Wegman's and its Bounty

by Xani

So the other night Erin and I made a pilgrimage, of sorts. We got in the car and drove 20 miles north to Wegman's in Hunt Valley, MD. Depending on your location, you may or may not be familiar with Wegman's grocery stores (oh, but its so much more!). They just opened one in the Baltimore area a year or so ago, but the New York based chain has locations in Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc. Its, like, the best grocery store ever. What makes it so great? Well, first they have an extensive selection of high quality products: awesome fresh produce, dozens of cheeses, lots of ethnic foods, etc. The prices are comparable to other "normal" grocery stores (as opposed to way overpriced like Whole Foods or speciality/gourmet stores), and Wegman's is very clean, the staff are friendly, and basically because of all these things, its worth the trip!

Oh, also making it worth the trip, is the food court/prepared food section that makes it easy to roll lunch/dinner into your shopping experience. EP and I went in the evening, after work, and we were both famished. So, first stop: food court. Wegman's food court (like the rest of the store) has a large selection including sushi, Chinese food buffet, salad bar, sandwich shop, pizza, crab cakes... I could go on and on. We picked up a slice of white pizza and a few wings, as well as an Italian cold cut sub.

So the dinner was decent-- better than what you would get in a mall food court, for sure. We were glad to have resisted the Chinese Buffet since we always get that and we wanted to try something new. Most importantly it gave us the energy needed for our shopping extravaganza (and the willpower not to buy EVERYTHING in the store)!

Erin and I did our usual shopping technique: wander aimlessly through the store, picking up things that may or may not be in our lists, forgetting to pick up important items on the lists and needing to go back for them, etc. Some aisles/areas of the store we had to go back to three or four times. Basically we are THE MOST inefficient shoppers ever (to our parents' dismay; they are professional grocery shoppers. Mom is the Queen of grocery shopping, and has the layout of at least a half dozen local stores stored in her memory, along with the location of every product. Dad puts his own special spin on shopping with his Master Shopping List, broken down by location, category, amount, etc. They've got it down to a science!). But, we have a good time! Some highlights of the shopping trip include:

Broccoli Forest

Adorable mini-peppers

Truffles on lock-down (at $400/lb, it makes sense!)

Hummus Heaven

Wide selection of Jewish foods (including a Wall of Matzoh!)

After a couple hours wandering around the store we had a full cart and most of the things on our lists crossed off. I had picked up lots of basics (to refill my barren fridge and pantry) as well as a bunch of ingredients for a some Martha Stewart recipes I had a hankering (?) to cook (post coming soon!). Erin got plenty of food to get her through the week, at least until the weekend when we shop again for yet another Summer Party! Stay Tuned!

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