We’ve gotten very spoiled with all that New Jersey grocery stores have to offer lately. Grocery shopping is no longer about simply picking out apples with no bruises and checking out which cereal is on sale.
Modern grocery shopping in NJ has become a vastly different experience and all of the new grocery stores popping up all over the place have only served to make competitors up their games.
It’s not enough anymore just to be a great supermarket that carries a lot of stuff and has good customer service. Today you’ve got to be all things to all people.
You’ve got to keep up on the latest food trends and make sure you’re satisfying every culinary curiosity. So many of the aforementioned new stores have come to town and have accomplished that goal. But up until now, a lot of New Jersey’s classic grocery stores, the ones even your grandma shopped at, have fallen behind.
Enter ShopRite of Wharton, NJ.
ShopRite of Wharton recently debuted a concept called Fresh to Table, which customers have already been experiencing at ShopRites in Bloomfield, Greenwich, Burlington, Newton, Sparta, Byram, Mansfield and Succasunna, among other locations.
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With Fresh to Table, customers can find easy-to-prepare ingredients that will make you say goodbye to your meal subscription boxes. The unique, on-trend foods you’ll find there are the ones you’re looking for today.
And the best part is that these fresh-to-table items are available in grab-and-go formats to accommodate the needs of busy New Jerseyans.
ShopRite is calling this a “store within a store” concept. It’s so important now to make things both fresh and easy because it will make for great convenience, too.
Busy because they have ready-to-cook items, ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat meals with prepped ingredients. It’s perfect for people who want to eat and also feed their families, fresh and healthy food but don’t have as much time to plan meals, and to execute them, as perhaps cooks did a generation ago. It’s a one-stop shop.
And of course, if you don’t want to stop, its fresh produce meals, and snacks, can be ordered through ShopRite’s online grocery store.
Let’s hope that this debut marks just the beginning of a trend like this across more supermarkets.
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.
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LOOK: Food and Personal Care Shortages We Could See In 2023
Learn about the 13 potential shortages that could impact stores in 2023, from produce and meat to snacks and beverages.
Gallery Credit: Cooper Fox (B98.5) and Cameron (The Breeze 103.9)
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Oranges
It was late last year that we started hearing about the potential for a shortage of oranges. The reason, according to CNN, was poor weather and orange plant diseases during the latest growing season.
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Beef
As we have all seen over the last few years, the price of beef has gone through the roof. And, we're not just talking about higher end cuts, either. Even ground beef has climbed. As we are seeing a reduction in the amount of beef available, prices could climb even higher. According to the Washington Times, a drought in Texas, which reduced the amount of grass available for grazing, has led to a shortage of beef.
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Pet Food
The reason we could see a shortage of pet food is not because of the food itself, but because we will likely see a shortage of the aluminum used in the manufacture of the cans.
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Champagne
According to The Daily Meal, because there was a drop in the consumption of champagne during the pandemic, the organization that controls champagne production ordered a reduction in the amount that is manufactured. Because of that, we could see a drop in the amount available.
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Beer
According to The Daily Meal, we could see a shortage of beer because of the products needed for carbonation (in certain types) and, as with pet food, the aluminum needed to make the cans.
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Corn
Corn is one of the most useful crops in the United States. Not only is it used for eating, it is also used for corn syrup (the sweetener), corn oil, and more. The US Department of Agriculture is reporting there was a 4% drop in the crop between 2021 and 2022. This could lead to shortage on all corn based products.
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Butter
The reduction in milk production has led to a drop in the amount of available butter. It is also the reason why we have seen a price jump in the cost of butter. Maybe it is time to switch to margarine?
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Pasta
According to Mashed, a worldwide grain shortage is likely to lead to a shortage of pasta. On top of that, people love to stockpile pasta because it is shelf stable and easy to prepare.
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Ice Cream
As with butter, the drop in milk production could lead to a shortage of one of our favorite treats.
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Eggs
For the last few months, we have been hearing about the massive price increases on the cost of eggs. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of available eggs. According to the CDC, the shortage is due in large part to a massive outbreak of the Avian Flu.
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Soup
You could have a hard time finding soup in 2023. Again, not because of the ingredients needed to make soup, but because there are shortage in the aluminum needed to make the cans.
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Specific Items
Some listeners are reporting very specific things missing from store shelves. It is almost like companies have chosen to only make the most generic versions of products.
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Makeup
According to HBW Insight, the ingredients needed to make makeup could be hard to come by this year. As a result, we could see a shortage in the amount of available makeup.
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