My diet mostly consists of vegetables, lean meats, fish and gluten free whole grains (most of the time). For me the most important things that I need are good quality meat and good quality produce at an affordable price. If you too are looking for these things I highly recommend the Carmel Market at the end of King George Street (In Hebrew called "Shuk Ha Carmel").
This market has everything from clothes and Judaica to fresh fish, and I have yet to find produce prices that rival the Shuk in Tel Aviv. The meat and fish are also fairly priced, and in my opinion better quality than a lot of the meat that you'll find in a super market butcher shop. Not only does the Shuk provide quality food at low prices, but it's also an experience that reminds me I'm in Israel. Nowhere in America will you find an outdoor bizarre, or market like the Shuk.
The Shuk is very easy to get to, with tons of bus lines and Shirut Taxis (van taxis that can take 10 people, half a shekel more expensive than the bus. The 4 or 16 lines go to the Shuk.) that drop you off right there.
Now a few words of caution about the Shuk. It closes between 5-6 PM on weekdays, so make sure to get there in the morning if you can (opens at about 9-9:30). If you can't make it during the week, beware that Fridays there can be painful if you don't like big crowds. Also make sure that you have a thick skin, as some of the sellers and shoppers can be quite rude.
I've found a couple different vegetable sellers that consistently have good quality veggies and fair prices, and if one of them is out of something I can just go to the others. There are some guys that I avoid because they're rude, they're scales are off, and they try to scam you by listing their prices in 1/2 kilograms. If you want specifics on my preferred veggie salesman send me an email, and I'll give you the details. For meat there are two alleys to the right when you walk down the Shuk from the top. The first alley is mostly Russian butchers and I don't believe their meat is kosher; I go to the second alley to the first guy on the right. He's a nice old guy who has fair prices and fine quality meat.
Speaking of meat, if you love it and don't keep kosher then there's an excellent place in Yaffo that has very affordable and high quality meat. I have yet to go there because Yaffo is a bit far for me, but if I lived in south Tel Aviv I would highly recommend Abu Hilweh. The place is super clean and the meat is very affordable, especially when you buy in Bulk.
You may be thinking that I've got you covered on meat and veggies, but what about all of the other stuff? For necessities and dried foods my recommendation is the Victory super market. Victory has all of the same products as the other big super markets like Shupersal, but everything is cheaper. Victory even does deliveries if you don't have time to go to the super market, you can simply order everything online, and they'll deliver it to your house. I did the deliveries a couple of times, and it's not bad for dried, and packaged food and necessities for the house; however, it's inconsistent. Sometimes if they're out of something the give you a replacement from another brand without telling you. They usually call and ask if it's ok, but not always.
Victory also has a decent butcher if you are in need of meat, but their produce is often sub-par, so again, go there for your dried food. Of course there are plenty of other super markets in Tel Aviv, and the AMPM and Super Yuda chains that are open 24 hours; however, most of these places carry the exact same products and have them marked up much higher than Victory. Unless you shop all organic (in which case I recommend Teva Castel), go to Victory and the Shuk for the best price and quality combination for your groceries.
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