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 absolutely love Epic Bars and Dang Coconut Chips as well as White Oak Pastures grass fed beef.
365 brand crunchy peanut butter…hands-down!
Salad Bar!!!! & the produce dept is wonderful..love that place!! 🙂
Love whole foods and all of their goodies. My favorites are the Tazo teas they sell and their food bars.
Whole foods hot bar. Yumm
I love there 365 value items!
I love that salad bar, especially the roasted brussel sprouts
Love love love the whole foods housemade granola!! Soooo good- and their trail mix is one of my favorites too
I’ve never actually shopped at Whole Foods before since it’s not one of the closest grocery stores to my house, but I’ve wanted to for a while!
I love Whole Foods salad & hot bars and their cookies 🙂
I love their hot & cold bars! their food is SO good!
I live literally across the street from a Whole Foods. I avoid it as much as I can because I always go over my budget. I will definitely have to try your tips! The main thing I buy there is actually dog food!
I can only trust my healthy pup who loves the whole paws dog food. It’s all natural, free of wheat, corn…and affordable!!!!!
I personally love the jumble cookies and my hubs loves the beer selection.)
Also, to Kelsey, I lived in Austin for a very short time and once you shop the flagship store…well it’s a whole different level of awesome there! 🙂
Very cool post! I love shopping at Whole Foods but it’s usually just out of my price range, I’ve found the bulk section is amazing and by far the best deal for chia seeds, oatmeal, quinoa, etc compared to all of the other conventional stores I shop at.
My favorite things at WF are the vegan muffins, kombucha drinks, the vegan frozen pizzas, the huge produce section, and the big Silk soy creamer in vanilla. Love!!
– Leah
I like to think of whole foods as my guilty pleasure! I could spend all day in there. I think my favorite part is the salad bar. I always want to try everything! And their broccoli salad is amazing!
Pizza from the dinner section!
this post is just what i needed! it is great to see you can truly shop healthy and save money! i love whole foods, so i am excited to go and actually save some money! i love their bulk section – quinoa and oatmeal…i love their produce section and their salad bar is to die for…i could eat one every day!
I love the hot bar and the fresh ground nut butters!
I love the bulk products, love their selection of dried beans and my kids love all the samples they get to snack on during our trips.
I love that they sell Delallo pasta! I can’t find it anywhere else.
i love coconut flour and almond flour from their bulk bins!
I can’t resist the hot food bar!
All the different types of nut butter!
This may sound funny, but they have these amazing ginger chew candies. We are finally getting one close to where we live. I am so excited!
My fav deals at WF is the 365 brand coffees. Excellent coffee at a good value.
For sure my 3 kids LOVE the 365 Organic Multigrain Waffles. I can’t make any multigrain waffles that taste that good. I like the 365 Meatless Meatball. I could make $25 go a long way at Whole Foods.
I LOVE Whole Foods and I am so excited I just moved into an area where we have one close by!I love to stock up on their almond butter and quinoa! I also love they utilize local vendors, one of my favorite is a brewer who makes kombucha and they have the kegs that you can get the kombucha right in the store!
I love the 365 line, the bulk bins for my almonds, and I’m obsessed with their hot bar! It’s amazing!
I practically live at WF! I definitely have to try that lentil & wheatberry soup!
I discovered Perfect Food Bars while shopping at WF. I also love the hot/salad bar…I pretty much just love WF!
My love for Whole Foods was complete when I found out about their homemade tortilla chips (by the deli/salad bar) and fresh ground almond butter. YUMMM
I’m in love with Whole Foods’ bulk bins! I get my oats, granola, and seeds from there. I also adore all the high-end ice creams they carry, which I like to treat myself to every once in a while!
Confession: I’ve never purchased anything from Whole Foods!!! I’ve been once, but wasn’t shopping that day. I would LOVE to use the gift card to actually explore the store!
I’m obsessed with the hot bar ..and usually spend too much time there since there’s WAY too many choices.
The nut butter section at whole foods! 😀
I love the 365 coconut oil, and I also pick up things like lemongrass stalks and kaffir leaves that aren’t carried anywhere else near me. The salad bar (okay….and the dessert case….) is my favorite!
I LOVE the hot bar and cheese sections. It’s fun to just go in and browse. There is always something new. I’ve found great granola and almond butter.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
i am so happy to have a Whole Food Store in our area finally.. Our family started eating healthy a few years back and it was hard to find our local grocery stores that carried organic produces.. Needless to say we were thrilled with Whole Foods opening up in our area.. I love the 365 brands, also the deli case has some delicious salads.The fresh meat case carries a wide variety of meats daily. I have never been disappointed in anything i bought here. I also love the coupons that comes in their sales flyers and being able to double up using a manufacture coupon
Can’t go wrong with fresh organic fruit! They’re always so much more flavorful than the conventional fruits!
Great menu ideas. Since my family follows a paleo diet , Whole Foods is our favorite place to shop. We can always find an interesting assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables plus great valie on all of the basic ingredients we use to cook each day. My daughter even asked for a gift card for her birthday so she could choose some exotic new foods to try. Pretty wonderful since she is in high school and most teens are not focused on healthy food 🙂
Love me some whole foods!
What I love about Whole Foods? The kale, the rainbow chard, and the green vegetables! I am an international student, live in MA am movedhere for grad school. Because I miss the fresh green vegetables I had easily growing up back home, I finally gulped and paid the price for the vegetables at Whole Foods, and LOVE them!
Just got home from shopping there tonight! I love the 365 instant oatmeal packets and I am a huge fan of using their coupons to score some great savings!
I love Whole Foods. You really can find great deals when coupons pair up! I love their nut butter selection, especially the grind-your-own station. And they sell Hope hummus, one of my favorite brands! The thai coconut curry hummus is amazing.
I love their 365 brand and nut butter section! 🙂
I love their specialty foods, coffee, chocolate, and their hot foods.
I like the 365 maple syrup:)
At Whole Foods, I love the 365 Brand! Especially their 365 Cereal Bars!
I love their sushi! But also the meat selection since I eat paleo for multiple sclerosis
I love their green juice!
I spend wayyy too much money every time I go to Whole Foods, but I still keep going because they have the best cheese selection! I also really like their store-made dips (guacamole is delicious) and the Cindy’s Kitchen brand of salad dressings that are hard to find in other grocery stores.