Whole Foods

[Pollyanna]

I don't get the love, I really don't. I think I've shopped there about 5 times and tried their prepared meals twice. It's a whole lotta nothing special for 50% more then I'd pay at Publix. Even their produce is no better than what I find at Publix. So what am I missing? I see nothing in there that I can't get somewhere else for less money.

[Vanquisher]

Whole paycheck? No thanks.

[ladymoreta]

The cheese! The cured meats! The bread! And the produce there is much better than we have here. Wasn't that big of a difference between WF and Target when I lived in a bigger city, definitely not worth the markup. I also love that they usually have a wine specialist there, and I learn a lot talking to them.

[JDAZ11]

I love it. Here their produce is better than most other grocery stores. Plus, I love the whole foods brand for most things.

I only shop there and TJs. I'm just not into our local regular grocery store chains.

[MAPPLEBUM]

I used to only go there for specialty items (bulk nutritional yeast, obscure cheeses, vegan baked goods, etc) but we just don't have a good groc in our area like Publix or Harris Teeter. In the suburbs the Pic N Save chain has a great selection but there's two within a mile of my house and they are Ghettttoo. As in, the produce seems to go bad in the time it takes to purchase and bring home. There's a WF just under a mile from my house and it's either the same price or just a little more expensive so if I buy fresh meat that's where it comes from and 99% of produce I get from there.

I grew up in the land of Publix. Just saw on Facebook they're starting to come to NC, so maybe by the time I leave the Midwest there will be Publix here too...

[spotty_dog]

I vaguely remember there being an olive bar at WF that olive lovers swooned over back in Phoenix. Nowadays when I find myself in one, or a PCC Natural Market which is a Northwest chain based on a similar model, I just kind of drop my jaw at the prices, manage a small brief swoon over the breadth of offerings in the natural cleaning supply aisle and the beer aisle, then back away slowly.

I just read The Omnivore's Dilemma so am even less enamored of paying extra for potentially *more* industrialized produce than one can find at a small grocer. As it turns out I don't have much choice, since my community doesn't so much support luxury grocery chains: these days I try to shop Safeway for stocking up, one of the two independently owned grocers for filling in the gaps, and the farm stores for as much as my groaning budget and the seasonal offerings will permit! The small grocers take pride in sourcing from smaller concerns as much as possible.

[SoonerTexan]

I'm meh on Whole foods. Now Central Market (think Whole Foods for a foodie, not health related). now that is awesome

[WolfpackWife]

Whole Foods is amazing when you're not lucky enough to live around any worthwhile grocery chain. I didn't really give a crap about WF when we lived near Harris Teeters on every corner - but here we are sorely lacking in grocery chains. We have a large but marginal Kroger, and a horrible HORRIBLE local chain called Martin's that is just...sad. Then there are food lions which I avoid like the plague. WF is an oasis of wonderful produce, quality meat, cheese, and bakery sections, and ORGANIC, AIR CHILLED CHICKEN BREASTS which I cannot find anywhere else in this entire county. We don't eat a huge range of produce (DH eats all fruits and eats them quickly, and as for veggies we pretty much stick closely to leafy greens, brussels sprouts, asparagus, etc. and after exhaustive note taking at other grocers, it's just worth it to buy there. Everything is just...better) so we'll buy it there - we exclusively buy meat there - but other items like regular cheese/canned goods/snacks/cereals/etc. we'll get at TJs and Kroger. It it more than worth it for us. I will say that TJs has always been reliable for buying bell peppers. And at a very reasonable price. I will not pay WF prices for a bell pepper.

I totally get the whole "not getting it" thing when you're close to a Publix or HT. God I miss HT...

[Vanquisher]

I do live near a Publix, but actually go out of my way to shop at Walmart. Cause, hello, dawkter's wife.

"Organic" is overrated and unnecessary, in my opinion, and just costs more. I save 20-40% shopping at Walmart. I go to Publix when I need a few things quickly, but for big shopping trips, I'm all about Walmart. I do go to Whole Foods or Fresh Market for one or two things that I cannot find at Publix or Trader Joes or Walmart. I love Trader Joes too, but I don't get everything I need there. They don't have everything, and they're a 40 minute drive away. So, there you have it. Oh, I also get some things at Costco/Sam's Club/BJs. I don't do my primary grocery shopping at any of these though.

