[Jensson]

Yeah, when I visited USA I was shocked to find lots of larger "grocery stores" didn't even stock the basics. In Europe that isn't a thing, everything larger than a regular room has fresh vegetables and meat and other staples, even in immigrant areas.

Sure it might be possible to find that in USA as well, but its so much harder as not every store has it.

[volkl48]

Were you actually visiting what Americans would consider a grocery store?

I'm not saying this is specifically the case for you, but it is remarkably common for visitors from other parts of the world to visit, go into what we consider a "convenience store", and then be confused that there's basically nothing in terms of actual groceries in there, with probably 80%+ of the "consumable" shelving devoted to snack/"junk" items.

Those stores are intended pretty much entirely for stuff people want while on the go, and the few "groceries" they stock are basically aimed at the kind of things a drunk/stoned person is craving at 3AM when nothing else is open (say, a frozen pizza), or the few things you might run out of by surprise in the morning/when about to eat and be willing to greatly overpay for being able to grab somewhere close by before your meal/schedule is ruined. (ex: milk, condiments, maybe eggs).

[vel0city]

I do wonder if people are stopping into a CVS or Walgreens and thinking those are grocery stores. In a lot of the rest of the world, a small corner market like that would be a grocer, but in the US grocers are much larger stores.

[Jensson]

> I'm not saying this is specifically the case for you, but it is remarkably common for visitors from other parts of the world to visit, go into what we consider a "convenience store", and then be confused that there's basically nothing in terms of actual groceries in there, with probably 80%+ of the "consumable" shelving devoted to snack/"junk" items.

But that is the problem isn't it? That you have to drive so far and look on a map to find a grocery store while in Europe you can just walk for 5 minutes and find one where you can buy fresh produce. So in Europe there are these convenient grocery stores that stocks fresh produce and so on, USA not having those is what we talked about.

So sure if you define "grocery store" as a store that sells fresh produce you are right, but then there are very few grocery stores in USA which is still the problem we talked about. It is so much easier and faster to get these wares in Europe than in USA.

[volkl48]

That's basically getting into having radically different lifestyles and development patterns and you not liking a car-oriented one. (And hey, I agree with you and live somewhere I can walk to most things, including groceries. But that's not the average American lifestyle).

Approximately 92% of US households have at least one car, 59% of US households have more than one car.

The fundamental point that I am making is: Americans do not typically go to convenience stores to buy groceries, it's not even a consideration. The places most do go to buy their groceries do have fresh produce + meat and so on. They tend to just make less frequent trips and buy more at once.

Since they are getting there by car, it's also easier to buy a lot more at once.

When they get home - they also have a much larger refrigerator + freezer (possibly more than one) than is typically seen in Europe to store it in.

[thatfrenchguy]

Yeah, I mean, any French person who goes to a Safeway or a Walmart will be shocked to see what the offerings are.

[vel0city]

What kind of "basics" did you find missing in actual grocery stores, and what were the actual stores in question?

[OJFord]

Not GP, but I can offer: real cheese (not squares of individually wrapped plastic, nor grated and mixed with whatever to prevent caking), Walmart.

[asdff]

Real cheese is not rare. It is a little pricey though. Usually north of $15 a lb.

[vel0city]

What makes the cheese in the links I provided below not "real cheese"? None are >$15/lb, at least around me.

Note, I agree, they're not fancy cheeses, they're quite basic, plain, and common varieties. But how are they not real cheeses?

[asdff]

Just my choice of words nothing too serious.

[thatfrenchguy]

at Safeway or Walmart? Absolutely not what most europeans would consider "real cheese"

[vel0city]

What? Just about every Walmart with a grocery I've been to sells blocks of cheese. These are all available at multiple Walmarts around me.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Block-Sharp-Cheddar-C...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Low-Moisture-Part-Ski...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigo-Parmesan-Cheese-Wedge-5-oz-...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tillamook-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-B...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Swiss-Cheese-Block-8-...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dutchmark-Smoked-Gouda-Cheese-7-o...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Castello-Gourmet-Creamy-Danish-Ha...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kerrygold-Grass-Fed-Dubliner-Iris...

and on and on and on and on and on...

It might not be right next to the pre-shredded cheese (usually those house brand blocks of cheddar and what not are), sometimes they're in a fancier part of the deli area. But I can't think of a time I've gone to a Walmart looking for a block of cheese and not found any cheese.

Its not going to be the fanciest varieties, but once again the question was for "basics" that don't exist. Having cheddar, swiss, parmesean, gouda, etc. is having the basics.

[thatfrenchguy]

Yeah, no European is going to tell you this is "real cheese"

[vel0city]

What makes it not "real cheese"?

[OJFord]

The 'cheddars' are a weird colour and look rubbery, the 'mozzarella' is a hard block(‽), the 'Swiss cheese' is... I don't know what, which Swiss cheese is it?

I didn't look further than that; the parmesan looked most plausible - though '10 months' stood out, I don't think I've seen less than 24 in UK supermarkets, possibly it's a PDO related thing regulating the process. (Whereas the US doesn't respect PDO and linked one possibly made in US anyway.)

[supportengineer]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Please provide some, or retract your claim.