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"...how hard it is to find healthy food options compared to the unhealthy ones." Sure, if you limit your purchases to Dollar General and Casey's. If you spent

"...how hard it is to find healthy food options compared to the unhealthy ones." Sure, if you limit your purchases to Dollar General and Casey's. If you spent time in an actual grocery store, you'd find that your comment isn't true.

garciasn 1y ago
Depends on the grocery store. If you shop exclusively at Target, a company that caters primarily to those who ‘prepare’ as opposed to those who ‘cook’ you’ll find less healthy options than actual grocery stores.
- vel0city 1y ago
  That depends a lot on the Target. One location around me only has a very small produce section for their groceries with everything else pretty much being prepackaged products. Another location has quite a large produce section along with a deli, a butcher counter, and a bakery.
  - garciasn 1y ago
    I was speaking about SuperTargets, not standard Targets. And I’m not sure why folks are downvoting this; objectively, Target has limited and terrible selection compared to standalone grocers.
    - vel0city 1y ago
      In my travels I've found even the size and quality of the produce sections of SuperTargets can be quite variable. But yes, I do agree their range of choices for fresh food products is usually more limited compared to good, actual grocers. But that applies to their packaged goods as well, they often don't have as many choices of lots of things. I might find almost a dozen brands of pasta at an actual grocer but only have three or four brands at Target. To me it seems the ratio is about the same, its just the scale is different. And to be honest, its the same story for practically all the stuff at Target. They don't have the widest supply of craft supplies compared to craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby. They don't have the widest selection of bicycles compared to the bike store. They don't have nearly as many toys as what Toys R Us did. The book section is smaller than a Barnes & Noble. What else is new.
- SirFatty 1y ago
  Target (and Wal-Mart) are not grocery stores. Sure they have groceries, but a limited select selection compared to a proper store.
  - atmavatar 1y ago
    That's not quite true for Wal-Mart. There exist Wal-Mart Supercenters which are basically a full-blown grocery store combined with a traditional Wal-Mart store. There also exist Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets which are regular grocery stores. It's not uncommon for some people to refer to all of them as simply "Wal-Mart", especially if only one of them exists locally.
0xbadcafebee 1y ago
The comment is still true regardless of the fact that Whole Foods exists. It is genuinely more difficult to find healthy food in the US than abroad. (i'm ignoring the additional fact that the US has many more food deserts than abroad. even within rich neighborhoods with many expansive grocery stores, those stores have more unhealthy options and fewer healthy options than abroad, unless it's specifically a "health food store")
- unregistereddev 1y ago
  I wholeheartedly disagree. Grocery stores in the US are typically much larger than grocery stores abroad. A Kroger, Publix, Piggly Wiggly, Schnuck's, or HyVee will typically have just as many healthy food options as a grocery store abroad. The difference is these US grocery stores also stock a much larger variety of unhealthy options. As someone else in this thread used sweet yogurt as an example, it is trivially easy to find unsweetened yogurt in nearly any grocery store in the US. The difference is that there's also a very large selection of sweet flavored yogurt.
  - 0xbadcafebee 1y ago
    You might think that based on a cursory anecdotal comparison, but studies show it is not true. "Ultra-processed food staples dominate mainstream U.S. supermarkets. Americans more than Europeans forced to choose between health and cost" - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.16.24302894v1.full https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.16.24302894v... "Price and availability trends by level of neighbourhood deprivation however, remain unclear; while studies in the US have tended to find differences between neighbourhoods and prices for availability of healthier food items, studies conducted in other countries have generally reported no association" - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3679513/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3679513/ "The distribution of the FPro scores in the three stores shows a high degree of similarity: each store exhibits a monotonically increasing curve (Fig. 2a), indicating that minimally pro-cessed products (low FPro) represent a relatively small fraction of the inventory of grocery stores, the majority of the offerings being in the ultra-processed category (high FPro). Although less-processed items make up a smaller share of the overall inventory, they likely account for a proportionally larger portion of actual purchases, highlighting a discrepancy between sales data and available food options. Never-theless, systematic differences between stores emerge: Whole Foods offers a greater selection of minimally processed items and fewer ultra-processed options, whereas Target has a particularly high pro-portion of ultra-processed products (high