Bargain Shopping At Whole Foods?

Them Fuji apples are 89 cents / lb at the Rt. 17 Farmers Market chain.

This is a really silly campaign. I'm fond of the Whole Foods because of the quality of many of their goods & spend $40 a week there for certain items that they do better than anyone else. The value lies in the quality, though, more than the price.

Try Shoprite and Costco, coupons and watch for loss leaders. Make space to store bulk and shop local direct sources. Whole Foods on a budget if you got JG's budget, maybe.
This one really made me laugh.

It's true. I think that the house brand ('365') 24 oz bag of whole bean coffee is a very good deal at $9.99. Previously, the best deal I could find was $7.99 for 16 oz at Trader Joes.

The only reasonably local market that I cannot stand, and my wife hates is the Stop & Shop. D+ at best. We like the Livingston & W.O. Shop Rites. (A+) The Brookdale S.R. is not as good. (B-) Less variety & the bakery cannot compare, nor can SOME of the meats.
Whole Foods is a beautiful exercise in marketing, but there are no real bargains there. I can get PRIME KOSHER meats in NYC for less than W.F. "choice" selections. The fruits are what got me in there & why I sometimes stop in, when passing.
Kings in Verona is also excellent, and like 12 minutes away. But Livingston Shop Rite is still #1.

The dilemma: Shop for local unhealthier produce, or , more expensive, organic healthier imported produce??
The 365 Brand is a cover-up for less healthy stuff..The word 'Organic' is the latest abused term around..thanks to the FDA.

The dilemma: Shop for local unhealthier produce, or , more expensive, organic healthier imported produce??
The 365 Brand is a cover-up for less healthy stuff..The word 'Organic' is the latest abused term around..thanks to the FDA.
THE $aving $ECRET: Buy less and EAT LESS of everything.

There was something on the news the other night about a study on grocery stores in the tri-state area. Based on availability of healthy, organic, and local food, Whole Foods was the best. Pathmark was #9. I'm sure that doesn't include the Pathmark in Lackawanna Station - that place's produce section is disgusting.

As a vegan, Whole Foods is the place to go. I avoid the packaged foods and try to go as fresh as possible.

My boyfriend and I usually manage to spend less than 70 every other week we shop there. We spend about 30 a week at Pathmark, which is where we get our toilet paper and other items that they also sell at WF, but for MUCH cheaper.

It's all a matter of what you are looking for and how flexible you are when it comes to shopping at Whole Foods. If you are dead set on a specific type of fruit, you are more likely to pay higher prices than if you just want whatever is on sale that week. I've found some things like Amy's frozen meals are actually cheaper here that at most stores. Of course, I'd never pay what the West Orange WF charges for its chocolates.

Annette....I noticed you didn't mention "Organic" once in your article. If you're not into organic food then just go to the other grocery stores....nuff said! I also agree with Cat that "FDA Organic" has become a joke. Buy local when you can.

Nothing beats the fresh produce at Whole Foods, IMHO. Yeah, you pay a little more bit it's worth it to get fruits and veggies with no wax or pesticides on 'em. But don't assume everything sold in WF is "healthy." Yes, it may be organic or not include chemicals, transfats and high fructose corn syrup but if you were to check the fat content labels on some of the processed foods, you'd be very surprised. You still have to read labels, no matter where you shop.

"high fructose corn syrup"
....that stuff is worse for you than cigarettes !!

I refuse to consume this, and have switched totally to Boylan's naturally sweetened Cola. No more Puksi or Crapa Cola.

I was an anti-HFCS guy, though pouring through some further info from green, organic sites, etc. I'm not so much against it for health reasons anymore.

BUT

Sugar/cane sugar just tastes better.

Compare ANY Boylan's with a HFCS soda and there is no comparison.

I only wish I could get Coke with sugar.

Life would be great!

Down South they market R/C (Royal Crown) with Sugar, but in the NY NJ Pa, Ma. Conn. area R/C Cola has HFCS, too. RC was my #1 Fav - but I switched to Boylan's. I buy it DISCOUNTED at Bottle King on Blmfd. Ave in G.R. 24 bottles for $16.00 + tax.

Yeah, my doctor bascially told me to eat everything I want in moderation with the exception of 2 things: high fructose corn syrup and transfats. She said those things are killers.

Thanks for the tip Sandy. I didn't know that about RC.

I make jugs of iced-tea 2-3 times a week, but would love a Boylans every now and again.

Off to Bottle King.

"I only wish I could get Coke with sugar.

Wait until Passover then stock up. Right, Sandy?

Mrs. Martta,

I've purged myself of HFCS, but am not sure the hysterics surrounding it are justified.

It is (arguably) the same as sugar.

From my (unscientific) reading, a difference may be in where and how it metabolized.

But that is moving way above my head.

So I defer to simple things I know: Taste.

For me, sugar tastes best (true fact: Summer's at the prof's house is full of taste tests). Therefore, I buy stuff with it instead of HFCS.

