Is it really the cosmos that has inspired me to price check for wholesome ingredients at Walmart or is it a merely mortal, American female's need for the best deal? Does the motivation for this price checking, either holistic or practical, make a difference to the outcome? The more I research, the more I believe that making wise choices about the food and the chemistry in my home is the only best way to live as healthy a life as is possible, not only for me and my family but for the whole world. Yet, the parameters that shape my decisions are sharply defined by: Can I afford it and where is the best deal?
The question, Does the end justify the means?, is asked about an unwholesome act resulting in a wholesome end. In this case, the wholesome end, a healthier diet may be achieved by the unwholesome act of supporting Walmart with my dollar vote. How about the question, Does the motivation to do a thing, either selfish or altruistic, make a difference in the end? Here I will present the evidence as I have found it and maybe, by the end of this blog post, I will know what to do.
Keep in mind, this is just a snapshot of the products and prices available on the day I shopped at Hannaford (both Auburn and Portland), Target (South Portland), Trader Joe's (Portland), Whole Foods (Portland), Walmart (Portland) and Axis (Auburn). Prices and availability come and go. When calculating the price per ounce or per pound, I will be rounding it up or down to the nearest penny.
7th Generation Dish Soap - 7th Generation Brand is the high water mark for readily available, sustainable home care purchases.
Hannaford - 25 fluid ounces for for $5.69 (14 cents per fl oz),
Target - 50 fluid ounces for $5.39 (11 cents per fl oz),
Whole Foods - on sale for 2 bottles for $6.00 with a regular price of $3.69 for 25 fluid ounces (sale price 12 cents per fl oz, regular price 15 cents per fl oz)
Axis - 25 fluid ounces for $4.99 (20 cents per fl oz) and
Walmart - 7th Generation Dish Soap,25 fluid ounces for $2.97 (12 cents per fl oz)
Target had the best deal, even compared to Whole Foods sale price. Who knew Walmart even carried 7th Generation products and how did the Walmart buyer and the 7th Generation sales rep ever get in the same room together? I will answer that in my next post.
Method Dish Soap - I like the dispenser Method uses; soap mixed half with water and foamed to help the soap mix completely with the dish water.
Hannaford - 36 fluid ounces for $5.69 (16 cents per oz)
Target - 36 fluid ounces for $4.99 (14 cents per oz)
Whole Foods - 18 ounces for $4.69 (26 cents per oz)
Target had the best deal.
Arm and Hammer/BioKleen Washing Powder - Washing powder, most of which is a combination of salts and comes in a box, is used for making home-made laundry soap. I have used both the Arm and Hammer brand and the BioKleen brand.
Hannaford - 55 ounces of Arm and Hammer for $3.49 (6 cents per oz)
Whole Foods -BioKleen on sale 10 pounds for $14.99 ( 9 cents per oz)
regular price 10 lbs for $17.99 (11 cents per oz)
Axis - BioKleen 10 pounds at $22.50 (14 cents per oz)
Walmart - 55 ounces of Arm and Hammer for $3.24. (6 cents per oz)
Walmart was 25 cents cheaper than Hannaford, over 55 ounces it amounts to a fraction of a cent per ounce.
Borax - also a salt added to the washing powder to enhance home made laundry soap.
Hannaford - $4.19 for 4 pounds (6 cents per oz),
Target - $3.39 for 72 ounces (5 cents per oz),
Walmart - $3.38 for 4 lb 12 oz box (4 cents per oz).
Walmart had a 4 lb 12 oz box. Walmart has the purchasing power to insist that any supplier on Walmart shelves must do what they say or loose the contract to supply them. If your company supplies Walmart, then Walmart is your biggest customer by a landslide. Did Walmart bully the borax manufacturer into making a slightly bigger box exclusively for them so they could get the fraction of a cent better deal? Quite possibly.
Purina Naturals Dry Cat Food - I have bought a lot of Purina products over the years. They have a mill in Topeka, my home town. I so want Purina to have my dollar vote but Purina is a Nestle Foods company and I know from personal experience, from living in Fulton, NY, that Nestle is a crappy corporate citizen. I have read the front and back of the bag of the "Naturals" dry cat food and the information on the back; the ingredient list, does not support the advertising on the front; green-washing. I'm looking for a more wholesome, affordable dry cat food when this bag runs out. However, for this price checking experiment, I will present these facts.
