Where’s the cheapest place to buy groceries in Snohomish County?

This month the honor goes to a grocer that we haven’t looked at much in the past: WinCo.

WinCo, which vows to be a low-price leader in the markets in which it competes, outpriced Fred Meyer by 80 cents and Haggen by $12.2

7 for the seven items surveyed. WinCo’s total for the items came in at $25.56.

Why have we excluded WinCo from our monthly grocery survey? The Boise-based chain has just two locations in Snohomish County — Marysville and Everett’s Silver Lake store. Grocers such as Albertsons, for example, have more than a dozen and are readily available to all of our readers.

A few other things that make WinCo stand out: The chain does not accept credit cards. And shoppers have to bag their own groceries.

It’s also worthwhile to note why we’ve excluded a few other grocery chains — Trader Joe’s and Costco — from our monthly survey. Neither really meet the criteria we established. Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry the same brands as do regular grocery stores, making it difficult to do a side-by-side comparison. Costco requires an annual membership and carries products in sizes larger than what the typical grocery store does, again making comparisons very difficult.

In looking at the six grocers that we’ve consistently had in our survey, grocery prices in Snohomish County edged up again in June. Bread and coffee pushed up the average total for seven items to $31.93. That compares to $30.39 in May and $29.71 in April.

Fred Meyer came in well below the average in June at $26.36. That includes a $4.79 loaf of Oroweat whole-grain bread, which cost just $3 per loaf. The cost of Millstone coffee at $7.49 per pound, however, gave Fred Meyer a significant edge over other grocers, including Haggen, which charged $13.99 per pound.

Aside from Fred Meyer, coffee was up at all five of the other grocery stores in June, compared to the previous month. Overall, the prices for apples, lettuce and beef held steady in June, while the price of milk dipped slightly at most stores.

Tell us

The Herald would like to hear from you about groceries:

•Do you shop at WinCo regularly or do you just make a monthly visit?

Should we include WinCo in our monthly survey?

Have you switched coffee brands because of price increases?

Contact us: economy@heraldnet.com or call Business editor Mike Benbow at 425-339-3459.