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Comment by jsz0 | Hacker News Reader

Whole Food's prices went way past absurd. I can't afford too shop there anymore unless I'm very careful about what I buy. Almost every single item is 40-50% more expensive. When I first started shopping there I feel like it was closer to 15-20% more expensive which was acceptable. I don't care if $2.50 poor people grocery store PopTarts kill me 15 minutes sooner than the Whole Foods bullshit whatever alternative. That's just fine. I'll give up my 15 minutes to save all that money.

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> Almost every single item is 40-50% more expensive.

This study begs to differ, and it was done 8 months ago. Regular produce is about 20% more expensive, and meat is 50% more expensive, as it turns out. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-more-expensive-is-wh...

> I don't care if $2.50 poor people grocery store PopTarts kill me 15 minutes sooner than the Whole Foods bullshit whatever alternative.

The "Whole Foods bullshit whatever alternative" is making your own toast with jam, which is orders of magnitude less expensive. If you're really concerned about food budgets, processed foods are the worst possible thing you can buy.

I find the meat quality at Whole Foods to be quite good. We do most of our shopping at Star Market (a mid-range "normal" supermarket) and the meat there is OK, but if we're making a meal where meat is the feature, we're pretty likely to make a special trip to WFM to get the steaks.

Do you have a local butcher? Whole Foods has nice meat, but I've always gotten better from a butcher shop (though I generally only go there when, as you said, the meat is the feature of the meal).

Not really. There's one about 20 miles north that I use on rare occasion. We have a local fish monger and that's the only reason we don't buy more fish at WFM.

> The "Whole Foods bullshit whatever alternative" is making your own toast with jam

No, I'm not sure where you'd get that idea - WF sells several fancy organic and overpriced 'toaster pastries'.

Well, the next sentence explains.

Basically, if you are that badly off that spending 3 bucks for pop tarts is a splurge, either that's the only thing you splurge on or you buy something more economical.

With some hyperbole used, buying a pop tart or equivalent when you're poor is like buying soda when you're poor. You either sacrifice for it, or you use something cheaper that does roughly the same thing (water), or you go without.

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