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.

jlahorn

Staples:
Wallaby strawberry greek yogurt
kefir
Cafe Lalibela red lentil wraps (local to Phoenix, AZ)
Bell & Evans frozen chicken nuggets
frozen Amy's light-sodium country cheddar bowls and mattar paneer
cello-shaved parmesan
Kashi Autumn Wheat cereal
bulk white popping corn
fresh mozzarella
Crispy Green pineapple
365 Organic (store brand) canned chick peas make the _best_ hummus. Why does the brand of canned chick peas make a difference? No idea, but it does.
Orlana white wine
Cerignola olives from the olive bar
Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
their takeaway sushi is actually pretty good
Cured salmon belly as an occasional treat - only carried in some stores, but so amazing
Tamales, broccoli salad, turkey cutlets from the prepared food case.

I don't actually like the Lake Champlain chocolates at all, but they have a lot of other good ones. I don't usually buy them, so I can't remember the brands.

Their produce, chicken, pork chops, mussels, etc etc are usually very good, but like with any other grocery store, it's good to look for the freshest stuff.

desweds

One of the Whole Foods here in Houston has a wine/beer bar. I love it.

chivalryder

Nothing. I have never in my life seen a grocery store where prices are horribly over-inflated in my life! Seriously. Yes, I know it's all organic and what not, but my local organic store sells things for the same price - or less - than the local "regular" grocer. The Whole Foods I've been to - everything was 10%-100% more than the regular grocer.

Big fraking waste of money.*


*Note: I have a lot of food sensitivities and for a long time, Whole Foods was the only place I could find local goats milk. Now, I don't drink goats milk, so it's no longer an issue.

jlapey

I love the bulk grain bins, the grind-your-own nut butters, the darker varieties of chocolate, and the cheese selection. Not sure this is what you meant but...

Whittedo

chivalryder wrote: »

Nothing. I have never in my life seen a grocery store where prices are horribly over-inflated in my life! Seriously. Yes, I know it's all organic and what not, but my local organic store sells things for the same price - or less - than the local "regular" grocer. The Whole Foods I've been to - everything was 10%-100% more than the regular grocer.

Big fraking waste of money.*

I have to agree with the above. Many things are overpriced and I am not hung up on the organic produce thing. This time of year almost everything is imported to Canada and I don't really trust subsistence farmers in the developing countries to be very strict on their following of organic requirements. When fresh fruits and vegetables are available here I prefer to shop at Farmers' Markets.

That being said, WF does make an awesome Mango Salsa.

Francl27

chivalryder wrote: »

Nothing. I have never in my life seen a grocery store where prices are horribly over-inflated in my life! Seriously. Yes, I know it's all organic and what not, but my local organic store sells things for the same price - or less - than the local "regular" grocer. The Whole Foods I've been to - everything was 10%-100% more than the regular grocer.

Big fraking waste of money.*


*Note: I have a lot of food sensitivities and for a long time, Whole Foods was the only place I could find local goats milk. Now, I don't drink goats milk, so it's no longer an issue.

Seriously. I almost never go there, except to get some organic apples when the other stores were out (it has to be Pink Lady, and it has to be organic because I can't get over the bitter aftertaste of the conventional ones, so I'm willing to pay a bit more for those). When I went, I looked at the price of the other veggies and fruit, and I end up buying nothing because the prices are crazy (tomatoes were on sale and cheap though). Even their store brand is pretty expensive for a lot of things ($4.50 a box of cereal? Pass).

Meat is insanely expensive and I'd never buy it there... even if it tastes better. Just can't justify those crazy prices.

Typically I just go when I want some of their baked goods (really love the bakery at the local one) or some fancy cheese (but yeah, that's not cheap either).

azure7

Cedar's garlic lovers hummus. Omg, so good!
Bulk food area - dried fruit, lentils, dates, etc.
If you eat organic, I can actually find some things cheaper at WF than my local Publix (org frozen berries, org chicken broth, raw nuts)
The chocolate aisle - so much good dark chocolate

FrownWellington

I live walking distance from a Whole Foods, but I try to only get things that I can't get at my usual grocery store. $$$
I most often pick up Siggi's drinkable yogurt and Guittard semi-sweet baking chips. Favorite indulgences are Theo chocolate bars, queso dip, and this amazing Izze clementine soda. I take a pass on the bakery, which just never tickled my fancy, and they used to have a better hard cider collection, but I guess that fad is waning.

randomtai

Bacon Ends and Pieces.

Pspetal

I buy all my meats (except seafood) only from Whole Foods. Their chicken drumsticks and thighs are very, very cheap and taste so much better than other stores. Very often they have steaks and lean ground beef at discount prices too. Also, sometimes they have this yucca-corn-chicken Aztec soup in the hot soups section which is yummy and very filling! Everything else I get from regular stores and non-organic. Organic produce from WF doesn't seem to last a long time and I cannot shop every other day for groceries or pay twice of what I'd pay elsewhere.