Food for Thought
The cost of food in A2 can be steep, so this month the Current comes through with “In Search of Affordable Eating,” a primer for cutting food costs. The article recommends only one grocery store: “Check out the People’s Food Coop…For $60 you can become a member for life and — unless the Coop needs the money for special projects — receive a rebate every year on a percentage of what you buy.” That’s right, you can shop at the most expensive grocery store in town, pay them extra and get money back on some unnamed fraction of your purchases at the end of the year. If they decide they don’t need the money for something else. See, there are bargains in Ann Arbor; you just need to know where to look.
that’s pretty snarky. and what’s with the link?
posted by peter honeyman on October 2nd, 2005 at 12:33 pmOh, I’m a big Joss Whedon fan, and the term “special projects” just brought to mind the “special projects” division of the evil law firm in “Angel,” which concentrated on working with demons, interpreting ancient prophecies and bringing about the apocalypse. I’m not sure what the Food Coop analogue would be. A demon that skewers its victims with tea tree oil toothpicks?
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 2nd, 2005 at 12:37 pmIt’s weird, because the Ann Arbor Paper had someone writing about high-end dumpster-diving, in the same vein Sandor Slomovits began his Current piece with fond memories of same in his youth. The Co-op can be affordable (depends on what you’re looking for), but I’ve done cost analyses of certain products at Sparrow and Village Corner, and they’re “affordable” too (it’s my own damn fault for being too lazy to take the bus to Meijer or Hiller’s).
“Serenity” looks awfully funny. I never got to see “Firefly.”
posted by Lazaro on October 2nd, 2005 at 1:27 pmwell, call me prickly, but i like the food co-op (and so does blaine! i see him there on weekends! the food co-op is a great place for mobilizing on behalf of palestinian rights! BLAINE I AM TROLLING!).
i don’t know that it’s the most expensive grocery store in town … my food bill is minuscule — for me a meal is, like, a thimbleful of boiled millet, a carrot, and a grape — so it hardly makes a difference.
i don’t know what special projects they choose, but the board minutes (online) mention a cafe project a few years ago and a development exploration project whatever that is.
posted by peter honeyman on October 2nd, 2005 at 1:42 pmI’m thinking Whole Foods is the most expensive in town. Well, if you include ‘inside the city limits’ as ‘in town’ anyway.
posted by LauraF on October 2nd, 2005 at 2:08 pmThe co-op is damned expensive. Not that I don’t appreciate that it’s there, and it’s nice to stop by for quick purchases since I’m all of a block from the place, but $8 for a nearly-plain plastic-wrap turkey sandwhich at the cafe? Spring the extra 3 dollars and go to Zingerman’s, for chrissakes, at that point. I’d probably call it more expensive than even Whole Foods. If you look, you can get OK deals there. $7 for my favorite olive oil that’s usually $10 anywhere else I’ve seen it - not damningly cheap, but OK. And if you pick the right day and time, you can have a whole meal from all the little sample plates. Had a friend who would have dinner that way when money was tight.
The co-op in Ithaca, although you generally had to drive to the place (or take a fun hill-filled bike ride) wasn’t cheap, but it was vastly more affordable than Ann Arbor’s. I don’t know about Ypsi, though. Ithaca had a deli, which was hilarious - you had vegan kids behind the counter slicing turkey and cheese. I talked to one of ‘em about it, and they said that the literature and tofu was there if anyone wanted to convert, and at least this turkey was free-range. Fair enough.
So far, I’ve been going with farmer’s market for fruits/vegetables/eggs, and the occassional trip to Trader Joe’s/Meijer’s/raiding the parent’s house for dry and frozen goods. Sale bread-of-the-month at Zingerman’s. It’s been working out quite well.
posted by Jen on October 2nd, 2005 at 2:20 pmIf they really wanted to get cheap food, volunteer for Food Gatherers. Or join a farm/garden co-op - I think there’s one called Ann Arbor CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
I hear a new Costco is going to open out by Zeeb & Wagner. Hope they give Sam’s Club a run for the money.
posted by Sandy on October 2nd, 2005 at 5:20 pmDon’t you people have a damn Meijer or something?
posted by Big John on October 2nd, 2005 at 7:55 pmYeah we have 2 Meijers, but nobody lives within walking distance of them. Depending on how far you can walk, of course.
posted by Jonas on October 3rd, 2005 at 12:40 amPublic transportation? Or did the green people kill that one, too?
posted by Big John on October 3rd, 2005 at 1:10 amThe bus to Meijer comes every half hour and takes 35 minutes to get there from downtown. So you’re talking about a 70-minute round trip, plus the hour that you’ll spend shopping/waiting for the next bus to take you back. Not including however long it takes you to walk to the bus stop.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 3rd, 2005 at 1:19 amWhen I lived in Detroit as a law student without a car, I sometimes took a city bus to a suburban supermarket, where the selection was spectacularly better and the prices much lower than the wretched little food stores within walking distance.
