Groceries

Whether you eat them grilled, wrapped in prosciutto, or just cut up into wedges, watermelons are one of the hallmarks of summer. And luckily, they’re considered the best value fruit on the market. Here’s how much you should plan to pay — and how to get the most bang for your watermelon buck.

With the unofficial start to summer (and grilling season!) right around the corner, it’s time to talk burgers. There are obviously plenty of tips for cooking the best, juiciest burger, but a good burger starts at the grocery store. Specifically, when you’re in the meat department. I’m not talking about the fancy stuff here (no blending brisket with hanger steak, although you certainly can!) — I’m talking about regular ol’ ground beef.

I don’t know why movie theaters that don’t sell alcohol still exist. Does anyone really expect us to watch Deadpool 2 without a beer? The first time I tried to go to a movie after moving to my new town, I figured they would not have a full bar behind the concession stand, so I asked for a white wine, or maybe a beer if they didn’t have that. The guy behind the counter looked at me like I was out of my mind and explained that they did not serve alcohol at all.

My whole life I’ve heard tales of morning people — people who wake up feeling refreshed and leap out of bed ready to get things done. That is so not me. As far as I am concerned, we should have taps in our house that supply clean, running coffee, right next to the hot and cold water. The main thing I want when I get up in the morning is the ability to inject coffee directly into my brain.

For the first time in five years, the frozen food market is showing signs of growth, as an increasing number of people are warming up to the idea of shopping in their grocer’s freezer. The Washington Post suggests that millennials have finally ventured beyond the avocado displays to discover the “cheap and easy access” that frozen foods provide, while others have just shrugged off the idea of eating out.

I really love hosting parties — big or small — and search for any excuse to do so, but grocery shopping for them can be a challenge. After a few successes and plenty of failures, I’ve learned that tackling a big shopping list for a party is way different than your weekly grocery run. Here are five mistakes to avoid the next time you’re shopping for a party — and how to make sure you’re set up for success (and fun!).

I love Trader Joe’s, but I’ve often found myself a bit perplexed by the nautical theme — and not just because I mixed up Trader Joe’s and Trader Vic’s for years. It’s a little odd to have a nautical-themed grocery store, right? Most grocery stores do not have themes at all. They just have food. But Trader Joe’s employees are called “crew members” and all wear Hawaiian shirts. The managers are called “captains.

I love checking out new grocery store products — especially at places like Aldi and T.J. Maxx because the selection is unpredictable and seemingly random. Here’s a new wine! Here’s a great deal on fancy cookies! Here’s an olive oil that tastes like trail mix! The special, limited-time finds section of the store is like a mini treasure hunt. Sometimes you find something wonderful, and sometimes you find something awful.

The new podcast from Trader Joe’s, “Inside Trader Joe’s,” is surprisingly fascinating. I wasn’t expecting to get into a podcast about a grocery store (I normally prefer the riveting world of listening to people play Dungeons and Dragons online), but “Inside Trader Joe’s” keeps answering questions I didn’t know I had.

Costco is a magical wonderland for shoppers of every age. When I was a kid, it was full of toys, books, and giant bags of cookies and candy my mom wouldn’t buy me. As a young adult, I took ample advantage of my parents’ Costco membership when I wanted to throw a party and needed enough food and alcohol for all my friends. Now I’m a grown-up with a kid and a Costco membership of my own, and a Costco trip is a totally different experience.

Few things in life provoke envy like international Costco food courts. They have such interesting, delightful-looking things like pizza al pastor and beef bakes instead of chicken bakes. And somehow the familiarity of the Costco food court format just makes it worse. I expect restaurants in Iceland and Taiwan to have interesting things I don’t have in my town, but when I see those things in the context of a Costco food court I’m always momentarily taken aback. “Hey!

