Time for another Top 5 list! I thought it might be fun to “rank” the local grocery stores for their prices, quality, and variety on certain items – there are some stores you may prefer for one type of thing but not the other, so it will be interesting to hear everyone’s preferences!
Here are my preferences for the top five grocery stores in Colorado Springs for buying produce. I’m taking into account regular and sale prices, quality, and variety.
1. Sunflower Market
This is the hands-down winner for me. There are very few weeks when Sunflower doesn’t have rock-bottom prices on at least a few produce items. Their quality is usually very good, and they typically have enough different items on sale that it’s worth a trip there just for produce. I can say that we eat more produce because of Sunflower Market.
2. Rancho Liborio
It’s a bit of a drive for a lot of us, but their prices on produce are unparalled! If you’re cooking any sort of Mexican dish, thi sis the place to head for your peppers, avocados, tomatoes, and more. It’s not just peppers, either – last week I headed there to buy some ingredients for stuffed poblanos and needed red bell peppers. Their regular price was $1.49/lb, and it ended up being just under $1 for two good-sized red bell peppers. Sometimes the produce quality is not quite as good as the larger chains, but overall I’d still rate it #2 on my list. You can get a lot of produce for just a little money here.
3. King Soopers
They don’t always have the lowest prices from week to week, but King Soopers consistently has good prices and great quality. The few times I’ve had issues with King Soopers’ produce, they’ve gladly returned or exchanged it. I think their red tape bananas are one of my favorite things, as silly as it seems – I’ve never found another store that has red-tape bananas (39¢/lb)!
4. Safeway
I don’t buy a lot of produce at Safeway – some of the stores have dimly-lit produce departments, which is just a little odd to me. That should be the brightest place in the store! When I do buy produce at Safeway, it’s usually a weekend sale, and rarely is it my whole prooduce list for the week – more often than not it’s just one or two produce items, I buy the rest elsewhere.
5. Albertsons
I occasionally buy produce at Albertsons, but not too often. Similarly to Safeway, it’s rarely the place I’d buy my whole produce list for the week. Overall they don’t run that many “rock-bottom” sales, so it’s last on my list.
How would your Top 5 Stores for Produce list look? I’m interested to hear! Obviously there are still more grocery stores than I’ve listed here, like Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, Costco, Sam’s, etc. Which ones are your favorites and why?
Check out more Top 5 lists and look for more in the future!
Ooh! Where are the red-tape bananas? We put mashed bananas in our pancakes, and if I don’t have any over-ripe ones I have to put some in the freezer to get soft.
They’re usually next to the “regular” bananas, but it varies as to whether or not different stores have them – sometimes they mark them down in the morning, sometimes it’s a different parts of the day, so you never really know when they’re going to be there!
I pretty much agree with your list. I haven’t ever been to Rancho Liborio so can’t say anything about them. I go to Albertsons more often then Safeway because they are by our house. I have been pleased with the quality of the produce and they have the sweet onions my husband likes.
I pretty much agree. I don’t go to Rancho but Sunflower and King Soopers are at the top of my list. I would rather pay more for decent produce there than the disappointing stuff I find at WalMart (especially green leaf lettuce!).
Costco has great produce most of the time. We get packs of 6 romaine hearts for less than $3 and they regularly have big flats of organic apples for $6 or less…For our family, that can plow through produce with lightening speed, it’s nice to be able to get great produce in bulk for cheap! :)
What are red tape bananas?
Banana bunches that are bound with red tape – they are usually turning brown, or something indidivual bananes that are fine but have gotten separated from their bunches.
I love sunflower market, and do almost all of my produce shopping there. But kings has been really awesome to me in returning produce. One time I bought a watermelon there, cut it open and it was completely rotten/rancid inside. It stunk so bad I couldn’t put it in my car. I went in and talked to them about it, and they “exchanged” it without even having the nasty melon. That made my day for sure.
I don’t shop at Rancho Liborio, but I’d agree with Sunflower Market & King Soopers as being #1 & #2. For organic produce, I sometimes to go Natural Grocers (Vitamin Cottage) if I can’t find it at Sunflower or King Soopers.
My top two are Rancho Liborio and Asian Pacific Market. The produce that’s on sale at RL tends to be of pretty good quality, and incredibly cheap. And any sort of produce used in asian recipes is usually reasonably priced, and also of good quality, at APM. Sunflower Market comes in third, followed by King Soopers and Safeway. However, come summer my favorite place for cheap and good quality produce will be my own garden!
Kathy, I’ll add you to the top 5 if you let me come pick produce from your garden! ;) Just kiddin’.
I also LOVE Sunflower market! They have helped us to include more fresh produce into our weekly family menu. King Soopers would be my second choice. I have not tried Rancho Liborio.
Guess I’ll be the odd one out again! :-)
We only get organic produce, and the best deals are always at Natural Grocers by Vitamin COttage – not only are all their veggies and fruits organic (meaning not having to hunt and search for organic labels or worry about mixed), they also are priced competitively on most things, and also the produce manager puts out daily grab bags for $1 filled with veggies & fruits that are a little less then perfect (I always grab some of these – who cares if there is a brown spot or a dent or 2). At one point I scored 2 bags filled with huge eggplants (normally $2.69 each), for a total of 5 eggplants for $2! I made a huge batch of Babaganouj and froze it.
After that, I occasionally shop the organic section at Safeway, and even rarer, Whole Foods.
Of course in the summer, its the Farmer’s Markets – buy local, keep the money in the local economy (we dont buy from big farmers who get stuff from California or MX either)
We figure we are much healthier, the produce tastes a world of different from conventional, and we arent supporting mass-produced, pesticide laden GMO products.
I just tried Rancho Liborio today, and I LOVE it! Their prices were amazing! Other than that, I usually shop the commissary, King Soopers, or Safeway. Safeway in Falcon has good produce, but the prices aren’t that great without a sale.
I know this isn’t an option for everyone, but I really like the Peterson Commissary. They have good produce, and great prices. I often find things on there that are cheaper than the sale prices at other grocery stores. And I’ve never had a problem with the quality – everything has always been good for me. The same can definitely NOT be said of the Ft Carson Commissary though – I have gotten many a rotten fruit or veggie there!
First, I try to eat in season as much as I can. But when I can’t grow my own or get it from a local farmer, I try to at least adhere to the “Dirty Dozen” with buying organic produce. So, I love Sunflower for that (KS and Safeway…not so much). Sunflower often has organic lettuce for $1, and there are always other good organic deals. I DO NOT buy produce from Chile! I think it’s crazy how far they will ship food…and seriously, how fresh can it be?