D'Agostino, or Dag, as it often gets called around here, is the closet grocery store to my apartment. It's your average store, generally no more overpriced than most. It's got a rewards program of some kind, the green card, which of course I have become a member of in search of deals. There's a few locations around as far as I know, though I only know where the one near me is. So let's talk pros and cons.

Pros

• It's close, so always easy to grab last minute needs.
• It has a rewards card program, so it's theoretically possible to save money through the program.
• Like most grocery stores, it has all commonly used produce year round, so you're not sort of guessing what there should be in that day.
• Generally no more expensive than any other run of the mill grocery store

Cons

• Worst rewards program ever. It works on a system of getting points by spending money and then redeeming those points. Most of the time, you don't have enough points to save any money. Last time I got a points statement, I learned that since I started using the card, I've saved like $35. I've had the card for a year. Stupid.
• Produce is often almost bad or actually rotten. I've opened heads of lettuce to find the insides putrid.
  
• While not more expensive than anywhere else, still pretty expensive. Tomatoes can be between $4-$5 a pound, usually closer to $5.

I don't actually like shopping at Dag. I always end up spending more money than I want to and the produce quality is pretty sub-par. If I'm going to spend money, I'd rather buy good quality food that won't rot so quick. Plus I find the rewards program beyond annoying. So Dags is a general no for me. There are better places around to get what I need. Nothing here is particularly good or cheap, so it's not usually on my list of places to shop during the week. But should I forget something on one of my food adventures? Dags is where I go. So I suppose it has it's uses. Well.

I live in the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen in a tiny little apartment I share with four lovely roommates. It's a nice little place, though I am up on the fifth floor with no elevator, so hauling my things up the stairs is perhaps not my favorite thing. But our kitchen is nice and we're not far from lots of interesting places, so no real complaints here. But let's chat about the food resources within walking distance of me.

There's Whole Foods a few blocks off, Morton Williams is somewhere in that direction too. Closer still there's D'agostinos and the Westerly Market. Plus, there's about five billion little delis and a few fruit stand guys and a Duane Reade around here too. Oh, and the Amish Market, that's pretty close too. Lots of food to go around. And that doesn't include restaurant row, which is the billions of restaurants lining 9th Ave not far from where I am.

So plans: I'm going to start reviewing the food places around here. Talk about how I manage food shopping. That kind of thing. And then I'll chat up recipes. But I'm not there yet. Anyway, stay tuned. First review should be up today. Maybe two?

Ahhh, hello abandoned food blog! I'm back. For reals this time. However, I come with a new mission. While I do love buying my fancy fresh produce and making extravagant meals, I'm also a student living on a budget and I'm in New York City, which is not really known for cheap student friendly prices. Plus, I live in Manhattan and everything here is more expensive. Awful really.

So the new goal: I'm going to be doing a lot of talking about how to eat on a limited budget in a place like this. I've developed all kinds of systems. See, the thing is that while I'm living in an expensive city, I still have tastebuds. Living on ramen for the next few years is not a good option for me. And during the winter, Manhattan becomes a wasteland as far as cheap produce is concerned and I'm a big fan of salads. So this blog is going to be the chronicles of me, living on a student budget with a gormet palate.

Stay tuned, see what happens.