Target Rant and Food Raves
I love the convenience of shopping for groceries at Target, I really, really do.
But I am really, really frustrated with shopping there right now. They keep dropping the products we buy – Cocina Nueva Mexican rice, 8th Continent Soy Milk, whole wheat flour (why the hell would they drop that?), Odwalla bars, Barabara’s Bakery products… the list could go on. And the selection is just crap. I cannot find any vegan margarine or vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips. They have hardly any organic produce. They’re always out of the cereal we want. Ugh.
I really don’t want to be one of those people that shops at four different stores on the weekends. I liked getting everything I needed at Target, and not wasting too much time. But it sounds like I am going to have to make a supplemental trip somewhere else. Perhaps I will finally step inside a Whole Foods since I still haven’t visited once since I moved out here over two years ago. I am grateful that I live in such a big area and have these other stores to shop in. I know I will find what I want, it just may not be as convenient as I like it to be.
I actually wanted to share a few products I have tried lately and liked. Ironically, I found one of these (the Odwalla bars) at Target one week and they were gone the next. Oh well.
Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza: I really like pizza (who doesn’t, right?) so I’ve been wondering… what kind of pizza does a vegan eat? We found this vegan Roasted Vegetable pizza to try. It has marinated organic shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sweet onions, marinated artichoke hearts and no cheese. Yum yum yum! It smelled super strong when it was cooking, so I was kind of worried that it would taste too “fancy pants” for me, but we both ended up really liking it. It’s very sweet – I think the onions used are vidalia. It’s not like eating a cheese pizza, but it’s very tasty. I would also like to try Amy’s other vegan pizzas – Rice Crust Spinach and Non-Dairy Rice Crust Cheeze Pizza. Of course, we don’t have these at Target, and I am surprised they still had the Roasted Vegetable when I visited Target yesterday.
Odwalla Chocolate Chip Peanut Bar: Two weeks ago, Target had entire boxes of these flavor of Odwalla bar. I bought one to try since I like Berries GoMega so much. HOLY CRAP! These are so good, and they’re vegan! I actually wrote a sticky note on the box that said, “Steven, you HAVE to try one of these. They are like a little slice of heaven.” Like the other Odwalla bars, it is very chewy and dense, which are characteristics I like in a granola bar. And it’s sweet, but not too sweet. The perfect treat! They were gone on yesterday’s Target trip though. The Berries GoMega bars where there. I noticed they had two different kinds of packaging – a 6 pack with 2.2 oz bars, and a 6-pack with 2 oz bars. Hmm, which should I buy? Way to phase those out, Target. On a side note, I found out that another store in our area has almost all of the Odwalla Bar flavors, but in single serving only. I got Strawberry Pomegranate (not that impressed) and SuperFood and Super Protein (haven’t tried those yet).
Stonewall’s Jerquee: A coworker told me about a health food store downtown so I decided to check it out. They had a few different brands of vegetarian beef jerky, so I picked up two packages of Stonewall’s to try – Original Mild, and BBQ “Beef” (BBQ “Beef” is the only one they carry that is not vegan, because it has honey in it). I called Steven to tell him about it, and it seemed pretty weirded out. BUT, we ate the the BBQ “Beef” packet on Friday night and were shocked – it is so realistically close to tasting like beef jerky, that Steven actually said, “It feels wrong to eat this.” They got the chewy texture just right. What a fun snack. I ordered some big bags off of their website.
What a piece of the vegetarian jerky looks like.
And while I am at it, I must admit that I tried THREE new kinds of Luna Bars this week, while at the same store I found the jerky in. I just got really excited to have such a large selection to choose from. I tried Luna Bars – Dulce de Leche, Cookies ‘n Cream Delight, and and Iced Oatmeal Raisin. These were all really good, but tasted very sweet. So sweet, I think they are more a of a treat, and not something I should eat that often (they have WAY TOO MANY ingredients in them). I try not to eat bars that often. I’ll have one homemade one a day, and sometimes one after I workout, if I don’t have dinner right away.
Extra points if you made it this far!
Themocracy
I’ve heard pretty good thing about the Luna Bars from some of my runner friends. Not too much of a fan of bars, though. I think I’m going to have to try the Amy’s pizza thing. That looks really yummy.
I totally feel you on the shopping rant. Our Jewel runs out of EVERYTHING! Seriously, they were out of chicken breasts one day. And my husband tried to grocery shop at Super Target when we first moved up here (we didn’t have a Super Target where we moved from) and was severely disappointed in their produce section.
