In New York of United States
Forget a quick whizz round Tesco or Waitrose: food shopping in New York involves traipsing around countless stores like a 1980s housewife, says expat Ruth Margolis.
There’s a reason why, in six seasons of Sex and the City, we rarely saw Carrie and pals go grocery shopping. The show’s producers knew, as I now know, that stocking up on household staples in New York is about as glamorous as having your haemorrhoids removed. Doing a big shop, NYC-style, also takes longer and has a more painful recovery.
Fundamentally, the problem is that inexpensive, one-stop shops stocking consistently good quality merchandise simply do not exist in New York City. Your supermarket options are sprawling and low-end or impractically luxurious, with little in between. Online outfits like Fresh Direct are popular with busy New Yorkers but they’re also expensive.
To shop affordably and healthily – never mind ethically – here takes some serious planning. These days, I’m like a proper 1950s housewife but with worse coiffing and hempier shopping bags. I shop for food and general household stuff two to three times a week. Each trip takes up to 90 minutes and I’ll visit a minimum of three stores. Back in London, a quick stomp around Sainsbury’s provided everything I needed for the week – from grapefruits and gourmet sausages to tea towels and Toilet Duck.
My nearest supermarket, C-Town in Brooklyn’s posh Park Slope, is particularly dismal: a dank, beige 1970s throwback. Cellophane-wrapped, hormone-hopped mince glows a chemically achieved pinky orange from its post on a Soviet-era meat shelf. A quick scan of the bread section reveals few loaves that cost less than $4.99. Bafflingly, this type of low-end supermarket isn’t especially cheap. And if you prefer your daily bread not to taste like cake, you’re out of luck. Supermarket bloomers are pumped with cloyingly sweet high-fructose corn syrup. For a less sugary slice, I have to head to an artisanal deli or a health food store.
As I got to know the neighbourhood, I discovered that I could get cheap organic milk in a bodega on 7th Avenue and 11th Street. Union Market (a small, elite chain of New York food stores) was best for affordable free-range chicken but if I wanted organic I’d have to trek 45 minutes to Trader Joe’s – a cheery, own-brand supermarket where awkward hipsters pack your bags. Toiletries and cleaning products, meanwhile, are a whole other schlep involving pit stops in three depressingly outfitted drug stores.
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