This post is inspired by my fellow blogger and totally awesome freelancer
Allie! Yesterday evening she tweeted:
Will someone write a blog post about what they love most at Trader Joe’s
and Whole Foods? When I go into those stores I get overwhelmed.
So-- to answer the question, I am going to break it into two parts-- What I love most about Whole Foods and What I love most about Trader's Joes. Seeing as I love Whole Foods more, I will tackle that one first.
What I love most about Whole Foods: A List of Sorts
1.
Corporate Values. I know when I buy something like fish or meat, that the butcher or fish monger can tell me where it is comes from, how it was raised, how it was killed and where it has been at all points in between. Same with the eggs. Same with the produce. When I walk into Kroger or Giant Eagle, they don't know or won't tell me. I could be getting pink slime. There is no pink slime at Whole Foods. Pink Slime has no place in my food.
The same applies through out the aisles. When I buy crackers at Whole Foods, they are food and not chemicals. The rule at our house is if we cannot pronounce it and it is found in a chemistry set, we do not eat it.
This dedication to full disclosure is very, very important to me. I will only buy grocery store prepared foods at Whole Foods. They have no problem telling what is in something and they will 9 times out 10 be able to yell back into the kitchen and talk to the person who actually made it. They routinely make sushi that is labeled wheat free. No questions there. For me this is very, very important.
2.
365 Everyday Value Products If I had a dollar for every time someone gets up in my shit and tells me I am wasting money or spending too much money at "Whole Paycheck" I would be rich. Honestly, all of these people are wrong. When they compare what they spend at Whole Foods with what they spend at another grocery store they are rarely comparing apples to apples. Yes some things are more expensive. A BMW will always be more expensive than a Pinto or a Yugo.
I still believe in investing in quality. I think one of the best indicators of this is their 365 line of products. This is the Whole Foods house brand. I haven't been disappointed yet. Nor have I bought a 365 products and thought to myself, well this is what you get for buying the house brand or the discount knock off. Our favorites include the 365 Ketchup, the all natural ginger ale, the all fruit spreads (fruits of the forest is a family favorite), the garbanzo and black beans, Everyday Value sparkling water and flavored sparkling water, butter and sour cream. Oh bless I forgot to mention the fruit bars, which are like NutriGran bars-- but minus all the weirdo chemicals and hello-- they cost less! No mystery ingredients and no fillers. I think they compare to the brand names that you would buy and again I know I am getting good stuff, made in a good plant by trusted partners.
3. I love that the cheese department sells real cheese. I think the Giant Eagle Marketplaces share this concept, but I can ask the person behind the cheese counter and get real help! They have a nifty little basket of cheeses-- little bites, for the single person, for DIY cheese trays and to try. All under $4. I live for this basket. It is nice to try something and be delighted.
Now what do I think is helpful for the new Whole Foods shopper-- make a list. Do not try to go into the store and take it all in. I didn't and I don't. I shop with a list. I also use their online deals and their in print
Whole Deal magazine and coupons.
4. Commitment to change. This makes me crazy, but they are on trend and always trying to bring new products to the shelf. Sometimes this makes me twitchy, but honestly we get into ruts and this commitment to change and new products has helped me be in less of a rut. I like that they do in store tastes and features and they change the end caps regularly. I have discovered non-corn starch powdered sugar and lots of great for me items this way. It challenges my desire for routine, but it has been helpful.
I cook. Pure and simple. We do not eat frozen meals and we do not eat
alot of packaged foods. Those items are expensive everywhere you shop
and Whole Foods is no different. Quality produce is expensive no matter
where you shop. Organic produce is expensive no matter where you shop. I
have chosen to focus my shopping at Whole Foods for the reasons above. I
still go other places. In fact, Whole Foods decided to stop stocking
the type of Silk the kids prefer. I discovered that Target carries it
and at a very reasonable price. So when I am there, I get it there. L is
now drinking calcium forfeited OJ, because she cannot seem to tolerate
the quantity of soy or dairy she needs to get enough calcium. The OJ is
cheaper at Target, for the same product, so I get it at Target.
So here is my short list of tips to shop Whole Foods and not get overwhelmed:
1. Make a list
2. Resolve to try out one new section that visit (say visit Whole Body-- give yourself 7 minutes to explore. Next time visit the deli. The next visit the nut roaster...)
