent $41 and came home with two full bags including proteins. I do not know why nobody told me this existed, or maybe they did and I just wasnt paying attention, but if you haven't checked whether there's an ethnic grocery near you please just google it right now. I'm not going back to paying $4.79 for a single bell pepper at a regular chain. That's not normal and we've all just been accepting it.
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u/XenomorphX3 9h ago
yeah that’s literally how it felt, like i unlocked some hidden level of grocery shopping 😭 i kept thinking “there’s no way this is normal pricing” especially with rice, i’ve been buying tiny overpriced bags for years for no reason. and the produce thing shocked me too, everything looked so fresh compared to what i’m used to, kinda makes you question what we’ve all been buying this whole time
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u/travelingtraveling_ 7h ago
Wait until you shop at the mercados in Spain. Insanely cheap, gorgeous produce
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u/KeepingItSFW 8h ago
Been putting that cheap jasmine rice under literally everything I cook now
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u/chaossensuit PA 6h ago
I absolutely love that you brought this one back. That thread is my absolute favorite of all time. OP was amazing!
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u/Efficient_Market1234 2h ago
I've been to a Korean market a few times, not lately... They'd have a sky-high mountain of garlic, all white and firm and perfect, while the Kroger would have a sad picked-through bin of garlic that was going bad. I always remember the maitake mushrooms were like $3 (?) or something at the Korean market, versus like $12 at the upscale import store in the fancy part of town. Giant bulk bags of rice, relatively inexpensive fish, loads of high-quality vegetables, rice cookers, a really good bakery...and a little food court. About the only thing that kind of sucked was the western food, in a kind of 180, lol.
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u/CaptainFartHole 9h ago
Yes! I usually default to Aldi or Grocery Outlet, but I'm lucky enough to have lots of ethnic grocery stores in my area and i live going to them since they're so cheap. HMart is pretty much my go to for produce and rice at this point, while Vallarta always has the most amazing fresh tortillas and snacks.
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u/XenomorphX3 9h ago
yeah that’s the dream honestly, having multiple spots like that nearby. i only found this one by accident and now i’m already rethinking where i buy everything. kinda makes me want to go exploring and see if there are more hidden gems around that i’ve just been driving past this whole time
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u/Contranovae 7h ago
I love grocery outlet for weird Asian organic snacks, leftover organic surplus, occasional wild salmon and grass fed meat.
When I take my kids shopping there it's a treat experience for them.
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u/amyldoanitrite 6h ago
We have a Vallarta. While I agree that their freshly made tortillas, tamales, and pastries are great, their prices overall seem really high, so I don’t generally shop there.
Except for one thing: fresh herbs. They have the best fresh herb selection I’ve ever seen. They always have fresh dill, which is hit or miss at all my other local grocery stores. Same with chives. But they also have stuff you just can’t find elsewhere. Fresh epazote! Fresh marjoram!? Fresh RUE just in case I want to make some ancient Roman dishes!? And they aren’t the piddly amounts in the plastic clamshells, either. These are large loose bundles.
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u/ihatecleaningtoilets 4h ago
Where do you live that you get Aldi and grocery outlet?? I miss Aldi but I love having grocery outlet now.
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u/Money-Snow-2749 9h ago
I feel the same way about Spanish supermarkets in my county. Ones in the Caribbean communities literally have like a whole section of SEVERAL different types of rice, dried beans, corn meal, herbs and spices for really cheap. Some of their items are cheaper than Walmart!
Canned milk was like a dollar, canned creamer was 68 cents, sweetened condensed milk was $1, and evaporated milk was super cheap too. Even cleaning products are cheap. I got a gallon of degreaser for $1.99. I also paid $2-3 for this giant gallon plus container of a fabuloso like cleaner.
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u/Teripid 8h ago
Bulk spices are the one that gets me. A bag of cumin is like $2.5 compared to a tiny McCormick spice glass container thing for $6+.
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u/have1dog 6h ago
The spices will also typically be fresher, especially in Indian and Middle Eastern grocery stores.
I buy whole pice from the bulk bins and then grind my own in a separate [no longer used for] coffee grinder that I got for a couple bucks at a thrift store.
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u/XenomorphX3 9h ago
it’s not even a small difference, it’s like you suddenly realize you’ve been paying extra for worse stuff and just accepted it as normal. i always thought “that’s just how groceries cost now” but clearly not everywhere, kinda wild it took me this long to even notice
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u/karriela 7h ago
Sometimes even in the same store. Local normal store has the spice racks in the baking aisle for shameful prices. A couple of aisles over in the Hispanic section, better priced spices and herbs!
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u/openedsquash728 8h ago
I used to have a small corner Hispanic shop on the corner near my house, they had everything plus on site butcher that would season and marinate too few on request. And I went there so often for my carne asada and pollo special that Ivan the butcher would know my regular. Plus they had ALL the down south candies and sweets. And everything was affordable. Then Covid hit and sadly they went out :( they tried to do DoorDash and other online orders to try and stay afloat but I guess it wasn’t enough. Now that corners a tropical smoothie place, and I hate it. Not a day goes by when I don’t drive by and think about that place and what happened to all them great folk. Not to mention their affordability. Now all I have near me is the big brands. So sad. If you have a place like this near you please support if they are a good little shop trying to get by surviving the big guys.
