Somewhere I read about someone shopping at Whole Foods Stores. I just learned that there is one about 30 miles for me. I'm going to try to check it out this weekend.
Do any of you shop there? Any products I should look into? Anything I should stay away from?
Hi. They are primarily organics and natural foods and goods. I live in Fairfield County and we refer to them as Whole Paycheck due to the prices. Its a publicly held company - their 3Q earnings are down 30% (stock down 18%) due to their high food costs and the lovely economy we are in now. They bought my favorite health food chain - Wild Oats. Wild Oats was a lower cost option to Whole Foods - I am surprised they were allowed to be bought (monopoly).
Trader Joes is a better, low cost option. Let me know how the prices are there by you.
I would stay away from the "center" of the store and all the actual Groceries. They are horribly over priced. Though they do have a by pound section for oats and Quinoa and grains that are pretty well priced. BUt, they have "organic" marshmellow fluff that was $4.00 for a tiny package compared to the FLUFF at the regular market for 1.50...You'll see what I mean
The fish and butcher counter is wonderful! Very fresh and all their meat is hormone and antibiotics free! The vegetables are hit and miss. They try to buy from "local" sources so...you might be better going to a local farm stand.
They do have many "health" concious foods that you can't find in your local regular chain supermarket so...if there's something you've been looking for you might want to see if they have it at Whole Foods.
That said it IS very expensive so be prepared to spend at least 60 bucks if you plan to pick up anything substantial and at the gas prices the way you are you might want to and not waste the gas.
Whole foods has become VERY trendy. When I went in there most people seemed to be shopping there for the name and the image. I went there to make a salad at their salad bar.. $7.99 a lb!! I end up paying 11 dollars for a salad. It was good, but totally overpriced.
Yep, we call it Whole Paycheck in Boston too, and I had the misfortune of living next to one for several years and developing an addiction in the process. I would stick to more "exotic" foods (fabulous cheeses you maybe can't find elsewhere if you're in a small town, weird produce, possibly some of the healthy frozen ethnic foods) because the prices are sky-high. I second the meat counter suggestion!
They used to have slabs of high-quality, "unshaped" white and dark chocolate (of non-uniform weights, maybe leftover from some other use) that were pretty cheap, but they don't have that at every location.
There have been several "List your favorite Trader Joes foods" threads - you could probably do a search and find them. Or, if you start another, I'm sure you could generate another excellent list.
A few of my standard TJ items are
Reduced Carb Whole Wheat Tortillas (small but only 50 calories!!!)
Light Havarti Cheese slices (wonderful flavor)
Avocados (I buy the bag of 4 and they are way cheaper than WalMart. I usually give my mom 2, so they don't go bad, and she does the same for me when she goes)
Soymilk creamer
Kefir (now and then)
Yogurt (Greek style or regular plain low fat)
Cage Free Eggs
Original Hummus
Frozen berries and fruit
Wine
Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzels (an occasional treat)
Nuts (prices are great!)
Whole Wheat Couscous
Bran Muffins - either apple cranberry or apple pomegranate
Txsqlchick - you make me laugh! We have a YummyMummy brigade in our area too! They all come out of the same factory.
We have a lot of Stop N Shops and Big Y's - they are starting to carry cage free eggs and hormone free organics - just slightly higher than the regular prices (which are getting pretty high in our area). We're doing breakfast for dinner once a week to try and cut down on the costs.
any of the boxed soups (Roasted Red Pepper and Red Pepper/Tomato are awesome)
the frozen brown rice
Soyaki Soy/Teriyaki Sauce, Island Soyaki Sauce, and a lot of the Indian Simmer Sauces are really good
Red Pepper Hummus is great
I like the Salmon Patties
We have a Whole Foods right around the corner from my work and I go there quite a bit (more than I should because it IS expensive). I always stock up on my GNU bars there, LOVE them! Although the salad bar is a little pricey, I never get so much that it really bothers me. I absolutely love the selection they have, and always get tofu in my salad. Their pizza is also out of this world, although not too diet friendly, I'm sure. The only real benefit to shopping there is they'll have a lot of things your other supermarkets won't. I don't have a Trader Joe's near me.
