Fresh and Easy, Tesco

I've read about them. I am not as gung ho about pre packaged food as I could be. On the other hand, a lot of the rest of it sounds good to me. I'd definitely like them as an option, and I think my neighborhood might fit what I see as a pattern with them.

I'll look at it again.

Seemed to me you have to be a part of a 501 organization to petition a store to be near you. Maybe I'm missing something --

http://www.freshandeasy.com/

Interesting! I just checked their website and there is one store
close to our offices, so I might stop by tomorrow and check it out.

I never heard of them, the concept sounds good though.

501 organization?
What's that?

There's a section for developers to click on...is that what you mean?

There was also a section for customers, which is where I went to nominate the shopping plaza between Manchaca and Lamar, where the old walgreens usta be (in case anyone else wants to nominate :wink: )

One cool thing on the site was a section where you can see by day, week, month and overall how much energy via solar panels their distribution center produces for itself....Looks like they've been running steady at 50%ish. Cool.

cj, I'm interested in your impression of it.

From what I'm seeing, they don't go for glitz and glam. Utilitarian set up, clean....fresh produce, diary, and prepared foods, under their own name.

They prepare all the food offsite at a distribution center, and deliver daily.

This one guy on a blog was sorta complaining that the "use by" date on some sushi he bought there was the same, or next day....well, yeah.....duh....I always eat my sushi as soon as I buy it, doesn't everyone? You can't keep that around.

Same for prepared foods, once it's prepared, you're going to want to eat it by the next day.

Thing is, I could totally see myself stopping there on the way home from work, picking up some main course thing for dinner that's already cooked, and just have to prepare the side dishes.

Also, it would encourage people to walk to their local store a few blocks rather than drive to the mega mart.


In my neighborhood, there used to be this old run down old timey supermarket, that was finally turned into a cinema and draft house.

There were quite a few people that ran in there all the time to pick up a few items. I never bought groceries there, but I'd stop on the way to work to pick up fruit, yogurt, that kind of thing.

Looks Interesting - none here in the NE but from the map it looks like a couple right close to Mom so, I'll ask her if she's been. She probably hasn't or has been convinced it's too much $ or something but, I'll ask her anyway.

quinn, according to an article in last sundays paper, they run about 30% in price.

that's darn good.

Now if I could just convince her that it would be good for her to actually go into the place to check it out. I could get her with fresh fruit though. I'll email her now so I don't forget.

I thought I clicked on customers - I'll try again. (I think a 501 is non-profit.)

I still can't find where to do that, Chai - can you give me a link? The one I was looking at has where you can nominate a neighborhood group for donation. You can see I was totally confused.

http://www.freshandeasy.com/whereweare.aspx

the link to nominate a store is at the bottom of that ^ page

Thanks, ehBeth!

Mom says they are popping up all over Scottsdale and Mesa, Phoenix area in general and most are under construction still so, she has yet to go in one but, she is hoping that once they get organized she can get some good fruit.

cool.

Well, I went there today at lunchtime. It's rather small and very clean,
but otherwise I am reminded of Trader Joe's sans the international products.

Almost everything is packaged, fruit and vegetables too. I personally
don't like that so much, as I prefer to pick out the fruit and veggies myself.
I did buy some packaged snow peas for $ 2.48 for a 9 oz. bag, but at
home I noticed that it needs to be used by May 11. Not too fresh, ha?
They have a package of red, green, and yellow peppers
(forgot the price now) but I don't like green peppers, and normally
buy only red ones.

There is an entire isle dedicated to freshly prepared food in bowls or
plates. Most of the prepared food was Mexican and didn't look that
great to me, but I bought a Pad Thai bowl which looked good. It was delicious and cost $ 3.99 There is also a large selection of prepared
salads available, all for $ 3.99

I bought naan bread that wasn't so fresh for $ 2.18. It seems to be
more than a few days old.

The check-out was super fast since I did it myself You scan the
items yourself, package it , pay and leave. So I liked that!

All in all, it is a good alternative, I personally prefer Trader Joe's though.
They have more international food, and their prices and selection are
better. Fresh & easy seems to cater to singles and working people without kids who don't have much time to spend cooking/shopping.


I took a flyer with me so I can give you some prices:

Prepared Food:
Shrimp Cervice, 12 oz. (prepared food) $ 5.99
Chicken Enchiladas w/Rice and beans 17 oz. $ 3.99
Gourmet Flan, 4 oz. $ 1.79
Sliced chicken breast 12 oz. $ 4.99
Spanish rice, 16 oz. $ 1.99
4 donuts in a pack $ 2.49

Other items
409 Cleaner 32 fl oz. $ 2.09
Paper towel $ 1.79
Tortilla Chips 14 oz. $ 1.99
Beef flap meat $ 6.99/lb
Chicken thighs $ 1.19/lb
Hot Salsa 12 oz $ 2.49
Mini Corn Tortillas 36 count $ 1.31
Dulce de Leche ice cream $ 2.49/pint
Taurino Cerveza beer $ 6.99/12
Maple Syrup 12 fl. oz. $ 5.69
Pork Sausage links 12 oz. $ 2.99
Plain Greek yogurt 8 oz. $ 1.28
Coffee (their brand) 12 oz. $ 4.99
Blueberry Granola 16 oz. $ 2.49
Strawberries 16 oz. $ 3.28
Creamy French dressing 16 fl. oz $ 1.34
Rosemary chicken frozen food 24 oz. $ 4.99
Pineaple juice, 64 fl oz. $ 2.99
Cornbread Mix 15 oz. $ 1.89
Black Beans 15 oz. 68 ¢
Clorox bleach, 96 oz. $ 1.82

For me Trader Joe's is something like 10 miles away.. and my closest grocery store has vegies from hell. Close to no herbs. I'd rather have Trader Joe's take that over. Hmm, maybe I'll write them.

cj

that us, childless and working!

there's a lot of young singles here too.

I don't think I'd shop there for everything, but I do like the idea of being able to grab something quick for dinner, or lunch on the weekend.

re packaged fruits and veggies...hmmm...I like to be able to buy 1 or 2 apples if that's all I want. As far as bananas, I only like them when they're at an exact perfect stage of ripeness, or, I should say, unripeness.

Wally eats them only sometimes, and if it was only me, I'd only buy 2 or 3 bananas at a time.

thanks for the review.

Yes Chai, you definitely would like that. I saw that the majority of shoppers
there take the freshly prepared food, and the salads looked so good too.
I'll try a salad the next time for lunch. Their food is much better than a sandwich or pizza somewhere, and close enough to my office to pick it up.

The fresh & easy stores that are down here, are all in suburbs
where there is a large Hispanic population, but I think they would fare
so much better in other neighborhoods that are known for their
single households and childless couples.