Fort Meade Commissary

Love the hours and the staff that I have been knowing for YEARS! One thing that has gotten the worst is the produce. It looks pretty bad in the store and does not last long when you get it home. The meat selection is decent but they do run out of things ground turkey, chicken wings. Overall I will continue to shop there the prices on most items cannot be beat especially on meat.

The commissary used to be the place to do all of your one stop shopping. They’ve fallen off a bit due to the shortages of items they frequently incur. Seems like produce doesn’t last as long and in the meat department they run out of wings often. The seafood department occasionally has previously frozen items they offer when you can just go to frozen foods and get the same items. Each commissary is different based on the demands of its customers and geographical area.
Say your grocery shopping prayer if you are coming here on a payday weekend when they are at their peak with families doing their shopping.
I do appreciate that you can fill out a form at the customer service desk for items you’d like to see in the store, request in bulk or special order.
For persons with disabilities and seniors, they open the store exclusively to them to allow more time to shop and to receive assistance. Military personnel in uniform have head of the line privileges during certain hours and the notorious 20 items or less line that often gets abused.
The baggers work for tips and you can have them assist you to your car with your purchase.
My pet peeve is all of the bags they give you when they bag your groceries instead of packing them smartly to make it efficient.
There is a self check-​out line if you are feeling anti-​social and just want to pay and go. The parking lot has areas for expectant mothers or families with children under two that allows for close parking.

This is a good commissary. It is a good sized store and filled with the basic staples you normally find in a DECA ran store. My only complaint is the selection of fruits and vegetables are not the best. They also seem to run out of certain cuts of meat rather quickly. Many times i don’t bother to go there and just go to a local grocer near from past disappointments of not having certain items. On many occasions they are too ripe or very bruised. I will say that if you go there watch yourself in the parking lot as there are some deep potholes along some of the rows of parking.

Edit August 16 2015: They have repaved in wake of the PX being rebuilt and the parking lot is much, much better than the pothole laden one from before that was almost like a tough mudder with a shopping cart. Not enough to bump up the review but a more pleasant experience.
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Hey, it’s the commissary — just like one of a dozen others I’ve shopped at through my military career.
Pluses:
Hours are good; they’re almost always open
Self check out addition is helpful on long line days (payday!)
Cheap prices
Minuses:
Virtually nobody to help you find something
Produce is a little scuzzy sometimes
They run out of stuff sometimes and it seems to take forever to restock
Until Safeway/​Giant/​Wegmans up their game a little more, it’s my go-​to for price.

Their less than stellar fruit and vegetable section warrants 1 star, but I’ll give another for the rest of the store. I’ve always valued the commissary for their competitive prices and quality named brand products for service member and retirees; however it seems like this version (at Ft Meade) it has taken a turn for the worse.
Military families don’t deserve limp vegetables that go bad in a day or two. They haven’t put much thought in their organic food selection either. Their meat section could be a little better, but honestly, unless you like going to a real butcher, Whole Foods, or restaurant quality meat purveyor, you’re not going to get better quality proteins at other nearby grocery stores at that price.
The fish section could use the same improvements as the vegetable section. Sorry guys, but farmed catfish, farmed salmon, and frozen krab (yes, notice K = fake crab) is not quality seafood.
In summary: go for the meats, beverages, canned/​dry goods, and bread. Shop elsewhere for the rest.
P. S. The commissary is supposed to feed the men, women, and families that defend this country. Give them better choices, if you want them to be healthy and live longer lives. Unless… making them waste their time and hard-​earned money on mediocre food selections is your forte!

The commissary is not really well stock. Most of the produce are not that fresh. The baggers are rude if you don’t tip. I always tip, but not if I am buying 1 to 5 items. If you like to shop early and want to go heavy grocery shopping, they will not check you until 0900. I walked in at 0700 and shopped. I was done at 0815, but they did not want to check me out and told me I had to wait until the other cashiers came in, even though there was no body else in line. I shop here for convenience, since it is the closest grocery store to my home.