But Detroit buses are so crowded with passengers most of the time that carrying bags of groceries on the bus is rude as well as inconvenient and uncomfortable. You’d end up standing, holding your bags, and taking up 3x the usual space in a packed bus aisle. And of course it was more than an hour each way.
In my last year, a small new Farmer Jack’s supermarket opened on E. Warren, obviously geared to serve the handful of middle-class white folks around Wayne State and the Detroit Medical Center. Obviously it didn’t occur to them that there were ALSO about a hundred thousand black families for which this would be the best and cheapest supermarket within miles.
It was so crowded that the lines from the checkouts extended through the aisles all the way to the back of the store. Most of the time, it wasn’t practical to shop there by yourself: you needed one person to get in line with an empty cart as soon as you arrived, while the other ran around the store collecting groceries.
But at least it was within walking distance. I had a collapsible two-wheel cart (old lady style) to haul groceries on such trips.
Yes, sometimes I went to the Eastern Market (vast Detroit farmer’s market), but there weren’t any direct buses in that direction, and as a practical matter it required finding a friend with a car who was willing to get up early.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on October 3rd, 2005 at 2:14 amIf you are indeed a Joss Whedon fan, I’d highly recommend “Serenity.” Just got back from a screening, and am quite pleased.
posted by Morbidly Midwestern on October 3rd, 2005 at 2:32 amI got a 1 lb NY strip steak last night at Bella Vino for $6.99. Can’t find a deal like that at the food Co-op…
posted by James on October 3rd, 2005 at 9:06 amIf you’re shopping for frozen pizzas or tea tree oil toothpicks, yes, PFC probably is about the most expensive place in town.
If you’re buying bulk goods and cooking (vegetarian) for yourself, though, it’s about the cheapest deal in town. Only way to get any cheaper for equivalent quality is to buy farmers’ market in-season (or, like we do, get a CSA share - we get a weekly box from Tantre Farm, near Chelsea, which also sells at the Farmers’ Market and at PFC, more expensive at both places) and get your rice, beans, oats, whole wheat flour, and lentils in 25# sacks. Yes, you have to eat like a damn hippie in order for PFC to be the cheapest game in town, but, really, PFC is the only place in town where you _can_ shop like a damn hippie. (Arbor Farms also has bulk bins, but they’re significantly more expensive, and, if you wait for sales at PFC and then buy soy milk by the case, it’s cheaper than even Trader Joes.)
posted by Murph on October 3rd, 2005 at 10:22 am(plus, I work across the street from PFC, so travel time/cost can be considered zero. And the Kroger on South Industrial, which is the next closest grocery to my life, is really just about as expensive…)
posted by Murph on October 3rd, 2005 at 10:28 amPFC used to be the best deal in town for spices — much cheaper to buy them in bulk than to buy them in the little containers at the store. Also, coffee used to be a good deal. But if you’re trying to stock your whole apartment like you would be able to at a grocery store, forget it — staples like canned goods, bread, pasta, salad dressing, eggs, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. are much more expensive at PFC than at other places — unless you would otherwise buy organic and/or gourmet products, rather than just buying them because that’s all that’s stocked. Also, since you can’t buy a wide range of necessary household products (I’m pretty sure they don’t carry things like mop heads or tupperware — at least they never used to), it can be a very big time suck to shop there and have to go someplace else. Guess it depends on how much time you have for product-gathering activities.
posted by Anna on October 3rd, 2005 at 11:09 amActually Ann Arbor has three Meijers nearby, but none are within the city limits.
