The WinCo price list is so lengthy that I gave it its own page. Feel free to click here or on the heading at the top of the page.
WinCo Foods has labeled themselves as the "supermarket low price leader". In my opinion, certain departments carry great to reasonable prices, but you need to be aware of prices already. Almost a year ago, I compiled two WinCo Price Lists from the bulk department; one being an all inclusive list and the other only being a condensed version. The condensed version just contained items that I was interested in purchasing. I emailed the condensed price list to a friend so she could compare WinCo prices to other bulk suppliers. A month or two later, I found the list popping up on different websites, not realizing it was so useful to so many people. WinCo does not spend the money to advertise, nor do they post current sales on their website. Because of this, it's hard for people who are budget conscience to shop at WinCo blindly. People want to know if it is worth spending their gas and time at a store that may or may not have prices they are looking for. It currently costs me $10 in gas round trip drive to my nearest WinCo. There are many stores that I can choose from that are within reasonable distance from my home, so if I want to buy something at WinCo, I want to be sure of the price.
One year ago I was an advocate of WinCo Foods to my friends and neighbors. Their bulk foods department had unbeatable prices, with a decent percentage of their food being organic. Now a year later, the economy has changed, and so have the food prices. Their bulk prices are completely different. Most of the nuts and seeds have had $4-$5/lb increase, certain dried fruit has had $2-$3 increase, and crazy enough, some of the items in the herbs/spices section have had a $10-$15/lb increase. Just so you don't misunderstand - it's not just WinCo's prices that soared, it was nationwide at every food store.
With that said, WinCo still has competitive prices, but I have found a handful of items at Costco that are a better price. Here are just a couple of items that carry a better price at Costco as well as a better quality:
Item: Winco: Costco:
Pistachios $6.46/lb $4.99/lb
Cashews $7.44/lb $6.49/lb (and dropping)
(Whole)
Dried Apricots $4.39/lb $3.15/lb
Dried Blueberries $10.73/lb $7.98/lb (I've only seen bad reviews on Costco's blueberries, so I've never tried them. I only buy the frozen blueberries)
Craisins $3.67/lb $2.16/lb
Pinenuts $15.32/lb $12.67/lb
Almonds (raw) $4.18/lb $3.32/lb
Of course this is not an all inclusive list, but hopefully you can get the idea. For me, it's important to familiarize myself with prices, so I can determine what is a good price and what is not. The prices used to be in my head, but when there was foretelling of significant price increase, I stocked up and built up my food storage to prepare for what was possibly to come. I purchased nuts and seeds in bulk and stored them in my freezer. Now that my supply is diminishing, I am becoming more aware of the current prices and need to re-familiarize myself with a handful of products and their current price/lb. Prices are constantly changing, so I am wondering if the drop in price with the Costco pistachios and cashews are foretelling of possible price decreases at other stores as well.
