I Was a Whole Foods Virgin
Until yesterday. Recently, I've been on a fitness kick in order to take better care of myself. You know - eating right, exercising, getting enough rest, taking time to relax. The whole shabang. For exercising, it's been my goal to exercise at least 4 to 5 times per week (this week has included 4 days), to completely cut out coffee - even decaf, to rest when I need it, and to try to buy more organic food. So H and I drove to the nearest Whole Foods, which is about 5 miles away in Mountain View. I have to say that I was pretty impressed. The store was very clean and well laid out. Even the prices weren't as bad as I had prepared myself for. The only gripe I had is that I could not go down the frozen aisle because the stock clerks were refilling the freezers. I never will understand why some stores refuse to either stock very early or very late. Not that tough of a concept. H and I weren't there very long because H had control of the cart and I could not keep up. But, along our random journey, I was able to get some whole wheat bread, cottage cheese, Yogi tea, and organic gingersnaps, all of which are pretty good. Next visit, I will be in charge of the cart!
posted by Notta Wallflower at 12:05 PM
14 Comments:
I relate since I'm eating healthy too! I'm a fan of smaller groceries though, where you can get in and out fast.
I also visit a very small local produce stand and, unfortunately, it takes me the longest to get through lines there. :-/ Maybe it's the area I live in, but several of the smaller places are like that.
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I have never been in an organic store before. I mean we buy produce from the grocery store but never this organic stuff you see around. I have to admit I am not even sure if we have just a store like that here. I wouldnt know where to look even if we did really.
Tweety - I don't know if you guys have either Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, but you can look them up on the internet and use the "store locator". It's more expensive, but the produce has less pesticides and such.
Whole foods has great bulk herbs and eco-friendly cleaners too. I like Whole foods but it's not practical for us. There's actually a grocery chain here in Chicago that is like a median between Whole Foods and a normal grocery store. They have great produce, organic stuff, free range eggs, some gourmet froofy stuff, as well as the normal crap like mac n' cheese and the like. We try to go there as much as we can.
We have 2 chain grocery stores in town..period. The closest we get to whole foods is when we grow our own veggies and I bake bread.
I do cook 95% from scratch, which does eliminate a lot of preservatives.
Laura - I have not seen the herb section yet or the cleaners, but I was surprised that they sell makeup. I didn't expect a whole section devoted to it in the grocery store.
TSHS - I don't make enough from scratch and apartment living doesn't lend itself well to growing a garden. :-/ Maybe someday. :-)
Way to go! I didn't used to buy much organic, but after going vegan I suddenly had more money to spend on fresh, healthy produce.
I let Richard push the cart, on the condition that I get veto power over anything he puts into it. :)
SME - Ha, ha - that's a pretty good arrangement. Yeah, meat and dairy products cost a lot, so you're saving a lot of money there.
Several things about Whole Foods - got a friend who works there, who can vouche for Whole Foods being a good place to work. If I remember correctly, Fortune Magazine gave Whole Foods one of the top companies to work for.
Another - you already know my thoughts on organic food. If it weren't for the price, that's all we'd eat. But we do enjoy it often.
Also, their supermarket is an experience. I actually enjoy shopping there. We go to the one in Walnut Creek. Great place, but I heard the place we go is one of their smaller ones.
Whole Foods is also getting other stores to increase their organic lines (because they're realizing it's bad business not to have organic). Safeway has their "Safeway O" and it's quite good. They take their taste testing seriously.
We're probably going to pick up some Whole Foods stock soon. It's on the exchange as WFMI. With my past in stocks, I probably shouldn't be giving anyone stock advice, but I'm just saying...
I wish we had money for stock - we pulled it all out to get ready to buy a house. :-/ I never pick stock - I leave it to H. He does pretty well with investing. Our Safeway close to us only has a very small organic section, which is disappointing. Trader Joe's has some good stuff, but the store close to us is extremely small and I refuse to go in there. I can't handle crowded places.
Notta - Buying a house is more important than having stock. In my whole life, I've made money in stock, but way more money in houses, even though I bombed with two houses. Plus, having a home is a HUGE tax write-off. Having stocks isn't.
Donald Trump said that one's own home is their most important asset. I believe him.
ZS - Actually, with how unpredictable the stock market is, I tend to agree. If you look at a home as a long term investment, then I think a person can weather the bumps in the real estate market.
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