PFC is basically good for buying food that is both healthy and socially conscious. You want to buy organic, free-range, fair trade, no additives etc. food, you have to pay a premium for it. So if that’s what you’re after then that’s what they’re there for.
posted by Mike on October 3rd, 2005 at 1:12 pmIt occured to me the other day that I actually shop at about 10 different stores for cheap/local/good food. By the Pound in S. Main market has the best/cheapest nuts and spices and bulk pasta in my mind. PFC is great for other bulk stuff, soy milk, tofu, canned goods, and random stuff. My newest favorite is Bello Vino. They and the Co-op have the most locally-produced food of anyplace else by far, and the stuff at Bello Vino is really cheap (not as much focused on organic). I also shop Arbor Farms for organic produce, but much of the produce is non-local (They do try, but the supply of local farms that produce organic food and want to sell to a store their size is limited). And then there’s the other 6, which I won’t bore everyone with.
posted by Lisa on October 3rd, 2005 at 2:41 pmMeijer’s is just too monolithic for me to deal with, and I can get free donut holes at Busch’s. Bella Vino and Hiller’s can be okay, as long as I go when they’re having a sale on something I need. I’ve given up on Whole Foods and instead go to Trader Joe’s, in the old Whoel Foods location.
posted by JCP2 on October 3rd, 2005 at 3:26 pmAll those places have much higher prices than Meijer for equivalent food, and none of them have house brand canned veggies for a quarter, which is what I paid yesterday at Meijer. Trader Joe’s has some great deals in and among the “four coconut shells with a dab of coconut ice cream in them for five bucks”, but it’s not worth a trip to me.
posted by Michael McC. on October 3rd, 2005 at 4:03 pmI tend to go to Busch’s because I’m too lazy/busy to make a point of going to the farmer’s market and too busy/lazy to cook real meals. I do have a lot of cayenne peppers in the garden, and potatoes waiting to be dug, however. I mainly subsist on Big Ten Burrito, NYPD, and bagels, in reality…
posted by Brandon on October 3rd, 2005 at 4:44 pmand granola.
posted by Dale on October 3rd, 2005 at 5:10 pmLike Lisa, I find that figuring out where the best places for certain items are, and then shopping exclusively there is the best method. I do own a car, so I have a bit of an advantage. By the Pound and the Brazilian food store in South Main Market are both very conveniently located, for me, and BTP is especially inexpensive for spices, pasta, lentils, coffee, tea, etc.. Trader Joe’s for their frozen fish and veggies, cheese, wine, some ‘luxury’ items, and Meijer’s for when I feel poor. My house has also been known to carpool to the grocery store. I enjoy cooking and so this routine is worth it for me, and not particularly expensive, especially given that, other than uber-cheap lunches (5 bucks or less), I avoid eating out most of the time.
posted by Heidi on October 3rd, 2005 at 9:14 pmDon’t you live in some loser blog house?
posted by Dale on October 3rd, 2005 at 9:29 pmI love By The Pound. Recent special things I’ve noticed there are local honey and very tasty crystallized ginger. Also, the salad bar at Back Alley Gourmet in the same building is one of the best in town. The store that used to be where Brazamerica is now used to have the best one, but they closed and fortunately BAG took over.
It is really nice having a bulk foods store with a good selection in town and accessible.
posted by eric on October 4th, 2005 at 2:05 ami miss “mr. bulky” although the selection was kind of a niche
posted by peter honeyman on October 4th, 2005 at 8:20 amThese are all great suggestions–we recently moved to Ypsilanti and our kitchen is still in boxes, so far I’ve been completely shocked by the price of eating out…it is impossible to even get lunch for two for under $20. I’m frightened to venture into supermarket land, thinking I may need to take out a second mortgage.
posted by Sarah on October 4th, 2005 at 10:43 amSarah, try eating out at the new Taqueria La Loma. It’s in a colorfully painted converted house about a mile west of downtown Ypsi on Michigan Ave. It’s on the right if you’re heading west. Very good and cheap.
I picked up the tip here, but don’t use his map, it’s to Taqueria Jalisco, which is also nice, but a bit fancier: http://www.livejournal.com/users/leighton/tag/ypsi+attack!
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on October 4th, 2005 at 12:31 pm“All those places have much higher prices than Meijer for euivalent food, and none of them have house brand canned veggies for a quarter, which is what I paid yesterday at Meijer.”
Yes, but were those all natural free-range fair trade organic veggies? If not you are only harming our earth and your body.
posted by James on October 4th, 2005 at 1:37 pmIf you don’t pay 8 dollars for a bottle of organic ketchup, the Bush administration has won.
