"One-Stop" Grocery Shopping on St. Croix

You really have to shop around.
Those small grocery stores are way overpriced, by far. At least in STT.
I usually shop Cost U Less every other week, once a month I'll shop at Pueblo or PriceSmart. Once in a great while, I'll stop at Fruit Bowl or Moe's in Red Hook but their prices, I've found, to be very expensive.

one stop? not really.

we buy meat at quality or cost u less
i like to buy fruits & vegis at seaside market

one time i had to go to 5 places to find blueberries.

Depending on where you will be staying for your visit I'd suggest either one of the Plaza Extras or FoodTown

Depending on where you will be staying for your visit I'd suggest either one of the Plaza Extras or FoodTown

Excellent. I'll start looking them up. It sounds as if Cost U Less is worth a stop too.

We're staying at Tamarind Reef.

Thank you Jane and Speee1dy!!

D.

CostULess is right by Plaza Extra East. That's close to one stop. For the things you forget or couldn't find, Seaside Market is small, but pretty well stocked. It's close to Tamarind Reef, and the prices aren't too far out of line.

you are welcome

Pueblo doesn't have a deli so I wouldn't go there for one stop. Foodtown has a nice deli as long as they haven't run out and waiting for the next truck/boat. They close at 9 and close the deli earlier than that. Seaside is small and a little (or alot) pricier but has a good selection, nice deli, and some more upscale items to help justify the prices. Cost-U-Less and Plaza East are good options as well. Bring your own bags or get boxes at Cost-U-Less.

I'd suggest Plaza Extra or Food Town as the true one-stop shop experience. CostUMore and Seaside Markup are okay but really don't offer anywhere near supermarket-style selection.

If you are at Tamarind Reef i think Seaside will be fine for your needs since you most likely only have a kitchenette

If you are at Tamarind Reef i think Seaside will be fine for your needs since you most likely only have a kitchenette

Oh, goodness no, this is not an effort to fix our meals at our hotel. I'm so sorry if you got that impression.

In an effort to compare grocery prices I made a list of about 25 things that my wife and I usually get at the grocery store. I was wanting to take a trip to what would be the best place to go to get nearly all the weekly groceries for the household and write down the prices as we go up and down all the aisles.

In all my reading here on VI Moving Center I've read about how residents lament the fact that there "aren't as many varieties of X item of produce / meat / etc" as on the mainland.

I just wanted to see for myself what the options were. I'm certainly not averse to going to several places to find the best fruit / flowers / bread / etc, but just for the sake of getting a snapshot of what's available I wanted to focus on whatever the equivalent to Kroger in Atlanta might be in Christiansted (or F'sted).

Thanks so much for all your suggestions & sorry for any confusion! We most certainly are going to eat out as often as possible during our 5 day visit!

Dan

Plaza West will be the most like what you are used to....largest on island. Plaza East is just a little bit smaller. Pueblo is "like" a traditional grocery in a lot of ways. They don't have a traditional deli, but they do have a few ready made items.

My favorite, Food Town, is considerably smaller, but the friendliest people!

Is your visit a pre-move visit, or are you just curious about prices? If it's a PMV, I would plan to visit as many of the groceries as you can. Of course a lot depends on where you live. Plaza West is a stretch for a lot of people. Fact is, once you live on island you will go to them all, as well as the farmer's markets, etc.

Juanita -

Our very first PMV. We're looking to possibly make the move in 5 - 7 years. Here is my first thread:

https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,260532

Thanks so much for the info!

Dan

I've been here 5 years and live out east by Green Cay and just discovered Plaza West. Now we don't go anywhere else.We do get our meats at Seaside, Quality foods or Annaly Farms......fresh Senepol beef tasty!

Fact is, once you live on island you will go to them all, as well as the farmer's markets, etc.

(tu)(tu)

And also the neighborhood kids with the table out front of their house selling Mangoes and Gnips in season:-)

And the independent bakeries too.

So much to choose from on our little island.

That really doesn't exists here. I GUESS if I HAD to say - it'd be plaza west in STX. In STT.... no where really IMO.

I take a cooler - put on pandora and jam out on my stops on Wednesdays: Quality foods in Sunny Isles > plaza west > Annally farms (I call in my order a week before for my local meats) Nidulari stand in the rainforest for my eggs and anybody selling veggies/fruit/honey and fish on the roadside along the way. CUL when Im out of paper towels, TP, cat litter, wine & coconut wata. I also think CUL has the best avocados. I miss my AV tree 🙁

I will venture out to seaside for scallops once every couple months as well as Ale house for crafties. I make a day of it - and it lasts about a month. The new veggie stand just past Cruzan gardens had some GREAT stuff yesterday so we stopped there for some goodies. Man I LOVE local tomatoes - they taste like sunshine 😉

Speaking of gnips Scobadoo.... my three story tall tree puts off like a zillion - when its ready anyone who wants a bagful can get them from my fiancé at OfficeMax for free. I bet I could literally fill a truck bed or more.

Speaking of gnips Scobadoo.... my three story tall tree puts off like a zillion - when its ready anyone who wants a bagful can get them from my fiancé at OfficeMax for free. I bet I could literally fill a truck bed or more.

We would enlist the help of Humane Society volunteers to get them down and tie them up in bunches to sell roadside at a "Genips For Crits Day" on STT. We had tees made up for sale, took memberships and donations, had several cats and dogs on site for adoption, had a barbecue cranking out burgers and my restaurant's bar open for drinks. A really fun day for a good cause!

Thats cool - I would have no problem donating all of my ginps but no time to organize anything like this. Ironically when you work for yourself - as you know OT - you work way over 40hours. When I had 2 jobs in STT I seemed to work a lot less lol.

Thats cool - I would have no problem donating all of my ginps but no time to organize anything like this. Ironically when you work for yourself - as you know OT - you work way over 40hours. When I had 2 jobs in STT I seemed to work a lot less lol.

All you have to do - if you're motivated - is contact local community advocates and ask for help. Despite working 24/7, it was something I was able to do as the cause was important to me personally. Sometimes the simplest things which require minimal input from the donor can make a big difference to many. It was just a passing thought and absolutely not intended as criticism in any way, shape or form.

Why not post your list? I could say some things that are better priced at one store or another, but they might not be the things you want.

Just went to cost u less. They did not have the milk I like but they had everything else

Isn't there a thread on grocery prices, recently?

Here it is:
https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,257646,page=3