Think Whole Food’s is too expensive? So did we, but a price comparison between three grocery stores proved that “expensive” is relative.

This week, I’m starting a new project, a “rant” column because I have things that I want/need to rant about. Maybe this is a mistake to write a Nina Simonds uncensored piece, but here goes….

My first rant was supposed to be about the prices at “Whole Foods”. I was going to go on about how I have tried to be a good mom who buys organic produce and quality food my family. You see, I am a Jewish mother and I tend to over-nurture (I used to kill plants by over-watering them) and I’ve always said to my husband, “I don’t buy diamonds, furs, or other glitzy things, I just spend a lot of money on groceries.”

Well sometimes I feel like I spend too much at certain grocery stores….

I was going to complain about how expensive Whole Foods is. I used to understand why their prices were so high many years ago when organic produce was scarce but, now that there are so many Whole Food’s stores and organic fare has become much more widely available, why, I wondered, wouldn’t prices be more reasonable?

BUT then something happened. I dispatched my brilliant website assistant and editor, Lily Jampol (Lily, say hello to the folks…) to grocery stores in the Cambridge area to do a little research. I wanted hard facts to answer my question and….

GUESS WHAT WE FOUND???

Our research showed that Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s can both be affordable in different ways.

Price comparisons between Whole Foods, Star Market, and Trader Joe’s

Taking 8 commonly shopped for items (broccoli, minestrone soup, bananas, milk, smoked turkey, cheddar cheese, macaroni and cheese, and granola), we shopped at three different grocery stores (Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Star Market/Shaws) to compare affordability.

All in all, Lily was very disappointed in Star Market ( Star Market – part of Shaws Inc. - is a local version of a state grocery store, much like Stop and Shop, Albertson’s, or A&P). The grocery store was huge and unmanageable, and although it offered 5 times as many brand options as the other two, the prices were still as high and sometimes higher than Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Furthermore, finding these 8 items took nearly an hour, and while their produce section is huge and well-laid out, the produce was no cheaper than the other stores.

Whole Foods surprised me… Most of the brand name items they offer are slightly more expensive than at other stores, yet they counteract this with their 365 house-brand by offering cheaper versions of the brand name items that they sell in the store. Usually the 365 brand was a pretty good deal (especially compared to their over-priced counterparts). On the other hand, Whole foods has really marked up many of their specialty organic brands like Applegate Farms, etc, which sold for a few dollars more than at Trader Joe’s.

By far, Trader Joe’s offered the most affordable food items. Even brand name foods were cheaper than at Star Market or Whole Foods. The Trader Joe brand extends to nearly all the food in the store and, at least from what I have tasted, is of very good quality. Trader Joe’s weakness is the limited content and inconsistent quality of its produce. Also, some may consider it a detriment that most items are TJ’s brand and that there are not as many other brand options at the store. I think that where Trader Joe’s gets pricey is in its specialty foods - those that have been designed with exotic ingredients and have foreign influence and are snack-worthy. And that is how they make their money, I believe. While people are exited about buying a gallon of milk for 3 dollars and some frozen veggies for under 2 bucks, they don’t mind spending a little extra on the tempting-looking Thai lemongrass shrimp medley, or the Trader Joe’s special chocolate-dipped blueberries for 6 bucks (BTW, I’m eating their chocolate-dipped cherries right now).