Gluten-free, Vegan Carnivore: July 2008 Archives
Due to my gluten-free vegan carnivore ways, shopping for food is always interesting. For the last four years, ever since the grocery store strike of 2004, I have foraged for my food mainly at the nearest Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, with an occasional trip to the nice Ralph's for the few odd items that can't be purchased at WF or TJs.
For years I have had friends ask how I can afford to purchase the bulk of my groceries at Whole Paycheck, my response is a short to drawn out speech on the difficulties of purchasing healthy food when one is gluten-free, diary-free, plus other allergy free (like no canola oil!) at a regular supermarket. For years I assumed that I was spending tons more $$ at Whole Foods so that I didn't puke or break out in hives (a good expenditure in my book).
Recently, I decided to test assumption by going to the the nice Ralph's in Huntington Beach near my brother's house to see how much of my food I could purchase there and at what price. Well, the nice Ralph's had about 35-50% of my preferred brands of gluten-free and diary-free items at about $.10 - $.50 cheaper with a Ralph's Club Card. But, the big but, is without a Ralph's Card, it was more expensive than Whole Foods. Also, the Ralph's is about 5-6 miles away, where as Whole Foods is just under a mile away.
Pavilions, the upscale version of Vons Supermarkets, re-opened a brand new store in their old location on Pacific Coast Highway at Main Street in Seal Beach. My next door neighbor gushed about how amazing it was... The Deli! The fresh fruit & veg! The meats! etc. The same neighbor said I should go over there as I would not go back to the local Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.
Today I went to both Whole Foods and Pavilions today with the specific intent of comparing prices on 10 of my weekly food expenditures. Pavilions was a big surprise, as they had many of the weekly items I buy at $.20 - $1.00 more per item with a Club Card and much more without ($12.99 for a bottle of Gnarly Head Zinfandel wine with the Club Card! Yikes! $8.99 at MoBev and similiar at WF.). Only one item was equal in price and one was below with a Club Card, but without both were more. And while the new Pavilions was two times the size of the local Whole Foods (a former Wild Oats), one had to really hunt and peck for the organic and gluten-free items. Overall, my neighbor was very off on his opinion of the new Pavilions.
While Trader Joe's is usually cheaper than Whole Foods, with the exception of their rice pasta, almost every other GF good on sale contains canola oil and eggs, which makes it a no go for me. I do like TJ's for their frozen fish and a few other items, but only enough to visit once a month or so.
All of this is to say that my local Whole Foods has come out the winner for the best purveyor of organic and gluten-free items at the best price. I guess I can't call them Whole Paycheck anymore...
