Market Street DFW

“Market Street is awesome!” “I LOVE Market Street.” “I missed Market Street when I moved from home and was so excited to find out they had them here too!” These are all phrases I’ve heard from many of my friends describing their own personal love affair with the grocery chain.   Having never experienced it myself, I recently decided to give it a try.

The closest Market Street to me is located in Coppell, right off 121. Camera in tow, I headed there first thing Saturday morning.   (Ok, so maybe it was closer to lunch, and maybe I slept in a little later than I planned…) I have to say one of the coolest features I like about this place already (and I hadn’t even been inside one yet) was the section on their website that lists recipes to try, complete with a printable shopping list and everything! They have a Recipe of the Day, a section of Family Recipes Under $15 and a Virtual Recipe Box where you can store your favorites.   Since I was heading to my BFFs house for lunch, and since she loves chips & salsa, I decided to try out Market Street’s Avocado-Corn Salsa.   I printed the recipe (which included the shopping list) and put it in my purse. The first thing I noticed when I walked in to Market Street was that there were 3 options of carts. Yes 3.   It took me a second to figure out if they really were offering different features or just different colored handle bars. The 3 options are like small, medium and large at drive-thru. The large carts were full sized carts, the medium ones were half size (in length) and the small ones were little-kid sized! Like a play plastic cart, only REAL! OMG. If I wasn’t so close to 30 I’d totally use one because I am a sucker for all things mini-sized! After convincing myself to bypass the mini-cart, I grabbed a medium one and headed to the produce. I have to admit, it was a food photographers DREAM. Everything was picture-perfect. If there weren’t so many people around, I would have spent the better part of my memory card shooting everything my eyes landed on. But I used restraint and stayed on task.

I grabbed all my ingredients and headed to the front. While doing my shopping, several things really stood out to me. One, every employee who passed me either greeted me in some form (a nod, smile, or hello) and/or asked if I needed any help finding anything. But it wasn’t in the annoying-please-just-leave-me-alone-so-I-can-shop-way. It was in the genuine, helpful but not overbearing way. I really enjoyed feeling welcome and cared for! The second thing I noticed was how clean it looked! Being an almost exclusively-Wal-Mart shopper for about 10 years, I think I’d just gotten used to stained tiles and random crap in the aisles. This was definitely a treat!

I checked out and was about to grab my basket to head to my car when the gentleman who bagged the groceries said, “I’ve got it! Just show me where to go!” WOW. I hadn’t had car-side delivery for groceries since back when I was a kid at the grocery store with my mom. Which let me just say, as a parent going grocery shopping with your kid(s) – getting your groceries escorted and loaded in the car by someone other than you is DEFINITELY like star-treatment!

Note: The Dasani water was on sale 3 24-packs for $11. I have never seen such a deal! Not even at Wal-Mart! I snatched up 3 cases since I pretty much only drink bottled water (sorry Brita! I just don’t have enough reusable water bottles to drink filtered pitcher water!)

Groceries in tow, I headed to Amber’s and we made the salsa! I took out all the ingredients and followed the directions: Toss avocado, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice and salt in a medium bowl. SUPER EASY! Note: Yes, the salt was from Wal-Mart, but everything else was from Market Street.

We doubled the recipe since the original only served 4 and there were at least 6 of us, plus Amber loves chunky fresh salsa.   The salsa turned out great! Although we did have a few adjustments: add one clove of finely miced garlic, about 1/4 cup of finely diced red onion, and one minced jalapeno for some added heat. We ate it with Tostitos Rounds and Tostitos Hint of Lime chips (the chips were 2 for $4 on sale).

Enjoy with friends and if you’re in the neighborhood I HIGHLY suggest you try out Market Street for yourself. You won’t leave disappointed!