Hannaford - 13 pound bags for $12.99 ($1 per lb)
Target - 6.3 pound bag for $7.89 ($1.25 per lb)
Walmart - 13 pound bag for $12.78 (98 cents per lb)and the 6.3 pound bag for $7.88
Walmart, just under the wire again, the small bag was a penny less than Target and the large bag was 21 cents less than Hannaford
Coconut Oil - Coconut oil is good for our health and is safer when cooking at high temperatures than olive oil. I want to try an additive free toothpaste recipe, which calls for coconut oil and baking soda. There are many cooking oil manufacturers (palm oil in particular) which destroy South American rain-forests at an alarming rate; displacing and killing people and animals to plant their profitable crops (There is my theme again, the end justifying the means, or not). I will look into coconut oil production techniques before I bring this into my kitchen. I may decide to just go with olive oil and butter for cooking and use plain baking soda on my teeth, just as our grand (or great grand) parents did.
Hannaford - Nutivia brand, 29 ounces for $20.99 (72 cents per oz)
14 ounces for $9.59 (68 cents per oz).
Target - Spectrum brand, 16 ounces was $6.44 (40 cents per oz),
Whole Foods - 365 house brand, 18 ounces for $5.99 (33 cents per oz)
Axis - Nutivia brand, 15 ounces for $12.39 (83 cents per oz)
29 oz for $23.19 (80 cents per oz)
54 oz for $34.49 (64 cents per oz)
Trader Joe's - house brand, 16 ounces for $5.99 (37 cents per oz)
Axis - Spectrum brand, 29 oz for $21.79 (75 cents per oz)
Walmart - Spectrum brand, 14 ounces for $6.98 (50 cents per oz)
Whole Foods house brand was the best price per ounce by a measurable amount.
Spectrum Walnut Oil -
Hannaford had 16 fluid ounces for $7.79 (49 cents per fl oz),
Axis had 16 ounces for $8.59 (45 cents per oz) and
Walmart had 8 ounces for $6.78 (85 cents per oz).
Walmart had one each of several nut oils all in the smaller 8 oz bottles displayed near the large bottle of coconut oil, perhaps testing the market to see which oils will sell.
Sugar substitutes - The debate rages over what to use when you decide to switch out sucrose (table sugar) for something less bad. Sucrose offers energy but no nutritional benefits. In the quantities the general public consumes, it is poison to our bodies and is cancer's favorite food.
Agave Nectar is made from the agave cactus and is sweeter than honey with the same number of calories. It has more fructose than table sugar means it is less likely to spike your blood sugar but could reduce your metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
Hannaford - 23.5 ounces for $5.99 (25 cents per oz)
Target - 11.75 ounces for $4.29 (37 cents per oz)
Whole Foods - 44 ounces for $12.99 (29 cents per oz)
Axis - 44 ounces for $13.59 (31 cents per oz)
Walmart - 23.5 ounces for $5.32 (23 cents per oz)
Walmart beat Hannaford by 67 cents, 2 cents per oz.
Turbino, and other specialty sugars are slightly less refined cane sugar or sugar from another source and not actually a substitute.
Hannaford - turbino raw sugar, 32 ounces for $3.99 (12 cents per oz)
Target - turbino raw sugar, 2 pounds for $2.99 (9 cents per oz)
Whole Foods - raw sugar, 100 packets for $4.39 (4 cents per packet)
turbino raw sugar for 32 ounces for $3.99 (12 cents per oz)
coconut sugar - 1 pound for $4.69 (29 cents per oz)
Trader Joe's - turbino raw sugar - 24 ounces for $3.49 (14 cents per oz)
organic brown sugar - 24 ounces for $3.49 (14 cents per oz)
organic white sugar - 24 ounces for $3.49 (14 cents per oz)
Walmart - organic white sugar Domino brand 24 ounces for $2.08 (9 cents per oz)
Walmart's Domino organic white and Target's raw turbino sugar tied with 9 cents per oz.
Whole Foods' raw sugar packets were the best deal at 4 cents per packets.
