Newflower Market

If you can't get excited about grocery stores you might not want to read this post. However, before you make up your mind, let me provide you with some teasers about Newflower Market:

- They use both sides of the receipt paper to print your receipt.
- They give you 10 cents off for every reusable bag you bring.
- This week I got a 5 lb bag of potatoes on sale for .99 cents.

Now, if none of those three things did anything for your excitement level, please proceed to your next blog (I suggest this one).

Newflower Market is brand new to Austin. I saw a little story about it on the news and was instantly intrigued. I'm always interested in buying locally grown food, but I hate spending more money on something that I can get for generic prices at a large chain. Lately, Zach and I have been spending beaucoup money at HEB, more than we have ever spent on groceries before. So when I went to the Newflower website and saw their motto: "Better-than-supermarket quality at better-than-supermarket prices" I decided to go check it out.
Oh. god. I am only sorry for my readers that don't live in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, or Texas. There are similarities between it and other stores. It's sort of like Trader Joes, but their sales are more drool-worthy. The original owners of Wild Oats organic grocery chain (now owned by the unstoppable Whole Foods) opened these up and they are promising 50 stores 5 years from now. The company's farmer's market format is based on Henry's Market in California which makes it a little less glitzy than a Whole Foods and you feel more like you're just going to a grocery store, not a food museum.

More drool-worthy sales:

broccoli: 47 cents/lb
whole raw almonds: 2.99/lb
hummus: 3.26/lb
hot house tomatoes: I got two big tomaters for 41 cents
extra lean ground beef: 1.99/lb

What it comes down to is that I got a week's worth of groceries for $26. Zach and I have lately been spending over three times that at HEB. Oh and what sealed it: my current fav cheap red wine: Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon was on sale for only $4.99 a bottle. It took a lot of strength not to buy a case.