Top Reasons to One-Stop Shop

In my March 9th post, I mentioned that I practice 1-stop grocery shopping. I do so because driving around looking for the best deal on single items is a time, energy, gas, and ironically, a money zap.

Let's face it, if you were to put a dollar value on your time, energy, and gas, how much would you really save buying "X" for less at that other store.

When Whole Foods introduced their value-pricing strategy last summer, it encouraged me to try 1-stop shopping at my local store. And here's what I discovered:

1) Their "Good Stuff for Less" and 365-generic brand prices are comparable, if not lower than other grocery stores.
2) Their 10% case-discount on any product in the store (plus it can be a mixed case of any 12 items) is a great deal.
3) Their .50c off each additional pound of meat over a 3lb purchase is a great value-added for me (I freeze what I'm not going to immediately use) and it's particularly great for families.
4) Their Whole Deal value guide contains lots of money-saving coupons.

When I buy groceries at a discount, I want to know that I'm still purchasing quality. I don't want to feel concern that I'm paying less because:

a) It fell of the back of a truck or
b) It's beyond its use-by date or
c) If it's meat or fish, it's full of antibiotics, hormones and dyes.

At WFs, I don't have these concerns because I trust their core values, plus I've shopped their long enough now to know that their product really is excellent.

Growing up in rural Australia, we knew where our beef, lamb, chicken came from. We bought from the local butcher who bought from the local farmers.

When I lived and cooked in France, I noticed it was similar, in as much as you could go into a butcher and see a drawn map of where the meat had been farmed. But I don't live in rural Australia or Europe, I now live in the middle of America.

Having had the above experiences, I want to feel like I can trust that the meat and fish I purchase has been ethically sourced. Whole Foods Meat standards gives me reason to trust that their meat is top quality.

Good value to me isn't just about my groceries being cheap. Good value includes knowing that while the food I'm buying is well priced, it's also good for me to the extent that's been grown and sourced according to a set of ethics and guidelines that parallels my desire to eat food that is as clean as it can be.

For all these reasons, I choose to 1-stop grocery shop at Whole Foods because during these economic times, I can buy my groceries there at a reasonable price and feel comfortable that their values are aligned with mine.