Avoid the grocery and find bargains
Many shoppers are skittish about going into grocery stores, and the way we shop has fundamentally changed.
Which is why customers, eager to stop spreading coronavirus, have started skipping the grocery middleman. They’re pivoting to cheaper alternatives, buying supplies from restaurants, farms and wholesalers that once sold to supermarkets. Other folks are buying from pop-up produce markets and drive-thru convenience stores.
Here are some ways South Florida shoppers are finding other outlets for food. Did we miss a good deal? Email pvalys@sunsentinel.com, as we’ll be adding to this list.
Restaurants that sell groceries
Chain eateries Ruby Tuesday (order via RubyTuesday.com),
TooJays Deli (TooJays.com) and J. Alexander’s (JAlexanders.com), all with multiple South Florida locations, are selling pantry stock, fresh butchered and frozen meats by the cut and loin, and dairy and juice. All restaurants are offering curbside pickup.
Pre-pandemic, owners Alex Kuk and Diego Ng of Temple Street Eatery (416 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale;
754-701-0976) warmed our souls with Asian fusion and fragrant bowls of ramen. Now they’re selling bulk ribeyes, homemade pho and chickens broths, pints of peanut dressing and sriracha barbecue sauces, and frozen dumplings. Along with butchered meats, Henry’s Sandwich Station (545 NW First Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-616-5538) now sells its aged cheddar and provolone, by-the-pound deli cuts and limited produce. Oceanfront restaurant Beach House Pompano (270 N. Pompano Beach Blvd.; 954-607-6530) sells gloves, bleach and paper towels along with bulk pasta, dairy, sugar, rice and produce, and will spare a free roll of toilet paper with $20 purchases. Near the Palm Beach County border, Ocean’s 234 (234 N. Ocean Drive, Deerfield Beach; 954-428-2539) offers deli and butchered meats, dairy, quarts of tomato-basil soup and conch chowder, and even Double Stuf Oreos.
Restaurants, wholesalers selling meat, seafood, produce
When takeout/delivery sales started to crater in March, Tropical Acres Steakhouse in Dania Beach (2500 Griffin Road, 954-989-2500, TropicalAcres.com) turned itself into a butcher shop, and their restaurant-quality cuts – priced lower than grocery stores – have surged in popularity ever since. The 71-year-old steakhouse offers 12-ounce boneless ribeyes for $15 and 14-ounce strips for $14, along with whole cheesecakes, quarts of onion soup, pints of its garlicky house dressing and some assorted produce. Call ahead for curbside pickup.
Stone crab season winds down May 15, so if you’re craving claws local seafood wholesalers have your fix. Triar Seafood (2046 McKinley St., Bay 7, Hollywood; 954-921-1113, TriarSeafood.com) offers next-day free shipping, and orders of 10 pounds of more receive a bonus two-pound variety box of fresh fish. FedEx requires a signature at the door, but you can waive that by calling 800-865-CRAB (2722). Specialty market Sea Salt Fish Market (3020 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale; 954-990-4726, SeaSaltFishMarket.com) offers curbside pickup.
Based in Hallandale Beach, boutique meat wholesaler Sunshine Provisions (2665 S. Park Road, Hallandale Beach; 954-923-0056, SunshineProvisions.com) didn’t sell directly to the public until the COVID-19 shutdown. The meat purveyor comes from Mike Saperstein and Evan David, the same founders behind Charm City Burger Company and El Jefe Luchador in Deerfield Beach. (You may have even tried their special
brisket blend burgers at Charm City.) If you’re craving top-shelf steaks, veal and poultry, Sunshine does free deliveries for orders over $99. Their website also offers $30 assorted produce boxes, frozen Atlantic salmon and mahi mahi, imported cheeses and limited sauces and spices.
Now, the chains: Texas Roadhouse (six locations in Coconut Creek, Boynton Beach, Miramar, West Palm Beach, Miami and West Kendall; TexasRoadhouse.com) are doing ready-to-grill steaks, hamburger packs and family meal kits, and its weekend 9 a.m.-2 p.m. drive-thru farmer’s market sells $30 produce boxes stuffed with corn, bell peppers and potatoes. Tap 42’s (Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Boca Raton, Aventura, Doral, Coral Gables; Tap42.com) “Quarantine & Grill” wholesale menu carries bulk versions of popular items, from Bell & Evans chicken breast and sirloins to baby back ribs and house-blend hamburgers, plus to-go cocktail kits.
