Worth Leaving Town For: Sprouts Farmers Market
I have a family of five and we like to eat good food.
So the question is always with me, the grocery-buyer: How can my household eat healthy while staying within our grocery budget?
A brand new grocery store has helped me to resolve this cognitive dissonance: Sprouts Farmers Market.
Last Saturday I went there and spent $60 for three paper bags of groceries. $20 per bag for health food. That’s cheaper than Safeway, son.
The brand New Sprouts in Mill Creek // Richard Porter
Maybe you’ve never been to a Sprouts store before. The Colorado-based grocers have been around for a while in several states, but only recently opened up their Mill Creek store, just south of 128th Street in Everett. Later this year they’ll be opening a second store in Lynnwood.
Look at all that healthy deliciousness // Richard Porter
My first visit there I was disoriented. Produce, bulk foods and a cheese cooler are the focal points of the store, which has an open layout and natural lighting.
“Is it a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s? The answer is neither, really. Sprouts is a third alternative to these stores, a competitor in the market.”
I was surprised by the prices. 98 cents for Honeycrisp apples? (even as I type that sentence it feels wrong)
Is Sprouts too good to be true?
Ample bulk foods // Richard Porter
In a way, yes.
Let me break it down for you.
The marketing tagline “farmers market” is a bit of a misnomer. Not all of the produce is local, or organic. They offer farm-raised fish as well as wild caught. You won’t be shaking dirt-covered hands with farmer Sally.
If you’re a die-hard, lecture-relatives-at-Thanksgiving food purist (respect to you, I’m on that spectrum) you might find Sprouts falling short of your standards.
If you have dietary restrictions like paleo, gluten-free, keto, or vegan, you will enjoy the variety of prepackaged products at Sprouts.
If you like to save money you’ll enjoy the wide variety of Sprouts’ in-house generic brand products.
If you consider yourself a casual healthy eater and enjoy good food, this is the store for you. I fall into this camp myself.
Water—both sparkling and non // Richard Porter
Personally, I’m a Sprouts convert. Again, it’s the savings.
My second trip there, less than a week later, I got four bags of groceries. My total (printed out on an eco-friendly double-sided receipt) was less than $100.
So, again: $20-$25/bag for produce, whole grains and other natural products.
The reasonably-priced haul // Richard Porter
This could be the one I've been waiting for—the ideal store that’s healthy and fits a family-sized grocery budget.
Sprouts Farmers Market works for me.
Check it out.
Have you visited Sprouts? What do you think? Leave a comment below.
Richard Porter is a writer for Live in Everett.
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