OK guys, say hello to your new Whole Foods Market recruit

I went to Whole Foods for the first time yesterday and OMG, I'm in love! I was like a kid in a candy store - sushi bar, full-service seafood department with endless selections, beautiful produce, salad bars, olive bars, hot soups, breads, bakeries, woooooooo! I didn't know what to do with myself!

Anyway, so I was wondering what your favorite things are to buy from there and if you could give me pointers as to what to look out for, since I'm a newbie to the place and probably don't know where everything is and I could be totally missing some of the good stuff!

Any comments or suggestions? Or if you just want to profess your love for Whole Foods and your favorite things to buy, be my guest

I love Whole Foods!!!

My favorite things to buy there... let's see:
- organic herbs
- Carlson's fish oil
- organic coconut oil
- wild salmon
- organic eggs (Omega 3 and cage-free ones)
- Earth's Best baby food
- Pangea Organics products

this is off the top of my head...

Whole foods is one of those markets in which I have a love/hate relationship with and I wonder why oh why doesn't Wild Oats exist out here?

I like what Whole Foods offers but I also think they are overpriced. Then again, they can be overpriced because they are pretty unique in their size and selections.

1) Any fruit or veggies on sale
2) Unsweetened almond milk (although TJs now offers this, yay!)
3) Bulk grains
4) Any canned beans/tomatoes on sale. They also have the fire roasted tomatoes I like.
5) Any frozen veggies on sale
6) Quorn - I recently bought some from them but haven't tried it yet
7) Tofu
8) Nonfat plain yogurt - their brand or Stonyfield
9) Sushi for DH

So I'm a pretty picky shopper at Whole Foods. I tend to buy sale items and other items I can't find elsewhere. Their bulk foods are cheaper than elsewhere so I tend to buy those.

Around here, we call Whole Foods , Whole Paycheck It would be so easy to spent a LOT more there, that's for sure.

I don't shop there often, mostly due to not having one close by but they do have good veggies - when on sale they are a great deal. Otherwise, hold onto your wallet!!

I like their bulk items and do get my steel cut oats there, my whole wheat couscous as well as quinoa and other grains.

They have a really good selection of organic and/or more healthy frozen meals but again. you pay for them. If you are having a party, would be a great place to pick up appetizers and all sort of things.

They use to carry a lentil pasta that I liked a lot, but no more.

Oh I agree they're very pricey! Some of the things I looked at, mostly the meats, I saw the price and was like, "Heck I can get that at Kroger for half the cost!"

But I still had fun and really enjoyed it.

By the way, what is Quorn?

From wikipedia:
Quorn is the leading brand of mycoprotein food product in the UK and a leading brand elsewhere. Mycoprotein is the generic term for protein-rich foodstuffs made from processed edible fungus.

So basically it is very processed fungus that is made to be meat like. I don't like soy products that try to be meat like but I wanted to try quorn. DH has had it before and he likes it. It is sitting in my freezer, both chicken like quorn and beef crumble like quorn and waiting for me to figure out what I want to do with it

As you probably know, Wild Oats is a CO company, but they are being bought up left and right by Whole Foods. I like Whole Foods for their hot/cold bar selections, but Wild Oats tends to have really great little juice bars in the back, so I miss them.

Now at Whole Foods, my home is the salad bar- although when I want a really good fast meal, anything in the hot/cold section will work.

During the summertime when the BF and I are craving a grilled burger we will get the "Cowboy Burgers", which is just ground beef with spices and veggies diced in and will grill them at home. I'm not a big meat eater, but when I crave it, their meat department is the place to go. The cuts may as well have come off of my my uncle's no-hormone/antibiotic ranch in western colorado.

I heart Whole Foods.

I like Wild Oats because I think their prices are pretty decent. Whole Foods though cornering the market just makes them have the ability to increase their prices. I was astounded to read that organic fruits and veggies cost about the same as "conventional" but when you look at their prices, it makes me cringe sometimes.

I also have the love/hate relationship with Whole Foods. I absolutely could not do without their bulk section though, I buy a lot of organic whole grains, beans, nutritional yeast, TVP from the bulk bins there. They used to carry large canisters of Perfect Sweet brand xylitol but last time I was there they said it was on back order and they didn’t know when they could get it back on the shelves. Something to do with the trees that the product is made from. Ah well, I’ve been meaning to look into brown rice syrup and agave nectar for sweetening baked goods.

Quorn is good, however not vegan, so I don’t buy it all that often.

I too have the love/hate thing with W.F market. I do love their soups and the awesome salad bar. My favorite is their curried wheatberry on the bar... Other finds that I can't do without:

Kamut cakes
Unsweetened Almond Milk
Turkey Bacon w.o nitrates
Quorn products
Salmon and Tuna frozen patties
Bulk items such as oats

When I break down on deserts - i get vegan deserts in the single servings at the bakery.... mmmmmmm

Ummmmmm, that doesn't sound very appetizing LOL.

And thanks for all the answers so far, I'll keep an eye out for some of these things