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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.

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.


SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET - MILL CREEK

13314 Bothell Everett Hwy, Mill Creek, WA 98012

(425) 332-6670


Richard Porter is a writer for Live in Everett.


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