Urban Grocery Shopping

Besides remembering how to drive, adjusting my food shopping routine was the most difficult part of moving back to Austin after living in New York for six months. What I miss most is walking passing the corner store on my street and picking up ingredients for dinner on my way home... and maybe some fresh flowers :) Or buying fresh fruit at the farmer's market in Union Square by my work. Or shopping at Trader Joe's by the subway if I needed something specific. Having a wide variety of choices was lovely as was the ability to walk just around the block if I happened to forget something I needed.

Space was a huge limiting factor: the appliances are half the size and pantries are rare. Everyone grocery shops with handheld baskets so one never gets more than they can carry home (although some places deliver). While this may seem limiting, it was actually very freeing. Going by the stores more often meant I had fresher food and it was always what I felt like eating, so even though it was more expensive, I ended up wasting less food. Because it was so convenient, I really enjoyed shopping, cooking, and eating healthy.

In Austin, I often have no choice, but drive to the HEB and stock up on what I think I might need for the next few weeks. I pay hundreds of dollars in groceries at a time, load it into my car, and stuff it into the fridge. No matter how diligent I am at meal planning, I struggle to make complete meals with what I have after a few days. I stretch my groceries out as long as I can, eating poorly for the last week until I have to go back... the whole ordeal is unpleasant.

In my experience, convenient access to grocery stores is a huge factor in healthy living. Austin should incentivize corner markets (and I don't mean gas station markets, but places to buy fresh veggies, lettuce, deli meats etc.) Whole Foods is a great asset to downtown, but it would be wonderful if a few more well-planned supermarkets could be integrated as well. In the meantime, I guess I'll freeze more food!