Also, the hot bar at the co-op fucking sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I was vegetarian for 7 years and vegan for two of those, but at no point did my dietary choices involve me razoring off my tastebuds so that I could enjoy the crappiest of food with impunity. 10 bucks for a dixie cup of the blandest tofu enchilladas imaginable is completely unconscionable. And I believe people have already discussed the pre-packaged sandwiches. I’m sure every ann arborite has choked one or two of these cardboard/tomato concoctions down when in a pinch. If 7 bucks for one of those bad boys is a boon to Spaceship Earth, I’m all for paving the planet.
posted by Real Big on October 4th, 2005 at 3:07 pmi like the co-op’s hot bar. (so there.)
posted by peter honeyman on October 4th, 2005 at 3:47 pmI don’t (so there). I love my vegan ex-roommate dearly, but cringed every time she suggested getting dinner there. Damnit, it’s not a dinner, it’s protein and carbohydrates in digestible form. Semi-digestible form.
posted by Jen on October 4th, 2005 at 4:45 pmIf gas prices aren’t an issue I suggest checking out the new Costco on Old US-23 and Grand River in Brighton. They have much better deals than Sams Club! I just bought lobster(fresh), a 36 pack of paper towels, thermasilk shampoo and conditioner, bacon wrapped scallops, a butt load of monster energy drinks, dr. pepper, two extremely large jars of gormet gerkins, beach towels, and a pot pie as big as a car tire for well under 100 bucks! And don’t forget you can by beer and liquors there buy the bulk without a membership!
posted by sswotc on October 4th, 2005 at 11:42 pm…and CostCo is a ‘Blue’ company, not a ‘Red’ one like Sam’s, Meijer, and Kroger.
posted by eric on October 5th, 2005 at 12:02 amI’ve heard they’re putting a Costco out at Jackson/Zeeb.
posted by stella on October 5th, 2005 at 7:34 amStill not walkable or bus-able though
I cook a lot, and the coop is def not a place I go for cheap eats. if you want to keep the bills in your wallet you have to shop around - trader joe’s is awesome for good cheap wine (charles shaw $3.00), milk ($2.00) and frozen seafood. For canned goods and pasta, i know this isn’t popular, but wallmart puts the smack down on high prices - you can get a can of corn for like $0.30 and pasta sauce you can work with for a buck. meijers is wack but sometimes you just have to deal with it. and the best place for veggies is the farmer’s market. yah, so all in all, the coop sucks for prices.
posted by shawn smith on October 5th, 2005 at 7:55 amWhat makes a company “blue” or “red”?
posted by JCP2 on October 5th, 2005 at 8:53 amBlue and red companies are like the blue and red states, except with political campaign donations instead of votes, according to http://buyblue.org/
posted by FAA on October 5th, 2005 at 9:32 amOne aspect of the co-op which hasn’t been mentioned yet is the whole business of it’s “co-op-ness”, i.e., what’s the membership deal there? To me, the entire point of such a venue is for its members to engage in collectively sharing the cost of operations and stock, and generally this entails a flat membership fee, which entitles you to a discount on your future purchases.
Here in ypsilanti at our local co-op, they’ve recently raised the membership charge without equitably raising the percentage of discount you get, so that to actually make it financially worthwhile to join (we used to be members, but quit because of the cost), you would have to spend several thousand dollars each year. Depending on your take, this makes the membership fee either a “Love offering” to the store, helping it stay in business, or else a way to have a little membership card that shows you’re a politically correct shopper.
We still shop there, but as others describe the PFC, we just buy bulk items like tofu and spices, and ignore 99% of the other products they carry. I’d add, as a tip, that my wife just discovered Gordon Food Service on Carpenter, and has found some pretty amazing deals if you’re into the whole bulk scene.
posted by brett on October 5th, 2005 at 11:26 amFAA - Interesting site, but I fail to see the connection between Costco’s political contributions to the Democratic party and whether they truly support “blue” values. While workers at Costco seem to have a pretty good deal compared to ones at other retail locations, Costco’s target clientele is the small business owner as well as the wealthier middle-class family, as compared to Sam’s Club or BJ’s. Also, the very existence of a Costco store is based on the premise of easy highway access with large parking lots, and all cutomers having cars. The one currently closest to Ann Arbor is near Brighton in Green Oaks Township, a “red” area. Don’t get me wrong. I shop at Costco for the good prices on the staple goods that my family needs. I don’t shop at Walmart or Sam’s Club because of my perception of their labor practices. Costco’s political contributions have nothing to do with it.
posted by JCP2 on October 5th, 2005 at 12:23 pmJCP2 - I should have disclaimed that I don’t necessarily agree the buy blue concept, and was just linking to explain it… But I do agree with you.
posted by FAA on October 5th, 2005 at 2:40 pmjcp2—ok, but how do you feel about a place like Whole Foods that supposedly feels it’s too liberal to need unions?
posted by [libcat] on October 7th, 2005 at 9:38 pmI personally like shopping at the co-op because I can a.) get organics b.) support local and/or SMALL farms c.)support a locally owned business.
