Supermarkets are fun, aren't they? They help keep the budget in check on a daily or weekly basis at…read morehome, but it can help with the travel budget with food while on the go. It was nice to have Martin's nearby my hotel, that's for sure.
I'm not sure whether or not Martin's is a local supermarket in western Maryland or a regional supermarket chain. It's probably the first time I've bought frozen meals while traveling, since I had a microwave and fridge in my hotel room. Martin's is your basic full service supermarket, complete with your bakery section, produce section, butcher shop, and all the baked goods and everyday essentials everyone needs. I'm trying to think of what supermarket is comparable to Martin's with what I have in HI, Foodland and Safeway comes to mind. I ended up coming here for a quick 15 minutes, considering that I needed to be rested and expected to put out 26.2 miles the next morning. The overall experience here at Martin's is that of an average day shopping at the local supermarket. I mean, it's great to save money on the travel food bill, but you just need to be able prepare the food yourself, which makes it cheaper - i.e., making your own sandwiches, etc.
I ended up getting frozen food meals, which ended up being pretty good. I bought in bulk, since I was staying in La Vale, MD for 2 nights. Easier for me to microwave something than to gather ingredients for sandwiches. Lol I try to be simplistic with these things. As with any supermarket experience, everything was laid out as you'd expect it to be: aisles and aisles of products and options to help you with your food choices and everyday tasks. The supermarket is understandably clean and very well organized. Their bakery reminded me of Safeway's version and it was basically pastries, cakes, and bread products. Martin's Food and Drug is located at XXX Main Street here in La Vale, Maryland. It's apart of a larger strip mall, so there is a large parking lot here for everyone to park here and shop. Plenty of parking for everyone. If you want booze, I think they sell liquor here too, although I can't be too sure. Like many supermarkets and retail establishments in the industry, they accept credit cards, which is always a great thing.
The service here is typical the supermarket culture, especially when you go and check out. Sometimes, you'd need additional service help with the meat department or help with finding something you need, but for the many of us, the service we usually need is at check out. While there are self check out kiosks here, I usually would like service by a human being, who knows what they're doing. I ended up getting frozen meals from Marie Callendar's here from Martin's, which ended up tasting pretty good. It was cheap and delicious. I also got a box of drumstick ice cream, as well as a banana and a box of Pop Tarts - chocolate version. The last bit of food was a large bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. This all costs around $14, which was a good bargain for a budget marathoner traveler. While I could have done it a little bit more cheaply, it ended up well - as it was all delicious and convenient for me, being a guy.
If you are in the area and need to shop for groceries, I'd recommend shopping here. It's your one stop shop in La Vale, Maryland. 4 stars!
Support local!
B
Sorry no photos or a check in. Forgot to and it's a supermarket!
