Since acquiring a car, I have taken a few too many trips out to Whole Foods. I'm not one of those organic-obsessed folks, but I am making an effort to reverse Whole Foods' stigma of being more expensive than traditional grocery stores. Organic or not, Whole Foods just has fresher produce, which is what I really care about, and it's not always more expensive.
Yesterday, I went to a conventional grocery store and had a shamefully high bill, higher than any of my trips to Whole Foods. I think this is because when shopping at Whole Foods, you are in a sense shopping as your best self -- the frugal, health-conscious, non-wasteful self. At regular grocery stores, you are just another consumer, buying whatever is on sale, and with a lot more temptation. If at Whole Foods your indulgent snack purchase is a big bag of apples that are on sale and staring you in the face as you walk in, no harm done really. But at other places it might be a buy one get one free 12-pack of coke, or that 10-pack of buttered microwave popcorn that was only a little more expensive than the 3-pack. And pretty soon you have a $60 cart-full of junk food.
Back to Whole Foods being cheaper than regular grocery store prices. If there's one thing I make a point of buying at Whole Foods, it's butter. It sounds a little contradictory to make a point of buying what is essentially milk fat at a store where it's hard to distinguish between bird feed and people feed. However, at a normal grocery store, a pound of Land O' Lakes butter can be upwards of 5 dollars. A pound of Whole Foods brand butter is usually priced at $2.99. And it's rBGH free, if you care about the hormones you consume. If you want more growth hormone for your buck, go ahead and buy that Land O' Lakes butter.
At regular grocery stores leeks are considered a specialty item and are therefore more expensive. I got a huge leek for 89 cents at Whole Foods. Red bell peppers are insanely expensive wherever you go, usually priced by the pepper, not by the pound (a bit misleading because often grocery stores will use the same price-per-pound for green bell peppers, and when they're shelved right next to each other, it can be confusing). Whole Foods non-organic red bell peppers are $3.99 each, which I am pretty sure is a dollar cheaper than most stores. I can't prove this at the moment but when buying ingredients like fennel and celery root, Whole Foods is the way to go. I'll have to price check the next time I go and publish the results, but for sure, more people buy these specialty items at Whole Foods, meaning the supply is replenished more often, meaning that what you're getting is actually fresher.
One thing that Whole Foods lacks is a chicken stock or chicken broth that actually tastes good. I go with Swanson every time. I guess if you're shopping at Whole Foods you're going to be making your own stock from scratch, but I don't have time to cook anything that's not going to immediately gratify me.
I love that every store is different, showcasing local farms, breweries, and artisans. This particular Whole Foods seems to have an affinity for Icelandic products for some reason. Not exactly local, but I love Iceland more than the average person, so I'm ok with this. They have Icelandic lamb and Icelandic skyr (similar to Greek yogurt, which is more popular in the U.S.). The dairy isle features this Icelandic butter, which is quite flavorful. (Ok, so you can splurge a bit at Whole Foods too). The butter is $2.99 for a half pound, and tastes kind of similar to Kerrygold Irish butter. It's vivid yellow and has a kind of glossy, waxy consistency. Pick up some of this butter and a baguette, warm the baguette in the oven, and you have the easiest, most heart-warming snack ever. Carbs and fat! They sell those at Whole Foods too.
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