Yes I go to other groceries - When I know I can get THE SAME porduct for less. This is becuase, like many people, I have a budget - I make less than 30k/year. And it is expensive to live in Ann Arbor, actually most of Washtenaw County if you want to get real about it.
posted by Puffjudie on October 7th, 2005 at 11:19 pmI personally feel like it’s good for me and my fellows to support local businesses. After all if we stop…Big Business takes over…Why do you think there’s two Starbucks in our tiny downtown?… : (
For instance when going to get a movie do you go to Hollywood or Liberty St. Video?
Well I prefer Liberty St. I actually only go to Hollywood once a month when I have a coupon for a free rental. To me it’s the same thing.
One other great hing about hte coop is that Healthy Savings Plan. Because, yes some of us do enough baking or cooking to utilize a cost savings plan such as this one!
I don’t shop at Whole Foods.
posted by JCP2 on October 8th, 2005 at 9:55 amI shop at the co-op because even though the avocados are expensive, they’re ALWAYS ripe. It’s uncanny. I’ve never gotten a bad avocado at the co-op, and only ever gotten horrible, spoiled-but-ripe-feeling avocados from meijer. To me, that’s reason enough to shop there, but I suppose I could see how not everybody would have to agree.
Plus Verde’s coffee, the “Brewing Hope” from mexico one, is the best coffee ever.
posted by Keith on October 8th, 2005 at 10:51 amEver. Anywhere.
JCP2: I shop at Whole Foods twice as much just to make up for you not shopping at Whole Foods.
posted by Real Big on October 8th, 2005 at 2:01 pmThat’s real big of you to do so.
posted by JCP2 on October 8th, 2005 at 2:59 pmWhole Foods has some beautiful stuff, but I never go there because it is across town (secondarily, because they are just another phony fucking “organic” chain that is out for massive profit)…they will water down and lobby to gut organic rules if it will help their bottom line…
The co-op is way more expensive than Kerrytown (for most stuff), but I still shop there occasionally.
posted by OFWinsurgent on October 8th, 2005 at 5:03 pmI think that there’s this perception that Whole Foods sells itself as a hippie do-gooder company, and maybe it does to some extent, but I’ve always seen it as a place that advertises high-quality delicious food and mostly delivers.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 8th, 2005 at 5:55 pmWhole Foods (and its CEO) makes no pretense to being a hippie do-gooder. It sells itself as a company that can make massive profits while selling high-quality and mostly-good-for-your-conscience food (if you don’t think about the environmental costs of shipping, or of out-of-season food, for example).
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/mackey122004.cfm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/magazine/06WHOLE.html?ex=1401854400&en=81d217b452782273&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=all
More virtuous than Meijer and Walmart, less virtuous than the Co-op.
posted by Joy on October 8th, 2005 at 8:53 pmAmen on the coop. I thought coops were supposed to encourage local growers as well — I’d be willing to pay a premium for Farmer Ted’s home-grown Michigan this-or-that. But please, not for the f-ing organic crap SHIPPED from California and NJ, two states that, thanks much, I’d rather not support. Get over yourself, coop. And comb your hair.
posted by Suzanne on October 9th, 2005 at 7:51 amBetter yet, get your ass over to Aveda and get a REAL hairstyle. And get rid of those used jeans and cheap shirt and buy some new ones at Urban Outfitters. Maybe the “used look” ones in the window and a retro cheap shirt.
posted by Dale on October 9th, 2005 at 11:19 amI spent some of this weekend in both Whole Foods and Meijer, and I can definitely say I prefer the former. While Meijer’s prices seem a little better than the downtown stores (in which I include Village Corner), I found myself wondering what the trade-offs were in time and inconvenience. I’ve read elsewhere about Whole Foods being a less than savory representative of the “real food” movement, but was unable to think straight as I was somewhat hypnotized by the cheese section (Maytag Blue really IS all it’s cracked up to be).
