Pie Lady wrote:I went on my lunch break and I think I'll have to use this in place of Jewel, maybe Fresh Farms too considering how nice the produce looked. We'll see. Thanks for the tips!

I have found the produce at Food 4 Less (Evanston store) to be variable. It's definitely worth following the sales and can be done through their website. http://www.food4less.com/Pages/default.aspx

Cogito wrote:I've shopped at F4L a few times lately and it's not bad at all. The deli has a limited selection, but other than that, the rest of the store has a pretty good variety. And their prices kill J&D.

My experience has been exactly the opposite. The Food4Less prices are consistently higher than Jewel and Dominick's, including their everyday prices as well as their sale prices, for just about everything I've price-checked. In fact, we jokingly refer to it as "Food4More".

I shop at Food 4 Less on occasion, and it's usually got better prices than Ultra, better and more diverse meat offerings than Ultra, fewer unsupervised children than Ultra, and that guy with the floor buffer doesn't chase me around, unlike Ultra. Also, it has a pretty good Mexican food selection. I don't buy a lot of soda anymore, but their prices are outlandish, even for a shockingly overpriced item like pop.

nsxtasy wrote:

Cogito wrote:I've shopped at F4L a few times lately and it's not bad at all. The deli has a limited selection, but other than that, the rest of the store has a pretty good variety. And their prices kill J&D.

My experience has been exactly the opposite. The Food4Less prices are consistently higher than Jewel and Dominick's, including their everyday prices as well as their sale prices, for just about everything I've price-checked. In fact, we jokingly refer to it as "Food4More".

YMMV, I guess. Sure doesn't map with my experiences. J&D seem quite a bit higher to me.

Hi- On one of the couponing blogs I visit, somebody posted that the Food4Less stores in Elk Grove Village and Bolingbrook are closing. I don't know when. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Nobody has posted about Food 4 Less in years here. How does everybody think their prices compare to Jewel and Mariano? They seem to have everyday low prices, and they do not have nearly as much on sale as Jewel and Mariano's does. They do maybe have cheaper milk than Jewel, but that is only if you buy one gallon.

I infrequently frequent Food 4 Less in Evanston, they are one of the few local places to consistently carry White Lily self rising flour.

Prices seem less than Mariano's/Jewel, though I've never done a head to head comparison. Evanston store is large, well laid out and seems to cater to large purchases for large families, maybe even small business.

Not much in the way of upscale or organic, no off-brands though if you want the "deal" you often have to purchase 5 or 8 of a single product to get the discount, which tends to be substantial.

I'm perfectly happy with Fresh Farms, Niles/Touhy, was there yesterday. With ethnic stores like Talard, Arax, Richwell, H-Mart and Tai Nam supplementing my grocery shopping needs.

Grocery Shopping, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:I infrequently frequent Food 4 Less in Evanston, they are one of the few local places to consistently carry White Lily self rising flour.

Prices seem less than Mariano's/Jewel, though I've never done a head to head comparison. Evanston store is large, well laid out and seems to cater to large purchases for large families, maybe even small business.

Not much in the way of upscale or organic, no off-brands though if you want the "deal" you often have to purchase 5 or 8 of a single product to get the discount, which tends to be substantial.

I'm perfectly happy with Fresh Farms, Niles/Touhy, was there yesterday. With ethnic stores like Talard, Arax, Richwell, H-Mart and Tai Nam supplementing my grocery shopping needs.

Grocery Shopping, count me a Fan!

I shop there fairly regularly. Pretty reliable for staples. The best part about the Evanston store is, due to its location, it's very easy to combine with a trip to Valli on Dempster or Aldi on Oakton.

Once a year Food 4 Less has Swanson Natural Goodness chicken broth for $.49 a can, and so I will stock up then. Yes, I believe you have to buy at least eight cans of it, but I go through a ton of it. I am too lazy to make my own broth and CI has it listed as their favorite broth. They do have some organic flour there, but I forget which one. I also buy their natural peanut butter when it is on sale. I belong to Sams Club, and so it is not out of my way to go there. I get all of my gas at Sam's, and I used to get all of my prescriptions there.

I want to love Valli, but there produce is sometimes subpar compared to Jewel. I never buy bananas there, and people there are not as good about social distancing as Jewel is. On rare occasion Valli will have a one day sale with fantastic deals, and I will go into the store then. The store is a mad house though then. One time they had Quaker oatmeal really cheap, and I got one of the last ones, which also had a coupon attached to it. I then went to the bathroom for a few minutes. When I came back, my oatmeal was gone. I don't care for Valli's meat that much either.

I had to go to Sam's Club today to get some gas, and I bought a couple of things in the store. Their milk was $3.34 a gallon though, and I needed milk. I decided to stop at Food4Less to get some milk. Their milk was $2.99 a gallon, and so I got that, a jar of peanut butter, and some Lean Cuisine that they had for 4/$10.

As I was looking around the store, I noticed that they had a large display of Swanson chicken broth that was on sale for 3/$1. I love their Natural goodness chicken broth, but this was their regular chicken broth. I ended up getting six cans of it. I would have bought more, but most of it had an expiration date of 7/26/23. Right next to the display of chicken broth, they had a display of holiday quart storage bags, which were marked down to $.75, and so I bought five packages of those too. This was at the Evanston store. and the chicken broth and the storage bags were located in the back of the store, near the meat department. They still had lots of chicken broth there, but the sale ends 1/31, and so you have to get there today. I did not get any, but they also had five pound bags of clementines on sale for $2.99, but you had to go online, and apply the coupon to your account.

I am admitting of no doubt how my shopping trips differ when motoring in the Sprint. I can shop the Jewel-Osco at 4660 W. Irving Park Rd., the Tony's Fresh Market at 5630 W. Belmont Ave, and the Food 4 Less at 4821 W. North Ave. on Chicago Transit Authority bus routes. I have bags, including plastic ones, which I bring there. In the Sprint, I head for stores outside the city of Chicago. This occurrence, I did not go as far as DuPage County. The Sprint still gets around 42 miles per gallon on 87 octane fuel.
One must be observant at entering and egressing Food 4 Less from WB North Ave. [IL 64] Highway construction has horses set defining it. The opening is quite compact.
I had added its digital coupons to my account. The foodstuffs bought were the Jimmy Dean plant-based breakfast frozen croissants, Nathan's skinless beef franks, and from the "reduced for quick sale" rack, a six-pack of its bakery shop glazed donuts. (There were 12-packs, but I did not want to buy that many.) The soda bought here ($3.99) were 12-packs of Sunkist Cherry Limeade, the 'exclusive to Kroger' Tropical 7-Up, Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla, Sprite Lymonade Legacy, and Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry.
The total here was $33.93 [US Bank Go Visa CC - pays 2x points at grocers.]

The next shop was Tony's Fresh Market at 2099 N. Mannheim Rd. in Melrose Park. [US 12 & 45]