- Lots of cheap cheese at Newflower Farmers Market in Plano.
Lots of people are talking about how much they love, love, love Newflower Farmers Market. Yesterday I had a chance to take a quick stop at the shop in Plano.
Short take? If I passed this market on my drive home from work, I would stop in for some groceries. However, I will not drive to the store. Why? I discovered several rotting items on the shelves. And I was only in the store for ten minutes.
First the good news: I bought a bunch of five big sunflowers for $6.99. Blue Bell vanilla ice cream is .20 cents cheaper than my Albertson’s. Romaine lettuce was only .88 cents. (Last week I paid $1.59 at same Albertson’s.) Cheese is cheap but the selections are basic and not sourced—huge chunks of generic cheddar, Jack, peppered Jack, and Swiss, etc.
On to the downside: Most of the produce was ABT (anywhere but Texas) and you had to have powerful reading glasses to find the source. I’d heard that the prepared food was the great thing about Newflower—cheaper and better than Central Market and Whole Paycheck Foods. I wanted to compare the chicken salad prices but, at noon, they were out of it, so I settled for a small container of egg salad ($1.57!) As my nieces say, “Yuck-a-doo.” Well, unless you like runny mustard with hard bits of hard-boiled eggs.
- Bad picture of rotting lettuce. Click it, it gets bigger.
I picked up a family-size container of Organic Girl Spring Mix baby greens and turned it over to read the label. Streams of brown water flooded from front to back. The lettuce near the edge was rotten and soggy. The “sell by” date was July 2. (Yesterday was July 9.) There were 8 more packages in the refrigerated case. When I started to unload my cart at check out, I realized that a pint of whole milk mozzarella packed in liquid had leaked all over my National Enquirer other groceries. I looked closer at the tiny balls of cheese—they were all brown and stuck together.
- White cheese was brown and stuck together.
I’d like to go back and price the whole foods, nuts and meats. Maybe I’ll go later today—after I toss out my drooping sunflowers.