And when you’re done at Urban Outfitters, I hear Buffalo Wild Wings is quite hip and “with it.” I actually did used to go there back in Akron, but here there are a few other options…
posted by Lazaro on October 9th, 2005 at 12:32 pmOH NO YOU DIDN’T just dish trash about the one UNDERRATED thing about ann arbor, did you?
***FOOD FOR PEOPLE NOT FOR PROFIT***
(GOD SAVE COOPERATIVE FOOD PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ALTERNATIVES)
(and curse toxic meijers and evil duplicitous republican whole foods, needless to add…)
posted by Buzz on October 9th, 2005 at 4:02 pmWhile I self-identify as a co-op zealot, Buzz, let’s not allow the “‘co-op’ is always a positive trait” heuristic to draw us into the trap of “co-ops can do no wrong”. Part of the benefit of a co-op is that one _can_ question it and challenge them to do better.
And, with PFC, there’s room to question. E.g. why is it that, in September, I can still find more Washington apples than Michigan?
posted by Murph on October 10th, 2005 at 10:55 amJust stubled across your blog and am fasinated with all the different little stores mentioned. You would think the prices would be cheaper with all that competition.
My family shops around to stick to our frugal weekly grocery budget. Meijer is generally the cheapest as long as you stay away from all of the prepackaged stuff that is bad for you. We too have had bad avocados from Meijer unfortunately. In general we try to stay away from “Whole Wallet” as it ups our grocery bill by about 20%.
Costco at Zeeb and I94!?!? Not another big box out here! Do most people really need to buy in bulk?
posted by Carolyn on October 10th, 2005 at 11:34 amIn Hyde Park, I always shopped at the Co-op Markets and, apart from being cooperatively owned, they were almost no different from Kroger or Busch’s. Which I thought was a positive thing; I’d love it if something like that opened in A2.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 10th, 2005 at 11:38 amThe PFC is farther to the left than most co-ops in my experience. The UM Credit Union is a coop, for example. Food co-ops in Sault Ste. Marie and Greenbelt, MD (where the whole town is a co-op) are much more mainstream. But that’s the choices the membership and board make.
posted by Dale on October 10th, 2005 at 1:17 pmcurse toxic meijers?????
jeeze, get over it.
posted by rob on October 10th, 2005 at 3:42 pmThere are two things I like about Whole Foods: Free cheese samples and bulk sea salt. That is all.
posted by Ferona on October 12th, 2005 at 1:56 pmI hate that Whole Foods did away with its Juice Bar when it moved from the old location to the new - they did away with it because it did not make money. But maybe it did draw people in who then spent money.
Much of the food there is overrated and overpriced. I can’t go in there and spend less than $50.
Why do we get such a thrill out of spending too much money on food?
posted by Buck on October 17th, 2005 at 10:24 pmContrary to some of the negative comments, I think the food at the People’s Food Coop hot-bar is very good, especially the chicken dishes. The cheese sandwiches and humus sandwiches are delicious and filling and the price is only $5. The location of the store doesn’t require driving from downtown Ann Arbor, and local producers are supported. PFC is still an Ann Arbor treasure.
posted by Miriam on November 1st, 2005 at 3:32 pmThe disturbing thing about the co-op is that they just started drug testing ( random, every 6 months - 1year ) their employees. This would be illegal in San Francisco, for instance, which has banned the random drug testing of employees that aren’t in safety-sensitive positions.
I’m not any big fan of cannabis outside of medical use (72% of our population here in Ann Arbor voted to legalize medical marijuana). I’ve seen cannabis hurt people that abuse it. But I do support medical marijuana, and I voted for it when it came up. At least there’s something I can do to get my voice heard. But I certainly don’t encourage casual use of marijuana outside of medical use.
“It’s ALWAYS OK to NOT smoke pot”.
But still, drug testing at a coop. In a town with a $25 marijuana fine that just voted to legalize medical marijuana. There’s something disingenous and “fake” about that.
There’s something just so bizarre about a small store like that voluntarily implementing random (not just pre-employment) testing that strikes me as being bizarre.