Here at Kitchn we’re big fans of what Editor-in-Chief Faith Durand calls “salad swag.” When you’re making a salad for lunch, you typically always have greens and maybe a dressing — but the fun stuff, the “swag,” is where things actually get interesting. Maybe you add some shrimp, avocado, and corn (like here). Or maybe it’s chicken, cherry tomatoes, and avocado slices (like here).

Everyone has that playlist or soundtrack that gets them psyched. Whether you’re planning a night out, or need some extra energy for a morning run, music and podcasts have a way of making things way more entertaining. While normally you might not think listening to someone talk about grocery shopping would be considered a pump-up jam, you need to reconsider. Trader Joe’s is coming out with its own podcast, and it sounds more exciting than any grocery store podcast has a right to be.

I’m obsessed with KIND bars. I’d rather have a Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt KIND bar than any other candy bar in the check-out aisle. They’re crunchy, salty, sweet, chocolatey, and savory, but they’re not too sticky-sweet or full of sugar. I’d even rather have them than the big boxes of fancy chocolates that tend to show up at candy-giving holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Anthony Bourdain might not be a fan of these new “bleeding” vegan burgers, but the patrons of Costco can’t seem to get enough of them. In February, Costco quietly started selling a new, meat-like vegan burger that “bleeds” beet juice and sizzles on the grill just like beef, thanks to vegetable fats. And the test exceeded everyone’s expectations: Costco sold more than a million of them in just 60 days.

Costco’s food court might be the perfect place, if it were not for two things. First, no one seems to be able to figure out how to stand in line at a Costco food court. And second, once you do get to the front of the line, you have to decide between the giant pizza slices and the $1.50 hot dog and soda deal. How can anyone choose? That’d be like having to pick a favorite child, or at least a favorite Kardashian. The $1.50 hot dog is tempting. It’s an icon. It’s been $1.

If only buying chicken were as simple as picking out a pack, paying for it, and heading on your merry way. That’s not to say it’s super complicated (it’s really not!) — it’s just there are a few things you should know before you head to the store. These insider-y tips will make sure your shopping trip, meal prep, and dinner are the clucking best. More often than not, your grocery store butcher will be more than happy to help you.

I must admit that I am a latecomer to the whole “loving cauliflower” thing. When I was a child, my first taste of cauliflower was a watery, steamed, poorly prepared version of it, so I just assumed I hated it for the rest of my life. There never seemed to be a reason to try it again, either. Brightly colored vegetables seem vibrant, healthful, and flavorful, but cauliflower just looked like dead broccoli.

There are few things in life more jarring than accidentally getting the wrong milk. “Wrong” is subjective, of course, but if you’re used to a low-fat milk and accidentally wind up with whole, it’s basically like taking a big glug of heavy cream. And if you’re used to the comparatively thick, creamy mouthfeel of whole milk, having to put skim in your morning coffee will ruin your entire day.

It’s a running joke that Costco’s stuff is always good, from the copycat Nutella to the plastic wrap to the $7.99 bottles of Prosecco. If Costco made a Kirkland Signature car, I would buy it, and I am genuinely thinking about refinancing a mortgage through Costco. Now one couple has taken that even further and decided that if everything that comes out of Costco is good, then there’d be no better place to start their married life together.

The most memorable scene in Pulp Fiction is still the exchange between Vincent and Jules, when they’re talking about the little differences between the United States and Europe. Vincent is floored that he can get a beer at an Amsterdam movie theater, order a Royale with Cheese at a McDonald’s in Paris, and watch the Dutch dip their fries in mayonnaise. “I seen ’em do it, man,” he said. “They [freakin’] drown ’em in [it].

Buying pre-sliced cheese means you’ll shave off a few seconds from the time it takes to make your lunch. But that’s seconds, not minutes. And in return you’ll pay several dollars more per pound. That’s dollars, not cents.