3. Ask for help. They are happy to help.
4. Do not go on Saturday or Sunday. Or Friday night (wine tasting night) or Monday morning (stupid, stupid loud zumba until 11 am) Go at an off time for your first few visits. I still do that. Saturday morning at Whole Foods makes me want to jump into oncoming traffic.
5. Limit yourself to 1 or 2 non-list purchases. This will curb the desire to try everything all at once.
Also it is important to note-- while you can do all your shopping at Whole Foods, most people don't. I do the majority of my shopping there, but not all. In the summer, I am hardly there. We eat from the farmer's market and our CSA and my pantry stock. I also have had to branch out as I have described above.
Later this week, I will talk about Trader Joe's.
Let's indulge in a little Business 101-- which I am qualified to teach-- seeing as I have earned an MBA...
Insurance Company Profit = earned premium + investment income - incurred loss - underwriting expenses.
So this is the basic business model for ALL insurance. The idea behind insurance is transferring or sharing risk. We can quibble all day-- about earned premium and how to define it, in terms of health insurance it is the money we pay in premium from our pay combined with our employer contribution (which is why COBRA is so blooming expensive-- you pay the whole entire amount... yours and your former employers.)
When a independent business owner(solo practitioner) or freelancer goes to an insurance provider, often times they purchase an individual contract, the rules for those are different, there is more risk to the insurance company, they are insuring one person or one family. Group insurance, like what most of us have at work, the rates are based on the pool of people and not the individuals. As such this is why there are no physicals and many of these plans are covered by ERISA-- which is a complex set of Federal guidelines which cover all manner of employee benefit plans. (Big Gov't is already nosing around your insurance. Has been since the 60s.)
So even though I am fit and active and eat a super healthy mostly organic diet, the person two cubes over might well smoke, gobble Doritos, never drink anything but Coke, and refuse to climb stairs. They might well choose to do drugs on the weekends or on the flip side engage in weekend warrior behaviors that their body is really not up for... I get no say in that. They get to make their own choices. We all pay a premium based on the group's overall costliness annually.
Let's go back to our formula:
Insurance Company Profit = earned premium + investment income - incurred loss - underwriting expenses.
Ever since insurance companies became publicly traded companies, the Profit is basically guaranteed. No CEO is going to steer the company in a direction that does not generate shareholder (his) wealth. Not. Going. To. Happen.
So the Insurance company will do their best to control costs of underwriting and administration (aka loss), they will seek to curb the benefits paid out (EOB with bullshit exclusions and other delay tactics designed to just not pay claims) and other limits to what they will and won't pay for. I am not saying fairly and disclosed limits are not kosher. They are. Asking people to pay a portion of the costs is fair-- if it is clearly disclosed.
(self funded plans are another animal, but the idea is the same... yearly surplus is substituted for Insurance company profits and ERISA governs the proper use of this as well.)
Another way to ensure profit is to continually raise premium costs to participants. I have never not had a premium increase on a year over year basis. Once-- at my first job out of college, we got a rebate. A small one. Not nearly equal to what we paid a month in premium.
So we all pay for life style choices we may not agree with. Most major religions come with prohibitions and some overlap and others are in direct opposition. We all pay for our co-workers' lifestyle choices which are in direct conflict with our own.
I say for as long as our employers demand we pay a portion of the premium, any portion, then we all should have a say in the coverage. Or there should just be a standard of coverage which is universal. Sex is no more a risky or costly choice than smoking. They both have known and frankly quantifiable, in terms of costs, possible outcomes which impact the underwriting of insurance. Insurance companies have priced out the cost of every sneeze and hangnail.
So I think we have a few choices-- nix group health insurance and have it be every man, woman and child for themselves. Individual policies all around. Which would be pricey, but technically speaking no one would be paying for other people's choices. (although that likely isn't exactly true. Insurance companies pool their premium dollars, so this would be to their benefit, they charge more for individual policies and still have a pool of dollars to invest and pay out, but technically speaking your premium would be based solely on you and your families health and choices, and age.)
Or we just take some time to understand how group insurance works and accept that discrimination isn't really in any of our best interest, because I am not all that tolerant of smokers and I know I have shouldered the burden of their "choices" to poison themselves and their loved ones for years... way longer than I was ever on birth control... and I am willing to bet next month's premium it costs us all alot more to cover smokers and smoking related illness than comprehensive gynecological care ever will.
So unless we are going to not cover people who are smoking because of the choices they are making-- I think the argument that childbearing and birth control and family planning are "choices" is bogus.