[houseelf]

I'm not impressed with whole foods, but I'm not into that sort of thing.

I loathe Walmart. The corporation, the atmosphere, the shoppers, the policies, the cheap clothes that are made cheaply and fall apart at the first wash. I feel sad for humanity when I shop there.

On the other hand, I can wax poetic about TJ. I'm also contemplating Costco but it is just far enough away to not be convenient.

[WolfpackWife]

Admittedly, I am not hugely into "organic" most of the time. I do prefer organic chicken. I just trust it. I don't know why. Well, that's not true - I do know why. It's because I've systematically purchased chicken from every story around here and each package of chicken I've gotten has either a) a weird, bad chicken smell b) an odd and unpleasant texture when cooked c) seems to be way, WAY over sized (both boneless breasts and whole chickens. I'm talking about not being able to find whole chickens to roast that are less than 7-8lb which...just bugs me) and it freaks me out. Or all three. That's chicken from Kroger, TJs, and a local "farmers market" (HA!) called Tom Leonard's. At least the WF's chicken is normally sized and doesn't have a horrible raw chicken smell when I open the package. For that, I'll pay "organic" prices.

[spotty_dog]

I do live near a Publix, but actually go out of my way to shop at Walmart. Cause, hello, dawkter's wife.

LOL. I was on an online debate forum a couple of years back that was discussing the 1% and taxation and yadda. The definitions of "the rich" and "the middle" kept shifting and so in an attempt to pin them down people were offering guidelines. One of them was "Rich people would *never* shop at Walmart or go to McDonalds'." OMG how I laugh every time I step into one of those now. I do generally try to "vote with my dollar" and not shop with corporations whose practices I disagree with, but sometimes when the only big box store within 1.5 hours is Wally World, or it's dinnertime and you're out of town and you know a Happy Meal toy is going to send your kids over the moon, you do what you've gotta!

[spotty_dog]

Admittedly, I am not hugely into "organic" most of the time. I do prefer organic chicken. I just trust it. I don't know why. Well, that's not true - I do know why. It's because I've systematically purchased chicken from every story around here and each package of chicken I've gotten has either a) a weird, bad chicken smell b) an odd and unpleasant texture when cooked c) seems to be way, WAY over sized (both boneless breasts and whole chickens. I'm talking about not being able to find whole chickens to roast that are less than 7-8lb which...just bugs me) and it freaks me out. Or all three. That's chicken from Kroger, TJs, and a local "farmers market" (HA!) called Tom Leonard's. At least the WF's chicken is normally sized and doesn't have a horrible raw chicken smell when I open the package. For that, I'll pay "organic" prices.

The fun thing is that the chickens are raised pretty much exactly the same as conventional chickens, and they're the same breed, but they are harvested sooner so that the portions are smaller which makes the prices less astonishing; plus they're packaged and processed to be able to ship them even farther across the country because one organic plant must supply many more stores than one conventional plant. Often they've got the packaging with the gas injected that helps keep the atmosphere in the package inhospitable to life.

Now, if you want real chicken, normal-sized birds and fresh flavor...http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

Edit: When I get like this, I always think of this bit from Portlandia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErRHJlE4PGI

[MAPPLEBUM]

I was veggie for 4 years BC of chickens. !!!

In my area WF is really the closest thing to a 'middle class' groc. The swanky ones are Fresh Market and a local place called Sendiks. Every time I walk into a Fresh Market I'm like...what in the world am I supposed to buy at this place...and the last time I went to Sendiks I paid $15 for a tiny block of cheese. Turns out it was something like $60 a pound.


TBCH I don't understand the appeal of Trader Joe's. That place isn't upscale but it doesn't have a very good selection of ANYTHING normal. If I'm in the mood for Buffalo Jerky or those really gross Mochi balls, sure...

[WolfpackWife]

TBCH I don't understand the appeal of Trader Joe's. That place isn't upscale but it doesn't have a very good selection of ANYTHING normal. If I'm in the mood for Buffalo Jerky or those really gross Mochi balls, sure...

Cheese and wine! It may not be the fanciest cheese ever but they have a huge variety and great prices on some delicious cheeses! I also like a chunk of their wine selection but not all of it is great. But I'm not super snobby about wine and I know what I like, so TJs fits the bill for a lot of our go-to wines.