Archer Farms

I like shopping at Target. (Call me white-trash, call me what you will, I like it.) I also like Abercrombie & Fitch, so it's on both ends.

Archer Farms is the store brand of many of the groceries at said Target.
I am not totally shocked to find out it's not a real place. *sigh* First, Betty Crocker, now this. *wink*

They hit the bulls-eye with many of the things I can get there with the special flavors and uniqueness of the Archer Farms products.
Plus, being a store brand, it's usually cheaper than the brand name products that rival it.

I had some LEMON PEPPER POTATO CHIPS that were so good the other day. I certainly recommend them if you are at your local Target store and looking for something fun and new for your snack cupboard. I haven't seen those anywhere else.

Fresh & Easy Grocery Store

Let's talk about "Fresh 'N Easy" and no I am not talking about Erik Zamora.

The details I can't get around are it's British owned grocery store chain called Tesco. Get your fill of details if that's your bag at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_&_Easy. (Get it? ...get your fill? ...your bag? It's all grocery talk neighbor. I crack me up.)

What is it? CLICK HERE for the official answer on the company's own website.
However, if I was able to put it into words, I would say, "I think of it as a kind of intimate sized, no-frills-so-we-can-keep-costs-down, global yet still local, "Starbucks" type corporate initiative with strong regional impact and sickeningly happy and casual employees who stock during the day and push food so healthy you have to eat it fast or it expires. " Oh look, I did get to put it into words. ...and I don't want to leave out that someone is paying attention to the ADA, Affirmative Action and all those posters because I think I see a token handicapped person at every one I go to, any time I go and spend my green there.

It's unique in many ways, some that are clear on the www.freshandeasy.com website and some that are not.

• I am not joking when I say I get two to three mailers a week with these consistent $5.00 off coupons in each of them. ...and I believe it's not just me 'cause it's happening in Las Vegas as well at the apartment there....and these $5.00 off coupons that are just doubly wonderful. Why twice as good? First it's a Lincoln off the checkout bill, but secondly it gets better.
• Part of the way they save money is not having cashiers. It's all self-checkout and they have one security guard or cashier for them all, so I just ring up my groceries in groups of $25.00 and save $5.00 each time at my own pace.
  
• They don't have bag boys either to save money, so no scoping out the cut bag boys here folks. It's not the first time I have had to pack my own bags. *wink*
• It's usually a smaller store and the ads are not designed to catch your eyes, it's meant to catch your pocketbook. You won't find fancy ads, light up Captain Crunchie or anything else.
  
• In fact, many of the items are their own concoction and house brands.
• I particularly love the prices and selection (Whoa, I sounded like my mom when she takes a supermarket sweep showdown.) in the freezer isle. I don't know how it can be so cool when the items are so hot.
• I get all kinds of almost ready made meals and just grab what I feel like on the way out the door now.
  
• I have not been grocery shopping in AGES. I am sure you can understand why when I am never home and when I am it's with four other hungry people.
  
• They have some gourmet items that just tickle my taste buds.
• The one in Hollywood is fun to go to. CLICK HERE
  

This has been on my "blog" list for two days now, but I have been busy and only able to do a scattered post here and there, but I have to tell you, I slept better after my grocery shopping trip the other night. ...a whole lot better. I feel like I did the right thing.
What do I mean? I mean, my entire bill for the grocery trip was $138.00. I seriously got enough fun, yummy, cool, exciting, new, tasty stuff for two weeks at the least. When I considered that I had paid $43.00 for lunch for two the day before and paid $59.00 for overnight parking in Chicago a few weeks ago, I felt like the world had just paid me back for being a little responsible. I had so many grocery's I had to make a few trips from the car to the elevator into "The Pimp Plaza."

In fact, even though I have had this on the growing "blog" list for two days, I am eating some wonderful 'Chicken Tortilla Soup' that is so yummy to my tummy and not too much for lunch. Plus, it okay too four minutes to heat up. ...that's less than the YouTube clip I watched recently.

If you have seen a Fresh & Easy in your neighborhood, you owe it to yourself to at least check it out.