Perhaps you’ve seen him? Your local grocery store’s butcher. You know he’s the butcher because, well, he’s checking up on the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and wearing that tell-tale apron. He’s also almost always carrying out big packs of meat to replenish the shelves. Once you spot him, you should say hi. And, if you’re there to buy chicken, you should also consider asking him to help you.

Chicken is a crowd-pleasing protein many of us eat a lot — but raw chicken is often contaminated by bacteria that can cause food poisoning, like salmonella. In fact, every year about a million people get sick from eating poultry that’s contaminated with harmful germs, according to the CDC. While that stat might make you never want to eat chicken again, keep calm! Safe handling and cooking practices can kill the bad bacteria and prevent it from spreading to other foods, too.

Beef brisket is the cut we know and love for pastrami, corned beef, smoked barbecue brisket, and tangy, oniony braised brisket. It is readily available in every grocery store, warehouse club store, and your local butcher. When it comes to cooking your Sunday brisket, do you know what you should buy? A little bit of knowledge will guide you through the supermarket case or help you tell your butcher exactly what you’ll need.

Do you love the taste of ketchup but hate the way it adds moisture and visual appeal to a variety of foods? Are you a busy person on the go, with only a few minutes a day to dedicate to your passion project of trying to create the world’s strangest sandwich? Then you need to hear about ketchup slices. Yes, slices.

It adds a salty, mildly sweet, gooey pockets all over the tops of my pizzas!

Going to the grocery store is pretty close to a universal human experience. Sure, Bill Gates doesn’t know what Tide Pods cost, but for the most part we’ve all been there — eating grapes, comparing prices on cheese, and worrying the cashier will judge us if we buy too much wine all at one time. This weekend the #ThoughtsWhileGroceryShopping hashtag erupted on Twitter, and it’s hilarious.

No, it's not the rotisserie chicken.

Trader Joe’s is a magical, cutesy wonderland full of great products that are really good at making people say, “I’ve never had that before, but now that I see it, I absolutely must try it.” Last time I was there, I went in for Brussels sprouts and left with camel milk soap, lavender dryer sachets, and four different kinds of dried fruit.

In my house, we go to the grocery store about once a week. Sometimes we can stretch it to eight or nine days, if we have lots of food in the freezer, but the general routine is to go on Monday so we have a week of healthy foods ready to go. And while it’s tempting to just run out the door to the store, there’s one 10-minute task that should really be done before you go to the grocery store: organizing your fridge and pantry. Just give the shelves a quick reordering.

Costco’s food court hot dogs and pizzas are famous around the world, and with good reason, but all this time Costco has been missing one obvious item to complete the heavenly triumvirate of American food court junk food: a cheeseburger. Now a new double cheeseburger has been spotted at a Costco food court in California, and it looks glorious. Costco has tested cheeseburgers before, but none of them have really stuck the way the hot dogs and pizzas have.

Over the past 10 years, Candystore.com has been recording the highest-selling jelly bean flavors per state in addition to tallying thousands of votes from individuals across America. (I know, right? We’re all in the wrong profession. We could have been candy counters all along!) Trends come and go in the food world, but even with the influx of new flavors hitting the market, black licorice had been the number one flavor in the country for almost 50 years.

This past Wednesday a new location of the grocery chain Ekoplaza opened up in Amsterdam. According to the Washington Post, it sounds like a pretty normal supermarket, except for one key difference: There’s an entire aisle that is plastic-free. Instead, the close-to-700 items that are displayed in that aisle are stored in metal, plastic, cardboard, and compostable materials. In this aisle you’ll find everything from vegetables and yogurt to meat and tea.

I was spending close to $300 a month on weekday lunches out, and something needed to change.

Every grocery store has its own strengths and weaknesses: Whole Foods is fancy, Aldi is super inexpensive, and Costco will sell you four-and-a-half pounds of its Kirkland-branded version of Nutella for $7.99. But according to a report on customer satisfaction in the U.S., the highest-ranked grocery store in the country is Publix. Publix is a Southern supermarket chain.

