Whole Foods-Where to begin?

Since I switched to a whole foods, plant based diet in February 2014 (no meat and no dairy, no processed foods, no oils) Whole Foods has become my grocery store. My grocery bills plummeted since I wasn't buying meat or dairy anymore so I could afford to shop there. I choose to shop there because their produce tastes so much better and because we eat so much of it now. I can shop in Whole Foods knowing nothing in their store has any artificial colors in it (which triggers migraine for me), flavors, preservatives or sweeteners. That matters to me and it's a big help. 

To help with my budget I plan my meals and make a list before I go. On one side of my journal I put what meals I plan to make for the week (dinners only). On the right side of the journal I put what ingredients I need to buy to make those dinners. Then I fill out the list with whatever else we need for the week. Coffee, Almond milk, and so on. I buy a lot of 365 products. That is Whole Foods own brand. 

My budget is $200.00 a week for 3 adults, but my 26 year old son eats a ton, he's like an adult and a half. Plus we live in a very expensive area-Annapolis, MD-45 minutes from Washington DC. Depending on where you live (if it's Kansas, or Texas-it could be much cheaper where you live). For instance an average house here-3 bedroom, 2 bath costs $450,000.00.  So, you have to take location in consideration too. 

Food is expensive in general.  I used to shop at Giant. I know for a fact that shopping like I do now is cheaper than shopping like I used to at Giant. Another thing to consider is shopping like I do with the diet we eat is cheaper than going to the doctor all of the time or medicating for things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and things like that. Before I started eating a whole foods plant based diet my cholesterol was 220. Now its 165. No pills involved at all-just the change in food. 

What do I like at WF? Everything! I love their bakery! We buy their whole grain, multi grain bread, because part of this diet is to eat whole grains. We love the General Tso's Vegan Chicken in the deli department, but we save that for date night when we go there for dinner (there are no vegetarian or vegan restaurants here) and then head over to Barnes and Noble's. They have great sales every week and they have coupons too. Their flower section is great. Oh, beautiful cards too. And their produce section is amazing. Oh almost forgot-their international foods section is pretty great too. 

You can also ask them to try anything in the store if you're unsure. They're supposed to open a brand new package if they have to.

That reminds me-I get their canned diced tomatoes. I compared the price to Trader Joe's canned diced tomatoes and Whole Foods 365 brand of diced tomatoes was cheaper! 

You are welcome They also have a very nice chicken feta sausage that I put in my spaghetti sauce. 

only time we got there is when i need fish for something. Maybe once every 5 years.

I like to use their butcher for things like lamb and good cuts of skin on bone in chicken (yummm)

They have very good Swiss and French cheeses.

For prepared foods they have amazing curry chicken salad and tuna but it's expensive

I buy the 365 spaghetti sauce. I crush almonds for almond butter. And I love all the produce, especially the grapefruit that has been cut and diced and put in containers ready to eat.

Whole Foods 365 brand is very good. I'm really pleased with the taste and quality of their house brand. I buy their produce because my daughter is very non-GMO and their organic produce is worth the extra cost for (hopefully) less chemical pesticide exposure. (To see if it's organic the product code on the produce will start with a "9"; for example, 94675 is organic, 4675 is conventional). We try our best to choose organic for the fruits and vegetables where we eat the skin. Bananas, pineapples and oranges: doesn't matter. Red peppers and cucumbers: try to get organic.

They have unsweetened ketchup which is so good and tomato-y and only 5 calories per tbsp. (vs. 25 to 30 cal per tbsp. for regular ketchup). We make a lot of bbq so this makes a huge difference in the calories consumed. WF's spices are available bottled and fresh and you can buy a tiny bit if you only need a pinch for a particular recipe. The bulk bins are handy for trying out a new ingredient instead of buying a crapton of something you may or may not like.

The Wellshire Farms smoked kielbasa, andouille sausage, and chorizo get rave reviews at our house. If you are veg, they have Field Roast which is a pretty good copy of the real thing. Their selection of coffee creamers is extensive and Liberte yogurt is a must-buy on our weekly list.

