(upbeat music)
- Hey, munchies, welcome to the channel
if you're new or if you're not.
I'm Alyssia, and I'm so excited you're here.
In the past, I've made videos featuring
both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
I do shop at both of these stores.
It seems like I actually shop
at five different stores somehow.
But in my $2 items Trader Joe's haul video last month,
I put out some feelers about a price comparison video
between Whole Foods and Trader Joe's,
and you guys commented yes, that you wanted to see it,
so I took on the task.
Is one store more affordable than the other?
Obviously I could not compare every single item
in both stores, so what I decided to do was make a list
of items that I buy regularly
and that happen to be a list of a hundred items coming
from the produce department, as well as pantry,
dairy and fridge, freezer, and meat and seafood.
I went to each store and made a note
of the prices for these items,
which, like I said, are household staples for me.
So please note that I don't go and buy all
of these items every week at the store.
These are just things that I tend to buy in general
when I need them.
So by making this video, I definitely know where to go
when I need to buy certain items now.
So let me share what I learned.
I won't go through every single item of the 100,
but instead I'll give you an overview
so that you can take my general findings
and use it for yourself.
First of all, I will start by saying a lot
of what I expected is not what I found,
starting with produce.
I usually buy bananas at Trader Joe's
because they're like 19 cents per banana.
Whole Foods bananas were 49 cents for a pound,
and it turns out that three bananas is about a pound,
so depending on the size,
which means it's 16 cents (cash register dings)
per banana, so Whole Foods actually won that one.
Also, I was surprised for some reason
that bell peppers were all cheaper at Whole Foods
regardless of their color
and whether or not they were organic.
You should note that I did do my best with this project
to compare organic to organic
and nonorganic to nonorganic at each store,
but sometimes one store only offered one or the other,
so it's not perfect,
but I still got good information overall.
Avocados are another item
that I've always bought at Trader Joe's,
but the four-pack bag of organic avocados
actually cost more than the one at Whole Foods.
That being said, not everything was cheaper at Whole Foods.
Cauliflower and shaved Brussels sprouts,
while not in the same size packages,
which is another thing I tried to account for in this video,
they end up being about the same price
when you calculate out the price per ounce.
But every other item of produce I looked at,
which was like 15 other things,
ended up being cheaper at Trader Joe's.
I went into this project thinking produce
would not be cheaper at Trader Joe's,
mostly because they prepackage a lot of their produce,
and it seems like it costs more because of that.
However, when you compare the prices per pound or ounce,
it was actually cheaper, from apples to carrots, berries,
tomatoes, guacamole, spinach, et cetera.
So that is a surprise.
Trader Joe's wins on produce. (cash register dings)
But what about pantry items?
Well, only two items were cheaper at Whole Foods,
applesauce, which actually did cost more,
but it was a pack of six applesauce cups
rather than a pack of four at Trader Joe's,
and organic pasta sauce was also cheaper at Whole Foods.
There were more items equal in price here, though,
so almonds, avocado oil, canned beans,
both organic and nonorganic, broths,
coconut cream, gluten-free pasta, and maple syrup.
Again, not all of these items
were the exact same size package,
but I accounted for that when comparing the prices.
Oats were a little bit cheaper at Trader Joe's,
but they also came in a smaller package.
However, the Whole Foods oats were organic,
and the Trader Joe's oats weren't.
I usually do buy organic oats.
So to determine where you'll find
the more affordable option for your needs will depend
on what's worth it to you.
Again, with everything else,
that's 29 other pantry items that I compared,
they were cheaper at Trader Joe's,
nut butters, nuts, almond flour,
cereal, coconut milk, coconut oil,
extra virgin olive oil, ketchup,
chips, sugar, breads, gluten-free or not.
They were all more affordable at Trader Joe's
per ounce or per pound.
Another thing to consider, though, is quality.
So the coconut aminos, for instance,
at Trader Joe's is almost 2 1/2 times cheaper
than the Coconut Secret brand at Whole Foods.
That being said,
the Coconut Secret brand is a better product. (laughs)
I use the Trader Joe's coconut aminos too, don't get wrong.
That price can't be beat,
and sometimes I do choose that over the quality,
but every time I do use the Coconut Secret one,
I'm reminded, oh yeah, this is better.
So you've got to determine what's right for you.
But it is fascinating that so many
of the pantry items were cheaper
at Trader Joe's than Whole Foods.
Dairy and fridge is next.