FPro)." - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01095-7.epdf?sharing_token=HrsoCCDnlHqlMnAxzCeiX9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Pn_te04WoNJigI2pJcdH0K3EukeZ9Gq--mkQ7oSARf7-kWs5eA_jt_tMPMWBBooQGTsUcBFmQzoedq-5e4pFjLmFjcqJRYG3Uwt7ZWYhOqmg-Bf04qLNLh_hnpxFKF5-g%3D https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01095-7.epdf?shar... "“Our research shows that consumers prioritize taste and price when shopping for food, with nutrition coming in a distant third,” Balagtas said. “So the fact that consumers associate healthy eating with high costs and low taste is a challenge for food manufacturers and public health advocates.”" - https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2025/08/how-americans-make-healthy-food-choices-in-grocery-stores.html https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2025/08/how-americans-make-health... We have more ultraprocessed foods, fewer healthy options, the healthy options are more expensive, and their distribution is uneven (less healthy food depending on the store). Consumers' associations confirm this. Meanwhile abroad there is less ultraprocessed food, the healthy food is more often subsidized (so it's cheaper), and healthy food distribution choices are more evenly distributed.
FirmwareBurner 1y ago
>If you spent time in an actual grocery store, you'd find that your comment isn't true. Also as "an European" whatever that means, I only spent a couple of months in the US as a tourist, and had no issues finding healthy foods from leafy greens, to good meats in places like Wholefoods. If he couldn't find it while actually living there, tells me he's not commenting in good faith.
- thatfrenchguy 1y ago
  I mean, Whole Foods targets upper middle class folks, you’re far away from the average American experience
  - Jensson 1y ago
    Yeah, when I visited USA I was shocked to find lots of larger "grocery stores" didn't even stock the basics. In Europe that isn't a thing, everything larger than a regular room has fresh vegetables and meat and other staples, even in immigrant areas. Sure it might be possible to find that in USA as well, but its so much harder as not every store has it.
    - vel0city 1y ago
      What kind of "basics" did you find missing in actual grocery stores, and what were the actual stores in question?
      - OJFord 1y ago
        Not GP, but I can offer: real cheese (not squares of individually wrapped plastic, nor grated and mixed with whatever to prevent caking), Walmart.
        vel0city 1y ago
        What? Just about every Walmart with a grocery I've been to sells blocks of cheese. These are all available at multiple Walmarts around me. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Block-Sharp-Cheddar-Cheese-8-oz/34186946 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Block-Sharp-Cheddar-C... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Mozzarella-Cheese-16-oz-Block-Plastic-Packaging/10452382 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Low-Moisture-Part-Ski... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigo-Parmesan-Cheese-Wedge-5-oz-Plastic-Wrap-Refrigerated-Hard-Cheese/10307247 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigo-Parmesan-Cheese-Wedge-5-oz-... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tillamook-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-Block-1-lb-Aged-60-Days/10292851 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tillamook-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-B... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Swiss-Cheese-Block-8-oz/10452776 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Swiss-Cheese-Block-8-... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dutchmark-Smoked-Gouda-Cheese-7-oz/409234097 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dutchmark-Smoked-Gouda-Cheese-7-o... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Castello-Gourmet-Creamy-Danish-Havarti-Cheese-8oz-Block/42393930 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Castello-Gourmet-Creamy-Danish-Ha... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kerrygold-Grass-Fed-Dubliner-Irish-Cheese-7oz/15724255 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kerrygold-Grass-Fed-Dubliner-Iris... and on and on and on and on and on... It might not be right next to the pre-shredded cheese (usually those house brand blocks of cheddar and what not are), sometimes they're in a fancier part of the deli area. But I can't think of a time I've gone to a Walmart looking for a block of cheese and not found any cheese. Its not going to be the fanciest varieties, but once again the question was for "basics" that don't exist. Having cheddar, swiss, parmesean, gouda, etc. is having the basics.
vector_spaces 1y ago
In large swaths of the country, these "non-grocery stores" are a lifeline, as they are the only option. In others, you don't even have that -- gas station convenience stores might be that lifeline instead. [1] I am familiar with what the grandparent is referring to, having spent a decade running purchasing teams in US grocery stores. Even in urban areas with many different food retail stores, a typical supermarket in the US is a fairly difficult place to shop for someone with specific food sensitivities. Hopefully folks here who live in the SF Bay Area appreciate that it's a total outlier in both the diversity of stores available and the assortment of products sold in a typical Bay Area supermarket [1] https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=74935 https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-deta...
