As you know, I am a big fan of Whole Foods and shop there every week without fail. Every single week.  Yup, every week.  Weekly.  Every 7 days.  They play good music and it’s a pleasant atmosphere, but the routine can be a bit BORING and PREDICTABLE.  So to entertain myself and you, I made a photo commentary of my last trip.  Let’s go shopping!

 

I got a good parking space, which is no small feat as this store is always jumping.

 

I love that they have these wipes available because I can be a germ-a-phobe.

 

I always bring my own bags.  I got the cooler from Sam’s Club, which comes in handy since I usually grocery shop before picking up my kids and it gets hot here in Georgia.  Yes, I know these are Trader Joe’s bags, but it’s the eco-factor that counts here.

 

I cue up the GroceryiQ app on my iPhone and I’m ready to shop.

 

I start shopping in the middle of the store.  This is the pineapple juice that I use for my morning smoothie.

 

It’s my son’s birthday this week, so I am treating him to his favorite root beer.  At almost $5 a bottle, this is a treat indeed!

 

I need jelly for my emergency pb&j lunch.  The selection is overwhelming!

 

I settle on this jelly.  I hope it’s good.

 

I make my family use real maple syrup although they would prefer Mrs. Butterworth.

 

My husband discovered this cereal at a sample station and now it’s his favorite.  It’s expensive and I give him grief, but the man works hard, so at least he can enjoy good cereal.  I was happy to see it on sale and also a coupon that I can use immediately.

 

The produce section is next.  Strawberries on sale; great!  I use them in my smoothie.

 

For snacking I buy whatever fruit is on sale, like these Gala apples.

 

We always have bananas in the house.  I use one in my smoothie and my husband cuts up one for his cereal.   Usually I buy the organic bananas if the price difference (against the non-organic bananas) is less than 20¢ a pound.

 

I am making my special lamb marinade for my son’s birthday dinner and need some dill, rosemary and oregano.  They were out of oregano; that sucks.  I am not going to another store and will have to substitute something else.

 

Continuing along the perimeter of the store, I’m now in the dairy aisle.  The 365 milk is cheaper than the Organic Valley brand milk, so that’s what I buy.  Sometimes I am forced to buy the latter though when there is milk on the bottom of the 365 carton; I have a problem with that (read about my craziness here).  My family doesn’t drink much milk at all so this 1/2 gallon will last us a full week.

 

My family loves this orange juice and we drink a lot of it.  However, it’s much cheaper at Target ($2.99 or less), so I buy it there instead.

 

I think this organic vegetable oil spread is pretty good.

 

I will only buy cage-free eggs; they taste cleaner.

 

I use this yogurt in my smoothies; that’s the only way that I’ll eat yogurt.  I wish that I liked yogurt by itself because it’s a great source of protein and calcium.

 

This is my son’s favorite yogurt and he has it for breakfast every morning, along with a piece of toast.  Do you see how expensive this yogurt is?   I buy 5-6 containers each week….geesh.

 

Moving on to the frozen foods now. My daughter eats these waffles, cereal or grits for breakfast; buttermilk is the new favorite flavor.

 

I recently discovered these frozen meals by Kashi and I love them.  I rarely go out for lunch and found myself eating too many pb&j sandwiches.  These are yummy, healthy and 4 minutes in the microwave.  My son has started taking them to school as well.  They are on sale–even better!

 

Store samples are great–that’s how I found out about these shrimp and crab cakes.  Along with a salad, I eat them for lunch sometimes.  I also bought the mahi mahi burgers to try this week.

 

The cheese aisle is next.  I love the cheese samples and always stop for a bite!

 

I need some feta; I’m making a cucumber and feta relish to accompany the birthday dinner lamb chops.

 

Mmm…the hot bar looks good!  Sometimes I get dinner from here if it’s just the kids and I eating.  The kids love the macaroni and cheese and I like the greens.  Not tonight though; I was just looking (and smelling).

 

Or I may pick up one of the Whole Value Meals if we have a busy evening, which at $14.99 is a great deal (I wrote about these meals here).  I’m glad they finally added a sign pointing folks in the right direction because no one could ever find the meals.  But tonight we already have dinner plans.

 

My last stop is always the bakery.  I prefer loaves from the bakery over the pre-sliced loaves on the shelf.  The nice man in the bakery always gives my daughter a cookie.

 

Yeah!  My favorite, Organic Wheat Farm Bread, is on sale!  I got the last loaf.

 

That’s it!  I’m putting the groceries in the trunk and going to get my kids from school.  And I’ll do it again next week…and the next….and the next.   Thanks for making this trip fun and different!

 

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Related posts:

1. Things I Like: Whole Foods Family Meals