Trader Joe’s vs. Door to Door Organics: Which costs more?

When I shared my first “What’s in the box?” post on Facebook, a friend noted that the total cost of $34.41 seemed high and wondered if that included extra for a delivery fee. Though I already knew the price was higher than if it were regular (non organic) produce, I decided to find out exactly how much more or less the box costs compared to organic produce from the grocery store.

Besides a small local health food store, Trader Joe’s is the only grocery store in the area that provides organic options for much of their produce. I thought they would be a good comparison since they have locations in many cities.

So here’s how it went down: I went in to Trader Joe’s armed with a list of produce and my camera phone. I then proceeded to walk around the store like a weirdo, taking photos of produce and crossing things off a list.

Unfortunately, my ancient phone sucks, and I don’t have photos of everything. However, I did manage to get the prices of every item from the first box:

4 organic Bosc pears: $3.16
4 organic Gala apples: $3.16
1lb carrots: $3.99*
1 Delicata squash: $0.99*
1lb mixed potatoes: $2.49*
4 organic Russet potatoes: $3.99
0.5lb green beans: $2.69+*
4 organic garlic cloves: $2.00
5 organic Roma tomatos: $3.49
1 green onion bunch: $1.29*
1 bag organic Lacinato kale: $2.29+

+ Trader Joe’s did not have yellow beans or organic green kale bunches. Instead I found regular green beans and a bag of pre-chopped Lacinato kale.
* Trader Joe’s also did not have organic versions of everything. According to the USDA, organic produce costs 10-30% more than regular produce. I added 20% to each of the non organic items, except the green beans to which I added 30% (since yellow beans are apparently more rare.) The adjusted prices of those items are below:

1lb carrots: $4.79
1 Delicata squash: $1.19
1lb mixed potatoes: $3.00
0.5lb green beans: $3.50
1 green onion bunch: $1.55

After adjusting those prices, I also needed to add the sales tax. I looked at my actual Trader Joe’s receipt (I did buy things) and saw that there is a 5% tax and a 2% tax.

So who won?

The total cost of the Trader Joe’s produce, with taxes and adjustment for organics, was $34.37. Without adjusting for organics, it would have been $31.61. Pretty close, but TJ’s is coming in at slightly less! Right?

But wait… there’s more. Driving to and from Trader Joe’s from our home burns about 1 galon of gas in my Outback (not to mention at least 40 minutes spent in the car total!) Gas prices here are currently $3.01/galon, adding $3.01 to the cost of the Trader Joe’s produce. That means…

Door to Door Organics wins!

That doesn’t mean we don’t still shop at Trader Joe’s for other things. It’s conveniently located in the same mall as Target, so the drive out there isn’t so bad so long as we need enough stuff. This time around, I bought Greek yogurt, whole wheat pasta, some Two Buck Chuck merlot, and cookies. Happy Saturday.

What’s in the box?

We think food is important. It’s important to our health, the environment, and society. We try to make responsible decisions with our food. We eat mostly vegetarian, and when we do eat meat, it is 100% local, free range, hormone free, non-corn fed, etc. We try to eat local as much as we can, and besides that we try to go for organic or at least GMO-free. No matter what, we want to support businesses that we think are doing the right thing.

Of course, this isn’t always easy, and it definitely isn’t always cheap! But the important part is that we try.

A little over a year ago, we found out about Door to Door Organics (no, this isn’t a sponsored post!) They deliver organic produce right to your door. On the website, you can see what’s coming in your box, trade things out, see what’s local and if not, where it came from. The best part? There is a fixed price (unless you choose to add more.)

I thought it would be helpful for those of you who want to know how much it REALLY costs to eat organic. Every week I’m going to share with you what comes in our box.

Cost of this week’s box: $34.41

1 Green kale bunch (U.S.A.)

We love kale! We put it in just about anything, from soups to pastas, to raw in salads. Green kale, sometimes called curly kale, is our favorite (versus the less-appealing lacinato, or dinasaur kale)

1 Green onions bunch

5 Roma tomatoes from Deardorff Family Farms

4 Garlic bulbs

There is no such thing as too much garlic in the DeMonte household.

0.5 LB yellow beans from Lakeside Organic Gardens

Fun fact: I didn’t know there was such a thing as “yellow beans” before this box!

4 Russet potatoes from Strohauer Farms

1 LB mixed potatoes (U.S.A.)

I plan on making a potato soup this week, so we needed a lot. There was actually another bag of mixed potatoes in the box that I didn’t take a picture of (not sure if it was included in the 1 LB, or if they were bonus potatoes!)

1 Delicata squash from Capay Organic

Guys. GUYS. It’s fall!! THAT MEANS SQUASH SEASON HAS BEGUN.

1 LB bag of carrots from Kern Ridge Growers

I didn’t mean to order the bagged kind, but these carrots will be eaten none the less!

4 Gala apples from Stemilt Growers

…Plus a bonus apple! Door to Door sometimes throws in extras. I plan on drying these babies for my morning oatmeal.

4 Bosc pears, also from Stemilt Growers

This box, combined with leftovers from last week’s box, will likely be enough produce to last us the week. We supplement with stuff from the store like greek yogurt, soy milk, pastas, and bread, though all of that can be purchased from Door to Door, too.

When it comes to food, what’s important to you? Would you appreciate produce delivered to your door, or do you prefer to shop for it in a store? Would you eat it from a box? Would you eat it with a fox? (sorry, got a little excited with my accidental door/store rhyme!) Tell us in the comments!