Andrew Zimmern’s Money-Saving Grocery Shopping Advice Is Lowkey Genius – Chowhound

When it comes to saving some cash while grocery shopping, author and celeb chef Andrew Zimmern has a trick or two up his sleeve, and most of them revolve around finding seriously good deals on food at local Mexican and Asian stores. Trips to these outlets allow him to bring home the freshest shallots, cabbage, bok choy, ginger, and mustard greens. Same goes for apples and oranges. 

In short, Zimmern gets good deals on pretty much everything, and for good reason. Most of these stores don’t come with the same kind of high overhead costs that big grocery shops do. Further, the prices at Asian, Indian, Mexican, and other similar markets often beat those of even the most pocket-friendly alternatives, like Trader Joe’s or Costco — again, because of those lower operating costs. 

Despite offering some of the best prices in town on groceries, many of these stores remain some of the best-kept cost-saving secrets in town. You’ll find items like dried beans for $.69 a pound, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Here’s everything they have to offer.

A trip down the produce aisle at stores like Walmart nets you mounds and mounds of veggies that are roughly the same size and color. In other words, all the peppers look about the same. Ditto for apples, oranges, cucumbers, and pears, or any other offering in these aisles.

However, when you shop at an Asian, Mexican, or Indian grocery store, you’re likely to see fruits and vegetables that look like they belong in a Misfits Market box. They’re not only not all the same size, but they sometimes look misshapen and just this side of wonky. This is probably one of the chief reasons why Andrew Zimmern gets such good deals on the produce he buys at the Mexican or Asian stores in his city. And while they might look funky before they’re cut into pieces, they certainly taste the same post-chop, making the sacrifice worth it.

On the bright side, some of these stores carry many varieties of the same type of produce. For example, if you love a good mushroom soup during the winter months, you’ll likely find brown, white, portobello, oyster, enoki, shitake mushrooms, and more to add to your kettle. You’ll expand the flavor profiles of your recipes in ways you might not have thought of otherwise.

Finding deals, like 20 to 25 bananas for $.99, isn’t the only reason to push a cart around one of these stores. While it’s not impossible to find bags of Doritos at your average Mexican or Asian store, you’ll also be introduced to an assortment of new snacks, usually at a lower cost. Some of the offerings may include alternative flavors of your favorite brands that you won’t see in most U.S. grocery stores but rather in shops across the pond (and sometimes way beyond). These products either don’t make it to store shelves in America at all, or if they do, they’re in very small quantities. Asian rice crackers, Wasabi-flavored peas, and other salty treats come to mind.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you have a sweet tooth, it’s hard to beat the variety (and prices) at places like the local Korean store. You’ll encounter things like nummies in twisted pies, red bean rolls, and honey cheese mochi pancakes, to name a few. But it’s not just the Korean store where you’ll find a basket of sweet treats — similar Mexican and Indian retailers also typically have aisles devoted to helping you get your sweet on.

Any chef worth his or her salt needs, well, salt, and a whole bunch of other spices, too. Not only do these stores have seasonings that work with specific cuisines — like Asian, Indian, or Mexican — but they also offer them at a big discount. For example, the 1-ounce containers of McCormick spices that you buy at the supermarket won’t be anywhere near the deal you’ll find on a 10-ounce box of the same at an Asian or Indian store. Often, the bigger container costs less than the name brand and gives you 10 times the amount. You’ll find similar savings when you shop the condiment aisles, too. The variety of options you’ll find on the shelves can help you introduce new flavors into your cooking without breaking the bank.

But these spicy price breaks aren’t outliers. ConsumerAffairs reports that it isn’t unusual to see items like curry leaves for $.99 a pack, for example. Those same items cost many times more — between $6 and $11 for the same size — at a regular store. People who shop these markets routinely save up to 75% on their spices when they buy them at these smaller mom-and-pop markets, according to TipHero. 

Andrew Zimmern doesn’t just find steals in the produce aisles. Speaking to The Kitchn, he said he looks to his neighborhood Mexican market to find deals on meats like skirt steak for under $12. This cut is a key ingredient in popular dishes like fajitas and beef tacos, but it can be challenging to find skirt steak in the supermarket. Luckily, the cost of meat in an Indian, Asian, or Mexican store comes in at nearly half the price that these items would in the regular store. Additionally, customers can often request a cut of meat in a specific size.

These food-stuffed oases offer good deals on a variety of imitation meats and items like tofu, too, allowing all eaters, regardless of preference, to cut costs on their proteins. And while faux chicken remains popular, it’s possible to expand your palate when you shop at the celebrity chef’s favorite type of store. In these aisles, you’re just as likely to find plant-based proteins that taste like duck or fish as you are to find chicken-flavored fare. In short, when you shop at one of these neighborhood stores, you can reward your taste buds without hurting your wallet.