Oh, 'ya....I totally forgot! Coke without HFCS is in 90% of supermarkets at Passover WITHOUT HFCS - 'cause HFCS is not Kosher !! So, they (Coke) use pure cane sugar, then. It's made in March and arrives in April. Hard to find in some areas. Kings has it, usually, most Shop Rites, and South Orange Pathmark.
I doubt W.F. would get it.

The Southern R/C Cola with PCS (Pure Can Suger, beats them All.
(But, it's a looong drive :) )
my WIFE LOVES IT !!!

This is me feeling like a dumb-ass.

I LOVE coke AND didn't know about the Passover change availability here. I knew that coke in Israel was sugar only.

Now I know what I'll do with that space in the basement!

I agree that sugar tastes better and most people can digest it better than hfcs...so why do food manufacturers continue to use it? I bet if they polled consumers most folks would opt for real sugar.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

It's CHEAPER !!

Professor, you have to look for it in late late March or Early April. Blink & it's gone.

I suggest the Livingston Shop Rite, as they get tons of it.

Look on the can for "Kosher-for-Passover-2009"
-OR- the "K" in usually in a circle, on the can. I have no memory of seeing it in plastic bottles, only cans.
It disappears in a milli second off of the shelves.

I still like Boylan's better, however and ya can get it 365 /12 @ yr.

I'm sure they would.

BUT....

Folks like cheap. We've decided that cheap rules. Witness all the cheap Chinese stuff on stores shelves.

So rather than good ol' American workers pumping out products at a higher cost-- we opt for cheap.

HFCS is cheaper than sugar. SO---

It rules our tables.

(Sorry.... I'll get off my soapbox... It's Saturday.... And raining....)

There are 2 primary reasons that HFCS is used in packaged foods. First - Archer Daniels Midland and the US Sugar lobby. ADM makes HFCS from corn. In a competitive world, sugar is much less expensive than HFCS -HFCS used to be about 4x as expensive, but this has changed somewhat due to increased demand for sugar-based ethanol. But thanks to the US sugar producers in the south, the US has a quota limiting the amount of inexpensive sugar that can be imported. The result is that sugar prices are significantly higher in the US (due to less supply from the quota) than in the rest of the world, pushing the price of sugar in the US above the price of an equivalent amount of HFCS. So the US sugar producers get to sell their product well above world prices and ADM makes a huge profit selling HFCS. Both ADM and the sugar producers lobby congress heavily to ensure that the current structure does not change. And US consumers pay much more than they would without the quotas. (And this is why soda in other countries is made with sugar, not HFCS as sugar is less expensive than HFCS everywhere except the US.)

The second reason that HFCS is popular is that in processed foods (think Twinkies, cookies, etc.) HFCS is much more shelf-stable, increasing the amount of time the product can stay "fresh" and on the shelves. Food manufacturers love this because it lowers their costs.

Spicoli,

No one cares about the history, we just want to know who to blame!!!!

(But thanks for the info. Did you read any of Pollan's books? Or that book that explains all the Twinkie ingredients?)

As we know, food is HUGE business.

But who could have thought that sugar could "improved" for cost....?

so why do food manufacturers continue to use it?

Because we have huge sugar tariffs to prop up our inefficient and ecologically destructive domestic sugar industries in Florida and Louisiana. Sugar would be much, much cheaper if not for protectionism. Many US candy makers have shut down or gone to Canada & elsewhere in order to be able to cost-effectively survive.

Sandy Hook??
Do you know where that IS?!

oops. I guess I should read the whole thread before spouting off. Spicoli was more thorough.

My grandmother grew every veggi you can name and also had a few fruit trees at her home garden in East Orange, in the 30s, 40,s and 50's. She ate meat, but sparingly, and went easy on butter and cooking oil and was 100% Kosher and ate NO so called "Junk Food" 80% was soup homemade, vegis, home grown, fruits, home grown, a little meat, a little chicken, a little veal. Very little.
She lived to 101, and except for giving birth to my Dad, was never in a hospital, and never had cancer, heart ailments, high blood pressure, or anything else. She actually died at 101 of something called Old Age !
I can recall picking pears off of her pear tree. Her huge yard was totally planted and cared for by her! Up until age 95. Wax beans, string beans, corn on the cob, tomatoes, she even grew lettice ! Eggplant, mushrooms, you name it....it was there in neat rows and labeled. She drank tea, coffee and whiskey. She was especially fond of the whiskey :) Baked her own bread, too.

We don't live that way today, because we all (me too) got spoiled with "Heat & Eat".

Well, at least you can't blame the unions for the high prices here.

Sandy,

Did she drink?

That helps too.

"She drank tea, coffee and whiskey."

Yes, in moderation it's good for you. Sounds remarkably like my great-grandma who grew up on a farm in the FSU and lived to be 100. Her daughter, my grandma, lived to be 89. The generation after (the ones who grew up on an American diet) did not fare as well.

Imperial Whiskey or 4 Roses. She took "hits" straight from the bottle. A bottle lasted like 10 days. (THE BIG BOTTLE)
She never smoked.

Thanks MM, I missed that.

I was drunk, trying to live long!!

LOL...I can see a drunk driver trying to use that as an excuse, "But officer, I was only trying to live long!"