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!
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
Love their bakery section!
Hi!
I LOVE the bulk nuts at Whole Foods as I make my own nut butters regularly! I also love the prepared foods as a great way to compliment dinners in our house. The salad bar is also amazing and always looks so fresh and appealing.
Love the trail mix from the bulk bins, but my favorite is the freshly ground almond butter. Great deal and SO good!
I love the bulk bins, especially oatmeal, baking stuff and coffee!
I am OBSESSED with the 365 Greek yogurt and almond milk — truly wonderful quality and such a great price! Their veggies humus is also simply beyond and my go-to appetizer for parties or when dropping by a friend’s house!
I love finding random yummy snacks at Whole Foods – they have the best! And their deli/food bar of course!
I love their salad bar and fresh made sandwiches! Healthier and much more delicious than chain restaurants!
not a cheap find ($5/bottle), but i found the BEST RAW COCONUT WATER ever at whole foods!
I love Justin’s peanut butter cups, the bulk foods, fresh meats, and Frontera brand chips!
Love WHOLE FOODS! My greatest find yet is their 365 bottles of wine! So Great!
I am a huge fan of their produce section- not terribly pricey and always a good selection!
I love Whole Foods 365 Brand items as well as the bulk bin foods! The bakery isn’t bad either!
Some things I always buy at Whole Foods: kombucha, coconut water, love their produce and nut selection!
I love Whole Foods!! I love the prepared fruit for when I am traveling! The fruit always tastes amazing! Also, I love all of the nuts they carry. Oh, and they have awesome ziploc bags! Excellent quality and reasonably priced.
Where do you find your coupons each week? I have been trying to get into using coupons for our weekly trips to the store, but can’t seem to find good places to look!
My favorite part at Whole Foods is the hot bar, yum!
I definitely always take advantage of the bulk bins! This weekend I was making paleo apple crisp and needed dates, shredded coconut and pecans. Bulk definitely came in handy since I never use those things in any other recipes.
My favorite thing to get from Whole Foods is meat. I like the WIDE variety of meats as well as their quality.
As a person who tries to eat mostly local, organic and non gmo I have relied on whole foods for many things as labeling those preferences is key. I eat a lot of nuts so the bulk bins are great. However if you’re listening whole foods…cupertino has stopped labeling where many bulk items come from. Local mgmt does nothing. For a store that promotes full disclosure, this is a major disappointment. Every bin should be labeled with item origin. But I do love me some whole foods!
I love the organic dried mango that you find in the bulk section!
I never leave Whole Foods without wine and cheese. I love the little cheese bin where you can pick up smaller pieces to try out!
I love their Blackened Chicken salad in the deli! And their hot bar always has something great on it. 🙂
I love their beauty products. They have the best lotions and sunscreens.
I love the bulk bins. And the beer selection is so amazing. Last time I was at WFs I found habanero chips. So good and spicy!
I love the coconut macaroons at Whole Foods! I used to buy them all the time in college when I could walk down the street to my favorite Whole Foods in Milwaukee 🙂
I first discovered coconut oil spray at whole foods and I always get it now! It’s so much better than PAM. Plus, it adds a great flavor.
And I always get their milk/almond milk and cheese!
Nuts from the Bulk Bins. Love them.
I LOVE their salad bar!! Everything on there is so good! And they’re 365 brand of raw almond butter is amazing!
I go to pick up fruits and veggies!
(But that pasta and broccoli dish you made is definitely on my next to-make list)
I usually make a special trip to Whole Foods just for their nutritional yeast!
Not cheap, but splurging on a weekly cheese is delicious and fills in as a healthy (ish) dessert!
I love their garlicky kale salad (and really want to recreate it at home). Another good find is their store brand protein powder – I love it in my smoothies!
LOVE Whole Food’s 365 Almond Butter! Really yummy, and cheaper than almost all other brands!
I love getting the bulk bin oat bran!
The bulk section!! Especially since they recently installed a bulk spices section at my local Whole Foods. I’ve been making a lot of new recipes lately that call for whole spices (cinnamon sticks, star anise, etc), and it’s really fabulous being able to just buy however many I need. Saves on cost, and the spices are always fresh! Win, win 🙂
My life changed when a Whole Foods opened near me – and I had already been into healthy eating since a very young adult! I assumed that everything would be expensive, but I have found sooo many things cheaper and/or better quality at WFM!!! I love Bob’s Red Mill products, and they are cheaper to buy there than ordering from Bob’s, esp as the shipping is very expensive. I’ve searched online sites for raw cashews, and WFM is the cheaper than any online site I could find, also no shells to break a tooth on! Red peppers are 3 for $3 – wowie! I love their milk, their cheese! and I’m like a homing pigeon for the flash sales – my heart literally skips a beat!! The organic produce and chips on sale are much better and less expensive than the grocery stores. And I’m not the only one who has found themselves rapturing over a fruit hard to find, even snapping a photo – for instance, huge organiz Buddha’s hands (fruit), heirloom rare apples, I must stop!!!
I love the 365 brand almond butter…so yummy!
I love buying off the hot bar and using the pre-cut veggies to save time in my cooking!
I love whole foo
Two words…Cookie Butter. It will change your life.
I love whole foods 365 peanut butter!
one of my favorite finds which makes a health and easy meal are their frozen mahi mahi burgers!
I love their produce section
I love that I can find some specialty vegetarian foods there (gelatin-free marshmallow might be my favorite 🙂 ) and the prepared foods bar is always good!
I love Whole Foods Market, and would shop there more it wasn’t so far away. But if I win this $25 Gift Card, I’ll certainly make the trip. My favorite WF items is the entire 365 line of products. They are so healthy, but tasty too. If I got the *GIVEAWAY* gift card, I’ll buy: kombucha, dates, pumpkin, figs, veggies and tilapia (I’m into it now). Basically, a lot of Autumn foods. 🙂
I hope I win!
Totally and utterly obsessed with their pretzel buns!
It’s great to hear strategies for navigating Whole Foods on a budget! As a college student who has to cook all meals at home, that is something I can really, really appreciate. I look forward to using their bimonthly catalogue for savings. I hadn’t heard of that before! The 365 organic line is one that I often use. I also am super smitten with the Whole Foods hot bar 🙂
oh where to even begin…green valley yogurts (best lactose free yogurt ever), amy’s single serve pizzas, hot bar, cornbread, kombucha, raspberry oat bars, selection of protein/snack bars and cheap local eggs
The 365 brand crunchy peanut butter is the best I’ve ever had! A definite must-try!
Anything in their produce section! I love getting seasonal items.:)
I love the pre-made sandwiches to go and the salad bar.