I haven’t shopped there since I found out about it. Drugs (including cannabis) can be debilitating, and often serve as band-aids, smoothing over deeper emotional problems that ought to be addressed instead of run away from. But drug testing does nothing to address these issues whatsoever.
posted by anti on December 14th, 2005 at 6:16 pmI hadn’t heard about this…seems pretty ridiculous to me. Do they test for Tea Tree Oil as well?
posted by OFWinsurgent on December 14th, 2005 at 8:07 pm“Ann Arbor is Over-rated”?! Are you kidding me? I’m assuming this web site is hosted on a server somewhere in Columbus, Ohiom, no? Like any city, Ann Arbor has its pros and cons but at the very least, a diverse collection of people can and do call it home. Name another city in the US that can boast such a welcoming disposition. Now, on to other value-adding tasks such as washing my hands or voting or donating to starving children in Darfur.
posted by concerned about how much time you have on your hands on December 25th, 2006 at 12:40 pmpilgrim
posted by peter honeyman on December 25th, 2006 at 8:30 pmHeh.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 26th, 2006 at 11:54 am“Name another city in the US that can boast such a welcoming disposition.”
Columbus, OH. And you just had to use “value-adding” in a sentence so badly that you posted, on Christmas Day, on a 3-month-old post, didn’t you ‘concerned’? Season Days at the U must really put you off your game.
posted by ryan on December 26th, 2006 at 4:38 pmI’m not any big fan of cannabis outside of medical use (72% of our population here in Ann Arbor voted to legalize medical marijuana). I’ve seen cannabis hurt people that abuse it. But I do support medical marijuana.
posted by cannabis on May 2nd, 2007 at 2:34 amIsn’t it funny (ironic, really) how often people seem able to form a complete opinion of this site, just from its name.
posted by LittleB on May 3rd, 2007 at 6:05 pmIt’s not just the name; it’s also the font.
posted by Dale on May 4th, 2007 at 11:09 amCheap food isn’t Ann Arbor’s strong point but if cheap is the only parameter by which you are trying to nourish yourself you can join the millions of drones that fill their gullets with american cheese, white “bread”, and powdered lemonade. The Co-op is superficially costly but you are paying for noticeable higher quality ingredients (fresher, local, organic, etc.).
posted by Bo Bo on May 14th, 2007 at 4:38 pmThe real, hidden costs of eating “cheap” food from such turd-hole like Meijer are a reduction in one’s personal fitness, money leaving your community, and fewer quality jobs.
(Cheap ain’t so cheap if you actually think about the consequances)
By the way, Sparrow’s Market has great produce deals and Zingermann’s sucks poo.
I know, Zingerman’s food may be expensive, but it actually tastes good, so there’s got to be something wrong with it. A true Ann Arborite subsists on locally grown millet and kale.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on May 14th, 2007 at 5:00 pmUhm, I’m as “blue” as they come, but I’m also poor. Being poor like I am, I’m perfectly happy to walk over to Meijer (yes, despite some claims it is possible to walk to Meijer, if you don’t care about living in the “cool” part of town — again it comes down to caring more about the fact that I am poor than about what other people think of me) for cheap foods. Sorry, you’re never going to convince me to spend mucho dinero at Whole Foods.
posted by IgmoA23 on July 15th, 2007 at 8:52 pmOkay okay…
Zingermann’s ain’t so bad. I guess I was wrapped up in the heat of the moment and now that I’ve had a couple of months to cool down I’m feeling bad about my “poo” comment.
I believe in their genuine pursuit of quality ingredients but it seems as though they go crazy with this to the point of actually sacrificing the resulting foods’ taste in favor of a strange, exotic ingredient lists. A couple of examples that I will mention are their coffee and their donuts available at their Roadhouse location. I forgot the pitch but the waiter described the lengths to which they have to get their coffee beans and the coffee was downright cruddy. The donuts had special fancy shmancy flour and ground by who-knows-what little indigenous tribe in Peru and I found that the “fresh” donuts were dry and WAY too dense. Again, I fel I was harsh towards them but I just don’t think one should be tampering with the nature of coffee and donuts! It just isn’t right somehow.
I do, however, stand 100% for the fact that places like Meijer only present the illusion of savings. I strongly feel that people eat poorly because they have been conditioned to think that Ramen Noodles and Macaroni and Cheese are the only things that they can afford. I wil not profess that I have a one-size-fits-all answer and I do agree that it is extremely challenging to find quality food at cheap costs but it is not impossible. If you make it a priority you may even find out that it is not as difficult as you thought it would be.