I think the Luna bars are too sweet too. They are great for an evening snack instead of cookies though. I prefer the fiberone bars for that though because they are even more candy like.
What is vegetarian jerky made out of?
I love Amy’s products. There are a ton of different things besides pizza and everything I have had has been good. I love that you wrote fancy pants. That is one of my favorite words and I use it all the time.
I am curious about the vegan jerky…you know how I love my jerky!! How is the sodium content? That’s the major “con” to my beloved jerky. 🙁
And yeah, I cannot eat Luna bars anymore. They totally taste sickeningly sweet to me.
The pizza sounds/looks delicious!!! I find it irritating also, when I can find something in our stores 1 or 2 times and then can’t anymore. Here in “Podunk” that happens alot! Obviously, if they sold it all, SOMEONE is buying it! That’s usually the excuse I get, “no one but me bought it”. Yeah,right. Do you have an organic or vegan store close by? I have never tried the Luna bars, maybe I will now. I believe our Walmart(45 miles away) has them. The Odwalla bars I’ve heard of but haven’t found anywhere.
Love Stonewall’s Jerquee. I order it my the case!! The flavors I like are original, pepperoni (which is a bit oily), and hot.
Our Target doesn’t have produce at all…you must have a Super one. I like your food raves…I am not a vegan, or even a vegetarian, but I eat that way more often than not, so I like knowing whats yum!
Gina (Mannyed) – Stay away from bars if you can! They can be addictive once you find one you like. I try to treat them more as a… treat 😉 Let me know if you try the pizza!
Erin – Oh yeah, the produce there is just… so sad. Out of chicken breasts?! That surprises me. That seems like a staple in a lot of people’s diets.
tori – I have not tried the fiber one bars! I wonder if I should pick up a box, or will I get addicted? I am going to try to get some more jerky today, so I can give you the full ingredients, but the main one is soy. Yay! Fancy pants! I cannot wait to try more Amy’s stuff. Target’s selection is SO SMALL.
diane – I was telling Steven how much you like jerky before I wrote this! Of course, the sodium content is SUPER high – about 20%+ of the daily intake!
Denise – We wonder if our Target people know ANYTHING about supply and demand. Maybe they are trying to CREATE a demand? I guess that would explain it. People ARE buying it. I wonder who else is getting pissed off. We do have a lot of health and organic stores, just not as conveniently located 😉 Let me know what you think of any of the products you try! 😉
Dave2 – I will have to try those! I am surprised I had not heard of this until now 🙂
Hotch Potchery – When I was bitching to my mom she asked me if I could shop at Super Wal-Mart but we don’t have any of THOSE. I almost wish we did, because they have a good selection. ALMOST. We rarely step into Wal-Mart because it is such a freak show out here. We had to go there yesterday to get a new car battery, and we saw so many strange sights… I could devote an entire blog to it!
I’ll take my extra points now, please. 🙂
The produce at our Super Target seems fine, but just too expensive.
I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve heard that if you talk to the manager about a product they either stopped carrying or simply don’t carry they will sometimes be willing to order it. Oh, and I didn’t hear this specifically about Target, so I have even less idea as to how well it is likely to work.
I’ve never had a Luna Bar, but they look tasty.
As for dropping products, there’s many that have met that fate over the years. Then you have to go to another store to find it. Seems like maybe they need to stop discontinuing these products that people buy. Do they not do any sort of inventory on their sales?
Just checked your blog for the first time, I like it!
My grocery store here also drops products (usually the ones I love)! 8th Continent Soy Milk disappeared about a year ago and I honestly almost went on a rampage through the dairy section. Not really, but I wanted to! I think I live in an area with very few other healthy eaters, and it seems like all the products that disappear off the shelves are the ones geared towards people eating healthily. It’s very sad!
Ren – Yay! Extra points for you! Negative points for me for taking so long to respond. We have tried talking to mang. at Target and they blow us off every time. Which sucks, because we love shopping there, but hate their attitudes!
martymankins – The Luna Bars are tasty. Pick one up if you see one! I don’t think they do inventory! WTH? It’s basic business principles. It blows my mind.
Julia (Jogging My Memory) – Thank you 🙂 We have been looking all over for 8th Continent. It’s making me crazy. I hope they don’t drop all of the healthy products were you live! That would be awful!