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  For most US supermarkets, shop around the perimeter and avoid anything in any of the center aisles. While individual floor plans vary, that tends to route you to the fresh produce and meats and dairy and avoid most of the ultraprocessed packaged stuff.
  - supportengineer 1y ago
    I give this advice to anyone I meet who just moved here from overseas.
- nradov 1y ago
  The SF Bay Area is hardly an outlier. There may be more specialty grocery stores here, but the large supermarkets where most consumers buy most of their food are the same as anywhere else. If you compare a Safeway in Mountain View, CA to a Publix in Daytona Beach, FL or a Kroger in Toledo, OH there isn't much difference in the products available.
  - vector_spaces 1y ago
    I hope that you recognize that your casual-outsider evaluation of the assortments of these stores is deeply flawed and not based on actual data. If you think about it even just a little bit, you'll recognize that it wouldn't make sense for a supermarket in one of the highest median income cities in the country to have assortment parity with a chain targeting cost conscious shoppers. The devil here is in the long-tail, which is definitionally less visible to you as a shopper, and in fact may not exist at all for certain retailers -- especially those targeting cost-conscious shoppers.
Der_Einzige 1y ago
To be clear, "actual" grocery store for the purposes of finding reliably fresh and healthy food includes one of the following: 1. Upscale western grocery stores and markets, ideally located within the biggest and most affluent city possible. Pikes place market would be a great example of what I'm talking about for you seattle folks. 2. Asian grocery stores, like "H-mart" 3. Farmers markets, but these are hit and miss, especially in smaller communities Most other grocery stores, including Costco, Trader Joes, etc are full of extremely unhealthy trash slop. It's still extremely hard to find reliable low sugar options nearly anywhere, including at health and "organic" oriented grocery stores. America just sucks for foodies who don't have unlimited time to get through the slop.
- dgfitz 1y ago
  > America just sucks for foodies who don't have unlimited time to get through the slop. I think by definition, being a “foodie” means you have, and enjoy finding, the time to sort the wheat from the chaff. Nobody has unlimited time for anything. “I want to be be a ‘foodie’ but really I just want to be judgy” is a weak argument.
  - Der_Einzige 1y ago
    In America, google rating scores are straight up astroturfed to the point where the total number of ratings is far more important than their score. When I travel to Japan, for example, I interpret a bad google maps review score for a location as a GOOD thing, because the average white tourists palette is incompatible with the local cuisine. I can walk to basically any random place, anywhere in Japan, or France, or Singapore and get very high quality food that I don't have to worry about being full of bullshit. That's not true in America.
    - dgfitz 1y ago
      As long as you realize this is opinion, sure thing.
  - ashtakeaway 1y ago
    Being judgy is a uniquely American trait that's become popular over the past 20 years.
Yizahi 1y ago
The problem is that to a European citizen this is a bit unexpected. In Europe, in all countries, you can find roughly the same level of "safeness" of food across all tiers of stores. Go to a cheapest one and the most expensive one, and the yogurt, tomatoes or meat would be approximately the same quality and have the same nutritional components. The only difference would be that expensive store would additionally carry some imported fancy tomatoes or some fancy steak cuts. But those steak cuts would be subject to the same standards as a cheap chicken meat in the cheap store.
- vel0city 1y ago
  Its not just a "tier" of store, its a "genre" of store. Stores like Dollar General are not really grocers, they just happen to carry some food products. They typically do not carry any fresh foods. So its not a matter of their tomatoes are somehow worse quality, its that they do not sell tomatoes. Its not that their meats are worse quality, they do not sell fresh meat. They practically only sell pre-packaged goods. Think about the few isles of junk food and small packages of household products (soaps and what not) you might find at a gas station, and scale that up ~800m^2. If its not something that is OK to sit on a shelf for a few months, you won't find it at a Dollar General. When it comes to actual fresh foods (which can be found if you go to actual grocery stores), those are highly regulated. You'll find fancier varieties at fancier grocery stores, but in the end a yellow onion at Kroger is about the same as a yellow onion in Safeway or Publix or Albertsons or HEB or Whole Foods.
  - selimthegrim 1y ago
    Certain Dollar Generals do carry fresh foods and there’s a sub brand called Dollar General Market that targets the grocery dollar.
- rolisz 1y ago
  Romanian here: the tomato quality varies by a lot. All stores have crappy "plastic" tasting tomatoes. It's not that easy to find really good tomatoes (in summer you can find them at local markets, in winter... Fancy imports I guess).

