Tips for Saving Money at Whole Foods
About a month or so ago, I received an email from Whole Foods asking me about partnering together to create a one-week meal plan for me and Ryan that included two meals each day for the two of us for $125. (Full disclosure: I was provided a $125 gift card.) Since getting a little creative in the kitchen is one of my favorite things, I was more than game and immediately started brainstorming ideas for a healthy and delicious meal plan.
The first step in my meal plan journey involved attending a value tour at my local Whole Foods led by Jennifer, the regional marketing specialist at Whole Foods in Charlotte. Jennifer and I walked around the store and chatted for about an hour while she pointed out lots of money-saving tips and tricks.
Some key takeaways:
- Check the bimonthly Whole Deal brochure which features more than $45 of savings per issue on average (you can also find these coupons at www.wholefoodsmarket.com/coupons) and check out weekly sales fliers, One Day Sales and sale items throughout the store.
- Sign up for your local store’s newsletter and follow them on Facebook and Twitter to receive bonus coupons, budget-friendly recipes, and notices of sales and more.
- Shop seasonally.
- Cut costs, literally. If you need only half a cabbage, sandwich, chunk of cheese, fish fillet, loaf of fresh bread, etc., simply ask a team member to help you get (and pay for) only the amount you need.
- Utilize the bulk bins to buy as much or as little as you need.
- Check out the 365 Everyday Value line for hundreds of affordable organics, including peanut butter, organic frozen veggies, pasta, sauce, canned tomatoes, soups and more.
- Consider purchasing Value Packs to help you get fish and meat at a better price, and allow you to use only what you need.
- Look for budget-friendly pricing on lesser-known cuts such as boneless sirloin, flat iron steak or skirt steak.
- Receive discounted pricing on most items when you buy a full case.
- Make the most of your leftovers with the Whole Foods Market recipes app, which allows you to save recipes, create meal plans and shopping lists, view sales items at your local store and more.
When it was time for me to create my two-meals-a-day meal plan, I opted for breakfast and dinner since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and dinner is often the meal that requires the most planning in our house. When I set out to do shopping for our meals, there were a few hiccups in my plan. My father-in-law was in town, so our dinners needed to be able to feed three people and I knew we’d likely be going out to dinner once or twice. Whole Foods wanted the meal plan to include two meals each day, but food I bought did cover breakfast, lunch and dinner for me and breakfast and dinner for Ryan. (Ryan actually did bring his lunch to work using food from our grocery haul a couple of times, but he also ate at his workplace cafeteria or out with coworkers during the week as well, so I’m not counting his lunchtime meals.)
And a few important notes: We went out to dinner twice during the week because we wanted to take my father-in-law out to some of our favorite local hotspots, so we did not consume two of the planned dinners on the “correct” days (Tuesday and Friday) but we ate the “dinners” for lunch for two of the days during the week. I hope this makes sense! The meal plan is just a guideline for our breakfasts and dinners, but I wanted to be sure to actually make and eat everything, too, which we did!
As I shopped for our food, I did a lot of price comparisons (buying in bulk ended up being the cheapest every time!) and clipped coupons to save money, like I usually do each week.
I was truly surprised when I went through the checkout line and only spent $69.76! I ended up going through the line again and picking up more food to use to get closer to the $125 total.
Our total for the week ended up being $115.20, but it did not include the jar of peanut butter I also used in the meal plan that we already had at home. (I figured being $10 under budget made up for the peanut butter since that would be an easy purchase within the budget.)
Here is what our one-week meal plan looked like:
- Breakfast: Tortilla topped with banana, peanut butter and cinnamon
- Dinner: Fish tacos with (frozen) mahi mahi, black beans, chopped romaine lettuce and pico de gallo
- Breakfast: Overnight oats made with oatmeal, Greek yogurt, honey and raw almonds
- Dinner: Turkey and ham rollups with romaine, tomatoes and pumpkin seeds, served with apple slices
- Breakfast: Cottage cheese topped with a sliced apple, cinnamon, almonds and pumpkin seeds
- Dinner: 365 Everyday Value whole wheat linguine with steamed spinach and 365 Everyday Value marinara, served with roasted broccoli
- Breakfast: Two waffles topped with a dippy egg and tomato slices, served with a plum on the side
- Dinner: Chopped salad with romaine, ham, tomatoes, black beans, edamame, wheat berries and pumpkin seeds
- Breakfast: Two waffles served with a cup of Greek yogurt
- Dinner: Baked chicken breasts with sweet potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts
- Breakfast: Three-minute egg white oatmeal, topped with chopped almonds
- Dinner: Crockpot lentil wheat berry soup <—We loved this soup!!!
Crockpot Lentil Wheat Berry Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups dry lentils
- 3/4 wheat berries
- 6 cups reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 sweet onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cups chopped carrots
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (depending on taste)
- 1/2 – 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (depending on taste)
Directions
- Combine all ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve and enjoy!
- Breakfast: Strawberry, mango and spinach smoothie
- Dinner: Leftover lentil and wheat berry soup
Giveaway
Now Whole Foods Market wants to give you guys a chance to shop at their store and create some healthy budget-friendly recipes.
FIVE readers will win a $25 gift card to Whole Foods!
To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post, telling me about some of your favorite Whole Foods finds!
I will randomly select five winners on Friday.
Good luck!
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I’ve never been to whole foods but we’re getting one soon! I’m excited to check it out!
