Whole Foods, on a budget? (pricing, shops, Walmart, sell)

[MJ7]

Does anyone shop at Whole Foods, on a cheap budget?

I like Whole Foods and have been liking their 365 brand a lot, not everything I get is organic, but I find that the meats are just superior to the USDA stuff. I usually spend 50 bucks a week for one. I buy things on sale and the cheaper 365 (Whole Foods) brand items. I'll get other things from other grocery stores as the produce is usually always cheaper elsewhere and just as good quality (maybe not organic).

Does anyone else do something similar?

[Garethe]

I liked the 365 brand as well when I lived a few blocks from the downtown Seattle location. But at the same time budget and Whole Foods just don't go together, my finances fit in more with Trader Joe's. And Seattle doesn't tax all of their groceries and I still felt like my money didn't go even half as far there as it did at Fred Meyer or Safeway.

However, I agree with you that their meats were usually excellent, and I also follow this approach, but with a different set of stores. Safeway was known to have horrible meat in my area, very hit or miss, and so I bought it at FM or even QFC. Whole foods also has rare hard to find veggies like Dandelion (which went to a pet bunny at the time-to a bunny Dandelion is like filet mignon), but I digress, I would love to see the other responses and see if anyone is able to "budget" at a place like WF, I just couldn't make it work.

[baileyvpotter]

Other than the 365 brands, if someone has to ask if shopping at WF can be cheap or affordable, it obviously isn't.
For meats, suggest looking at butcher shops in your area.

[Hickory patrick]

my wife shops whole food once in a while, I remember the sticker shock i got first time she took me with,WOW....

the thing that pissed me off about whole foods that leads me to believe they play both sides of the fence , like yes we are wholesome , then ya got, here feed your crap family this GMO as well....Last election when Cali' was pushing for GMO labeling, whole foods ran n hid...didn't say boo! So yes come spend your hard cash, but then take some GMO poison home for your family....with me= at least be open n honest..

just rubs me the wrong way, guess it's just me....

[baileyvpotter]

^^^^^ditto. The only interesting thing about WF is watching the euphoria of the patrons.

[greg42]

If you pick and choose certain items very carefully, spending time to compare pricing, certain things at Whole Foods are as cheap or cheaper than elsewhere. 365 house brand stuff is usually a good bet. Where they get you is items that are completely different and tempting, or are perceived (rightly or wrongly) to be higher quality and worth extra over somewhere else. And some things that they simply don't sell as cheaply. So if you're like me (or really, like my SO) and tend to choose one-stop convenience over absolute price, then you'll definitely get burned at WF on some stuff. WF has been more of a draw to us perhaps because we don't have a lot of competition in the grocery market in this area. There are a couple of Trader Joe's in the area but they are not anywhere convenient, whereas Whole Foods is within 15 min of home. I don't have good luck with Walmart or Aldi and that essentially leaves only the extremely entrenched local chain Giant Eagle, which was always known to be expensive already.

If you're disciplined I think WF can work on a budget. You have to think clearly and see through any marketing to what is and is not actually better quality and/or otherwise worth buying there (to you). You can also buy the products that are priced the same, less or similar to elsewhere, but you want to avoid the items that are just the same as anywhere else but priced a lot higher (produce is often this way, nothing to differentiate except presentation but just costs more) and the unique items that are just plain expensive (like crazy $8 bottled juices or whatever). Keep in mind this can be difficult in the face of everything in there! LOL It's food, the place if full of smells, samples and people who are excited to recommend a product. It's murder to the pocketbook in that impulse sort of way.

I can understand the appeal to shopping there for various reasons. I find our local WF to be a significantly more pleasant experience than any other food store I've ever been in, and we find it to be the easiest and sometimes only source of some things that we like. But it is very difficult to get out of there without it costing you. That is no accident either, all by design.

[scorepro]

Unfortunately, most of what is available in our markets is not whole Foods. Whole foods generally does not come in a package. Foods that sit on racks for several weeks at the same time are not healthy meals.

[DaniellaG]

When ever I shop at Whole Foods which is not that often it is an expensive trip. I do eat packaged foods so it really adds up there. You know many grocery stores like Vons has an organic store brand products that are reasonable. If you don't eat packaged foods but try to eat organic produce they have found certain items you don't need to buy organic so that could save some money as well.