When I lived in Jamaica Plain, I was fortunate enough to live spitting distance from the Hi Lo Food Mart. With a short walk, I had easy access to fresh produce, milk, ramen, and all other college student food essentials (except beer - but Centre Liquors was right down the street). I always preferred getting my food at a cheap, no-nonsense place like Hi Lo as opposed to the much closer but much snootier and more expensive City Feed. City Feed was literally right next door to me - I could see it from my window. But, while I often stopped there for coffee in the mornings, the extra five minutes or so to Hi Lo were invariably worth it when it came to actual food.
I don't live in JP anymore. After a year or so of bouncing around, I'm back to commuting to school (in Dorchester) and work (in Cambridge) from my hometown of Franklin, Massachusetts (don't worry, nobody else has heard of it either). My food options have gone from preparing my own relatively healthy meals (I put together a bomb recipe for Chicken a la King when I was living in JP, all with ingredients I could get from Hi Lo), I'm stuck with eating out more often than I'd like to. Bread, peanut butter, and canned soup have become good friends of mine once again.
In about four days, I'm moving into Ball Square in Somerville. I've been told by many that Ball Square and the nearby Davis Square are great places to eat on the cheap for broke college students such as myself. I'm also told that the nearest grocery store is the Shaws in Porter Square - just one stop away on the Red Line, but a bit of a haul compared to my former Hi Lo commute. So we'll just have to see: can I make this work, or will I starve to death before the year is out?
Keep reading to find out, and wish me luck.
(Hi Lo Foods is located at 450 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. It keeps odd hours which I couldn't find online. Try calling them at 617-524-6622)
(Hi Lo image obtained via http://hilobrow.com.)
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