I have been looking for ways to stretch my budget further recently and by far my biggest expense is food. I work in the same shopping center as Whole Foods, easily making it the most convenient venue for me to shop. I have long defended them from the Whole Paycheck tag insisting that if you are shopping literally for whole foods - produce, meat, eggs, etc - you are paying the same as anywhere else. However if you are buying packaged foods, sure, go ahead and pay plenty more than you would elsewhere. I decided to test my belief and actually took a list and a clipboard to Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage, and Sprouts. I am a believer in buying organic if your budget allows, so I went to the places that offer the deepest selections of organics. My list started with the contents of a Monday shop for the week and I added some staples that might generally be purchased like coffee, canned tomatoes, olive and coconut oils, etc.
The winner was Vitamin Cottage for a savings of $10.62 for the week over Whole Foods. Sprouts came in next for a savings of $7.43 for the week. That is a difference of $552 and $386 respectively for the year! And I didn't even get into supplements or body products.
Now before we get too carried away, I will still be shopping at Whole Foods for protein. The meat selection is expansive, grass-fed, and cheaper with some selections (grass fed ground beef). There are also some odd discrepancies, such as the 16oz pre-washed spring mix at Whole Foods is cheaper than the 10oz spring mix of the same brand at Vitamin Cottage. Sprouts' dairy is nearly $2 more expensive than Whole Foods for the yogurt I like. I would love to know more about grocery store merchandising, but for now I am just going to try to be smarter in my purchases where time allows. Click here to see the actual list and pricing.
Next stop - Costco!
