Can of coconut milk at Whole Foods: $1.59
Can of coconut milk at my local Asian grocery: 59 cents
Fish is also less than half the price, albeit with bones and sometimes a face. But the lines are shorter and the crowds are more fun. What are you waiting for?
The usual rule with respect to fish is that only about half of a whole fish by weight is edible. By “whole” I mean cleaned but un-boned and with the head still attached. There might be some slight differences by species, but nothing significant. For that reason, if fillets are less than twice the price of whole fish you’re better off buying the fillets.
And this of course is not taking into account the effort needed to fillet any whole fish you buy. It’s entirely possible that the fillets at Whole Foods are a better deal than the whole fish at the Asian market even at more than 2X the price per pound, unless you don’t particularly mind scaling and filleting the latter.
Big price advantages at Asian markets (and ethnic markets in general) are normal, even compared to non-premium chains like Safeway. Maybe the sort of people who use Asian ingredients in their cooking tend to be prosperous enough that a few bucks here and there isn’t a huge motivating factor.
Product labels I can read.
Oh, please. You should check out the difference in spices like cardamom at the Indian grocer vs. the supermarket. I’ve found them at 1/10 the price.
And, often, they’ll have a huge array of spices, grains, legumes, produce, chutneys, etc. that you simply can’t get at a regular grocery.
Steve Sailer has claimed that Whole Foods stores attract a lot of FHB’s: Formerly Hot Babes, in other words middle-aged ladies whom you can tell were very hot indeed in their younger days. The sort also called, less politely, MILF’s.
I’ve never been in a Whole Foods myself but have noticed more than a few FHB’s in my local Trader Joe’s.
Can a white guy buy everything I want at “A Dong” like I can at Whole Foods?
I’ll be damned if I’m going to go shop at a second place just to save a few bucks on 25% of my items. I can get a bunch of the same things I get at WF much cheaper at Albertson’s too, but I’m not gonna.
Also I trust the sourcing of Whole Foods more than anywhere else. Still not 100% but what are you gonna do. Sourcing can make a big difference.
Lucky for me, they’re opening an enormous WF 2 blocks from my apt.
I haven’t noticed the ‘beautiful people’ phenomenon.
I live in Columbus OH, a rather small city, and there are a number of asian food markets in several of the neighborhoods. I only go every month or two so i can’t tak emuch advantage of prices on produce or meats, but the coconut milk/spices/tea/noodles/prepared chinese sauces etc. all store indefinately.
I’m blessed with an Asian grocery a block from my house. No gasoline consumption, and I go on impulse when I have a block of time I can “value at nothing”. The price offset on canned baby corn is similar to that on coconut milk, and I’ve also developed a taste for the minced prawn in chili oil, which I mix with cream cheese to make a spread. As for unreadable labels, my Hmong grocer is unable to tell me what flavor my favorite Thai Fanta soda is.
About once a month I drive a couple of miles to a black-owned grocery where we buy most of our meat. They specialize in “no brine added” and have specials like boneless breast of chicken for $.99 a pound.
Whole Foods is about to open their first Milwaukee location, but on the rare occasions I need to shop for earthy-crunchy (I go thru a couple pounds of quinoa a year) the Outpost is less out of my way. As for FHBs, I have one at home.
i live in new brunswick, nj, home of rutgers, and we have so many small asian markets in the area, it is insane (probably 10 within a 4 mile radius. the biggest deal is not only the spices, but the produce. the high prices on the produce at the asian market equals the sale price at stop & shop or pathmark. and almost always the prices are half or less what they are in the super marekts, and always extremely fresh. being vegetarian, this saves me an insane amount money. i just use whole foods/trader joe’s when i need karma points and snag some organics…
Tyler,
Any decent Asian market with butchers behind the counter will scale, debone, and fillet the fish for free if you don’t like seeing the head and bones. I keep the bones for making fish stock and the head for roasting/grilling. If you haven’t tried it, the absolute best meat on a fish is the cheek area just behind the head – soft, flavorful, and super juicy. Just season with a bit of salt and pepper and throw it on the grill or on a pan under the roasting oven for a few minutes. Garnish with lemons. If you’re not keen on eating it straight from the head, just pry out the meat with a fork and spread the fish juices in the pan on it.
Most comments seem to be on Asian markets. In Herndon a smallish supermarket building has changed over 25 years from union chain to nonunion chain to Hispanic supermarket. The parking lot is more crowded tjan ever and the produce is usually significantly cheaper than Safeway or Giant.
Also, the Times had an article May 10 on a new Whole Foods ad campaign, emphasizing their low prices.
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