garciasn 1y ago

Depends on the grocery store. If you shop exclusively at Target, a company that caters primarily to those who ‘prepare’ as opposed to those who ‘cook’ you’ll find less healthy options than actual grocery stores.

vel0city 1y ago
That depends a lot on the Target. One location around me only has a very small produce section for their groceries with everything else pretty much being prepackaged products. Another location has quite a large produce section along with a deli, a butcher counter, and a bakery.
- garciasn 1y ago
  I was speaking about SuperTargets, not standard Targets. And I’m not sure why folks are downvoting this; objectively, Target has limited and terrible selection compared to standalone grocers.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    In my travels I've found even the size and quality of the produce sections of SuperTargets can be quite variable. But yes, I do agree their range of choices for fresh food products is usually more limited compared to good, actual grocers. But that applies to their packaged goods as well, they often don't have as many choices of lots of things. I might find almost a dozen brands of pasta at an actual grocer but only have three or four brands at Target. To me it seems the ratio is about the same, its just the scale is different. And to be honest, its the same story for practically all the stuff at Target. They don't have the widest supply of craft supplies compared to craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby. They don't have the widest selection of bicycles compared to the bike store. They don't have nearly as many toys as what Toys R Us did. The book section is smaller than a Barnes & Noble. What else is new.
SirFatty 1y ago
Target (and Wal-Mart) are not grocery stores. Sure they have groceries, but a limited select selection compared to a proper store.
- atmavatar 1y ago
  That's not quite true for Wal-Mart. There exist Wal-Mart Supercenters which are basically a full-blown grocery store combined with a traditional Wal-Mart store. There also exist Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets which are regular grocery stores. It's not uncommon for some people to refer to all of them as simply "Wal-Mart", especially if only one of them exists locally.

0xbadcafebee 1y ago

The comment is still true regardless of the fact that Whole Foods exists. It is genuinely more difficult to find healthy food in the US than abroad. (i'm ignoring the additional fact that the US has many more food deserts than abroad. even within rich neighborhoods with many expansive grocery stores, those stores have more unhealthy options and fewer healthy options than abroad, unless it's specifically a "health food store")

unregistereddev 1y ago
I wholeheartedly disagree. Grocery stores in the US are typically much larger than grocery stores abroad. A Kroger, Publix, Piggly Wiggly, Schnuck's, or HyVee will typically have just as many healthy food options as a grocery store abroad. The difference is these US grocery stores also stock a much larger variety of unhealthy options. As someone else in this thread used sweet yogurt as an example, it is trivially easy to find unsweetened yogurt in nearly any grocery store in the US. The difference is that there's also a very large selection of sweet flavored yogurt.
- 0xbadcafebee 1y ago
  You might think that based on a cursory anecdotal comparison, but studies show it is not true. "Ultra-processed food staples dominate mainstream U.S. supermarkets. Americans more than Europeans forced to choose between health and cost" - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.16.24302894v1.full https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.16.24302894v... "Price and availability trends by level of neighbourhood deprivation however, remain unclear; while studies in the US have tended to find differences between neighbourhoods and prices for availability of healthier food items, studies conducted in other countries have generally reported no association" - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3679513/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3679513/ "The distribution of the FPro scores in the three stores shows a high degree of similarity: each store exhibits a monotonically increasing curve (Fig. 2a), indicating that minimally pro-cessed products (low FPro) represent a relatively small fraction of the inventory of grocery stores, the majority of the offerings being in the ultra-processed category (high FPro). Although less-processed items make up a smaller share of the overall inventory, they likely account for a proportionally larger portion of actual purchases, highlighting a discrepancy between sales data and available food options. Never-theless, systematic differences between stores emerge: Whole Foods offers a greater selection of minimally processed items and fewer ultra-processed options, whereas Target has a particularly high pro-portion of ultra-processed products (high FPro)." - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01095-7.epdf?sharing_token=HrsoCCDnlHqlMnAxzCeiX9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Pn_te04WoNJigI2pJcdH0K3EukeZ9Gq--mkQ7oSARf7-kWs5eA_jt_tMPMWBBooQGTsUcBFmQzoedq-5e4pFjLmFjcqJRYG3Uwt7ZWYhOqmg-Bf04qLNLh_hnpxFKF5-g%3D https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01095-7.epdf?shar... "“Our research shows that consumers prioritize taste and price when shopping for food, with nutrition coming in a distant third,” Balagtas said. “So the fact that consumers associate healthy eating with high costs and low taste is a challenge for food manufacturers and public health advocates.”" - https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2025/08/how-americans-make-healthy-food-choices-in-grocery-stores.html https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2025/08/how-americans-make-health... We have more ultraprocessed foods, fewer healthy options, the healthy options are more expensive, and their distribution is uneven (less healthy food depending on the store). Consumers' associations confirm this. Meanwhile abroad there is less ultraprocessed food, the healthy food is more often subsidized (so it's cheaper), and healthy food distribution choices are more evenly distributed.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago

