Trader Joe for President

Living in San Francisco forces a young 20-something to reconcile a low budget with overwhelming options for food shopping. Every neighborhood has it's own corner stores, and there's usually a Safeway nearby (with a clever nickname, depending on your coordinates)...there's Whole Foods (3!), there's Good Life Grocery and Real Food and Andronico's and Bristol Farms...not to mention the weekly farmer's markets at the Ferry Building, Alemany, Fillmore, UN Plaza...and then there are delis and butchers and "specialty" food stores...in summary, San Francisco has no shortage of places where vittles can be purchased.

If you had the spare time (and spare energy...and extra gas/Muni fare...), I'm sure you could calculate which place has the cheapest produce (Alemany farmer's market), and which has the nicest-but-least-expensive fish/meat (Whole Foods? A butcher?), and where the largest quantities of affordable basics (likely Safeway or -awful- CostCo), and then haul yourself around (environmentally friendly tote bags in tow) and collect your meal fixings for the week. But 3+ hours and umpteen amounts of parking stress later, you will likely wish you had simply made your way to Trader Joe's.

Ahh, Trader Joe's. The Shangri-la of trail mix and dried fruit options, the frozen food capital of the world, home to a gazillion different brands of cereal and energy bars -- basically a one-stop-shop for essentials to stock a 20-something's shared kitchen (with a final receipt that is easy on the eyes). But the crowning glory, the piece d'resistence of TJ's, is the existence of Two Buck (now ~ Three Buck) Chuck. Where else in the world can you stock your wine cellar (okay, your fridge door) with decent Chardonnays and passable Pinot Gris for under $10?

So resist the urge to waste your time at Safeway (the branch on Mission and 29th frequently runs out of food), and try not to blow your rent at Whole Foods (it's so good and so $much$), and instead, bike, walk, or take public transportation (hehe - or drive if you have to, I usually do) to Trader Joe's.

Stay tuned next time for the exact etiology of Charles Shaw...a quarter life chronicle that deserves a post of its own.