^^ 13:53 again. We buy whole yogurt in the big containers and take some out and mix it with fruit, although my older kid actually likes it plain. We also make our own hummous -- it's pretty easy if you have a pressure cooker and a blendtec!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's not whole foods, it's your shopping habits. buy bananas instead of blueberries. buy tofu instead of beef. buy bulk beans instead of eden organic bps free cans of beans. and stay away from the damn tea cookies.

ITA. We buy most stuff at WF but we're able to keep our spending at a very reasonable level because we rarely eat meat, buy beans and grains in bulk, don't get expensive/exotic produce, and resist the pull of the very tempting but totally overpriced single-serving/convenience/snack foods. Someday when I've got tons of money I'll come back and buy all those chocolate-covered, goat-cheese-stuffed dates

+1. We're vegetarian, and eat only a little bit of dairy (milk/yogurt) and eggs. Whole Foods isn't all that expensive for us. The real secret for us is that we hardly buy any processed items. No crackers, cookies, snacks, etc. Bread, cereal, peanut butter and honey are the only such items.

Do you have kids? I ask because we spend a fortune on things like crackers, pretzels and cheese sticks. What do you give your kids for snacks, if you have kids? (I also can't afford fruit at WF.)

PP here. Fruit, veggies (carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, etc), yogurt, nuts, hummous, oven roasted chickpeas, sometimes small sandwiches. Perhaps because we aren't buying meat, we are able to afford the fruit? We buy whatever fruit is on sale.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MOM's is so much cheaper.

This is an urban forum. MOM's does not exist in the city.

You're wrong. This is a forum for the DC metro area with a lot of visiting posters from around the county. Stop and look at Jeff's usage stats and you'll see that this is NOT only for inside the district. If you can't get out to MOM's that bit of advice won't help you. But for those posters who live or work in the suburbs, or can get out there occasionally, this is useful information.

Take the comments that apply to you and then ignore the rest.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MOM's is so much cheaper.

This is an urban forum. MOM's does not exist in the city.

Do you really think the surrounding cities are RURAL?

A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is great--during the summer! We pay up front and receive veggies from May until Nov. You know where the food comes from and it is cheaper than whole foods, but you have to enjoy or be tolerant of cooking whatever they provide.

I also buy selected items from Harris Teeter; they do accept store coupons from competitors --like the $10 off $50 coupons they have sometimes from Shoppers. So that takes a little off the bill. They also usually tell you where the produce or meat is from.

Be careful buying organics from Giant: be sure to read the labels as I have found much of their store brand organic stuff comes from China or other countries with questionable practices. Much of their produce does not have a place of origin. Even in Whole Foods I check all the labels; would rather eat non-organic from the US than organics from China.

Agree with the PP that if you shop whole foods at Whole Foods it is cheaper than whole foods at Giant or Safeway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MOM's is so much cheaper.

This is an urban forum. MOM's does not exist in the city.

You're wrong. This is a forum for the DC metro area with a lot of visiting posters from around the county. Stop and look at Jeff's usage stats and you'll see that this is NOT only for inside the district. If you can't get out to MOM's that bit of advice won't help you. But for those posters who live or work in the suburbs, or can get out there occasionally, this is useful information.

Take the comments that apply to you and then ignore the rest.