Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.

Lanx · Mar 24, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
Yeah I was so suggesting it because if you don't have a decent Asian market Asian Frozen items are pretty good and priced very well. I wonder if you're referring to the location that's pretty close to a HEB Central market over there in Fort Worth. If it's the one I hate that location. It's got the crappiest parking lot and it's busier than any other one I've ever been in, same thing with the Central market. They're both on the same street.

I just have gotten lazy before when we were making Asian stuff and thought hey I'll look at HEB and see if I can get whatever, and their selection and prices are pretty lackluster. Luckily I have a trader Joe's right across the street and it's easy to get in and out of.

you guys live in dallas and can't find an asian grocer? you got at least 99ranch and hmart, and like dozens of stores that have some combination of (asian) (hong kong) (oriental)(shin) market

they all cluster together,
like don't goto these asian grocers

it's like the paki indian crap

Burns · Mar 24, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
Yeah I was so suggesting it because if you don't have a decent Asian market Asian Frozen items are pretty good and priced very well. I wonder if you're referring to the location that's pretty close to a HEB Central market over there in Fort Worth. If it's the one I hate that location. It's got the crappiest parking lot and it's busier than any other one I've ever been in, same thing with the Central market. They're both on the same street.

I just have gotten lazy before when we were making Asian stuff and thought hey I'll look at HEB and see if I can get whatever, and their selection and prices are pretty lackluster. Luckily I have a trader Joe's right across the street and it's easy to get in and out of.

Last time I was in town, the Ft. Worth one was the one I looked at going too, but it looked rather small. That lead me to looked up more info about Trader Joe's in particular and there were many comments about it having it's own stuff that people go there for but not near the selection of a regular grocer. Some various comments also mentioned thier favorite TJ foods were something I would not usually be buying, like premade frozen meals/foods, cookies, and maybe candy(?), so never stopped.

While HEB owns Central Market, they are not the same thing. Central Market is the a premium grocer, certainly the most high class I have ever been in. They have the best, most consistent, fruit and vegetable quality, as well as largest fruit variety of any store I have ever been in. So I will stop there on occasion and only buy fruit & vegies (mainly apples, tomatoes, and oranges). They also have a large selection of quality sodas, which is neat, if you want to pay for it. Everything else is too rich for my blood.

HEB itself is a regular grocery store that doesn't have many location in DFW proper, but they are all over every city/town south of DFW nowadays. HERE are the DFW HEB locations. I would recommend checking them out if they build one close to you. They are somewhat competitive with Wal-Mart but they have superior quality house brands, some of the best customer service, and they pay their people well, which shows in their demeanor.

Burns · Mar 24, 2024

Lanx said:
you guys live in dallas and can't find an asian grocer? you got at least 99ranch and hmart, and like dozens of stores that have some combination of (asian) (hong kong) (oriental)(shin) market

they all cluster together,
like don't goto these asian grocers

it's like the paki indian crap

Well, a place called Hong Kong Market Place has 3,700 reviews on google and it's on the way to the airport, so I would think it might be something to check out:

Hong Kong Market Place · 2615 W Pioneer Pkwy, Grand Prairie, TX 75051, United States

★★★★☆ · Asian grocery store

maps.app.goo.gl

Edit: Well, it's a little out of the way but 3.7k reviews, yo. If I was going to make a pitstop, I would probably need to find some more healthy-ish Asian recipes to buy for.

Lanx · Mar 24, 2024

Burns said:
Well, a place called Hong Kong Market Place has 3,700 reviews on google and it's on the way to the airport, so I would think it might be something to check out:

Hong Kong Market Place · 2615 W Pioneer Pkwy, Grand Prairie, TX 75051, United States

★★★★☆ · Asian grocery store

maps.app.goo.gl

Edit: Well, it's a little out of the way but 3.7k reviews, yo. If I was going to make a pitstop, I would probably need to find some more healthy-ish Asian recipes to buy for.

bad reviews are always lulzz

bitch, you can't even type english

Dr.Retarded · Mar 24, 2024

Burns said:
Last time I was in town, the Ft. Worth one was the one I looked at going too, but it looked rather small. That lead me to looked up more info about Trader Joe's in particular and there were many comments about it having it's own stuff that people go there for but not near the selection of a regular grocer. Some various comments also mentioned thier favorite TJ foods were something I would not usually be buying, like premade frozen meals/foods, cookies, and maybe candy(?), so never stopped.

