I understand this may be unrealistic for car-dependant US households that have no option but to shop in large batches...
I far prefer shopping for two or three weeks at a time, refrigerating fruits, vegetables, and milk.
In cities people typically have a grocery store within 5 to 10 minutes walk from home.
That really depends on the city, and on which part of the city one lives in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert
Because I can afford to do so, I choose to live in a nice walkable neighborhood where I do have a grocery store within walking distance, but this is absolutely not the case in most poor urban neighborhoods, including many areas of my city.
This is exactly why attempts to tackle this supposed "food desert" problem have fallen flat on their face. These areas aren't food deserts, they just don't have a mega-store every other block, thus they are incorrectly classified as a food desert.
With some basic cleanup, the USDA could focus on areas that are actual food deserts, where there is a need and their efforts won't go to waste.
Edit: removed extra comma.
Most people there get food from a bodega type place.
That being said, many are quick to dismiss them since they don't have the nicest/largest stores, or the most advanced systems. By doing so your ignoring reality, as that is how most people get their food, hence why they (generally) accept EBT.
In an urban market, these type of stores are 15,000-30,000 sqft. We have a few markets like this in my city, but they are in nicer areas.
Poor folk have corner stores that are <3000 sqft. We don't have the Asian produce markets or Mexican markets that you are thinking of. They generally don't sell produce, and if they do they low quality and 2x expensive.
We had a crisis about a decade ago because 80% of these stores were temporarily shut down after the owners were arrested for accepting food stamps for heroin. They aren't nice places that anyone chooses to do business with.
It's not about having a large floor plan, it's about access to fresh food. The Bayview sees the same thing, although as SFGate points out Fresh and Easy did try. They failed too.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Tenderloin-struggles-t...
This is just like the whole "Food Desert" scheme by the USDA, where they try to create stores in areas with local grocers already. For example, they define Tukwila, WA as a food desert [1], yet there are multiple places within the area they defined that stock fresh food and are EBT approved (Seafood City, 99 Ranch, Costco, Cash & Carry, etc).
This is why the attempts to get rid of these supposed deserts fall flat. Those that need or want to shop local already do, at places others like yourself ignore cause they feel they aren't of high enough caliber.
1 - https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-...
Whereas now I can be inside of three convenience stores and a full service grocer within 3 minutes of walking. If I drive I pass several other full grocers on the 8min/2.5 mile trip home.
This is in Milwaukee, not a NY or Sf type of place. Most people in my neighborhood still drive everywhere, you just don't have to.
Where I live most people go to the supermarket regularly. I go almost daily, for example. As a result, stuff doesn't need to have a very long shelf life (and refrigerators here are, to many of my American friends, hilariously small).
Does it never expire? Looseleaf tea, sugar, honey, spices, salt ... that goes in cabinet.
Does it expire/rot eventually no matter if its hours or months? Simple, all that stuff goes in fridge.
No need to ponder or remember or search two places. If its eternal its stored over there, if its not eternal, it is not.
This has obvious cultural side effect with my people have large fridge and only really use maybe two kitchen cabinets unlike recent trends in American kitchen remodeling where the average kitchen has a relatively modest (stainless steel, of course) fridge with about thirty kitchen cabinets presumably full of butter and eggs and milk or something.
There are even more cultural issues... I've met people who claim to hate the taste of walnut oil because they've been conditioned to believe the only walnut oil that exists is rancid bitter and gross so people like that who none the less for some weird reason like bitter rancid oil will naturally store their oil on the shelf to maximized its awfulness, although I store mine in the fridge and its delicious even though I have to warm it each time I cook with it (ditto butter). Perhaps there are people acclimated to rotten eggs such that they would actively dislike fresh eggs. Kinda like how beer gets skunky after a couple days exposure to sunlight in a closed bottle, there are probably people who actively like skunky beer.
BTW, I don't know about the US, but in Canada, the supply chain often delivers eggs to the store that are 2 weeks old, so it's quite likely that most people have never cooked with a fresh egg before in their life.
And I have heard similar things about the supply chain in the US. However, I have had a fresh egg that was no more than 24 hours old (I think younger) and I didn't really notice a difference. Then again, I think it was scrambled, so I don't know if you can tell anyways.
Better to steam.
I mean, by all means, use super fresh eggs. But as a matter of technique: solvable problem!
The supermarket supply chain seems to turn them over much faster. Poached eggs are much more popular, perhaps for that very reason!
That was the second chicken coop on our block.