There are some things that are spendy but if you shop with a list and a meal plan in mind, it can cost the same (or nearly the same) as a conventional grocery store does. Oh and while you're shopping, if you need a nosh, I highly recommend their white pizza that is freshly baked at their sandwich counter. If you want something sweet, you can buy a single cookie from their cookie bar so you're not tempted to devour an entire bag of cookies. The salad bar has four huge stations, both hot and cold, and the soup flavors change daily. On the salad bar, things are labeled as to gluten-free, vegan, etc so it is very easy to avoid ingredients you wish to avoid or are allergic to. There's also a pasta bar and an olive bar and an extensive cheese counter with lots of selections to pick from.

My DD is allergic to mint and WF has several selections of mint-free toothpaste (it's very hard to find in regular stores but WF offers three flavors of mint-free). It's worth checking out but your first in-depth visit there might take two hours or so because there is so much to see.

Good luck. And let us know what you discover there!

Love Whole Foods and still find new things almost every time I go! Check their bulk bins...great way to sample small amounts of things for reasonable prices. I do love their produce, although I do get most of my produce at the farmers markets. I do love everything I have tried in any of the prepared food areas. In my area ( Arizona ) pizza is 3 bucks a slice, rice bowls are approx 9 dollars, and I can get a burger or pulled pork sandwich for around 9 dollars too. Im pretty dangerous in the cheese section, and all cuts of meat I have purchased there have been top notch. Current favorite things are their fresh squeezed orange juice (pricey) and their fresh ground peanut butter (not pricey). I love shopping there and like birukitty said above, once I changed my diet to eliminate processed foods, I started spending a lot less even though I am shopping at Whole Foods.

At the Whole Foods that we used to shop at in VA, in the cheese aisle, there were these medium sized goat cheese rounds in a plastic container. And they were drizzled in olive oil, and had a delicious tapenad on top. Omg, those things were to die for! It was my absolute fav thing to get there. Sadly the Whole Foods closest to us now does not have these at all. Heartbreaking.

     It's not just a food journal it's my everyday journal-I call it my brain. I have a terrible memory. I don't have an iphone-I'm a traditionalist and prefer paper and pen.  Anyway, if you go to Amazon you can find it under "Excompta Club Grained Leatherette Refillable Journal , 5x7," They also carry them in leather. I have mine in a pretty blue. I've had this journal for years and years. They make it refillable so I buy the inserts and then mark them with the time that it contains (say 2015) on the spine and put it into my bookcase. 

So I use this to put my daily shopping list for Whole Foods into-it works so wonderfully because I put my purse into my cart and then this journal folds open on top. I clip a pen on the pages and mark things off as I go. I do think shopping with a list makes shopping at Whole Foods so much more affordable. 

Another Pea mentioned their cakes. Oh my gosh! We have loved their cakes for years! And yes, even with my new diet I do splurge once a year on my birthday and get a cake from their bakery. I love their cake that is a chocolate cake with raspberry filling between the layers. It is incredible. Most American cakes are too sweet. Saying this as a half German, half American who spent her first 5 years in Germany. Whole Foods cakes are just right, although sometimes even they run a bit too sweet-for the most part though they are really wonderful. 

They carry a refrigerated Cashew Milk that I use for my coffee creamer that's really smooth and creamy (since I gave up dairy). This was a great find for me. 

DH loves their 365 organic peanut butter because it doesn't separate (with the oil sitting on the top)  even though it only had two ingredients-peanuts and salt. 

Their olive bar is wonderful and the other day they were having a taste test so you could taste all of the different olive types. I discovered one I hadn't tried before but really love now. It's bright green and is delicious! I can't remember the name but I know what it looks like so I've been buying a little bit of it each week. 

They have tasting stations each week with different foods. 

Could talk about Whole Foods all day. The thing about it being "Whole Paycheck"-well that depends on how you shop. If you go in without a list and shop wildly, buying exotic things, and all prepared foods yeah, it can add up really fast. But if you go in with a list and shop carefully it can be the exact price as your local grocery store-that's what I've found. 

I dont eat dairy products and I can find more ready to go food (frozen, granola bars, etc) that are DF at WF than any other grocery stores. They have a great organic selection and some popular brands make specific things for WF (Applegate)