How to Shop at Wholefoods, THE RIGHT WAY

Whole Foods is notorious for being known as one of the most expensive health food stores in the business. While this may be true, their are certainly ways in which you can work around this, whether you are plant-based or not.

Now, don't get me wrong... Aldi is my all time favorite place , and has recently came out with an ALL VEGAN/vegetarian mock meat and cheese line!

But for the sake of this particular blog post, we will focus on how to shop on a budget at Wholefoods, and the Do's and Dont's when it comes to crusin' down the many beautifully stocked aisles'

My first piece of advice: SHOP IN BULK

One of the most crucial ways to save money is to maybe NOT buy a bag of 6$ "Name Brand" Organic oatmeal and opt for THE SAME Organic oatmeal in the bulk section for a fraction of the price.

The same idea goes for other dried grains, nuts, and legumes. For example, that "Ancient Grains" mix may sound like it'll do your body good (which it will), but so will spending under 2$ on a POUND of Organic Millet in the Wholefoods Bulk section.

My second tip: STAY YOUR BUTT IN THE PRODUCE SECTION

Have you ever noticed how cheap Wholefoods produce is? Probably not, because if you are anything like me in the way that I used to shop at WF, you only came for the 6$ pint of Vegan Ben and Jerry's...OH, and the Giant 3$ vegan chocolate chip cookie...OH.... and the grocery bill is 50$ for five things.

no more.

I am in NO way telling you you cant splurge on tasty vegan treats (I do all the time), but if you are trying to shop in a way that is going to sustain you and possibly other people, its not ideal and not sustainable at all.

If you actually pay attention, produce is actually REALLY cheap. I would spend 2$ on a head of Organic Romaine lettuce any day, and $1.99 a pound for Organic Fuji Apples? Ill take it!

You can thank, in part, Amazon for changing the Whole Foods Market game and contributing to the price drop in everyday Organic food items such as apples, lettuce, oranges, bananas... even eggs and diary. According to the Washington Post, "Prices are down 1.2 percent since Amazon finalized its $13.7 billion purchase of the grocer." (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)

So NOT complaining, considering that I eat pretty simply and prefer actual Whole Foods....hence the name, I walk out of those shiny doors feeling happy about my grocery bill.

Last Tip: ONLY BUY WHAT YOUR ARE GOING TO EAT

...Nothing more, nothing less. I know we've all had our times hen we have went a little crazy in the store. I know the apples look shiny, but you don't need to buy 20 of them, especially if you do not even eat apples that often.

If you love oatmeal, buy enough to sustain you for the weeks to come, you'll be happy you did, and you wont make as many trips to the grocery store if you have everything you need.

So, that is my advice to you. Learn from my many mistakes and follow these tips, let me know how it works out for you!