Price comparisons of vegan groceries in Anchorage

You know how you sometimes see those signs up at supermarkets claiming that in a direct product to product price comparison, their store came out x.x% lower than Competitors Y and Z?

While just about shitting myself over the preposterous prices at Carr's (which is essentially Safeway, same company) the other day, I decided to do just that. Except of course I did it with a distinctly hippie-ish natural foods vegan twist. For fuckssake, I'm sure not interested in comparing the price of Ragu's Ground Up Animal with Fresh Unknown Industrial Byproducts and A Half pound of Added Sugar Sauce.

I made a list of things that I regularly buy, and found myself with a shockingly logical route coming back from the dentist this morning. I then had the brain flash that should do beer price comparisons, too, but I'll report on those in another blog post.

THE ROUTE

• Carrs (Safeway) on West Dimond and Jewel Lake (hereinafter "Carrs")
  
• Fred Meyer on West Dimond just west of Minnesota ((hereinafter "Fred")
  
• Fred Meyer liquor store
  
• Gold Rush Liquors on Old Seward at East Dimond
  
• Brown Jug Warehouse store, 4140 Old Seward
  
• New Sagaya Midtown Market, Old Seward at 36th (hereinafter "Sagaya")
  
• VERY briefly spun around the astonishingly expensive Natural Pantry across the street from New Sagaya
  
• Carrs in the Sears Mall on Northern Lights, since I (mistakenly) assumed that the Carr's selection on West Dimond completely sucked due to their renovations
  
• Oaken Keg liquor store, a Carr's operation, in the Sears Mall
  
• the Commissary/PX/BX at Elmendorf AFB (hereinafter "base")
  

Now, if you're a stranger or lurker, you don't know why I have access to the Commissary at Elmendorf, and you'll have to e-mail me to find out. Suffice it to say that I'm EXTREMELY glad that I do have this access, because otherwise we might have to take out a home equity loan every time we wanted to buy Boca Burgers.

* The products and NON-SALE* prices are listed from from lowest to highest.
* I deliberately used the regular everyday price, ignoring temporary sales.
* Where a store isn't shown for a particular product, they either didn't sell it, or I just couldn't find it.

TOFU, cheapest available: Base $1.07; Sagaya $1.49; Carrs $2.19; Fred $2.39
Soy milk, 8th Continent

SOY MILK, 8th Continent (my favorite): Base $2.19; Fred Meyer $3.79; Sagaya $4.69

SOY MILK, Silk: Base $2.89; Fred Meyer $4.39; Carrs $4.69 (Silk Lite, no regular visible)

SMART BALANCE ORGANIC (vegan margarine): Base $2.59; Fred Meyer $3.29

SMART BALANCE [regular, non-vegan]: Base $1.79; Fred Meyer $2.45; Carrs 2.79

ONIONS, ORGANIC RED per pound: Base $1.11 (Earthbound Farms 3# bag); Sagaya $1.66 (IDENTICAL Earthbound Farms 3# bag)

ONIONS, conventional RED per pound: Base $1.15; Sagaya $1.49; Fred Meyer $1.99
(yes, I honestly couldn't find red onions anywhere at Carrs)

ONIONS, YELLOW per pound: Base $0.59; Fred Meyer $1.29; Sagaya $1.29; Carrs $1.39

LETTUCE, RED per head: Base $1.09; Fred Meyer $1.79; Sagaya $1.99; Carrs $1.99

LETTUCE, GREEN per head: Base $1.09; Fred Meyer $1.79; Sagaya $1.99; Carrs $1.99

SPINACH, per bunch: Base $1.29; Fred Meyer $1.79; Sagaya $1.99; Carrs $1.99

BROCCOLI, ORGANIC per pound: Base $1.58; Fred Meyer $2.29; Carrs $2.29; Sagaya $3.99

LIGHTLIFE vegan sausage tube: Base $2.34; Fred Meyer $3.99

COFFEE, ORGANIC per pound: Base: $4.38 ($2.74/10 oz.); Carrs $9.69; Fred Meyer $10.79

And my personal favorite for the most preposterous, indefensible markup in Anchorage:

BOCA VEGAN BURGERS: Base $2.00; Fred Meyer $4.19; Sagaya $5.49; Carrs $5.49

Note that despite vastly lower purchasing power/economy of scale, New Sagaya is almost always lower than Carrs / Safeway. Crazy.

The moral of the story? Always shop at the Base, then go to Fred Meyer as a more local backup, Sagaya is occasionally okay for certain items, and avoid Carrs / Safeway like avian influenza.