America’s Food Basket

Worst place ever they want everything at the door is more like an airport not only they ask for your purse they are rude. I went to the police and they told that is illegal for a store to ask you for your bag on your way inside the store and ask you to open the bag to see what you have inside without even buy anything.

I bought 5 peaches which I checked before buying and when I looked again 4 hours later at home the side they had been sitting on was soft! Never getting produce here again.
Security check at the door for your bag. The guy there is really nice though.

Due to the lack of any major grocery stores in the Fields Corner area, this place fills that void for people who cannot drive or just need something quick. If you can get past the closed shutters, bootleg cabbies & litter, America’s Food Basket has some interesting items that are not normally on the shelves of the big boys. Things like smoked pig’s ears, goat & cow skin. I am an adventurous eater so these items satisfy my urge to eat everything in sight. While the staff are not overly friendly they are knowledgable when confronted. Growing in a predominately Latin neighborhood, it is nice to see things like Inca Kola & chicharones being sold. It is super close to the Fields Corner MBTA station on the Red Line & there is a large lot of free parking spots. It is a good place to come when you cannot decide on what to cook for dinner.

Once again following up on my housemate’s review below (big love to Brown Mummy!) America’s Food Basket trips are always an adventure for the two of us. First of all, walking there means several cat-​calls and ‘hey baby gimme yo numbah’s from the large and hooded men hanging around there/​driving in the parking lot. There are not many people in these parts with accents like my housemate’s, and there are just as few sporting a messy ginger mop on their head as I do, so it’s tough for the two of us to go incognito. After declining several offers for ‘taxi’ service, we find ourselves at America’s Food Basket. Their produce I find excellent, but their meat section is somewhat lacking. You’ll find no shortage of strange things (well, strange to me I suppose) like tripe, various innards, and scary looking whole fish with all the sadness of the world in their clouded little eyes. What you wont find, however, is a good cut of steak. They have hamburger, chicken, pork, but their beef consists of stir-​fry beef or salsbury steak and other crappy bits. uck. They have just about everything you need at AFB… EXCEPT that one thing that’s critical to the recipe you’re making. You know, that one damn thing that you can’t substitute. ALL. THE DAMN. TIME. But for everyday items they’re pretty good.
A few things that, in my personal experience, really bugged me about this place:
The other day I stood in line with 6 items, and waited for twenty minutes as the woman in front of me paid for her bus-​load of items with no fewer than 6 WIC checks, each one having to be individually processed while the cashier prattled on in Spanish and laughed it up with the customer, the bagger, and the woman at the desk where you buy cigarettes and lotto cards. TWENTY MINUTES. I was THIS close to kicking a puppy. None of the workers have any sense of time, or seem to realize that a long line of customers are waiting, or that there is anything wrong with chatting with the customer for a full 5 minutes after they’ve finished ringing them up, completely making you stand there waiting like an idiot.
In all, what most of the previous reviewers have said sum it up pretty well: if it’s your only option, it’s not a bad one. But if you have a car, for God’s sake go to the Stop and Shop near the highway.
On the plus side housemate and I now know several herbs and roots to cure everything from insomnia to vaginal colic.

NEVER AGAIN!!!
This place is horrible and I would NEVER shop here again. The so-​called supervisor on duty was terribly rude and there was no manager on duty when I wanted to report how rude the supervisor was. Best for me to just avoid this place altogether. I would rather bypass this grocery store nightmare, head home, grab my car and drive over to Quincy to pick up whatever little grocery items I need — and that is with gas prices the way that they are.

Being the only market within a significant distance, this place is alright. The produce isn’t amazing, and the staff is pretty much entirely hispanic, which is really convenient if you are too. There was one asian cashier though so she was definitely the odd one out. Respect. They don’t have an amazing selection of meat, and they don’t have lentils despite me searching and asking for them (to which I got a reply in Spanish???) which is not only a bummer, but weird. They do have some pretty cheap prices, but due to the location stuff like meat and produce is not only more expensive it seemed (though some meat seemed very low-​priced) but also not as fresh/​high quality.
Again, when it’s your only option it’s not terrible, but if you have a car and can go to Stop & Shop or Shaw’s it’s totally worth it. However, they do have some really good deals on some stuff (usually nothing too healthy) that you just can’t compare with anywhere else.

It’s Dorchester. The car park is full of interesting characters who won’t bother you unless you bother them. The covered sidewalk is usually littered with McDonalds-​eating kids, big beefy hooded men and a strange assortment of taxi drivers (who never seem to get customers, which begs the question: why hang out here??) all of whom seem non-​plussed at the incongruous classical music blaring out from hidden speakers in the rafters.
Past the über-​ghetto clothes shop where everything costs $ 10, the laundromat where the cutest little elderly Asian men fight with the quarters machine, and the one-​stop shop which always seems to have at least one toddler standing, confused, in the doorway… Amidst all that, we find the grandly titled America’s Food Basket.
By «America,» this grocery store means immigrant. And by «Basket,» they mean a sh*t-ton-of-food.
This is the place where you can buy every spice your grandmomma used to put into your fave paella, goat curry or other Sunday lunch. This is where you’ll find plantains, dried fish, eight types of split peas and sliced ox tongue. All in 16-​lb family-​sized packages.
Of course, for a less-than-exotic.customer like myself, it’s a constant detective hunt for items I consider fairly normal: tomato paste, mozzarella cheese, and sliced brown bread…
It’s a crazy place to shop at the weekend, and sometimes ‘normal’ items like milk seem more expensive than at the Stop & Shop in Andrew Square, but this place is right around the corner from me and the security guy greets me each time with a smile. I’m sticking to my exotic local grocery store :)

What can I say? It’s a cool, neighborhood spot. I mean, it’s not like we have a bunch of grocery store options in this neck ‘o the woods.
I wouldn’t buy meat here, just because. Prices are about $ 1.50 HIGHER on most items versus your local Stop & Shop.
The store is clean, and they are ALWAYS stocking the shelves (wonder why they don’t do that at night?).
Lots of ethnicity specific items: Spanish, West Indian, etc.
Okay spot to be your back up plan.

Note, as of ⁹⁄₀₆: America’s Food Basket closed in Dec 05, but a CVS is coming within a few month at that location.

This place is really interesting to shop at. They have some really great deals and exotic foods. They even have an all rice aisle. All the employees and most customers speak Spanish, so it’s an adventure if you don’t (like me). It has a very neighborhoody feel to it, and is good for a deal. Check it out next time you are in the area.