Costco became a global icon by offering some of the best deals a person could find. Whether it’s selling a cookie butter cheesecake the size of a wagon wheel, or four-and-a-half pounds of its own version of Nutella for $7.99, Costco has some wonderful affordable offerings. And probably the best steal in the whole building is the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo at the Costco food court. Costco’s hot dogs are an amazing deal. For just $1.

Nutella is one of the most popular and versatile spreads there is. You can put it on toast or graham crackers, pour it over ice cream, use it as an ingredient in any number of simple and fancy desserts, dip fruit into it, or you can just eat it right out of the jar with a spoon. Now Costco is making it even easier to obtain an extraordinary amount of chocolate-hazelnut spread, because they have their own Kirkland Signature Hazelnut Spread with Cocoa.

Recently a thread on Reddit asked users to share what products are identical to a brand name, but with a different label. The most surprising thing to come out of this conversation, however, was when a user claiming to be a Costco food court employee said that the frozen chicken bakes sold in the Costco warehouse are nothing like the famous chicken bakes at the Costco food court. If you’ve ever tried the famous chicken bakes at the Costco food court, you know what a big deal this is.

If the first thing you do when presented with a box of Valentine’s Day candy is hunt around for the chocolate-covered cherries, you are going to love Starbucks’ new limited-edition Valentine’s Day drink. As of February 7, Starbucks will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a new Cherry Mocha, but it will only be available through the 14th.

The Costco food court is a spectacular place to get hot dogs and pizza. Some people even like the Costco food court as a place to take a date. The Costco food court would probably be perfect, if only it weren’t for those darn lines. For some reason, a lot of people appear to have trouble standing in line at the Costco food court without getting out of order and slowing things down for everybody else.

A Reddit user going by saviour__self posted a story this week about a recent experience at Trader Joe’s, and it’s incredibly touching. She was chatting with the cashier at Trader Joe’s and mentioned how surprised she was to get out of the grocery store spending only $40. During the conversation she mentioned that it was just her and the kids at home, and she thought nothing much of it.

It’s a great time to have a sweet tooth. Desserts have been getting more and more attention lately, with restaurants and even grocery stores rolling out a seemingly endless array of increasingly enormous, indulgent desserts meant for sharing. First Cadbury released a “Creme Egg Trifle” that weighs more than a pound and looks like a ramen bowl full of Creme Egg filling. Then Costco upped the ante with a three-pound cookie butter cheesecake.

In 2018 it seems like the last thing anyone needs is another app on their phone, but if you shop at Aldi you might want to find room for one more. The Aldi app makes shopping there way easier and it could save you a ton of money. On the Reddit forum dedicated to all things Aldi, a Reddit user going by Uxoguy posted a thread to sing the praises of the Aldi app.

I’ve worked for grocery stores in some capacity most of my adult life. From stocking shelves to purchasing and marketing, the world of grocery retail is something I’ve always had a passion for. That said, I’m not sure I ever had enough passion to want to write a musical about a grocery giant, but that’s exactly what’s happened at Harrison School of the Arts in Florida. These teens just love Publix that much. Want to take a look?

2017 was a big year, and I personally spent a large part of it in a state of overwhelming envy over the array of fancy and delicious-looking dishes that other people could find in their Costco food courts. A Costco in Wales served cottage pie (which is like shepherd’s pie, but with beef) and jacket potatoes, while Costco in France serves chicken fingers and ham and cheese croissants. But now a California Costco is stepping up for U.S.

You know that saying “You can have it good, fast, or cheap — pick two”? While it’s most often applied to creative projects, it is also completely relevant when it comes to grocery shopping for weekly meal plans and meal prep. Think about it: If your grocery goal is to save money (cheap), you’re going to have to be very thorough (good) and do a lot of the work yourself (not fast).