I have been a bankrupt student in the past and at the moment I have a job with real paychecks but there has been very little difference in the quality of food that I have been eating. With effort (yes, I’m sorry that life takes effort) you will find good deals at any store you go to. If you take the time to inform yourself and change your shopping/eating mentality then you will start to see Aunt Millie and JIF as the scams that THEY really are!
posted by Bo Bo on July 18th, 2007 at 1:14 pmTheir doughnuts, which I’ve only ever gotten from the coffee camper, are some of the best cake doughnuts I’ve ever eaten. I love doughnuts, have eaten them by different names all around the world, and theirs are in the top five for sure. It’s the density and sugar, I think. Their cold brew coffee is great, too.
posted by Chris on July 18th, 2007 at 3:29 pmI’m perfectly willing to make an effort, but not to make an effort just to be ripped off, which is how I feel every time I’ve entered “Whole” Foods (is there a more pretentious name on Earth?). Having made an effort to find good deals at “Whole” Foods, I will admit that I have found some “deals” — relatively speaking. They were “deals” compared to what I would’ve paid for the other foods that “Whole” Foods was selling, but wicked expensive compared to what I could find at Meijer or Kroger’s. Thanks for letting me know that you know more than me (despite knowing nothing about me but my preferred supermarket) and that I need to “inform” myself. I’m thinking that someone who thinks he or she knows better than people he or she has never met has a lot to learn, but that’s just my ignorant opinion, I guess!
posted by IgmoA23 on July 24th, 2007 at 2:05 pmIgmoA23, you’re missing the point: having some condescending jerk tell you how to live your life is Ann Arbor’s way of welcoming you to town.
posted by Nick on July 24th, 2007 at 4:51 pmI just have to mention ZZ’s on Packard near Carpenter. They sell seconds veggies and I challenge anyone to look for an obscure ethnic item, fresh or canned and come up empty. It’s quite amazing. I am usually the only non-hyphenated American there. You just have to be eating the veggies in the next few days… they can be very ripe. Cheap Cheap Cheap. On bus route…
posted by Ellie on August 30th, 2007 at 3:30 pmTwo words…..Meijer Organics. They exist (with lots of choices), and provide the poor college student the chance to eat organic and healthy at Meijer prices, with money left over for some Miller High Life.
posted by CMS on August 30th, 2007 at 10:33 pmJust wanted to let you all know, the information regarding drug testing is NOT true. The store does implement a drug and alcohol policy that supports reasonable suspicion for drug use (basically meaning that if you come to work high or drunk you get fired, just like any other employer) but does not employ drug tests for either pre-employment screening or randomly.
posted by PFC Employee on November 15th, 2007 at 3:20 pmWow, can’t believe I missed this one—I must have been high.
“Just wanted to let you all know, the information regarding drug testing is NOT true. The store does implement a drug and alcohol policy that supports reasonable suspicion for drug use (basically meaning that if you come to work high or drunk you get fired, just like any other employer) but does not employ drug tests for either pre-employment screening or randomly.”
Well, you’re partly right—there aren’t any pre-employment or random drug tests. But from my experience, you have to be so incredibly high while at work that you’re treating the bulk bins like feed bags to even get a “Hey, you might want to come down a little bit, dude,” that there is no meaningful anti-drug policy at all.
Which is cool, frankly. You should be able to do your PFC duties high out of your gourd, and sometimes it was the only way to make it through eight hours of Bob Marley on the stereo.
posted by js on November 19th, 2007 at 7:19 pmYou guys are a bunch of whiny bitches. Move to a different town.
posted by Karl on April 11th, 2008 at 10:49 ami think whoever started up this website has more issues with themselves then the do ann arbor. Bad mouthing the city is just an attempt make places well known and liked seem unworthy of such a marvelous ex-resident. Dude, if you wanna make ann arbor a better place for yourself and others go get some counseling.
posted by mike on April 13th, 2008 at 12:30 ami think whoever started up this website has more issues with themselves then they do with ann arbor. Bad mouthing the city is just an attempt make places well known and liked seem unworthy of such a marvelous ex-resident. Dude, if you wanna make ann arbor a better place for yourself and others, go get some counseling (From a city worthy of hearing your many internal struggles of course).
posted by mike on April 13th, 2008 at 12:35 amWell, if you include ‘inside the city limits’ as ‘in town’ anyway I’m thinking Whole Foods is the most expensive in town.
posted by Seed on September 10th, 2008 at 3:34 amWho’s got the cheapest prices in town?
posted by Kaptain Krunch on September 10th, 2008 at 2:31 pm