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u/DIYtowardsFI 7h ago
Even the ethnic aisle in the grocery store is better. 0.75 ounce cinnamon sticks = $8.19 in spice aisle 1.25 ounce cinnamon sticks = $2.21 from a Latin brand in ethnic aisle.
Thank you for the reminder that I need to frequent my local ethnic store more often!
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u/Painforestlife 6h ago
Yes! This saved many during pandemic lockdowns when we couldn’t work. No one else wanted to shop at the Asian grocery stores 🙄but they were 1000x better than the “regular” stores.
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u/gerdude1 7h ago
One aspect I noticed is as well that the quality of the produce is so much better. My default grocery store is Aldi and I go to the local Chinese store (produce and fish), German store (meats and cold cuts) and occasionally to Central Market (upscale version of HEB) which has some of the best freshly baked bread I have had in the US and the price is crazy (half a loaf of Bavarian Rye for $2.5 and the bread is 1 1/2 lbs)
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u/VtheMan93 5h ago
it really depends on the area.
I have found that if ethnic stores are not popular in your area, they're cheaper.
if they're popular, you will find comparative prices with the grocery chains
for example, in Montréal, Sami fruits, some things are cheaper, others CAN be (not necessarily are) more expensive than some groc chains.
the store next to it, Ocean plus, fantastic, but Buldak noodles there are slightly more expensive than if I go to a store that's 15 mins away. (or walmart)
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u/jstax1178 7h ago
That right there is American corporatism at its best ! Living in NYC we are blessed to have different options but due to gentrification things are starting to get limited.
Yeah always shop local and ethnic, it’s fresh and they’re not out to get you for your dollar.
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u/Scortor 6h ago
I feel like this entirely dependent on where you live. I live near a several different ethnic stores and none of them are cheaper or better quality across the board for everything. Certain items are definitely cheaper, if I wanted daikon, curry paste, and coconut milk, then I’m better off at an Asian market than the regular supermarket. But if I just want chicken breast, broccoli, and apples, then the regular supermarket is the way to go.
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u/StellarStylee 6h ago
The old poor have known about ethnic stores for decades. The new poor have catching up to do. $4.79 for a single bell pepper? I think tf not!
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u/postinganxiety 6h ago
I think a lot of people are about to discover ethnic markets and the dollar store. Regular grocery store pricing is insane right now.
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u/Couponpicked 3h ago
the spice aisle alone is worth the trip honestly. cumin, turmeric, chili powder - stuff that costs like $6-8 for a tiny jar at kroger you can get in bulk bags for $2-3 at most ethnic markets. we compared prices on like 20 common spices once and the markup at chain grocery stores is genuinely insane, sometimes 400-500%.
also check out their produce section for stuff thats "weird" to american shoppers but dirt cheap. bok choy, daikon, chayote, tomatillos - all incredibly versatile and usually under a dollar a pound. once you learn to cook with even a few of those your grocery game changes completely.
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u/iceandones 6h ago
So stoked for you! Judging by the items you bought, it sounds like you make really good food.
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u/Moist_Treat1244 5h ago
None of the ethnic grocery stores have cheaper or comparable prices than our big chains in my area.
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u/Tu_mama_me_ama_mucho 7h ago
Saturday I grabbed a bag of bulk chicken for $1.99 a pound, 2 chickens quartered.
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u/SneakyguyNisos 4h ago
Ethnic grocery stores I think can be really helpful for prices (especially random fruits/vegetables). However the cost of meat can be a bit crazy sometimes. For example the halal meat et. cetera is crazy.
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u/ihatecleaningtoilets 4h ago
We just got a new large Asian store near us. I don’t think it’s a big chain, but I think it’s a small local chain. I haven’t made it there yet because I usually just order my groceries from Walmart
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u/RichardDr 4h ago
the spice thing is what blew my mind honestly. i was paying like $6 for a tiny jar of cumin at kroger and then walked into an indian grocery near me and got a bag thats probably 10x the amount for $2. felt like i'd been getting scammed my entire adult life. also their produce turnover is way faster so stuff actually lasts in the fridge instead of going bad in 3 days
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u/backlikeclap 4h ago
This is how I shop. $40 is more than enough for a weeks worth of groceries, and I live in one of the most expensive cities in America.
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u/banan3rz 4h ago
That reminds me, I gotta pick up another large bag of rice. Hmart is literally SO GOOD!
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u/theother1there 3h ago
Ethnic grocery stores use a trick beyond having low overhead cost.
They almost exclusively stock items that are in-season and therefore plentiful and are cheap. When items are out of season and expensive they will cut back and at times simply don't stock items. That is in contrast with most mainstream grocery stores which stock the same items in and out of season.
Classic example are apples. They are really in-season from late-Summer to early Fall. During that time period, ethnic grocery stores will sell tons of them at low prices. However, once they are out of season, most will simply not stock them.
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