Portland Food Co-op

Where to Shop Now–At Supermarkets and Other Local Food Stores Amidst an Inventory of Errors and Omissions

May 23, 2019 / / Discoveries

My favorite potato, available during the winter at farmers’ market, has been the pinto potato–red-skinned with blushes of beige and golden flesh within.  It bakes, boils, sautés well yielding an ultra-creamy texture.  Alas they’ve disappeared as a storage potato early last month at farmers’ markets.  Locally Goranson and Dandelion farms sold the potatoes until their winter stash was depleted.  They’ll be back in the markets by mid-summer.

By the end of May winter storage crops like potatoes, onions and carrots are truly getting long in the tooth.  The famous spring dug parsnip moreover is still not available at farmers’ markets. Farmers say that the ground is still too tough to dig them up.

“New” (?) potatoes from Hannaford

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Where to shop now in Portland: What’s new at Hannaford, Shaw’s, Whole Foods, Portland Food Co-op, etcetera?

December 14, 2015 / / Discoveries

I wouldn’t give up your holiday dinner reservations at Fore Street, Back Bay Grill or any of our other great Portland restaurants.  Nor should you cancel your holiday catering orders from Aurora Provisions.  But for perfectly good basic prepared food,  take a look at the new Hannaford Kitchen at the Forest Avenue store where everything from full dinners, sandwiches, pizzas, pastries, sushi, stir fry and more are cooked onsite.

The various food stations at Forest Avenue Hannaford

The various food stations at Forest Avenue Hannaford

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Where to shop now in Portland: Are we a mecca yet for international foods or strictly local?

July 13, 2015 / / Discoveries

Specialty food retailers have not made a big push into Portland since Whole Foods entered town followed several years later by Trader Joe’s.  The latter remains my least favorite place to shop, though it certainly has its fans who swarm the frozen aisle cases for esoteric Asian entrees and small bites or coffees, teas, wine and the like.  I do admit to going there for several TJ brand items:  Dijon mustard,  packaged nuts , bags of hardwood briquettes and occasionally bottles of Gerolsteiner sparkling  mineral water because it’s 20 cents cheaper than at  Whole Foods and much less than at other retailers who carry it, such as The Portland Food Co-op who charges $1.69 per bottle.

From left to right clockwise: Whole Foods, Lois', Rosemont, The Farm Stand

From left to right clockwise: Whole Foods, Lois’, Rosemont, The Farm Stand

Whole Foods, though,  is my default store. But they’re no Eataly, Zabar’s or Dean and DeLuca whose international displays of foods are phenomenal.

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