>If you spent time in an actual grocery store, you'd find that your comment isn't true. Also as "an European" whatever that means, I only spent a couple of months in the US as a tourist, and had no issues finding healthy foods from leafy greens, to good meats in places like Wholefoods. If he couldn't find it while actually living there, tells me he's not commenting in good faith.

thatfrenchguy 1y ago
I mean, Whole Foods targets upper middle class folks, you’re far away from the average American experience
- Jensson 1y ago
  Yeah, when I visited USA I was shocked to find lots of larger "grocery stores" didn't even stock the basics. In Europe that isn't a thing, everything larger than a regular room has fresh vegetables and meat and other staples, even in immigrant areas. Sure it might be possible to find that in USA as well, but its so much harder as not every store has it.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    What kind of "basics" did you find missing in actual grocery stores, and what were the actual stores in question?
    - OJFord 1y ago
      Not GP, but I can offer: real cheese (not squares of individually wrapped plastic, nor grated and mixed with whatever to prevent caking), Walmart.
      - vel0city 1y ago
        What? Just about every Walmart with a grocery I've been to sells blocks of cheese. These are all available at multiple Walmarts around me. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Block-Sharp-Cheddar-Cheese-8-oz/34186946 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Block-Sharp-Cheddar-C... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Mozzarella-Cheese-16-oz-Block-Plastic-Packaging/10452382 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Low-Moisture-Part-Ski... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigo-Parmesan-Cheese-Wedge-5-oz-Plastic-Wrap-Refrigerated-Hard-Cheese/10307247 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigo-Parmesan-Cheese-Wedge-5-oz-... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tillamook-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-Block-1-lb-Aged-60-Days/10292851 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tillamook-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-B... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Swiss-Cheese-Block-8-oz/10452776 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Swiss-Cheese-Block-8-... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dutchmark-Smoked-Gouda-Cheese-7-oz/409234097 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dutchmark-Smoked-Gouda-Cheese-7-o... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Castello-Gourmet-Creamy-Danish-Havarti-Cheese-8oz-Block/42393930 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Castello-Gourmet-Creamy-Danish-Ha... https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kerrygold-Grass-Fed-Dubliner-Irish-Cheese-7oz/15724255 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kerrygold-Grass-Fed-Dubliner-Iris... and on and on and on and on and on... It might not be right next to the pre-shredded cheese (usually those house brand blocks of cheddar and what not are), sometimes they're in a fancier part of the deli area. But I can't think of a time I've gone to a Walmart looking for a block of cheese and not found any cheese. Its not going to be the fanciest varieties, but once again the question was for "basics" that don't exist. Having cheddar, swiss, parmesean, gouda, etc. is having the basics.

vector_spaces 1y ago

In large swaths of the country, these "non-grocery stores" are a lifeline, as they are the only option. In others, you don't even have that -- gas station convenience stores might be that lifeline instead. [1] I am familiar with what the grandparent is referring to, having spent a decade running purchasing teams in US grocery stores. Even in urban areas with many different food retail stores, a typical supermarket in the US is a fairly difficult place to shop for someone with specific food sensitivities. Hopefully folks here who live in the SF Bay Area appreciate that it's a total outlier in both the diversity of stores available and the assortment of products sold in a typical Bay Area supermarket [1] https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=74935 https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-deta...

