I'm DONE shopping at Whole Foods.
Our store opened in September of 2015. I spent the next year and a half shopping almost exclusively there. It was fun. It was new. It was shiny. I bought nearly every bag they ever had. In fact, we have ALL of their little lunch totes. EVERY.SINGLE.COLOR. We have all of their large totes. EVERY SINGLE COLOR. I think there are only a couple bags that I don't have.
I bought chicken kabobs for dinner there. I bought produce there. ($$$$$$) Hubby even bought a couple of bottles of wine there. We bought cheese and visited the olive bar. I bought foods from their deli, their hot deli, and their salad bar.
Funny thing, though....EVERY SINGLE TIME I ate at their fresh salad bar, I got sick. (I'm talking diarrhea here...) EVERY TIME. I finally quit buying their salad bar junk. Then, their hot deli bar. It became so tedious and BORING that I finally just quit. Then, they raised their chicken salad from $12.99 A POUND to $13.99 A POUND. And, when I was working, I would scoot in there EVERY SINGLE MORNING and buy a small container of chicken salad and broccoli salad or their cabbage salad. The problem with their cabbage salad was that it was very inconsistent. Some days it had dressing, but other days it was nearly dry and TASTELESS. Ugh. Really $9.99 a pound for...cardboard? So, I quit buying anything from their deli. So, there went the (1) salad bar; (2) hot buffet; and (3) deli.
Produce? For a market that advertises it's organic products, their produce is MAINLY CONVENTIONAL. Yes. You read that right. "CONVENTIONALLY GROWN". I don't know how many times I went in there looking for organic lemons only to find "conventionally grown" ones. Now, I didn't WANT conventional ones. Those I could buy anywhere. I wanted ORGANIC lemons. When I could find them (or when I chased down the produce guy and begged him to check the back room for organic lemons), they were small and $6.99 a bag. REALLY? $6.99 for 6 lemons? I grew frustrated with that nonsense.
Once a year they have some kind of soap from Africa on sale for $1.00 a bar. The first year I bought 10 bars. It was... HORRIBLE...It was oily, it really didn't smell good, and frankly, I didn't like it. The next year I bought zero. This past year I didn't even bother to go into the store for that.
So, what do I do instead? I've discovered that COSTCO now carries dehydrated apples in a larger bag than the t I would buy WEEKLY at Whole Foods. They also carry organic apricots! Whoo, whoo! I'm noticing that COSTCO is now carrying more and more organic items. I bought 2 bags of Mexico ORGANIC coffee there, too. The price of each bag is HALF of what coffee at Whole Foods was. One time I bought coffee there and it was so OLD and tasteless I returned it (with the receipt) and loudly announced I would NEVER, EVER buy coffee there again!!!! It was NASTY STUFF! The Mexico organic coffee at COSTCO is wonderful and we are enjoying it.
Albertsons now has a wonderful selection of...gasp! ORGANIC PRODUCE! I can buy romaine lettuce, green onions, POTATOES (NEVER buy non-organic potatoes!), celery, cucumbers...almost anything I need for a salad. And, they carry organic berries too. Scratch WHOLE PAYCHECK OFF for that now.
So, really, I have NO NEED to shop Whole Foods. COSTCO even carries organic butter and frankly, I like the taste better than what I was buying at Whole Foods. AND, we are only a block away from Trader Joe's. I buy bread, butter, yogurt, dog biscuits, and chicken (organic, free range) there and save $$$$$ over WHOLE PAYCHECK!
I haven't been in WF now for over a month and I don't intend to return any time in the future. I read that they are starting to close stores. GOOD!
We also have an ALDI market in town. However, so far, I haven't been impressed with them. We additionally have a Target and a Walmart neighborhood market, all within a half a mile of each other. So, there are LOTS of options.
Finally, every Wednesday we have a certified farmers' market. Hubby and I usually stop in there every other Wednesday. It will only last through May, however. But, I can always find them down in Temecula on Saturdays! :-)
Where do YOU shop? Are you happy with your store(s)?
By the way, Trader Joe's is so inexpensive I can afford to buy a bouquet of flowers once a week!
~Cheers~
Cheryl Ann
That's very interesting to read. We have a Mennonite market type store nearby. The eggs are kept in a fridge in his garage next to the chickens running around. He sources anything he does not grow or raise locally. I really like buying from them for quality and to support local. We also have a brochure for all local farms called From farm to Table with a map etc. Kelly
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool! Temecula has a lot of small roadside markets, too. I hear that avocados are 25 cents each now because of the rain which produced a really heavy crop! I need to get down there and buy avocados!
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