Whole Foods- Shopping Smart

Let’s face it when we think of Whole Foods we think EXPENSIVE. For our family, we shop there because it has many of the rare allergy friendly items we buy for our son. We also shop at Whole Foods because of the vast amount of organic/ non-GMO options. Over the years I have discovered ways to make it more affordable to shop at Whole Foods.

Buying organic beans in bulk is one thing our family does to save money.

• Bring your own bags. Whole Foods will take 10 cents off per bag you bring.
• Buy in bulk.  Buying your flours, dried beans, rice, nuts, etc. in the bulk section can help cut costs. Canned beans are more expensive and have a higher sodium level. These non-packaged items are almost always cheaper…plus it is eco-friendly. I store mine in glass mason jars.
• Be open to trying the produce on sale each week and buy in season. This is a good way to introduce new foods and gives you more variety in your diet. Organic strawberries not in season are almost $6 for a shell. When in season they can be $2.50!! Stock up and store for future smoothies, shortcake, and homemade fruit rolls.
• Consider buying a case. When you buy a case you get 10% off. (The tag on the shelf by product will tell you what equals a case for the product. Each product is different.) Call me crazy, but recently I bought a case of organic ketchup. Yep, twelve bottles of ketchup. We really like the taste of the 365 brand organic ketchup and my husband likes gobs of it. He uses the term, “a gross amount”. Since it was tax free day (WF paid my sales tax) I decided to pull a double whammy- get 10% off and the tax off the ketchup. Recently, on three separate shopping trips, I have purchased a case of organic mangoes.  The other week I paid $14.26 for 16 organic mangoes. They were on sale for .99 cents a piece and then I received 10% off for purchasing a case! I planned on dehydrating them but we ended up devouring them for snack and meals, and brought them to a friends house to share. They were so good. When produce is on sale consider buying a case to dehydrate, freeze, or can for later.
• Follow your local store on Twitter and Facebook. I have found out about all sorts of deals and sales this way. Most of their deals are one day only so it is nice to have social media remind you to get to the store when there is a sale of interest to you.
• Use coupons. The Whole Foods booklet, called the Whole Deal, includes store coupons, manufactured coupons, recipes, savings tips, and a meal planner. The coupons are good for a couple of months. You can print them off of the website or pick up a few booklets at your local WF. WF will print out coupons for you at the customer service desk. If you buy multiples of the same items the cashier takes the store coupon off multiple times. At first I thought this was a mistake but they have done this on different occasions. Some Whole Foods will allow you to stack store and manufactured coupons which adds even more savings.
• Match coupons with sale items. This is where you can save a lot! I have gotten great deals on granola bars, cereal, salad dressing, toiletries and more this way. Below you will find links to coupons. You will find that if you follow the brand on twitter or facebook you can be alerted of special deals too.

Shopping at Whole Foods with my “mini cart”. My son decided he was tired of shopping so I took over.

Where can you find coupons for organic/natural items?