Jake makes good on his bet with Anna

In the course of my usual grocery shopping, I end up hitting the same handful of stores — Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Sprouts and 99 Ranch Market — ranked from most to least frequent. However, when I am in other neighborhoods, I try to search out local butchers or health food stores to see what goodies they have to offer. For example, when I was in Hawaii, I came across a market that sold grass-fed beef grown locally on the Hawaiian islands.

I had a few people asking in the comments where I got the ground lamb for Tuesday’s post. During a visit to Santa Monica, I found a market called Co-opportunity and checked it out.  They are like a small version of Whole Foods, with several bulk bins, a toiletry section, fresh produce and a hot food/salad bar. What I was most intrigued to find though was a small section of their freezer dedicated to different game meats. They had everything from bison to ostrich to lamb, among other choices!

Outside of these frozen meats, they have other grass-fed and pastured selections. The downside is that most of the fresh meats are pretty expensive in my opinion. Truthfully, I will stop in to pick up the frozen meat when I’m in the neighborhood, but otherwise I find better prices and a slightly better selection at Whole Foods. I’d encourage you to check it out though, you may find more to your liking than I did. Be forewarned that the parking lot is a bit of a zoo and you’d be better served to park at a meter on the street nearby.

Make Up Day