Keeping Whole Foods from being “Whole Paycheck”

By Recycla

Recycla has mentioned before that her family eats mostly organic food and that she spends the bulk of her grocery budget at Whole Foods.  It is important to her that her growing children not eat pesticide-laden apples or milk with hormones in it, so she’s willing to spend a little more money on organic foods.

Whole Foods is also affectionately known as “Whole Paycheck” for its perceived reputation for being more expensive than other grocery stores.  That is true in some cases, but not all.  While organic foods at Whole Foods are more expensive than buying conventional foods elsewhere, organic foods at Whole Foods are generally (but not always) less expensive than organic foods at conventional grocery stores.

Recycla shops at Whole Foods once each week and usually spends around $110-$120 for her family of four, but also sometimes less and sometimes more.  In the past month, Recycla has spent $133.47, $127.50, $117.12, $121.08, and $97.02 on her weekly shopping trips.  That’s a wide range and Recycla will explain why below.

There are some things that Recycla buys pretty much every week:  3-4 gallons of organic, hormone-free milk ($3.79 each), 1 dozen organic free-range eggs ($2.89), organic apples from the U.S. (varies, but usually around $2.49/pound), and frozen peas ($2/bag).  She knows that she could spend less on conventional milk, but won’t do it.  Ditto organic vs. conventional apples.  So, since she is spending more on some items, she tries to cut costs elsewhere.

How does she do it?

• She is picky in the produce department — She doesn’t buy $3.99/pound asparagus from Mexico or $4.99/pint blueberries from Chile in February.  And she doesn’t buy $4.99/pound grapes ever.  This time of year, people are craving spring produce and will pay a premium for it, even if they are getting something that is clearly substandard because it’s out of season.  Recycla will be patient until April when asparagus is in season and will taste amazing AND cost far less than it does now.  Since it’s winter and there’s really no produce in season, Recycle relies heavily on frozen peas and edamame to put some green on her family’s plates most nights.  She also usually gets a small bunch of broccoli (usually from California or Florida — hey, she never said she was a purist) each week.
• She doesn’t cook meat and chicken every night and only buys them when they are on sale — In general, Recycla’s family eats meat or chicken twice per week.  The reason her bill was $133.47 the last time she shopped is that pot roast and stew meat were on sale, so she stocked up her freezer.  Otherwise, her bill would have been less than $100.  Last week, whole chickens were on sale, so she bought three.  Between last week and this week, she’s pretty much covered her family’s meat and chicken consumption for the next couple of months, so she won’t be buying any again for a while.  When she does make a pot roast or roasts a chicken, it will feed her family for dinner that night, then the leftovers will be used for lunches for her and her husband for the next couple of days.  Or, she’ll freeze the leftovers for future use.
• She doesn’t buy a lot of processed foods — Instead of buying ciabatta and dinner rolls from the bakery, she buys the raw ingredients and makes bread in her breadmaker.  Instead of buying flavored rices, she buys plain ones and adds the herbs and spices herself.  She makes her own broths for soups and stews.  She buys dried beans instead of canned ones (the family loves beans at eats them at least once a week).
• She doesn’t buy food in single-serve packages — Instead of buying raisins in little boxes or applesauce in wee plastic cups, she buys them in larger containers.  When her kids want applesauce in their lunches, she pours some from the larger container into a small one.

Using these strategies, Recycla has kept her family’s grocery bills lower than they would have otherwise been while still feeding them a largely organic diet.  In another month, the local farmer’s market will open again for the season, which will help Recycla in her quest for fresh local produce.  And, she herself will start growing her family’s food — lettuce will be planted soon, followed after that by peas.  In April, the asparagus bed that Recycla planted a couple of years ago will start to produce and, for the first time, Recycla will be able to harvest her own.  And, of course, this summer, Recycla’s family will be enjoying their homegrown tomatoes, herbs, peppers, beans, and more.

If you are looking to cut your family’s grocery bill — whether you shop at Whole Foods or at a conventional grocery store — Recycla encourages you try some of these tactics.