It wasn't particularly predictable or consistent here
when it came to organic and nonorganic items.
Nonorganic whipped cream cheese was cheaper at Whole Foods,
as was organic orange juice and organic eggs.
Who would've thought?
But then there's so back and forth.
So organic sour cream
was cheaper at Whole Foods (cash register dings)
than it was Trader Joe's, so if you're buying organic,
Whole Foods is the way to go for sour cream.
Almond milk was cheaper at Trader Joe's but was not organic,
which it is at Whole Foods.
And the brick of cream cheese was cheaper at Trader Joe's
but is not organic,
while the Whole Foods variety is organic.
Organic dairy milk, though,
was equal in price at both places.
Everything else, that's 10 other items I looked at,
including feta and goat cheeses,
Greek yogurts, both large and small,
and nut cheese, string cheese, and Parmesan cheese,
were all cheaper at Trader Joe's.
So, again, more items overall (cash register dings)
were cheaper at Trader Joe's.
And it is more of the same with the freezer goods.
So frozen bell peppers were the same price at both stores,
both Whole Foods had a larger bag, and they were organic.
But frozen acai, frozen berries,
both organic and nonorganic,
and veggies like cauliflower rice stir fry
were all cheaper at Trader Joe's.
The last section may be the most important, though,
meat and seafood,
Because protein is usually the most expensive part
of our grocery shopping,
it is good to know where to get the most affordable option.
This was a surprise for me.
I have read tons of articles that say meat and seafood
at Trader Joe's are not the most affordable option,
but I did not find that to be the case.
The one meat I have always purchased
from Trader Joe's was the 85/15 organic ground beef.
I thought 5.99 (cash register dings)
was a great price, but I didn't realize Whole Foods sells
a free range 85/15 for a tad cheaper.
It's not organic but still not bad.
Now, everything else was cheaper at Trader Joe's
when it comes to meat and protein,
so whole organic chicken, tilapia, wild-caught salmon,
organic and nonorganic lunch meat,
organic chicken breasts, bacon,
and even plant-based patties were more affordable.
The only item worth considering
at Whole Foods is the chicken apple sausage.
It is organic at Whole Foods,
but it is also almost twice (cash register dings)
as expensive as the Trader Joe's option.
At the end of the day, it is up to you to determine
what is worth it to you with the organic goods.
So what did we find?
It seems at a glance that Trader Joe's is the winner,
but as I said, it's hard to compare organic
and nonorganic items,
and not all things come in the same size packages,
so I decided to take a more macro approach.
If I bought every one of these items at each store,
all 100 items at each store, what would it cost?
Hmm, I did my best to even them out
for the size differences in the comparison,
and when I added it up, it was
(palms drum)
a hundred dollars more expensive
to buy all of those items at Whole Foods than Trader Joe's.
It was about 400 bucks to get it all at Trader Joe's
and 500 bucks to get it all at Whole Foods.
So this means in general,
it was about 20% more expensive
to get these items at Whole Foods.
I also decided to see how the two stores' prices stacked up
within each category,
so comparing items to see if there was one department
of each grocery store
that was more affordable, for instance.
So if meat and produce was significantly more
or less affordable at one store or another.
And when I did that, the calculation stayed true.
Whole Foods was about 20% more expensive.
Some departments were a little bit more,
and some were a little bit less.
The freezer section was the only department
where Whole Foods was only 10% more expensive
rather than 20%, but this was a tiny sample compared
to all of the other departments that I looked at.
Ultimately, I compared 100 items that are staples for me.
Your staples could be drastically different.
But it seems safe to say that Whole Foods is overall
around 20% more expensive,
although there are some things I will continue
to get at Whole Foods
because I prefer the items or the quality.
So what does this mean for shopping?
I will likely continue to shop at both, (laughs)
but if I only have time to hit one store
and I need a ton of stuff, I will go to Trader Joe's
because I know it will likely save me money.
If I have time to go to both,
then I'll get what I want or need from Whole Foods
and then the rest from Trader Joe's.
We should also consider sale items.
Trader Joe's doesn't do sales, but Whole Foods does,
and sometimes the produce and the meat
or protein prices will equal those of Trader Joe's.
It just really depends on the sales week to week.
Okay, I hope you found this interesting.
Let me know if you wanna see more videos like this.
And let me know in the comments,
where do you prefer to shop,
Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or somewhere else?
I will see you next week with a brand new video.
And remember, it's all a matter of mind over munch.