The Detroit Whole Foods, which opened today, has inspired a barrage of earnest conversation about the city's food deserts and affordability. To accommodate concerns that Whole Foods will be too expensive for regular Detroiters, the Midtown store is expected to offer lower prices than nearby branches of the national chain.
To test both their lower-prices-in-Detroit claim, and the idea that Whole Foods will be a significant oasis in the city's food desert, we've put together a small shopping list to compare costs and options at Detroit Whole Foods with their suburban stores and other grocers that Detroiters -- particularly in the (sigh) greater downtown area--would be likely to patronize.
Our list includes some basic staples (bread, milk, Cheerios, and peanut butter), prepared food items (sushi and rotisserie chicken), beverages (beer, wine, soda), packaged salad, and the ingredients for two dinners (spaghetti with tomato sauce and slow-cooker jambalaya).
Honeybee Market is the Mexican food mecca at Bagley and 17th Street in Southwest Detroit. It sells tons of specialty items like yucca, mole, corn husks, pinatas, and dozens of kinds of hot sauce, but also stocks all of the north of the border basics needed for everyday cooking, our New Orleans-style Jambalaya.
Shopping at Honeybee wasn't our cheapest stop, but it also wasn't overpriced. Most of the differences could be attributed to general human choice. We're easily swayed by the $1.50 Azteca popsicles. They come in flavors like tamarind, coconut, lime, and rice, and no one will stare at you if you eat it while you shop. Totally worth it.
Here's what we found:
Staples
- Peanut Butter: $2.99/18 oz. jar
- Cheerios: $3.50/9 oz. box
- Milk: $3.50/gallon
- Packaged whole wheat bread: $1.75/loaf
- Locally baked bread: $3.50/loaf
Beverages
- Bell's Two Hearted: $9.99/6-pack
- Miller Lite: $10.99/12-pack
- Red table wine: $8/bottle
- Goya Champagne Cola: $1.80/2 liter
Basic Dinner Salad
- Pre-packaged chef's salad or greek salad: $4
Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce
- Meuller's spaghetti: $1.99/pound
- Ragu: $2.99/jar
Slow-cooker Jambalaya (we picked this recipe because it's not only easy to make and delicious but requires a wide range of ingredients from fresh meat to vegetables to packaged items like chicken broth and rice)
- Frozen, cooked and peeled shrimp: $10.24/2 pound package
- Turkey sausage: $2.70/pound
- Chicken breast: $2.99/lb
- Pepper: $1.69/pound
- Onion: $0.79/pound
- Celery: $1.99/pound
- Diced tomatoes: $2.59/28 oz. jar
- Chicken broth: $1.19/can
Prepared foods
- Rotisserie chicken: $4.99
- California roll: Not an option. But, Honeybee has packages of a dozen hot tamales for $7.99 and subs for $4.
