Whole Foods Market - favorite items?

ECfromSJ

I just found out there's a new Whole Foods that's only a half hour drive from me. I have a general idea of the kind of things they carry, but are there some specific items anyone can suggest I look for? (I'm definitely going to look for Chimes ginger candies, which they are supposed to carry, according to the Chimes website. Which is how I happened to find out about the new store in the first place!)

I'm mainly looking for items I wouldn't come across at my usual stores, which are Shoprite, Aldi, Walmart, and BJ's Wholesale.

Any ideas?

CipherZero

Look at the 'serve yourself' bins. I've seen organic rolled oats for $1.79/lb - about the same cost as Quaker-brand oats and tastes a hell of a lot better. They also have "grind your own" peanut butter as well in several varieties, again at a very competitive price point.

If you're looking for quick eats, their hot food bar is second to none.

Francl27

The fancy cheeses.

Then it really depends on the store, mine has an amazing bakery (and the reason why I try to avoid going there, lol).

arditarose

Every time I go to Whole Foods I think, yeah I'm going to buy groceries...Then I just go to the salad bar for lunch. Such a city girl. Don't want to carry bags.

Rachelwin65

Seven Stars organic whole milk plain yogurt. I mix 1/2 cup of it with pumpkin puree and add pumpkin pie spice, a tablespoon of maple syrup and sometimes a few pecans. All whole foods, all delicious!

libbydoodle11

I will sometimes shop the bulk section, or pick up their own brand of hummus. I don't shop there often. I am blessed to have a local health food store with better pricing in my area.

arditarose

libbydoodle11 wrote: »

I will sometimes shop the bulk section, or pick up their own brand of hummus. I don't shop there often. I am blessed to have a local health food store with better pricing in my area.

I seem to remember a similar post awhile ago, maybe about grocery prices? Do you live in NYC too?

libbydoodle11

arditarose wrote: »

libbydoodle11 wrote: »

I will sometimes shop the bulk section, or pick up their own brand of hummus. I don't shop there often. I am blessed to have a local health food store with better pricing in my area.

I seem to remember a similar post awhile ago, maybe about grocery prices? Do you live in NYC too?

I live in CA.

arditarose

libbydoodle11 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

libbydoodle11 wrote: »

I will sometimes shop the bulk section, or pick up their own brand of hummus. I don't shop there often. I am blessed to have a local health food store with better pricing in my area.

I seem to remember a similar post awhile ago, maybe about grocery prices? Do you live in NYC too?

I live in CA.

mm. Okay. Sorry I thought you were someone else and got super excited that there may be a natural food store with better prices than Whole Foods in NYC.

hrtunstall

I make a regular trek to the Whole Foods in New Orleans (also about 30 mins from home) to pick up a variety of nuts from their bulk foods section which I bring home, & dry roast for snacking. Somebody who used to work there posted on reddit that their nuts are really fresh because of the volume turn over & the prices are good. I also stock up on short grain brown rice which I can't find anywhere else & a variety of dried beans & peas for soups. They also have a nice produce section with items not usually available at regular grocery stores. The 365 brand tahini is also good & a good price. I used to buy the 365 salted popcorn which is really good, but I found a Fresh Finds Sea Salted Popcorn for only $1.90 per bag & 35 cals/cup at Big Lots, so now I buy that for snacking. As you can tell, I get a bit too excited about food.

PrizePopple

I really do like the produce there because the quality is better than pretty much any other store (hell, I won't even by produce at Trader Joe's anymore). I was just there yesterday and got psyllium husks and a bottle of kombucha to start my own scoby. I tend to buy a lot of their 365 brand - canned beans that I don't buy in bulk, frozen veggies, and as a special treat a can of the 365 cherry vanilla cream soda. I also get my marsala wine there.

Always check their website and see what their in store coupons are, and check the manufacturers website as well. You can stack 1 store coupon and 1 manufacturer coupon. I've gotten Spectrum oil and shortening for like $2 a bottle/tub because of awesome coupons. Same for cereal for my kids.

libbydoodle11

arditarose wrote: »

libbydoodle11 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

libbydoodle11 wrote: »

I will sometimes shop the bulk section, or pick up their own brand of hummus. I don't shop there often. I am blessed to have a local health food store with better pricing in my area.

I seem to remember a similar post awhile ago, maybe about grocery prices? Do you live in NYC too?

I live in CA.

mm. Okay. Sorry I thought you were someone else and got super excited that there may be a natural food store with better prices than Whole Foods in NYC.

healthygreek

Cheeses, olives, produce, bulk section-I especially love the organic muesli!
Also, ours has a wonderful selection of chocolate!
Oh, and olive oils!
Good fresh fish too!
Warren Street, lower Manhattan.

For those in that area, Eataly and Le District (a French "Eataly") is coming soon to the Winter Garden!

GirlWithCookies

They have really good pre-cooked/pre-packaged chicken burgers. And kelp noodles are good because you can eat a lot for very few calories — 6 per 3- or 4-oz. serving. I'm not sure if they have those everywhere but they would be where Asian food like rice noodles are.

phyllb

Love lychees. They get them somwtimes

LCMPC

I love their organic fruits and veggies. As I learn more about what I don't want to eat or feed my family I've started buying organic carrots, potatoes, beets and celery there routinely. I also go through "kale fits" and cook it often if we don't have it in our own garden. The non gluten free item that was still in my diet was the sprouted barely bread. It's very unusual and very good.....but my doc suggested I give up gluten, so I don't buy it much anymore....just for the men in this house. We enjoy trying the different cheeses. There's a little section of cheese where they have tiny little bits of it for trying new ones. We fell in love with Carr Valley Manage. Our favorite item in the entire store is Wallaby kefir. After trying Wallaby, no one in the house, including me, wants Lifeway anymore. The vanilla and strawberry varieties are very good, but the Mango is to die for....and I'm not even a big mango lover. The chocolate flavor is that of a dark chocolate, so you better like your chocolate dark if you try it. .....but I'd choose the mango over the chocolate any day! It's that good!

AmazonMayan

In the lower part of the case with the smoked salmon they have pieces of fish in bulk like trout or similar that are smoked, peppered cajun, etc. It seems cheap but I always end up with about 10$ worth. I'm so addicted to it. I eat it during my drive home and I know people are wondering when they see me lol. It's soooooooo good.

I also love the cheese, bulk grains and the salad bar.

tat2cookie

Raw nuts

hncary

I always buy chorizo when I go there. My regular grocery stores don't have very good chorizo so its always a nice treat.

HaggisWhisperer

I'm going to make my first trip to Whole Foods (their newish branch in Giffnock in Glasgow, Scotland). I'm not sure how different their range will be over here compared to what is available in the US though. Hope I won't be disappointed...

peachyfuzzle

Their meats are really excellent. I love making steaks out of just about any cut they offer.