Whole Foods vs. Trader Joe's: A price comparison of popular grocery items

Milk: Organic whole milk sells for $6.49 at Whole Foods and $5.99 at Trader Joe's. Milk: Organic whole milk sells for $6.49 at Whole Foods and $5.99 at Trader Joe's. Photo: Amy Graff Photo: Amy Graff Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close Whole Foods vs. Trader Joe's: A price comparison of popular grocery items 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

Cooking nightly dinners for a family of five and an ever-changing cast of visiting cousins and friends, I often find myself at the grocery store.

I live within walking distance of two Whole Foods in San Francisco, and, out of convenience, I most frequently shop at this store known for its high prices and beautiful produce.

Despite this chain's reputation for using up a whole paycheck, I've learned to keep my bills low by mainly buying produce on sale and the stores' more affordable 365 Everyday Value house brand.

Yet still, whenever I can find the time, I drive to Trader Joe's, where the prices always seem to be lower than Whole Foods. A $100 bill buys maybe one or two bags of groceries at Whole Foods and three or four at Trader Joe's.

But just how different are the prices at these two popular Bay Area grocery stores? I spent Monday afternoon browsing the aisles at both stores, noting the prices of popular items that were exactly the same or similar.

Above you'll find the results of my research with a gallery highlighting the price of staples at Whole Foods (pictured left) and Trader Joe's (pictured right) in San Francisco's SOMA. You'll see that a handful of products, such as Hell or High Watermelon beer and Clif Bars, cost exactly the same at both. But in general, Whole Foods is almost always more expensive, sometimes because the product is of a high-quality or carries Non-GMO Project verification and sometimes for no apparent reason. The only instance above where Whole Foods comes out lower is with a bag of frozen organic peas.

The price disparities vary from several cents to a couple dollars and when you add up all 30 grocery items above, Whole Foods cost $133.18 and Trader Joe's 109.27— that's a difference of $23.91. This isn't a lot but keep in mind the comparison above focuses on staple items. I think Whole Foods becomes even more expensive when you purchase the high-priced specialty items that Trader Joe's doesn't stock on its shelves. It's the $50 face cream, the $30 raw almond butter and the $8 coconut water that make a Whole Foods grocery bill shockingly high.

Bottom line: At Trader Joe's everything is affordable while Whole Foods has some fair prices if you stick with the basics, but your wallet will shrivel if you want to put Himalayan yellow raisins on your oatmeal (I bought these once without noticing the price and later looked at my receipt to realize they cost $16. Ouch!)

I plan to continue this project of comparing grocery items. Which stores would you like me to compare next? Costco? Safeway? Share your thoughts and ideas below and we'll continue the conversation.