Grocery shopping gets a bad rap as the hardest part of meal planning. Despite that I personally love grocery shopping, I understand the pain points here: You’ve done the fun parts of meal planning and now you’ve got to schlep to the store, shell out hard-earned money, and just hope that you don’t forget anything! I imagine that if we could skip straight from planning to cooking that more people would actually meal plan.

This week Amazon opened one of its most anticipated new ventures to the public. Amazon Go is a new grocery store with no cash registers or checkout stations — just a whole ton of cameras that watch everything you pick up, and then charge you for whatever you take when you leave. It’s a brand-new concept that previously was only available to Amazon employees at the company’s headquarters in Seattle. But now anyone with an Amazon account and an Amazon Go app can get in.

In the battle of giant foods, we should always bet on Costco. Last week TJ Maxx made headlines by selling 22 pounds of chocolate in a bag big enough to wear as a poncho. When I heard about the chocolate bag I thought nobody would ever be able to top the decadent absurdity, but I should have known Costco would show up to say, “You think that’s wild? Hold my drink.

For many of us, figuring out just how much money we should — and do! — spend on food is especially tricky. It involves stringing together so many moving parts: what to eat (ideally planned days in advance), what ingredients you’ll need (versus what you might already have on hand), and a realistic budget that leaves room to eat healthfully without spending too much. Are you spending more on food than you should? Not sure what your total even comes to?

Amazon is even getting into the convenience store arena with a brand-new store called Amazon Go. The pilot version of Amazon’s grocery store looks just like a regular convenience store, but there are no lines, no checkout stations, and the menu is decidedly gourmet. Amazon Go is a pretty wild concept. A person can only get into the store by scanning a QR code with an app, which lets the store know who you are and what credit card to charge for items.

Marie Kondo is most famous for her revolutionary simplifying tactics in her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. If you’re meal planning (or you want to be a better meal planner), you can take a page from her book when it comes to making your own grocery list. Here’s how following Kondo’s advice can get you ready for the grocery store with fewer forgotten items and faster than ever before.

The first cup of coffee is an essential part of the morning routine for many of us. That’s why so many people spend a big part of their daily commutes waiting in lines 40 people deep at their local Starbucks, just waiting to get their coffee, get to work, and get on with their day. Now Starbucks is trying out a new system to see if they can make those lines move faster, by not accepting cash entirely at one of their stores as part of a new cashless pilot program.

It only cost $120.

Of all the great and gory kitchen tasks we face everyday, few are quite so aggravating as preparing onions. They hurt people’s eyes and make people’s hands smell onion-y. Eating onions would hardly be worth all the effort, if it weren’t for the fact that they make food so much more delicious. You can’t make a mirepoix without cutting a few onions, after all.

Costco is like a magical fantasyland full of oversized surprises. A lot of the time, you don’t know what you will find there. Sure, there are some classics. Kirkland-brand olive oil and apple pies are beloved standards that you can count on seeing virtually every time you walk through those warehouse doors. Not everything at Costco sticks around, however, and a great deal found one day might be gone the next.

Imagine going to Costco to pick up paper towels and gym socks, and meeting your hero. That’s what two little girls were convinced had happened recently when they went to Costco with their mom and saw Maui from Disney’s Moana working at the register.

I consider my Amazon Prime membership to be worth the annual fee just to be able to watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and get free two-day shipping on books, but Amazon Prime memberships are about to get even better because now members can now order delivery from Whole Foods as well. Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods has meant a lot of changes for customers. According to TODAY.com, the company just announced that it would be improving its two-day shipping options.

Military spouses face a lot of unique challenges. Frequent relocating, long-distance relationships, and extended periods of time separated from a partner can be extraordinarily difficult, especially while trying to raise children and manage a household, often on a tight budget. Keeping a house running smoothly and everybody fed under those circumstances requires a ton of planning, forethought, and self-control.