Funny thing! I blogged about what I got at whole foods for $20 a few weeks ago this september: http://thefitty.com/2014/09/02/school-schedule-vlog-what-i-got-at-whole-foods-wiaw-8/
Unfortunately I cannot afford to buy from whole foods anymore, so I’m really crossing my fingers for this giveaway!
my favorites are their freshly made smoothies and juices as well as their hot bar! I spend way too much money there 🙂
I love their 365 Everyday Value salsa. And once when I was trying to find the fried calamari my daughter had asked for, Whole Foods was the place that had it, in the frozen seafood section. 🙂
Oh my gosh – I LOVE Whole Foods. And I’m pretty sure you have seen my obsession in person. Great tips! My favorite thing to purchase at their store is fresh food from the hot bar. If I’m grocery shopping, I love their organic produce, nut butters, and almond mixes!
I love the bulk section! So many great thing to choose from and always cheaper!!
The hot foods bar is my favorite part of WF! 🙂
I love their Toffee Almond Chocolate bar! So good!
I absolutely LOVE shopping in the bulk bins section at Whole Foods for dried fruit and raw nuts. I am a huge fan of their raw cashews and dried figs. I often visit this section to use these goodies to make my own trail mix-the perfect treat for long hikes or day trips! 🙂
Mmmmmm Whole Foods. I go there for the produce to be honest. They have so many neat healthy items but you cannot beat their freshness when it comes to my fruit and veggies.
Bulk section!
We love their prepared foods for quick dinners!! Also granola is always great!!!
That soup sounds so good! I love the freshly ground organic peanut butter and it’s not that pricey. Honestly, I tend to be a smarter shopper at Whole Foods because I really think about my purchases and what my priorities are. At Trader Joe’s I tend to pay less attention to what I’m throwing in my cart and end up spending more than planned! It’s all about being mindful. 🙂
Awesome giveaway!
I absolutely love their salad bar and “made fresh here” selections. Also their drinks like Hint water and Kombucha. Can’t wait to try that soup!
I like all the different cooking oils that they sell (sunflower oil, etc.)!
I love their pumpkin angel food cake! and the 365 cereals are also a great, affordable breakfast!
I have never shopped at Whole Foods because I am afraid of getting hooked on an expensive product…but a $25 gift card is enough to break my resolve!
I’m all about the bulk bins. I pick up banana chips to snack on and they are also great for recipes that call for expensive items (cashews, nutritional yeast, etc.) because you can purchase just what you need!
I love all of their pre made options, their sushi is so good!
Whole Foods is my go-to place when I have a hankering for a salad — I am the most annoying person on the planet when ordering a salad at a restaurant because I want a little of this, a lot of that, etc. Whole Foods lets me make whatever I want and I love that!
Love the warm food bar. Their green beans are amazing.
The 365 pretzels are cheapest anywhere and taste the best! And I always have their organic broth stocked in my pantry as it is cheaper AND organic that the local superstore! We heart whole foods!!
I love the Whole 365 Salsas and the fresh seafood. Although it’s not always budget friendly, knowing where my food came from and it’s free of hormones/etc. is important to me.
I love the produce section!
I love the produce selections and the salad bar for healthy pre-Made options leaving me with less prep time for meals!
Organic sour cream was recently knocked down to $1.59 for 16oz! And chocolate chips are only $1.99.
I love their selection of fresh organic fruits and vegetables!
My favorite thing is their smoothie bar!
How to choose? I love their cheese selection, their selection of delicious chopped fruits, the fact that they carry very affordable wine… It is true that you don’t have to spend your whole paycheck to shop at whole foods!
The Whole Foods chocolate section is to DIE for! I also really love their awesome selection of non-dairy milk and yogurt.
I love, love, love the Whole Foods salad bar, and their kids food selection is great adn makes me feel good in what I’m serving my kids 🙂
Love their HOT bar
I love stopping by the salad bar after a nice yoga class for a quick and easy dinner!!
I love Whole Food’s salad bar. So many scrumptious and healthy choices await every time I go!
I don’t live close to a Whole Foods store so I plan a trip once a month to stock up on all the essentials like beans, lentils, frozen fruits and veggies plus tomato sauce. If an item I regularly buy is on sale I buy double – it seems like alot for one trip but when you add up the savings throughout the year versus what you would pay at regular price you can’t go wrong.
Two words: salad bar. Yum!
I really like going through the bulk bins and seeing what unique things I can try.
Whole Foods has the cheapest frozen fruit for smoothies than any grocery store in our area. I know I’m getting organic fruit for almost half of what the other stores are charging for non-organic so I always stock up at Whole Foods!
i love this grocery store but rarely shop at whole foods because of price! it’s interesting to see that it can be affordable if you make it work! i’d love to try that wheatberry stew recipe, but my husband has proclaimed that he HATES wheatberries after i tried to make risotto with them once!
Love the premade salads! I crave them every day!!
i love their gluten free variety!
I love the oats & nuts in the bulk bins, and their chocolate protein powder!
My favorite Whole Food’s Find is their Seeduction Bread! It is full of different nuts and seeds, giving it the perfect crunch and heartiness. I also love their homemade Tropical Greens freshly pressed juice. Delicious!
I love the bulk bins! My family enjoys a lot of nuts and dried fruit – so it’s an awesome way to stay within our budget!
At Whole Foods, I go straight for the bakery items, love the black and white cookies. And every time I stop in, I pick up some of their vanilla almond milk, like it even better than Blue Diamond!
The hot bar. I want it all! It was actually our birthday dinner this year cause we end up spending so much there by trying everything. Also love their fresh juice and their kombucha. Yum!
Bulk bins and the awesome produce!
We just got a Whole Foods in our area so I haven’t been very much yet….but I do love their salad bar!
I love Whole Foods homemade guacamole and peanut butter and their huge Gluten-free selection!
My favorite things to buy at Whole Foods are Field Roast vegan sausages, their huge tubs of fresh spinach (for smoothies), and Vega One!