the 'cessions strategy

To support our philosophy, we have developed a 'cessions-specific shopping strategy:

STAY LOCAL
We try to shop locally as much as possible. We make weekly pilgrimages to our local farmers market held every Saturday here in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. Sometimes we double up on the farmers market and supplement our produce with a pass through the Union Square market which is more frequent, plentiful and competitively priced. However, it also means a trip into the city (which is not horrible but when you are Brooklyn-based it's hard to journey into the fray).

STAPLES AT A LOW COST
Enter Trader Joe's! We discovered the ah-mazingness in late 2008. To put it mildly, it revolutionized our world. They call themselves a neighborhood store with good cause. Talk about unbeatable prices especially for the staples: rice, pasta, milk, eggs, bread, butter, etc. Their frozen section is sublime (where else can you buy frozen restaurant-quality Thai Prig Khing green beans for $2.29?), and many of their products are organic (see ya later whole paycheck!). By shopping at Trader Joe's, we are able to cut back on our costs even further while still getting quality products. We now do our weekly shopping at Trader Heaven.

A MARKET LIKE NO OTHER
Every month or two we indulge in an excursion to Fairway in Red Hook where the the choices are endless all at a great value. Especially for high quality meat, fish, coffee, and cheese. Fairway has everything from basics to rare imported delicacies and everything in between. Also it is a pure adventure. It's right on the water. If the weather is lovely, we ride our bikes there. You can witness a beautiful sunset if you time it right!

Sara enjoying the sunset & a shopping snack at Fariway's waterside promenade.


Valincy enjoying the view:


EVERYDAY SHOPPING
Every couple of days, we grab basic filler items from local neighborhood joints: Provisions, Fresh Garden, and Pathmark. We are lucky to have so many options right around the corner. It just means we have to carefully weigh where we shop based on the best value.

Provisions has an undeniable selection of gourmet, organic freshness: bread, cheese, fish and meat counters to die for. But the specialty price tag makes it a one-item buy usually for a little indulgence: a nice cut of meat or a fine cheese. Not to mention fantastic customer service.

Fresh Garden is a 24-hour gourmet organic paradise packed into the space of a bodega. It carries almost everything you could imagine from arugula and udon noodles to neti pots and suntan lotion. (They even have a mini juice bar station!) However, the convenience and variety comes at a high price. Occasionally, though, they will have sales or randomly sell certain items at lower prices than even at behemoth supermarket chain, Pathmark.

The big "P" is a real supermarket which in this part of Brooklyn is a rare breed. As a result, people come from far and wide to shop by the cartful. This means it's always (!) crowded - even at 3am - and the 5 open registers (out of 20) invariably have snail lines that make you want to punch somebody. When all you need is a carton of milk, a visit to Pathmark can be especially daunting. We've found ourselves adapting a recipe to avoid a Pathmark rendezvous. Low prices can also come with a price! But sometimes you just have to submit.

Shopping the 'cessions way takes careful planning but with an open mind towards the unexpected. These days deals are appearing in the most unlikely places. Sometimes a 'cessions meal will be inspired by a single item we stumble upon and buy because it looked incredibly fresh or the price was right. Or both!

We hope this blog will evoke a sense of what it feels like to sit down at our table and a taste of what goes on behind the scenes to make living well and spending less an everyday reality.