Where do you find the most reasonable food prices?

[katzenfreund]

When we lived in Maryland the Safeway closest to us was remodeled and they did have a fairly large selection of vegetarian friendly food items... but no Safeways around here.
They had a very nice salad bar!

Good point about the local health food stores. I wonder how they are affected. I try and support our tiny health food store where I can, but some of the prices are simply outrageous and I can't afford them, but I do buy spices and bulk foods there and some produce.

[tortoisegirl]

I try to go to places like Super Walmart or Winco to stock up on basics. Our Target (not even a Super Target) actually has a good food selection with prices less than the grocery store. We'll usually hit up a cheap store every few months, Target every week, then go to Safeway for whatever is left on the list. I get the unique stuff at Trader Joes like lunches for work when we run out of coffee (their Organic Breakfast Blend is the best). Our Trader joes is unreliable because they are out of stock most of the time of all the stuff I try to buy--can't go in there with a list.

Also we frequent Costco, moreso in summer because the fruit there is even a better deal than the farmer's market.

I'd love to shop at Whole Foods but we usually just go in and browse and get a few things as a treat. They have good produce for my tortoise, and I love the selection of whole grain and veggie things. We already are paying more than I'd like to a month for groceries so I guess we'd better keep the bills down.

[Wicked Felina]

Stores in my area:

Trader Joe's My preference, by far and the least expensive. I went there this afternoon and their produce section was wiped out! (Most of the produce comes from Washington and with the flooding up there trucks haven't been able to get down here to Oregon). Usually, I can get by with spending $25-35 per week. One half gallon of their unsweetened soy milk was $2.39.

Safeway Rip off. They gouge people on cost for anything slightly resembling organic/minimally processed foods. One half gallon of Silk Soy Milk was $4.49. Amy's products (for instance, pizza) are often $2.00 more than at New Season's. That's flat out ridiculous. And New Season's is a [local] spendy store! They have a bakery -

Whole Foods. I like that store, but I rarely go to the 'west side' of town. WF has absolutely everything!

There's a small, independent store nearby that I used to patronize, but I just can't afford to support them any longer, much as I'd like to. To save money, I always pick up extra things if they are on sale, shop several times a week, and at different stores. It helps!

If I had a large family to cook for, I would definitely head to Costco.

[katzenfreund]

Trader Joe is the cheapest in our area, too. $2.99 for soy milk, unsweetened (which is what I buy, too). I am going to Whole Foods today and have a big list. I try to shop their sale items and think their prices are a LOT better than our regular grocery stores for the items I buy.

[f_m]

Originally Posted by katzenfreund

Trader Joe is the cheapest in our area, too. $2.99 for soy milk, unsweetened (which is what I buy, too). I am going to Whole Foods today and have a big list. I try to shop their sale items and think their prices are a LOT better than our regular grocery stores for the items I buy.

I haven't paid attention to the cost (though I think it's less), but I've been getting it in the paper aseptic shelf storage boxes so I can buy a lot at a time. These are at Costco and I can have a dozen of them for months. They taste different though, but I like it okay.

The typical grocery store like Kroger/Ralphs or Safeway/Vons, etc... are retail store that will generally cost more than any discount store, in addition to their union requirements. Aside from the fact they sell less of the "alternative" type foods.