Georganne at work is always asking if I have ever been to Wegman’s. So having nothing at all to do this Saturday, I decided to take a field trip to the one in State College. Now who in their right mind would drive almost 3 hours and over 130 miles just to go grocery shopping? I guess someone who really liked food or someone who was really bored. This weekend, I fit both of those descriptions.
I started my visit at the prepared foods section. Hey, I was driving since 10:30 a.m. and it was now 1:30 p.m. and I was hungry. What impressed me was they had an entire section of Asian hot food as well as salad bar items. I took a little from the Asian section and some different salads. The price was only $7.49/lb. I think comparable prices here in Pittsburgh are around $7.99/lb. I was blown away by their baked potato salad. I couldn’t figure out why it tasted like bacon, not that I was complaining. They also had a full custom sandwich bar, sushi, and Mexican food section. I think this is a common thing now having a sort of food court in grocery stores.
Having had my hunger satisfied, I began to explore the store.
It’s actually very similar to the large Market District in Robinson, but I think Wegman’s prices are better. For example, I got a huge roasting chicken for only $6.00. Here’s the result of roasting it with some potatoes and homemade gravy. I am going to have left overs for days.
Wegman’s also had a great selection of cheeses, but I think the Market District is larger. There was also a little alcove with hundreds of teas. I am not a big tea drinker and I was still trying to find my gingerbread coffee, so I didn’t linger too long in that section.
Their olive bar was very impressive though. You can never have too many olives…
Again, there was a huge selection of produce, both conventional and organic. I picked up some of my favorite honey crisp apples at a very nice price too.
One really neat feature that Wegman’s has is their shopping list app for the iPhone. Not only does it let you keep track of what you need and what you actually put in your cart, but it also tells you the aisle that things are in from your list. Need toothpaste, that’s in aisle 14B. So you can quickly go up and down the aisle using your list as a guide. Not that you would want to go up and down the aisle quickly. You might miss something.
Wegman’s also had am extensive international food sections It was it’s own little section of the store. I was impressed with the Indian section and the British section. They also had bulk Indian spices. Now I know where to come to get garam masala or turmeric in bulk.
All in all, it was a fun trip. The store was easy to find and well kept. I was a little disappointed that they couldn’t find my frequent shopper card in their system. But I did just sign up yesterday, so maybe they didn’t process it yet.
So next time I am in the area or want a little day trip, Wegman’s is going to be on the top of my list.
