In a recent visit to one of the store’s I was able to get a hold of a few product list’s that fresh & easy has available in their stores. These list’s are helpful to those in look for items that are free of gluten, vegetarian, vegan, or kosher in nature. I post these files here to make them more accessible to anyone who has special needs.

Although I must warn you, that freshandeasyreview.com nor its writers take any responsibility as to the accuracy of these list’s. Should you have any concerns please make sure you read the packaging of specific products to make a proper decision on whether these items are suitable for your needs!

I was also led to believe that these are the most up to date lists available, although fresh&easy’s product selections have changed a lot in the past few months, and not all products are available in all stores. So you can check and see if the store you plan on visiting carries the specified products by finding the store’s phone number and getting in touch with a store associate.

Link to List’s:
F&E Gluten Free Product List March 2009
F&E Kosher Product List - Dec 2008
F&E Milk Free Product List August 2008
F&E Vegan Product List July 2008
F&E Vegetarian Product List August 2008

Click Here for Store Locations, Hours and contact information.

Canned Items, Baking, Baby Products, & Pet Food!

During a recent visit, I came made the realization, that fresh and easy has completely revamped their petfood section, it looks like now they have a bit more variety, although they still have the same amount of modules dedicated, they have cut down on product fronts, and added more to their selection. 

Their baking sections has also come under seige, and been revamped with some new items, such as flour, which now comes in a plastic bag, and they have also added other items like the pillsbury funfetti cake mix. 

Canned food underwent a large change as far as I can tell, they have introduced a larger variety of the canned tomatoes, and added some FNE branded canned veggies. It also seems like they have replaced their FnE branded fruit bowl snack packs with branded ones, along with the addition of Cranberry sauce, and a couple more branded apple sauces.

Baby food came as the biggest shocker as I notice they carry FRESH AND EASY BRANDED BABY PRODUCTS, such as lotions, petrolium jelly, and shampoo’s! They also added Pampers to their diaper selection.

I must say new products are great! But I for those bargain hunters out there…be on the look out for their discontinued items, which they often sell at up to 50% off (sometimes more… )…And it seems they have baby products, canned food, baking items,  and pet food which might go on sale soon!

Cheers!

I have added enabled a RSS feed, that will update automatically on any news relating to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

On the top of the list now, is “Fresh & Easy Introducing 25 New Wines Over Next Three Months” , so now you will also be able to stay a bit more upto date with whats going on with FNE when you visit this site.

I am still tweeking portions of the site, so please do bear with me…

Cheers!

At last I must admit I have been neglecting my project for some time now, and I have taken it upon myself, to try and enable some of the feature I had envisioned slowly but surely….As you can see to the right of the posting you will now be able to see some of the reviews posted on the Yelp social network about some of the fresh and easy neighborhood markets out there…I think that will make this website less bias in terms of 1 person dictating the content, For now this page is pretty static, soon I will enable a news link, so you will also be able to stay in touch with some of the most up to date news dealing fresh & easy.

Later this week I will be hopefully completing some of the planned features.

Cheers, and till next time!

This time I’m going to write about one of the most consumed beverages in the world, tea. Fresh and Easy offers a large variety of tea flavors; chocolate flavored black tea is my favorite. Take a look at the nutrition facts chart, no calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates or proteins; its like water! Theres 20 tea bags in each box; each bag is 2g, and makes 8 fl oz. It doesn’t really have a strong chocolate taste, so don’t excpect it to taste like hot chocolate. You make it as sweet as you want by adding sugar, if you decide not to add sugar it will taste a bit bitter. If you like tea, and chocolate, this tea is the choice for you, try the two as one!

This past week or so I have been slowly eating away at a bag of Spinach I bought at fresh & easy. While this might not sound so exiting, i have enjoyed it in my omelette’s in the mornings, in my burgers, and even in a salad. Although they (fne) sells a Spinach Salad Kit, I thought I would save myself some money in the long run and buy the ingredients separately.

I ended up with a bag 10 oz (?) if i recall correctly of Washed Spinach,  a bottle of F&E Raspberry Vinaigrette (12oz(?)) and a bag of F&E Walnut Pieces.

Ill start off by saying that the spinach I got was very crisp, and it lasted for almost a week after opening. 

The Raspberry Vinaigrette is a great dressing, although I must say it is a bit strong and on the “vinegary” , so I used about 3 tablespoons for about 2 1/2 hand fulls of spinach, which provided just the right amount or sweet and sour flavoring from the dressing.