While HEB owns Central Market, they are not the same thing. Central Market is the a premium grocer, certainly the most high class I have ever been in. They have the best, most consistent, fruit and vegetable quality, as well as largest fruit variety of any store I have ever been in. So I will stop there on occasion and only buy fruit & vegies (mainly apples, tomatoes, and oranges). They also have a large selection of quality sodas, which is neat, if you want to pay for it. Everything else is too rich for my blood.

HEB itself is a regular grocery store that doesn't have many location in DFW proper, but they are all over every city/town south of DFW nowadays. HERE are the DFW HEB locations. I would recommend checking them out if they build one close to you. They are somewhat competitive with Wal-Mart but they have superior quality house brands, some of the best customer service, and they pay their people well, which shows in their demeanor.

Trust me I know all about Central market and HEB . When I moved back to Texas it was one of the things I was happy about because I could get excellent selection of groceries at reasonable rates. I remember back when they were HEB pantry foods, and when I was in college at A&m, it's the only place I shopped because they were cheaper than everybody else. We had one in the town I went to high school at.

I have three HEBs within 10 minutes from the house. I have to watch going to Central Market because it's easy to end up spending a little bit more money then I plan to specifically in stuff like the cheese area. First time I ever bought a black truffle was from there, it's pretty fun to go through all of their produce and their seafood or meat department. I typically go nuts in the bulk spice section, and I think one of the last times that when I walked out with 10 different bags of smoked salts or something. Not a lot in each bag but just to be able to try them.

The wonderful thing about it though is it's still HEB but even the prices for gourmet stuff is very good in relation to something like whole foods, or as we call it whole paycheck. I think I've been to every one of their locations that they have, there's one here in Houston, another in San Antonio, and I love one in Fort Worth, but I forget if there's one in Dallas.

With my sister living up there, we've gone to the store for family deals and she'll typically go to that Central market location, and it always struck me as odd that they didn't have regular heb's consistently through the area. With her living in aledo they do have one now in Willow Park everybody Weatherford, and I've gone in there once and hopefully that'll be the last time I ever do. It's a utter madhouse, and my patience with your average shopper is very thin.

I think they're headquarters is in San Antonio if I'm not mistaken.

Burns · Mar 24, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
Trust me I know all about Central market and HEB . When I moved back to Texas it was one of the things I was happy about because I could get excellent selection of groceries at reasonable rates. I remember back when they were HEB pantry foods, and when I was in college at A&m, it's the only place I shopped because they were cheaper than everybody else. We had one in the town I went to high school at.

I have three HEBs within 10 minutes from the house. I have to watch going to Central Market because it's easy to end up spending a little bit more money then I plan to specifically in stuff like the cheese area. First time I ever bought a black truffle was from there, it's pretty fun to go through all of their produce and their seafood or meat department.

The wonderful thing about it though is it's still HEB but even the prices for gourmet stuff is very good in relation to something like whole foods, or as we call it whole paycheck. I think I've been to every one of their locations that they have, there's one here in Houston, another in San Antonio, and I love one in Fort Worth, but I forget if there's one in Dallas.

With my sister living up there, we've gone to the store for family deals and she'll typically go to that Central market location, and it always struck me as odd that they didn't have regular heb's consistently through the area. With her living in aledo they do have one now in Willow Park everybody Weatherford, and I've gone in there once and hopefully that'll be the last time I ever do. It's a utter madhouse, and my patience with your average shopper is very thin.

I think they're headquarters is in San Antonio if I'm not mistaken.

AFAIK, HEB is using Wal-Mart's logistics strategy when it comes to expansion, which means they build a warehouses first then expand around that (I think the warehouse and store need to be within a X hour drive for a semi). They can only build warehouses so fast while not borrowing too much money and it seems like they primarily chose pushing up to Austin, then over to Houston, and finally on to DFW. I'm not sure how they incorporated Central Market into the whole system, when they made that purchase.

Dr.Retarded · Mar 24, 2024

Burns said:
AFAIK, HEB is using Wal-Mart's logistics strategy when it comes to expansion, which means they build a warehouses first then expand around that (I think the warehouse and store need to be within a X hour drive for a semi). They can only build warehouses so fast while not borrowing too much money and it seems like they primarily chose pushing up to Austin, then over to Houston, and finally on to DFW. I'm not sure how they incorporated Central Market into the whole system, when they made that purchase.

