Whole Food's Brands A Bargain 365 Days of the Year

As a New Yorker one of the great debates we can get into is whether you should shop Whole Foods (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/) or Trader Joe's (http://www.traderjoes.com/) for our healthier, organic and natural food stuff. Of course shopping this way means that the items you will buy are more expensive (we can address this issue of marketing in another post!) and because of this shopping at places that offer quality and savings is important.

Hands down Trader Joe's is more economical than Whole Foods, plus the East 14th Street location has an amazing Wine Store. My wino tendencies aside Trader Joe's is truly a supermarket for the health conscious. Having noted this I still shop at Whole Foods because even with the new Trader Joe's in Brooklyn, Whole Foods is so much more convenient for me and I always find that their 365 brand products are as, if not more, economical than the same staple food items offered in a local chain market, for example
365 Butter 1lb - $2.69
365 Organic Chicken Broth 32 Oz - $2.19
365 Whole Bean French Roast Coffee 24Oz - $9.99
365 2% Milk 1/2 Gallon - $2.19

Whole Foods produces their "generic" 365 brand for many if not most staple food, household, beauty, body care and health items and they are often 1/4 less in price than other brands despite sometimes being in larger quantities. For those who are budget conscious check out their site for tips and recipes that will help you stretch your dollars-
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/wholedeal/index.php

P.S. - My opinion is based on convenience of location. I suspect Trader Joe's matches, if not beats Whole Foods pricing for such things, but I can't deal with the space and location of the store and the Brooklyn store is a trek I prefer not to make. I also didn't mention Fairway which is another shopping option worth investigating (http://www.fairwaymarket.com/) because the store isn't conveniently located for me, but I have friends that only shop at this place and swear by their product quality and value.