Brooke and I visited Whole Foods for the first time last night… I’ve done my best to avoid this place since we first heard about it, largely because I’m generally against the idea (and fad…) of buying organic food products… Anyway, the prices at Whole Foods weren’t quite as bad as I thought they’d be in all products, but there were some items that were a bit more than expected… For example, wines and most produce weren’t much higher than the Shop ‘n Save variety (except for organic varieties), but cans of vegetables ranged from $1 to $1.50, and I saw organic olive oil for $16… However, as Brooke pointed out, they had a heck of a lot of bulk foods available, and they had stuff that Shop ‘n Save, Dierberg’s and Schnuck’s don’t carry (lentils, for example…multiple varieties of barley…etc.).
Overall, the experience wasn’t terrible, but I still can’t justify the cost increases when averaged out across all products. Are the cans of corn that Whole Foods sells for $1.50 better than the cans we get from Aldi for $0.29? Maybe… But are the cans really $1.21 better than the Aldi cans? Absolutely not! Actually, even beer was $2 more expensive than Shop ‘n Save… As Brooke pointed out, the prices at Whole Foods are comparable with buying name-brand products at Schnucks or Hy-Vee…but since we never do that, it just seemed rather expensive…’cause there’s no off-brand offered…
On another note, many things around the place were deliberately misleading. For example, there was a sign in the produce section saying how Whole Foods supports local farmers. I’m sure to an extent that they do…but find me someone in Missouri growing corn right now…or peas…or oranges… Obviously, all of that produce is coming from somewhere else, likely another continent (i.e. South America). So by the time the food makes it up here, being all organic and not including preservatives, it’ll go bad within a day of getting it to your table, thus increasing the consumer prices because the food that isn’t sold is thrown out within days of arriving…
I especially liked their “educational materials” that can be found near the checkout lanes. I picked up a few pamphlets, on irradiated foods and genetically engineered foods, specifically, the latter of which is particularly intriguing… The pamphlet states that Whole Foods as a company wants to inform their consumers of foods that are from genetically engineered sources (while using wording that makes you think that genetically engineered foods are bad for you). Of course, practically every form of produce they sell is “genetically engineered” through generations upon generations of specific breeding and growing, only selecting seeds from good stocks and not planting seeds from the bad ones. That’s still genetic engineering, folks… They go on within the “food irradiation” literature to discuss the idea of irradiating produce to kill things like E. coli and Salmonella, and how irradiating foods can also destroy some nutrients within the food. Again, the literature states that all they want is to have federal guidelines whereby growers need to disclose whether the food has been irradiated or not, while including language in the pamphlet that really makes you think that irradiation is a bad thing… Maybe when they get sick from eating infected food, they’ll come around…
So yeah, while the food wasn’t quite as expensive as I thought it’d be (although close…), I was more disturbed by the yuppie “our store is better than your store” sentiment Whole Foods left on me. I’m not against educational materials for shoppers. I’m not completely against the idea of organic foods (…though mostly against…). Frankly, we were asked if we needed any help 2 or 3 times while we were walking around, which is more than I can say of my neighborhood Shop ‘n Save, Aldi and Schnucks…however, I can’t say I like the place… If I can save $20 a trip buying food that’s just as good from another store, and instead buy a DVD or donate it to help cure AIDS, I’m all about it…
Have you been to Trader Joe’s?
Yeah, yeah I have…and honestly, they’re kinda similar… Although, for some reason, Trader Joe’s seems a bit less pretentious than Whole Foods… There aren’t signs and pamphlets telling you about how awesome organic food is, etc. I mean, they certainly carry the products (with less selection), but they seem to be a bit less forceful about it. Again, their prices are more than Shop ‘n Saves, but damn…their breads are gooooooood….
Have you guys gone into Whole Foods? More on your side o’ town than mine…
Actually, I find Trader Joes to be cheaper than the grocery stores on a lot of things – specialty foods, things that don’t come as value brands. Plus, it stocks a lot of things that aren’t at grocery stores, especially in the frozen section. I don’t shop for groceries at Whole Foods (overpriced), but it is a tasty place for lunch.
Yeah, the food smelled pretty good as we walked through… Brooke would know better about pricing at Trader Joe’s, but the general prices there have always seemed reasonable…to me, at least…
i like trader joe’s too, but nothing can beat my aldi. and, by the way, do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to walk through a store while your husband is very loudly making fun of everything he sees?!?! i don’t know why i take him anywhere….
Listen here…anyone that buys organic soda deserves to be made fun of!
In California I went to a lot of Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s type places. I do find the lack of understanding and just general misguided fear about GMO’s to be more than I can bear to ignore. I mean, people are like, “you put jellyfish into that rabbit?!!” but lets be honest, it’s not any part of a jellyfish that we’re sticking in there, it’s just that we needed a protein that glows, and so we saw that jellyfish could make them… we kindly asked them how they do it (you know, with a sequencer) and then just used that chemical makeup, or order, to let the rabbit glow too.
Point being- it’s entirely less Frankenstein than people think- also, people find it easy to be afraid of. It’s not like a dump truck coming their way, it’s much more mysterious and unknown.
But yeah, maybe you should be allowed to not eat that stuff in america, if you so desire. But there are so many people that hate even giving the malnourished in, say, east asia crops that could save them (ahem.. golden rice…) I mean, really, that’s not my decision to make- let them eat the stuff if they don’t want to be blind.
That said- I really like those type of stores for their dried fruits, breads, fish, etc. Also- you should try organic bananas… I don’t know why, but I’m telling you- they taste better than regular bananas. some organic cereal taste better too… but aside from that… just don’t buy crap that was planted in a rainforest.
http://www.ekac.org/petplace.html
http://www.goldenrice.org/
Brooke…….I thought I taught Andy to be discreet when he made fun of people. Where did I go wrong??
(paraphrased from an AIM conversation)
I never really thought whole foods was that expensive, and the beer CERTAINLY isnt two bucks more expensive, or at least it isnt here, since thats what i got, ritzy brands too, and they are like 7 or 8 bucks for a 6 of bottles, just like HEB (which is the regular grocery store). You are comparing a budget low price store to a luxury store, and you are complaining about prices. Why not just bitch about Macys being shitty when you could get clothes at Wal-mart?
Maybe Whole Foods is doing barely anything to help the environment or local farmer, and maybe they are profiting off of a “fad” as you put it, more than they should be, with clever marketing, but that shouldnt be an indictment of people who shop there, because to them it is worth a premium to pay A LOT extra for just a little bit of extra help, however miniscule. Your argument here is that whole foods isnt honest about it, and maybe you are right. I’m not sure exactly what they do throughout the US. Anyways, i see your point. But what about Chipotle? They claim to serve organic food, when the only food that is is the pork. But, the pork is humanely treated. I’m not sure if they say organic, or what the term is, but they definitely use that in marketing, but i dont think that makes chipotle evil, or a bad company.
How about taking your husband to a fast-food restaurant when he scrutenizes service, cleanliness, food, etc. ? Rachel and I have become a little used to it but still…!