Yeah I don't necessarily know the history when Central market became a thing, but they're definitely under the same umbrella. Was thinking about it and I guess there's also a location in Austin which I don't think I've ever been to that one, and I think there is one in Dallas, so that makes five. I do remember back in the early 2000s it was around at that point.

I think they just saw some sort of niche in the market or they could offer gourmet items at much cheaper prices than whole foods or Earth fare.

I guess we probably have a lot here in Houston because they've got a big distribution center I think it's over in Katy, which would make sense being on the I-10 corridor running directly to San Antonio.

When I do our daily shopping at HEB I typically always buy HEB, Hill country Fair, or Central market above anything else, and it was kind of a surprise when I moved back that they seem to have really integrated the Central market fancy stuff into all of their regular stores. I'm sure it's all just being made by some other manufacturer but if they're able to Levy their purchasing power, and get me some good stuff for relatively cheap, I'm all for it. The Central market pasta is fantastic and I'm willing to spend a couple more bucks to get what I think is infinitely better than that blue box burrata or whatever the hell it is.

Burns · Mar 24, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
Yeah I don't necessarily know the history when Central market became a thing, but they're definitely under the same umbrella. Was thinking about it and I guess there's also a location in Austin which I don't think I've ever been to that one, and I think there is one in Dallas, so that makes five. I do remember back in the early 2000s it was around at that point.

I think they just saw some sort of niche in the market or they could offer gourmet items at much cheaper prices than whole foods or Earth fare.

I guess we probably have a lot here in Houston because they've got a big distribution center I think it's over in Katy, which would make sense being on the I-10 corridor running directly to San Antonio.

When I do our daily shopping at HEB I typically always buy HEB, Hill country Fair, or Central market above anything else, and it was kind of a surprise when I moved back that they seem to have really integrated the Central market fancy stuff into all of their regular stores. I'm sure it's all just being made by some other manufacturer but if they're able to Levy their purchasing power, and get me some good stuff for relatively cheap, I'm all for it. The Central market pasta is fantastic and I'm willing to spend a couple more bucks to get what I think is infinitely better than that blue box burrata or whatever the hell it is.

They have been expanding Central Market, so you have a lot more to visit to make the tour now. South Lake has had one for probably ~10 years, Plano has one, Dallas actually has three, and Austin has a second one.

Dr.Retarded · Mar 24, 2024

Burns said:
They have been expanding Central Market, so you have a lot more to visit to make the tour now. South Lake has had one for probably ~10 years, Plano has one, Dallas actually has three, and Austin has a second one.

Well son of a bitch, I didn't know that. It always kind of surprised me they only had a handful of locations for a long time, but it's good to see that they've expanded. I really like them as a grocery store as a whole. Anytime I've ever gone into my regular locations the managers are always extremely friendly and helpful, as is the staff, and I might not be as cheap as Walmart but it's pretty affordable in this day and age, and you can't beat the quality of their product.

Kaige · Mar 24, 2024

Daidraco said:
The most interesting thing about this thread is that its, mostly, just a small restaurant in the middle of Appalachia's menu. 90% of the stuff mentioned, you can walk into a mom and pop restaurant in or around the Cumberland Gap area and eat it.

Another thing is, Ive rarely found recipes on the internet that I thought were delicious. At least not for the stuff I was looking for. That Chicken and Dumpling recipe for example, looks way too overcomplicated for what, "southern" Chicken and Dumplings should be. I'd have to ask my Mother or Grandmother what the recipe is exactly, but the normal recipe around here definitely doesnt have fucking Carrots in it, and it sure as fuck doesnt mention "Low Sodium" and "Healthy" doesnt even come across your mind.

You have to be careful with recipes online because most of the feedback is false. I don't mean spam pushed or anything, but apparently people in general are gutless pussies and can't leave anything but a 4-5 star rating no matter how much the recipe sucks.

Double check the comments under any recipe - especially on the big recipe sites - and you'll see 5 star reviews with shit like "good recipe but I used X instead of Y, cooked it lower for longer, added sugar and MSG, etc etc". They basically changed the whole fucking thing, but STILL put a 5 star rating.