Successful meal planning is about more than simply selecting a week’s worth of dinners and adding meal prep to your weekend routine — it also largely depends on grocery shopping. We talked to five meal planning pros to see how they tackle this task. Here are their best grocery shopping secrets. “Grocery shopping can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! Two things help me have a great experience.

Starbucks’ secret menu has given the world many wonderful things. It’s where people first started toying with the idea of rainbow Frappuccinos and recreations of Harry Potter’s pumpkin juice. Now that winter cold season is in full swing, it’s time to revisit the Starbucks secret menu for a super-popular drink called a Medicine Ball, which is touted as the perfect thing to drink whenever you have a cold.

Brace yourself, because you’re never going to be able to go to Trader Joe’s without singing “Eleanor Rigby” again, thanks to Twitter user Daniel Spenser. Spenser, an illustrator and comedian who has worked for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, recently noticed something funny about Trader Joe’s products, and it’s not that they have cute packaging or good prices.

I imagine many of us are probably very familiar with the taste of Starbucks’ espresso. It’s a dark, strong flavor, and for the past 43 years it’s been the only option for Starbucks espresso drinks like lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos. But as of this morning, Starbucks customers will have their choice of espressos when ordering those drinks, because Starbucks just introduced its first new espresso in 43 years: the Blonde Espresso.

Many Kitchn editors and writers have spoken at great length about our collective love for Aldi. The grocery giant has really good chocolate, coffee, and wine, and of course you can get everything for a really great price. But it isn’t perfect. Aldi doesn’t have everything that other major grocers offer and it’s eager to catch up. Will these new additions win over potential new customers?

Recently I was talking to a friend and the subject of budgeting came up. Actually, it’s one of our favorite subjects, but this time the subject of our grocery budgets came up specifically. We both felt like we were spending way too much on groceries for our families of four (sometimes upwards of $300 per week), and on top of that, felt like our cabinets were full and a lot of food went bad or leftovers went uneaten.

Near the top of the list of awesome grocery store items resides rotisserie chicken from beloved bulk retailer Costco. You can eat them as is or piece them out for meals throughout the week. Even if you’re not sure how you’re going to use it, one should go in your grocery cart because a need will arise sooner than you think. And at $4.99, the rotisserie chickens are actually cheaper to purchase than the uncooked ones at Costco.

To start 2018 on a high note, Trader Joe’s has just released their favorite 15 recipes. “It’s time to start cooking,” the company said in their latest Fearless Flyer. The collection includes recipes for every meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, plus sides and appetizers. Whether you’re trapped in the snow, or just looking for a few great lunch ideas that use products from your favorite grocer, this is for you.

What’s that sound? Oh nothing, just everyone on the planet rushing to the stores to pick up the latest candy. What candy could cause such a rush? The one and only Cadbury Egg. This cult candy has wooed us for years, and the latest release has people very excited. Cadbury Creme Eggs now come in white chocolate, but it definitely won’t be easy to get your hands on one. Okay, so with good news there’s always bad news, right?

Amazon has become an integral part of our lives. We pull things up on our need-to-buy list and click to order and have things shipped with the press of a single button. Remember the days where you had to actually go to the store for things? Man, that was so 2012! Last year when Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, it felt like a massive shift for how we grocery shop. But Amazon, most likely, is just getting started. An analyst has predicted that Amazon will buy Target in 2018.

I blame Mr. Rogers for my fascination with large quantities of everyday items being something to gawk over. Seeing how things are made, grown, or transported will always be cool. That’s why I think I’m completely devastated that an 18-wheel semi-truck filled with 40,000 pounds of avocados went up in flames last week on I-35 in Texas. Man, that’s just vegeterrible! Avocadnooo!

Christmas is over, but that doesn’t mean Starbucks is going to stop celebrating with fancy new limited-time holiday drinks. (Also, you can still get the Christmas drinks if your Starbucks has the specialty syrups in stock.) Just in time for New Year’s Eve, Starbucks is introducing three brand new drinks for 2018, and they sound pretty amazing.