Truvia, PureVia and Stevia - are made from the stevia plant. Crude stevia extracts and the plant itself are not approved by the FDA even though the raw plant has been used by native people in South America for hundreds of years as a sweetener and as medicine. Stevia, banned in the US as a sweetener to protect the sugar industry, was allowed as a dietary supplement in 1995. It is heavily refined to create the product we find on the shelves. In 2008, the FDA approved the refined stevia product rebaudioside A as a sweetener. Truvia is 99% erythritol and 1% Cargill owned version of rebaudioside A. It is in thousands of processed foods. Erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol, is often found in diabetic foods and can cause gastrointestinal distress and other problems if consumed in quantity, because it does not digest. My concern is whether the Cargill stevia plants are GMO. PureVia is the Pepsico version of Truvia and is also in thousands of processed foods. The FDA is satisfied that these products do not cause cancer but the Center for Science in the Public Interest wants more tests to see if it is altogether safe before they endorse it.
Hannaford - Stevia in the Raw, 9.7 ounces for $6.49 (67 cents per oz)
PureVia - 100 packets yielding 2 ounces for $3.99 (4 cents per pkt, $2.00 per oz)
Truvia - 1.5 pounds for $5.99 (25 cents per oz)
Target - PureVia - $3.49 for 100 packets yielding 2 ounces ( 3.5 cents per pkt, $1.75 per oz)
Whole Foods - Truvia - 9.8 ounces on sale for $6.99, reg price $8.79 (71 cents per oz on sale, reg price 90 cents per oz)
Axis - Stevia in the Raw packets, 100 packets at $8.20 (8 cents per packet, $4.10 per oz)
Truvia - 1.5 pounds for $9.99 (42 cents per oz)
Walmart - Truvia - $2.98 for 40 packets (7 cents per pkt)
Truvia 1.5 pounds for $5.86 (24 cents per oz)
Truvia at Walmart was 1 cent less than Hannaford
Stevia in bulk only at the Hannaford when I shopped
PureVia in packets was 3.5 cents per packet at Target
Vitamin D, Calcium with Magnesium and Vitamin D, Fish Oil - all extremely helpful for preventing illness. The variability in the number of IUs, caps and the availability of the liquids made it hard to compare price.
Vitamin D
Hannaford - 1000 IU, 100 caps for $5.99
Whole Foods - 5000 IU, 120 caps for $18.99
Walmart - 2000 IU, 100 caps for $5.94
Calcium with Magnesium and Vitamin D -
Hannaford - Healthy Accents brand 1200 mg w/ 1000 IU Vitamin D - 120 caps at $7.99
Nature's Way brand 1200 mg w/ 1000 IU Vitamin D and Mag - 100 caps at $8.79
Whole Foods - Solar Ray Calcium 1000 mg - 240 caps at $15.99
Country Life Liquid - 36 ounces at $19.99
Axis - Solar Ray Calcium 1000 IU w/ Vitamin D and Mag - 90 caps at $9.54
Walmart - Spring Valley 600 IU w/ Vitamin D - 250 caps at $9.00
Fish Oil -
Hannaford - Healthy Accents brand - 180 caps for $13.99, 100 caps for $5.99
Target - Mercury Purified - 150 caps for $13.99
Whole Foods - Nordic Naturals Mercury Purified Liquid - 16 ounces for $45.99
Spectrum - 1000 mg, 250 gels at $32.49
Axis - Nordic Naturals Mercury Purified - 16 ounces for $45.00
Spectrum - 1000 mg, 250 gels for $27.35 (has a $5 coupon attached)
Walmart - Nature Made - 100 caps for $5.96
200 caps for $9.98
I was relieved to see Target is closing in on Walmart's grip on the best deal. The corporate buyers for Walmart know this and they know we, the buying public, want healthy choices. I've researched Walmart's ways and means and they are going green, offering local produce, etc. purely motivated by a greedy need to not loose market share and to cut costs. Am I willing to buy into Walmart's lowest prices on healthy products, in spite of their continuing greedy and shameful business practices? I'm still mulling that over. In my next post, I will share with you what I have learned about the history and inner workings of Walmart and why and how it is going green.
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