Sharp deals can be found at fruit and veggie distributor Premier Produce (2672 SW 36th St., Dania Beach; 305-459-9920, PremierProduceFL.com), next door to Harpke Family Farm, which is taking phone-ahead orders for bulk produce pick-up, plus milk, butter and eggs.
Farms with $10 produce boxes
For now, Palm Beach County farms boast some of the cheapest produce in South Florida – at least, until harvest season ends over the next few weeks. These are no-frills drivethrus, with farm workers hastily loading produce boxes into your trunk.
Drive up, drive off, that’s it. For all farms, call ahead to verify hours and supplies. Mecca Family Farms (7965 Lantana Road, Lake Worth, 561-718-5381) offers $10 variety boxes (cash or Venmo) filled with your choice of mixed fruit, mixed vegetables or single items (often peppers, tomatoes or cucumbers). Down the block, East Coast Farms and Vegetables (6796 Lantana Road, Lake Worth, 561-286-0286) does cash-only $10 variety, mango and melon fruit boxes. Further south, Mobile Green Markets ,a pop-up produce stand, offers a cash-only drivethru at Thomas Produce (9905 Clint Moore Road, Boca Raton, 561-886-8668) with $10 variety vegetable boxes on certain days.
Other farms selling produce and groceries
Harpke Family Farm 2781 SW 36th St., Dania Beach; HarpkeFamilyFarms.com
While slightly pricier than the Palm Beach County farms, this urban farm is much closer for Broward shoppers and offers contactless curbside pickup. Harpke normally sells wholesale specialty produce to restaurants but added public sales after the pandemic. Along with heirloom tomatoes ($5), herbs ($8-$12) and microgreens ($8-$12), you’ll find fresh eggs and even packs of uncured bacon ($10), fresh-bottled honey and orange juice. Soon to be added: Ice cream and hand sanitizer. The urban farm this week launched online orders via HarpkeFamilyFarm.com. Customers can pick up produce orders the next day.
Family Farms 14950 SW 14th St., Davie; 954-804-2850 or FamilyFarmsOnline.com
Broward’s only u-pick farm, home to strawberries and purple kale, began this week selling $29.99 produce boxes packed with cucumbers, purple kale, avocados, corn, zucchini, bananas, bell peppers, lettuce and carrots, via FamilyFarmsOnline.com. Need eggs? The farm also sells baby chicks and fullgrown hens.
Bedner’s Farm 10066 Lee Road, Boynton Beach; 561-733-5490 or Bedners.com
For weeks long lines of cars have stretched along State Road 7 outside Bedner’s,
so don’t regret being late to the party. Just refill the gas tank and settle in for a breezy morning inching along in the car. Go in the morning; the u-pick sells $29.99 assorted produce boxes until they sell out, usually by 2 p.m. Also offered: cage-free eggs, meat cuts and locally baked bread.
Pop-up farmer’s markets
Social distancing at supermarkets is tough, but you’ll find much-thinner crowds at local farmer’s markets. Fill up on fruits and veggies at the Going Bananas Farmers Market
inside the Festival Flea Market Mall (2900 W. Sample Road, Pompano Beach; 954-935-5959), or opt for delivery with a $30 minimum order. (They also carry a limited supply of fresh seafood and groceries.) Elsewhere Holy Mackerel Small-Batch Beers (1414 NE 26th St., Wilton Manors, 954-306-3690, HolyMackerelBeers.com) has a popup market selling five bowls of assorted produce for $20 (one bowl equals about four oranges, or one whole pineapple) for curbside pickup in the brewery’s parking lot.
The 20th annual Sweet Corn Fiesta at South Florida Fairgrounds (9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-996-0343, SweetCornFiesta.com) may be canceled, but shucks, organizers just can’t help themselves. The event has transforming into a pop-up drive-thru from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26 with sweet corn crates for $15 and $2 per ear. To find it, follow the line of cars at Gate 5 off Southern Boulevard.
Drive-thru grocery stores
Remember Farm Stores and its signature cow logo? They’re still all over the place in South Florida, and carry a surprising number of pantry staples including fresh baguettes and cakes, hot soups and sandwiches, cereal and deli meats, pet food and laundry detergents. The best part: Gloved and masked employees will put them in your trunk.
Free food
All locations of Miamiborn Cuban chain Cao Bakery & Cafe (11 South Florida locations from Fort Lauderdale to Kendall; CaoBakeryCafe.com) are giving away one free Cuban loaf, every Monday, firstcome first-serve. Call ahead for availability.