My favorite grocery stores
People often ask me how to grocery shop. Which grocery stores do I frequent? What are my go-to purchases? Is it okay to purchase the store brand if it’s cheaper, or is it always really worth getting the name brand? What is a good price for organic produce items? What kinds of ingredients in prepared foods should we avoid? Which ingredients are best to look out for?
These are all fantastic questions! Since I have started nutrition coaching as a certified Precision Nutrition Coach, I have found myself typing up similar lists for clients of many of the items I recommend to purchase at the grocery store (and items and ingredients to avoid). So, I am going to start a mini series of blog posts to answer a few of these questions.
Today, I’ll start with the basics: where I like to shop. In my local town, my favorite grocery stores are Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Costco. Each of these markets has its unique values and offerings, and I often go to each one for certain items.
Sprouts
I love Sprouts for a whole host of reasons, one being the consistently low prices on just about everything. And low prices are not compromised with poor quality. Sprouts has fantastic store-brand items and a wonderful selection of inexpensive organic produce. Sprouts also has an entire apothecary section, dedicated to well-priced, hard-to-find supplements, vitamins, and all-natural personal care products. Sprouts almost always features a sale on these items, so I often get my probiotics for a discounted price! While I haven’t tried every Sprouts-brand item, the store’s brand items I have tried are excellent! Sprouts organic, unsweetened almond milk and Sprouts vegan chocolate protein powder are two items I specifically travel to Sprouts for. I am very picky about my protein powders, and hands-down, Sprouts plant-based protein powder has the best quality, taste, texture, ingredient list, and price I’ve come across. I absolutely love it! What’s even more lovable about Sprouts is the customer service. If you can’t find coconut sugar or you’re looking for organic, fire-roasted tomatoes, or if the pile of bananas has nothing but slim pickings left, just ask any Sprouts team member and they go out of their way, with a cheery, selfless attitude, to help!
Whole Foods:
Whole Foods delivers one of the best grocery shopping experiences. Going to Whole Foods is more than just a grocery store run, it’s an outing. My husband and I love to do our weekly grocery store shopping together at Whole Foods after church on Sundays. Often referred to as “Whole Pocket,” Whole Foods is grossly misunderstood to be a pretentious store, home to only upper-class yuppies. This is far from the truth. Since the grocery store chain was bought-out by Amazon a couple years ago, the merger of the two companies brought lower prices and bonus rewards for Amazon Prime members, making Whole Foods more appealing to and affordable for everyday consumers. Just like at Sprouts, the Whole Foods store-brand items are of superb quality and usually an inexpensive price. Surprisingly, I find the prices of most items at Whole Foods far more reasonable than those at my local Giant or Safeway. And akin to Sprouts, the organic produce selection is fantastic and almost always very reasonably priced, especially for in-season crops. What I love most about Whole Foods is the exclusive offerings, or items that are almost impossible to find at other grocery stores. For instance, it is almost impossible to find the Greek style Kite Hill almond milk yogurt at any other grocery store, but Whole Foods carries it. Similarly, Lavva plant-based yogurt is not offered ay many grocery stores, but sure enough Whole Foods recently picked up the brand.
Trader Joes:
Trader Joes will always hold a special place in my heart because it was one of the first health-food stores in my area and I love that this chain is committed to offering cleaner products at affordable prices. If you know me, you know that I am one frugal girl, so bargain hunting is my jam. I love walking into Trader Joes knowing that I am purchasing great-quality goods at great prices. While I don’t do much of my produce shopping here (Sprouts and Whole Foods both have a larger and less-expensive variety), I love coming to Trader Joes for wholesome frozen foods, almond milk, eggs, cheeses, healthy snacks, canned beans, pastas, broths, and other unique Trader Joe’s specialties. In fact, Trader Joes does not sell many other brands, rather the chain stocks its shelves with its own brand because Trader Joes has high standards for the items it chooses to carry. I love the Trader Joe’s brand brown rice pastas and red lentil pastas!
Costco:
We go to Costco for very specific purchases. Since we are only a family of two, we don’t necessarily need everything in bulk, but Costco does have a few things worth making the trip for. Organic, boneless, skinless chicken breasts are the cheapest I can find at Costco, currently running at $4.99/lb. Kirkland brand almond butter and organic peanut butter are wonderful because they don’t have any added ingredients! No added oils or sugars (the peanut butter has a tad bit of salt, but I’m okay with that). Sometimes Costco will feature a brand-name item that I love, then discontinue carrying it, which makes me sad. Most recently, Costco started carrying Simple Mills plain sea salt crackers, so I stocked up on a few boxes knowing they probably won’t be on the shelves for too much longer! I also used to buy several jars Nuttzo nut butter at a time, but my local Costco doesn’t carry it any more. So, when I do see other brand-name items I love and trust on the Costco shelves, I grab a few to store in my pantry. Without a doubt, I always buy individually frozen packages of wild Alaska salmon, and if they have it, the wild cod as well. Both are great quality and price purchases. When perusing the produce section, one secret is to look at the price per pound. Most people think they are automatically getting a great deal on produce because it’s sold in bulk, but most of Costco’s produce is over-priced and not always the greatest quality. Occasionally organic berries will be a good price per pound, so I get those if they look fresh. In my experience, the bananas, apples, and avocadoes have been so inconsistent in quality, so I avoid buying those at Costco, regardless of how inexpensive they might be. Finding the right time to go to Costco can be tricky, as it’s almost always mobbed. But nevertheless, I usually brave the crowds and make my Costco run when Hubby is still at work so he doesn’t have to deal with the hectic parking lot!
I am a loyal customer to all four of these stores, so you will rarely find me at other grocery store chains. I hope my recommendations can be helpful for your shopping experiences! Feel free to leave a comment about your favorite stores to shop!