SoftTalker 1y ago
For most US supermarkets, shop around the perimeter and avoid anything in any of the center aisles. While individual floor plans vary, that tends to route you to the fresh produce and meats and dairy and avoid most of the ultraprocessed packaged stuff.
- supportengineer 1y ago
  I give this advice to anyone I meet who just moved here from overseas.
nradov 1y ago
The SF Bay Area is hardly an outlier. There may be more specialty grocery stores here, but the large supermarkets where most consumers buy most of their food are the same as anywhere else. If you compare a Safeway in Mountain View, CA to a Publix in Daytona Beach, FL or a Kroger in Toledo, OH there isn't much difference in the products available.
- vector_spaces 1y ago
  I hope that you recognize that your casual-outsider evaluation of the assortments of these stores is deeply flawed and not based on actual data. If you think about it even just a little bit, you'll recognize that it wouldn't make sense for a supermarket in one of the highest median income cities in the country to have assortment parity with a chain targeting cost conscious shoppers. The devil here is in the long-tail, which is definitionally less visible to you as a shopper, and in fact may not exist at all for certain retailers -- especially those targeting cost-conscious shoppers.

Der_Einzige 1y ago

To be clear, "actual" grocery store for the purposes of finding reliably fresh and healthy food includes one of the following: 1. Upscale western grocery stores and markets, ideally located within the biggest and most affluent city possible. Pikes place market would be a great example of what I'm talking about for you seattle folks. 2. Asian grocery stores, like "H-mart" 3. Farmers markets, but these are hit and miss, especially in smaller communities Most other grocery stores, including Costco, Trader Joes, etc are full of extremely unhealthy trash slop. It's still extremely hard to find reliable low sugar options nearly anywhere, including at health and "organic" oriented grocery stores. America just sucks for foodies who don't have unlimited time to get through the slop.

dgfitz 1y ago
> America just sucks for foodies who don't have unlimited time to get through the slop. I think by definition, being a “foodie” means you have, and enjoy finding, the time to sort the wheat from the chaff. Nobody has unlimited time for anything. “I want to be be a ‘foodie’ but really I just want to be judgy” is a weak argument.
- Der_Einzige 1y ago
  In America, google rating scores are straight up astroturfed to the point where the total number of ratings is far more important than their score. When I travel to Japan, for example, I interpret a bad google maps review score for a location as a GOOD thing, because the average white tourists palette is incompatible with the local cuisine. I can walk to basically any random place, anywhere in Japan, or France, or Singapore and get very high quality food that I don't have to worry about being full of bullshit. That's not true in America.
  - dgfitz 1y ago
    As long as you realize this is opinion, sure thing.
- ashtakeaway 1y ago
  Being judgy is a uniquely American trait that's become popular over the past 20 years.

Yizahi 1y ago

The problem is that to a European citizen this is a bit unexpected. In Europe, in all countries, you can find roughly the same level of "safeness" of food across all tiers of stores. Go to a cheapest one and the most expensive one, and the yogurt, tomatoes or meat would be approximately the same quality and have the same nutritional components. The only difference would be that expensive store would additionally carry some imported fancy tomatoes or some fancy steak cuts. But those steak cuts would be subject to the same standards as a cheap chicken meat in the cheap store.

vel0city 1y ago
Its not just a "tier" of store, its a "genre" of store. Stores like Dollar General are not really grocers, they just happen to carry some food products. They typically do not carry any fresh foods. So its not a matter of their tomatoes are somehow worse quality, its that they do not sell tomatoes. Its not that their meats are worse quality, they do not sell fresh meat. They practically only sell pre-packaged goods. Think about the few isles of junk food and small packages of household products (soaps and what not) you might find at a gas station, and scale that up ~800m^2. If its not something that is OK to sit on a shelf for a few months, you won't find it at a Dollar General. When it comes to actual fresh foods (which can be found if you go to actual grocery stores), those are highly regulated. You'll find fancier varieties at fancier grocery stores, but in the end a yellow onion at Kroger is about the same as a yellow onion in Safeway or Publix or Albertsons or HEB or Whole Foods.
- selimthegrim 1y ago
  Certain Dollar Generals do carry fresh foods and there’s a sub brand called Dollar General Market that targets the grocery dollar.
rolisz 1y ago
Romanian here: the tomato quality varies by a lot. All stores have crappy "plastic" tasting tomatoes. It's not that easy to find really good tomatoes (in summer you can find them at local markets, in winter... Fancy imports I guess).