TJT · Mar 25, 2024

Burns said:
Last time I was in town, the Ft. Worth one was the one I looked at going too, but it looked rather small. That lead me to looked up more info about Trader Joe's in particular and there were many comments about it having it's own stuff that people go there for but not near the selection of a regular grocer. Some various comments also mentioned thier favorite TJ foods were something I would not usually be buying, like premade frozen meals/foods, cookies, and maybe candy(?), so never stopped.

While HEB owns Central Market, they are not the same thing. Central Market is the a premium grocer, certainly the most high class I have ever been in. They have the best, most consistent, fruit and vegetable quality, as well as largest fruit variety of any store I have ever been in. So I will stop there on occasion and only buy fruit & vegies (mainly apples, tomatoes, and oranges). They also have a large selection of quality sodas, which is neat, if you want to pay for it. Everything else is too rich for my blood.

HEB itself is a regular grocery store that doesn't have many location in DFW proper, but they are all over every city/town south of DFW nowadays. HERE are the DFW HEB locations. I would recommend checking them out if they build one close to you. They are somewhat competitive with Wal-Mart but they have superior quality house brands, some of the best customer service, and they pay their people well, which shows in their demeanor.

The line between Central Market and HEB gets really thin when you're in the nicer suburbs. There's ghetto as HEBs that most people hate here in Austin and super nice ones that are indistinguishable from Central Market.

Aldarion · Mar 25, 2024

Kaige said:
You have to be careful with recipes online because most of the feedback is false. I don't mean spam pushed or anything, but apparently people in general are gutless pussies and can't leave anything but a 4-5 star rating no matter how much the recipe sucks.

Double check the comments under any recipe - especially on the big recipe sites - and you'll see 5 star reviews with shit like "good recipe but I used X instead of Y, cooked it lower for longer, added sugar and MSG, etc etc". They basically changed the whole fucking thing, but STILL put a 5 star rating.

I live in a town of under 1000 and when I visit certain websites, I see ads showing dozens of beautiful, scantily clad women from my small town, who just want sex. Click here.

Thats how real online reviews are.

This was true by 2010, the fact that some people still read online reviews in 2024 is chefs kiss hilarious.

Adebisi · Mar 25, 2024

I've just been eating less

Palum · Mar 25, 2024

Aldarion said:
I live in a town of under 1000 and when I visit certain websites, I see ads showing dozens of beautiful, scantily clad women from my small town, who just want sex. Click here.

Thats how real online reviews are.

This was true by 2010, the fact that some people still read online reviews in 2024 is chefs kiss hilarious.

They're still worthwhile around here. People will out complain fake reviews.

It's basically under 3 is trash, 3-3.7 is mediocre, 3.8-4.5 is good, 4.5-5 is hella fake (usually).

Palum · Mar 25, 2024

Adebisi said:
I've just been eating less

Ah the Snack Wells strategy.

Serving size half as many cookies = 50% less fat

Kiroy · Mar 26, 2024

Aldarion said:
I live in a town of under 1000 and when I visit certain websites, I see ads showing dozens of beautiful, scantily clad women from my small town, who just want sex. Click here.

Thats how real online reviews are.

This was true by 2010, the fact that some people still read online reviews in 2024 is chefs kiss hilarious.

Unfortunately search algos take reviews into account - a huge reason why modern day search is cyclical trash

Burns · Mar 26, 2024

Kiroy said:
Unfortunately search algos take reviews into account - a huge reason why modern day search is cyclical trash

On a related note: I recently switched to Bing for recipe searches and it seems to do a bit better with not pushing the same small group of shitty websites.

Harshaw · Mar 26, 2024

Kiroy said:
Bibigo is a high quality brand. Great dumplings and pot stickers.

I get those all the time. The beef and vegetable mandu are my fave so far. I used them for wonton ramen soup and just pan fried.

Kiroy · Mar 26, 2024

Harshaw said:
I get those all the time. The beef and vegetable mandu are my fave so far. I used them for wonton ramen soup and just pan fried.

Their microwavable soup dumplings are awesome as well, and a quick easy snack.

Harshaw · Mar 26, 2024

Kiroy said:
Their microwavable soup dumplings are awesome as well, and a quick easy snack.

They don't carry those at my store unfortunately. I can just get some of the mandu, mini wontons, and fried rice.

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Hong Kong Market Place · 2615 W Pioneer Pkwy, Grand Prairie, TX 75051, United States

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