I used to frequent Whole Foods, before a co-op finally opened much closer to home. I think the expense of shopping there is somewhat exaggerated because there are so many pricey gourmet items available - but no one will force you to buy them! Sure, the fancy cheese aged in a French cave for 10 years will cost you, but the store brand products, like tofu, pasta, coffee, and frozen veggies, for example, are totally reasonable. You also usually get a choice between an organic and a conventional version, too, the latter of course being cheaper.
In short, I think WF carries high quality stuff all around, and if you take the time to look at prices you can do pretty well there.
Edited to add: I agree that the other people shopping there can be pretty obnoxious, but I just politely take care of my own business and ignore them to the extent possible.
I actually think WF is not all that expensive, if you shop for certain things. I've found many things there cheaper than Trader Joe's and the regular grocery store.
1) The 365 brand is awesome. Their soymilk is my favorite and it is the cheapest soymilk I've found anywhere.
2) Their fruits/veggies that are on sale are often very competitive in price.
3) Their bulk food section is awesome.
4) Their sushi is awesome, especially compared to a sushi restaurant. Of course you can make it yourself but it is awesome.
The other thing is you can often get things there that you can't elsewhere, which is another reason to shop there.
I usually only spend 20-30 dollars there when I go and I tend to get quite a few things.
Oh also note about Trader Joe's, I have one near my work but don't go very often anymore but things I like there:
Unsweetened almond milk (I hope WF gets their own brand of this soon, it'd be nice)
Some frozen veggies
Cereals (their version of shredded wheat and cheerios)
Bread
Some specialty items
Their produce section generally isn't very good and they don't have a bulk section.
The basic difference in pricing between WF and TJs is if it is a name brand, TJs is generally cheaper. If it is a store brand, WF is generally cheaper. WF has a larger selection of items, they have bulk items and they have a bigger produce area.
I like WF for specialty items that I can't find anywhere else - preserved lemons, certain Bob's Red Mill items, whole wheat panko crumbs,.... Both of the TJ's near us (both more than 100 miles away!), are in shopping centers with WFs as well. So, I always go to TJs first, then pop into WFs to see if I can find anything special there.
I LOVE Whole Foods! Unfortunately, when I moved 6 years ago, I moved far, far away from Whole Foods . The nearest Whole Foods to me is a about 1 1/2 hours away, but I still make the trek about once every 3 months (I stock up!). The Whole Foods where I shop has an impressive prepared foods section. They sell pizza, rotisserie chickens, and they even have their own chocolatier! I love being able to buy a full pizza and know that the pepperoni on it doesn't contain antibiotics or nitrates.
I agree with the posters who have said that the 365 brand items are reasonable. I usually make sure that I stock up on 365 Tongol Tuna (packed in spring water). I like Tongol tuna much better than Albacore, and I believe it has less mercury.
I also like that I can buy spices and dried foods by the pound.
Finally, I love the Allegro coffee carried by Whole Foods. To me, that brand is among the best coffees that I've tried.
I love Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Whole Foods is a natural food store and Trader Joes is more of an inexpensive gourmet store. Trader Joes carries some items that WF carries however, their stock is limited.
I find WF to be just as expensive as regular grocery stores, but the quality of the products are far superior. There is always enough staff to help customers unlike Ralphs, and Vons, etc. You do have to be careful and read labels though... just because something says healthy, all natural doesn't mean it's not fattening. WF has the best "junk food" in my opinion. I gained weight when I started shopping there several years ago because I was so excited about trying new things. It was those darn lite cheese puffs!
Like someone said above the 364 brand is very good and low priced
the label that says "whole foods" brand is premium and super high quality so it's a little more expensive, however it'll be cheaper than other premium brands carried there.
Whole Foods Stores?