Those that know me know I live in Silver Spring and might? my sanity in driving to Ft. Meade to the commissary. I’m perfectly sane and it takes less time than heading to Ft. Myer to the commissary and shopping at the commissary saves us 30% on average over a local, non military grocer.
Ft. Meade has a great deli with a stellar cheese selection, a sushi bar with sushi being made on the spot, a fish market with great sales and variety and a large meat department. All of these combined with the aforementioned discount on grocery, pet, hygiene, cleaning, laundry etc. and you have a GREAT reason to drive to Ft. Meade and shop weekly.
Oh; and my husband is active duty and gets his hair cut at the barber weekly.

This is the biggest commissary I have ever been to. Usually well stocked, and the prices can’t be beat. A couple of gripes, however. Number 1: Some employees are either angry or careless (some are both). Throwing customer’s items witout regard as tp what is already in the bag is unacceptable, and I have on numerous occasions asked the baggers to take more care with my items. Today I had a cashier named Brian who didn’t say two words to me, even after I said hello and asked him how he was doing. I don’t like feeling like a burden in a store that I am a customer in. 2: Their meat selection is not very good. Having only «select» and «choice» graded meat available is a bit of a let down. I don’t trust the hamburger meat either. I recently made hamburgers with the ⁸⁰⁄₂₀ meat I purchased from there. When I threw it on the grill, it oozed a white substance out and then the burgers absolutely disintegrated on the grill. It’s like the meat was made of sludge. After that, I stay away from the meat and focus on the dry goods. On the up side and as I said before, their prices are good and they carry more international food items than your typical supermarket. If they could get some better employees and better quality meat, I’d happily rate the store a 5.

Fantastic!
They have everything you could dream of here. After the renovation a year or so back, this went from a 2.5 to 3 star market to a solid 4. It’s pretty nice and clean now, very organized, the produce seems to have gotten better and there is an incredible international selection of items are here. The customer service is super friendly and helpful, and I can attest to this because I use customer service almost every visit.
I prefer this commissary to Bolling for sure. Of course, can’t beat commissary prices!

The commissary is one of the best perks that comes with the military. This is one of the largest that I’ve been in– beating out the huge Navy one in Hawaii. Great prices, massive selection of foods. My only complaint would be the quality if the garlic and onion selections… There seems to have been a decline in their freshness over the past few years but I’ve noticed that at every commissary I’ve been into, not just this location.
The shop itself is in the same strip as the Ft. Meade bowling alley, post office, and exchange. It definitely makes errand running pretty efficient!

The Fort Meade Commissary is only for military and there families. I usually do 90 percent of my grocery shopping here. The prices are lower then average, and they don’t charge tax. They have a wide variety of selections sort of like your local safeway or gaints. The only downside here is there some of there items they sell are always nearing expiration (meats, breads).

The commissary has a decent selection for our military community. The layout is much better since the renovations and they still bring items in if you request something they don’t stock. The prices save you money (even with the surcharge). I try to buy big purchases especially non-​perishables here and then get other little things from local grocery stores like natural foods and local produce.
The cake service is great. Prices are very competitive and everyone is always surprised when they find out the cake is from the commissary. To place an order, it’s best if you bring in a huge clear picture of each item/​symbol you want on the cake. They will scan it into a frosting picture. Then also provide an image of the entire cake with the wording so they know the layout. You’ll make things much easier on them. I play with the layout in power point then print in color. Order your cake a few days ahead of time.
I like the sushi counter with the veggie roll and the smoothie cases. The health food section is growing but we can always use more. The produce is decent and the avocado prices are fabulous. The fruits could use a boost but I can always rely on the bananas and grapefruits.
It would be great to add more self serve checkouts that work… we haven’t quite tweaked the self-​checkout technology these days… don’t you think it’s about time for it to be more intuitive? I don’t like tipping someone to bag my groceries or having someone walk it out to my car for a tip.

I love this place! I can buy so much more here than I would at Safeway or Giant. There is a surcharge but it never is much always less than what taxes would be. It can get busy so I avoid paydays and go in the morning.

Newly remodeled and always busy! I suggest coming early in the AM or come after 7PM so you can easily navigate the aisles for all your grocery needs. Stay away from this place on PAYDAY or you’ll be playing bumper carts with all the retirees and family of 6s. They have sushi rolls which is ok and also a small seafood section. Some prices are cheaper then off post, but there is surcharge on all products.