Why I shop at Grocery Outlet

Kim D. Bartlett | Special to The Sun —

I shop at Grocery Outlet because I am on a budget and I also want to eat healthy food. At Grocery Outlet I can afford to buy fresh, healthy items of consistent quality that are out of my price range in Sonoma. At Grocery Outlet I’m thankful to get a one-stop shop that saves time and makes my life easier. My overall food shopping strategy: Grocery Outlet first for the most quality items at the lowest price; then look at sales in other stores and always stock up on sales items.

Finding a bargain means spending more than a half hour in the store. Good shoppers read labels and compare prices. Good shopping takes time. When shopping, and cooking, I feel like I tap into my primitive, natural self. This is survival, the hunt.

Another aspect of my grocery shopping – the further I have to travel the more worthwhile I must make it and my selections depend on expiration dates, nutrition facts and shelf life. Dairy, for example, lasts weeks in the refrigerator.

At the Petaluma Grocery Outlet store there is a small organic produce section and bananas are my favorite. Some of my other favorite produce items include Roma tomatoes along with cilantro, parsley, and pre-shredded cabbage mix. The tomatoes I imagine, are the Romas grown in greenhouses in Baja where yes, pesticides etc. are used.

How can I eat them? Well, I balance price and short-term nutritional protective value versus the long-term possibility of cancer from pesticides. Price and short-term nutrition wins. Non-GMO and organic are benefits I’d like but cannot always afford.

On a recent shop at Petaluma Grocery Outlet I spent $178.52 and saved $228.97 on the retail cost of items had I shopped somewhere else at full price. An item-to-item price comparison with the Sonoma Safeway showed an average savings of $4.50 per item.

It is a luxury to shop at Whole Foods and not have to pay attention to multiple store sales. Food is and becomes a class issue: my food separates me from what those wealthier than myself eat, opens me up to judgment on multiple levels: toxics and health, social and environmental ethics, seed biodiversity etc. Some dinner guests think I am poisoning them if I say the food is from Safeway!

From an economic vantage, being environmentally responsible is a luxury. The real social inequity of low wages and high housing costs makes it so “correct” choices hit my bottom line harder. Food prices for the poor are regressive and lead to the necessity of shopping at stores like Wal-Mart that have overall unsustainable corporate and environmental impacts. I must live with this tension simply to survive in the wealthy environment that is Sonoma. Yet, there is more than enough for everyone.

So please enjoy where you shop and what you eat. This is of the most importance. If you can afford to hunt local and have the convenience of Whole Foods and Sonoma Market, please continue. If Safeway is your store of choice then let it be. All I ask is don’t beat me up because I am poor and drive out of town to be able to eat the same foods you do.

Price check

Here is a same day, same item price comparison of Petaluma Grocery Outlet and Sonoma Whole Foods

West Soy vanilla soymilk                         .99/ $3.19

Aidell’s meatballs                                     $2.49/ $7.49

Odwalla blueberry protein drink             .99/ $2.99

Organic bananas                                     $1.99/ $2.79

Alvarado Street burger buns                         $1.69/ $3.29

Flax bread                                                 $2.19/ $4.49

Gorgonzola crumbles                                     $1.99/ $4.29

Kale non-organic                                     $1.50/$2.49

Earth’s Best chicken nuggets                         $1.49/ $5.69

Organic cherry tomatoes                         $1.50/ $3.00 on sale