Living in Bayside without a car makes grocery shopping difficult. If I don't want to pay $2 for the bus that runs up Bell I can either walk 30 minutes each way to Waldbaum's at Bay Terrace (good for everything but far away), walk almost as far and across two highways to get to the Waldbaum's on Francis Lewis (again, has everything, but isn't as good as the Bay Terrace one), walk 15 minutes to Grande Mela market (more of a bodega), walk 5 minutes to Bell Farm (good for produce, pricey, no meat selections, basic grocery), or walk 10 minutes to C-Town. I usually just try to borrow my roommate's car to go to Waldbaum's and order FreshDirect otherwise, but if I'm in desperate need of groceries other than produce I head down to C-Town.
C-Town is good for basics and has a good meat selection (unlike anywhere else within 15 minutes of my apartment), but their produce is often a little sketchy. I usually have a hard time finding un-bruised, fresh-looking fruits and veggies. Prices are decent, and there's an extensive frozen foods and dairy section, but for anything fresh I'd either go to Bell Farm or Waldbaum's (though neither of those can touch Whole Foods or the Greenmarket). read more