Is doing all your grocery shopping at Whole Foods that much more expensive than (Safeway, Giant)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WF milk in the returnable bottles is inexpensive. We like dorset cereal which is sold at whole foods and harris teeter. It is frequently sold out and I believe is more money at Harris Teeter. I do spend more money when I go to WF because I do not restrain myself. I've gone from WF to Harris Teeter to Safeway etc in the same trip and seen big price differences for the same stuff like organic berries with the same label.

Safeway has those online only coupons and just for u's so organic bananas were .69/pound. WF has no online pricing. DC recently saved $.70 per gallon at an exxon by entering the safeway number.

I've done the same thing because I was convinced that we could save money by shopping at Safeway instead of WF (we shop at the ones in Glover Park). Turns out that my husband was right. It does SEEM like the produce is the same at Safeway and WF (same fruit, same label), and sometimes the Safeway version is a little cheaper, but when you get them home, the WF purchase is fresh and lasts for days, whereas it almost always turns out that the Safeway produce is on the verge of rotting, and usually has some hidden mold. How DOES Safeway manage to sandwich the moldy raspberries between the decent-looking ones every single time? And how DO they ensure that their clementines are dry and cracked inside, and never, ever sweet?

Safeway either 1) buys the rejects every time, 2) transports and stores them improperly, or 3) leaves them sitting somewhere for WAY too long, so that by the time you save your quarter per package, you're actually paying for rotten produce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Safeway either 1) buys the rejects every time, 2) transports and stores them improperly, or 3) leaves them sitting somewhere for WAY too long, so that by the time you save your quarter per package, you're actually paying for rotten produce.

This morning I saw shelves at Safeway lined with gallons of apple cider. Not refrigerated shelves. Regular shelves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO.
I have compared both stores over several years. You can experiment too with your own grocery list. Do a month at Giant's and a month at WF.

Reason:
I buy 365, bulk, unprocessed food at Whole Foods, organic fruits and vegetables and small amounts of meat. I am very good at resisting the "fancy" foods unless it is a special occasion.

For something approaching the same quality, it would be the same price or more expensive at Giant's - except that it wouldn't be the same quality!

This, almost exactly. It's really the markup on the fancy processed foods that make WF so expensive for most people.
That said, we dont' have food allergies in our family so there's no REASON to buy anything much beyond actual "whole" foods.

[Anonymous]

Plus then you waste time going to Safeway/Giant and they are either out of what you are looking for or the food is moldy,etc. I can't tell you how many times I see food at Giant or Safeway that is shocking that it's being sold.

Safeway/ Giant has good sales on unhealthy things like ice cream, etc. We live close enough that we swing by periodically to pick up the one or two things we forgot or for sales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WF milk in the returnable bottles is inexpensive. We like dorset cereal which is sold at whole foods and harris teeter. It is frequently sold out and I believe is more money at Harris Teeter. I do spend more money when I go to WF because I do not restrain myself. I've gone from WF to Harris Teeter to Safeway etc in the same trip and seen big price differences for the same stuff like organic berries with the same label.

Safeway has those online only coupons and just for u's so organic bananas were .69/pound. WF has no online pricing. DC recently saved $.70 per gallon at an exxon by entering the safeway number.

I've done the same thing because I was convinced that we could save money by shopping at Safeway instead of WF (we shop at the ones in Glover Park). Turns out that my husband was right. It does SEEM like the produce is the same at Safeway and WF (same fruit, same label), and sometimes the Safeway version is a little cheaper, but when you get them home, the WF purchase is fresh and lasts for days, whereas it almost always turns out that the Safeway produce is on the verge of rotting, and usually has some hidden mold. How DOES Safeway manage to sandwich the moldy raspberries between the decent-looking ones every single time? And how DO they ensure that their clementines are dry and cracked inside, and never, ever sweet?

Safeway either 1) buys the rejects every time, 2) transports and stores them improperly, or 3) leaves them sitting somewhere for WAY too long, so that by the time you save your quarter per package, you're actually paying for rotten produce.

I posted about the multiple stores. We have gotten more mold at Safeway but do shop there more often. I return moldy items to all stores including WF's. If inconvenient it waits for my next trip. But I still expect the refund. Harris Teeter has been the only one that I haven't ever found mold.

[Anonymous]

So groceries are roughly comparable in price for comparable goods. WF has a more compelling selection of fancier stuff to tempt you. So your OP's DH is logically correct if you buy any goodies at WF. OP is correct if you only buy stuff you could get at any store.

We shop exclusively at WF and spend a small fortune. We see it as an affordable luxury of sorts. Even then, we apply some discipline or else the spending is just shameful. And I understand we're playing into WF's evil genius. But shopping elsewhere usually winds up with an uninspiring haul of unnecessary ingredients, mediocre flavors, and prematurely spoiling produce. We're busy and want to maximize convenience, nutrition, and flavor. So we pay.

[Anonymous]

Tenleytown Safeway cashiers consistently have the most rude attitudes of any I have ever encounter in retail. I will gladly pay more to buy food that is not almost rotten from virtually any other major chain.

[Anonymous]

There is no reason to have a debate about this.

Whole Foods is more expensive than Safeway. If you want to change what you're buying, you can buy differently at Whole Foods and maybe achieve the same cost, but then your list would have to be weird and random and meatless from WH to achieve your usual but non-organic list from Safeway. Or you would have to slum it at Whole Foods to equal the cost of Safeway splurges.

[Anonymous]

I don't see much difference between Whole foods and Harris Teeter for produce and meat, but the differences do appear with other items such as deli items, pasta, canned items, and frozen foods. I have starting buying canned/frozen items from Target and buying produce and meats from Whole Foods because their quality is so much higher.