The Astonishingly Low Cost Of A Single Whole Foods Banana
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It's fair to say that the stomach rules the roost when it comes to the hierarchy of power within the human body. Whenever the stomach demands food (or can't take anymore) it doesn't waste any time in grumbling, groaning, and gurgling until it is satisfactorily filled. Clearly knowing just how fickle stomachs are, Whole Foods offers a healthy snack to try to counter the problem – individual bananas. Harvard School of Public Health explains that bananas are a healthy way to include energy-boosting carbohydrates in your diet, with BBC Good Food adding that even a small banana could boast 16.2 grams of carbohydrates.
Even though the stomach calls the shots, the wallet can help decide where to shop. Although grocery stores selling single bananas are nothing new, Kiplinger believes Whole Foods offers an unbelievably cheap price. However, it turns out that banana pricing is a constantly revolving process, so we'll now explain how it's not as clear-cut as it seems.
The price of bananas is determined by weight
Grocery prices are affected by many factors, including product demand, sales expectations, and financial targets, explains Forbes, causing prices to fluctuate. The average cost of a pound of bananas is estimated to be $0.63, according to FRED – much higher than the earliest presented data, when in 1980 a pound of bananas cost $0.32.
Amazon lists a Whole Foods banana as weighing half a pound and therefore costing approximately $0.30 (helpfully adding that the sole ingredient of banana is "banana"). While food prices can vary by location, so what's listed here might not reflect what you'd find at your local store. But with that caveat in mind, a sole banana from Whole Foods appears to be more expensive than at Target ($0.29), Walmart ($0.24), and Trader Joe's ($0.19). But in a piece that was last updated in September, Kiplinger reported discovering a single banana at Whole Foods for $0.16.
Walmart provides at least some clarity on the banana pricing disparity: The prices presented are averages, and the actual cost of a banana depends on how much it weighs – suggesting that the lower the price, the smaller the banana. In June, one Twitter user found a Walmart banana priced at $0.07 based on weight.