Recommendations?

avskk

I just got a new car after years without one, which means I can travel outside my tiny town (which only has a Walmart, and a small one at that) for groceries. I'm going to a nearby, much bigger town on Friday, more or less to buy whatever I want. I'm not going for a staple grocery list, but purely for fun new things.

What do you guys recommend from Target? What do you recommend as far as unusual/excellent produce and dairy? Snack stuff? I can manage anything except for frozen things that will melt -- so frozen veg or pasta is fine, but ice cream is not. This will be my first-ever trip to Target, and there's also a specialty grocery store, a MUCH larger Walmart, an Albertsons, Walgreens, etc.

Tell me what to buy. I like everything except for okra, pinto beans (but other beans are fine), and offal!

tulips_and_tea

How long is the drive? You could always put a cooler in your car with some ice so that you can buy and transport cold food. Especially if you buy frozen as well because the frozen food will keep the perishable food cold until you get home (if the drive isn't too far).

As far as produce, I always like to buy what's in season. It's fresher and generally cheaper. For different dairy products there should be a large variety of cheeses that you've probably not tried before. Other than that, take time to explore and see what you find. Congrats on the car!

avskk

Thanks! I can do cold/frozen food fine -- just not melty stuff (the drive is about two hours, and we'll be in town most of the day so stuff will be in the car 3-5 hours). I feel like I've been saying "I wish I could get X here" for YEARS, but now that I can make a trip I can't think of a blessed thing to buy.

AndOne8675

Bulk bins are fun.

HeidiCooksSupper

I luckily live in a place with lots of grocery stores of various types so I thought I'd try to think of what I can only get at some stores and might not get in a small market.

Italian (flat-leafed) parsley. It tastes quite different from curly parsley, the stuff that's more readily available.
All-natural 100% peanut peanut butter.
Nuts may be cheaper, especially if the town you are going to has a Trader Joe's
"Ethnic" ingredients -- stores in bigger towns are likely to have some sections for Hispanic, Italian, Asian, etc. foods.

I would take time to browse sections like the beans and lentils to see what they have that you might not find easily.

And, do some research online before to see if what grocery stores they have. Look for Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, health food stores, ethnic stores, etc. If there's a World Market, you might want to check in the back of the store where they have a surprising array of international ingredients.

Then, when you are back stuck at home, remember that just about every ingredient you can imagine is available online. We get our oil-cured olives by the case from Walmart.com and a whole mess of different things from Amazon, everything from peppercorns to demi-glace paste. Sometimes I treat myself to an order from Penzey's spices. We get lots of grains and cereals from BobsRedMill.com, etc. We've even been known to get a mess of mustard from http://mustardmuseum.com/. I like to make rye bread and about the only sources of rye flour are online. Most recently, I've ordered some from Bob's Red Mill but when I'm wanting real flour variety I have fun ordering from nybakers.com.