I followed by adding a small hand full of walnuts, after which I mix and serve. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this salad, which Fresh & Easy provides in a ready to go bag, or as separate ingredients, Although I should warn for squished, and sucked in bags, which might be a sign of a hole in the container, also examine your spinach make sure none of the leaves are breaking down, as this can be a sign of spoilage.

Also transfer your spinach into a large zip-loc bag for optimal results when storing.

Mmm…they are yummy!! Thats exactly what I said when I tried the honey wheat braided pretzels. First, I identified the sweet flavor; Then, as I chewed, I noticed it was kinda dry , I recommend to try it with something to drink like hot chocolate or simply coffee. The saltiness of the pretzel goes well with any of these beverages. I have eaten pretzels as part of my breakfast and as a snack in the afternoon, if you dip them in jalapeño cheese they are delicious, their firm texture make this possible. If we go to the nutrients, they are not a great source of calories and fat, so no worries you can have as many as you want!!

Over the past few weeks, I have been purchasing about two Fresh & Easy Half & Half quart containers a week. All this time I have not had a problem with this product, and well I can say it is very good in mixed coffee!

It has no other flavors, comes from cows not treated with rBST and it is Grade A Pasteurized!

The container gives a more than fair warning stating the following;

Perishable, keep refrigerated!

Use within 7 days of opening, but no later than date  stamped on gable top.

I would consider more than fair enough, the I do recal BananaButton.com stating the following:

“A handful of times either the product came curdled or went bad way before the expiration date”

BananaButton.com

Although I would highly suggest contacting the store management, or maybe the corporate offices, due to a possible problem with refrigeration if any of the like has been experienced, especially multiple times. I have noticed that some Fresh & Easy markets have front loading milk coolers, and leaving this product out while the clerks stock might have cased it to turn early, and this would be a problem that affects public health and food safety. After all I expect quality in the food I do consume, and I am putting all my trust that the products I am purchasing have been handled within proper food safety guidelines.

After all isn’t one of their commitments being a fresh & easy place to shop ?

Back to the product. Nothing special here, just half & half, I have not had a bad experience and use it on a regular basis!

Cucumber Flavored water is here boys and girls!

I must say that my expectations for this product were quite low!

The reality was I enjoyed this drink so much I think I would prefer it over just plain water! The cucumber flavor in this water is perfectly strong!  The water taste like you have just chopped up fresh cucumber into your water, chilled it and served it! The flavored water was very clean, had a had a nice cucumber finish! While maintaining a very crisp sensation in the mouth. I highly recommend this drink to anyone who needs refreshment! I have not complaints about this what so ever!

Its a perfect drink from start to finish! It makes me crave cucumbers and chili powder with a slice of lemon on the side, which is a snack my mother made often!

Well, I visited my local neighborhood market today and to my surprise they have a large variety of new items that have been added to their arsenal to combat hunger!

Along their back wall they have intruduced, a handfull (a few handfull’s actually) of new items! These new meals have all new packaging, and have a “Mix and Match” label if i recall correctly. In order to provide a greated variety making dinner your own and less “boring”. You can probably select a few side’s and a main dish in order to create a complete meal solution! Escape from the monotonous!

In the Freezer section, I have noted the addition of 3 new frozen entree’s. I was fortunate enough to have sampled these at the “Kitchen Table” and they were all delicious, all of them came in a roundplastic “dish” with a dipping sauce in the center. All of these were avaiable for under $4 i believe.

In their chilled drinks cooler, I noticed the addition of Cocunut Flavored Water and Cucumber Flavored water along with the addition of 3 inhouse “Essential Water” flavors, which replaced vitamin water. All of these new drinks are a zero calorie instance.

Recently new additions had also been made in their chip aile with the addition of Tomatoe Basil Veggie Crisps, which are absolutly delicious, and Black Pepper Kettle Chips (unknown), and smaller single serving baggies of a couple of their kettle chips, popcorn, and corn chips.

In their juice aile they have also recently added, A low sodium alternative veggie juice, and other fruit flavored juices, and they have also expanded their gelato, and sorbet selections.

In their fresh sections it looks like they have switched to reliable local California farmers for certain products, and have hopefully passed on some sort of savings on to us customers. Also there has recently been an introduction of the “Buxted” branded chicken, and beef products which provide a lower priced alternative to their house branded meats.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head, and well it seems like fresh & easy is very committed to bringing these 200 new products in before the years end!