So my wife Lily and I had an unhealthy end of 2017. I want to blame it on the weather, since, living in Miami, we had to deal with Hurricane Irma in September; then, we also had to deal with Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, where our families live. Long story short, it was a lot of improvisation, nights away from home, and dealing with last-minute crises. We wound up exhausted and unhealthy.
But, as they rightly say, you gotta bounce back! So we’re doing better now – exercising regularly and improving our diet. Part of that is tea, which Lily turned me on to. Energy tea, calming tea, you name it – as a man of intensity, I’m a tea fiend, going through up to 6 tea bags per day. Exactly like this lady:
So now I’m spending all kinds of money on tea, and I’ve got a problem. To solve it, I set out to find a better deal on my tea purchases. Today I want to share the results of that investigation with you: three online stores where you can buy health foods, non-perishable foods, and a number of other dry goods for very low prices. Here goes.
Where to Buy Health Foods, Dry Goods and Non-Perishable Foods Online
I’ve found three online stores that best fit the bill: Vitacost, Lucky Vitamin, and Walmart. To give you an idea of what’s what, let’s look up some items:
1. Uncle Lee’s Organic Green Tea (100 tea bags)
Vitacost price: $4.99 (and don’t forget to use Ebates):
Walmart price: $4.93
Lucky Vitamin price: $4.70
So does this mean that Vitacost is always the most expensive, with Walmart in the middle and Lucky Vitamin the cheapest? Nope. Take another item:
2. Woodstock Farms Organic Brazil Nuts, 8.5 Ounces
Vitacost price: $9.38
Walmart price: $17.56
Lucky Vitamin price: $11.81
Let’s do one final product:
3. Burt’s Bees Milk & Honey Body Lotion, 6 ounces
Vitacost price: $7.99
Walmart price: $8.18
Lucky Vitamin price: $6.79
Why Not Use A Price Comparison Tool?
You might ask: why go though all this hassle rather than use a price comparison tool like Google Shopping? Well, because those tools are good, but imperfect. Take, for example, the green tea, and what happens if you look it up by base price:
It shows a site with no rating as the first result, and quotes a shipping cost for Lucky Vitamin that only applies if your order is $49 or less. Helpful, but imperfect. And it’s even worse if you ask it to order the stores by total price:
Mostly a bunch of eBay sellers with no rating. For me, that’s not helpful at all.
So What Are My Options?
I would recommend shopping at one site per order (either Vitacost or Lucky Vitamin), for several reasons:
- You need to meet a $50 minimum on Vitacost and Lucky Vitamin for free shipping
- It’s time-consuming to price-compare each item individually, whether manually or by using a tool like Google Shopping
I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either Lucky Vitamin or Vitacost, since both are consistently cheap (though Lucky seems to be slightly cheaper on the whole). I’d suggest you try them both out and see which one you like better.
You can also go with Walmart, which does not seem to be the cheapest in most cases, and trust a price-protection app like Earny or Paribus to request price-protection refunds for you (this mainly applies if you have a Chase or Citi credit card) (it doesn’t seem like these apps work for Vitacost or Lucky Vitamin).
Summing It Up
So that’s my analysis, dear readers. In my view, the quickest and easiest way to cheaply buy non-perishable foods online is to purchase them at either Lucky Vitamin or Vitacost. And don’t forget to activate Ebates for an additional discount!
What’s your favorite online dry goods store? Where do you buy healthy food online? How many tea bags do you go through? 🙂
My wife and I both take some supplements. She shops around, but I know she uses Vitacost periodically. I need to get us enrolled in Ebates too. Tom
Hey Tom,
Yeah, Vitacost has worked great for us, though sometimes we’ve forgotten to use it because of “reflex shopping” at Amazon. But Vitacost and Ebates are a great combination! 🙂
Never thought of ordering nuts on-line, great idea. Will totally look into it. Thank you
Hey Caroline,
Yeah, it’s definitely an option, especially if they’re cheaper. Happy shopping! 🙂
Walmart all the way and for everything really in our home. Apart from regular food staples, I’ve even calculated that diapers and wipes for our little one are a better value here than bulk warehouses.
Hey SMM,
In all of the price analyses and comparisons we’ve done involving Walmart, it always comes out to be cheap. It’s even cheaper than ALDI, with some products. So Walmart is definitely not a bad place to shop! 🙂
I have never heard of Vitacost, thanks for sharing! My husband loves pistachios they are so expensive in Canada though, I should look into buying these online.
Hey GYM,
Thanks! These days, we buy many (if not most) non-perishables online. Many times they’re cheaper than buying in-store, and you can’t beat the convenience of delivery to your door.
Happy shopping!
My parents used to force me to take some sort of magical mushroom pill from Japan and that crap wasn’t cheap! They would spend hundreds of dollars on them and yell at me if I didn’t take them. I stopped taking them though as I didn’t feel any difference lol. I just take most things from natural foods now and I drink green tea offered from my work but still have a stack of green tea that I buy either from Walmart or Costco lol.
My fiancé always takes protein shakes though I’m not sure how bad they are for you… I’ll have to look into this stuff more lol! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Panda!
Ha! Magic mushroom pills! I’ve too spent hundreds on questionable supplements; now I take nothing. I took resveratrol for years, which was supposed to stop my aging. Unfortunately, I have continued to age. Like you, I now just focus on good, healthy food.
I’ve taken protein shakes on and off for many years (but currently don’t). I think that as long as you’re not overdoing it, they’re OK, provided that they’re well-made, high-quality stuff (I think Optimum Nutrition is considered one of the best brands).
Here’s to green tea! 🙂
Take care,
Miguel
I am also into all kinds of teas. My body doesn’t accommodate a lot of coffee, but does well with teas and with the cold here in Canada, its a welcome relief. We do most of our dry goods/supplement purchases at our regular grocery store – The Canadian Superstore or Walmart…easier to return stuff if they are not working out.
Hey Enoch,
You’re right about returns, it’s harder online (so I’d only buy what I already know I like, or am highly likely to like). I have real trouble with coffee too, in that it doesn’t sit well with me at all, especially if it has milk. I do tolerate black coffee in small-ish amounts, and, living in Miami, have to go for Cuban coffee every so often 🙂
Cheers,
Miguel
Wow, what a great insight you got on your article. I really was into reading it thank you for sharing.