5 Tips to Save Time and Money at Whole Foods

I love Whole Foods. I love saving money and time. Here are my tips for how to save money and time when shopping at Whole Foods.

Before I moved to Austin, I shopped at the Whole Foods store at Columbus Circle in NYC. I only bought hamburgers and pizza from that store and always ignored the fruits and veggies. The staff in that store was wonderful, just like the staffs at the stores here in Austin, Texas. Now that I eat only healthy food, I spend the majority of my food shopping time in the produce section. It’s so funny to type that last sentence considering a year ago I went with my nutritionist to WF and every fruit or veg she asked me if I liked, my reply was “no”. Yet today I eat everything they have!

Many people refer to Whole Foods as, “Whole Paycheck” because the prices are higher than other supermarkets like Kroger, HEB, Publix, etc. What I’ve found is that some items are more expensive but overall the prices are pretty close to other shops. The key is to know which supermarkets are the best places to buy your healthy lifestyle foods. For example, I’ve found that a small supermarket here in Austin called Randalls has the best price on organic spinach – saving me about $4 per week! And lacinato kale for my green juices is priced the best at Central Market. Overall I do prefer Whole Foods – just walking in the store I feel healthier and that I am taking care of myself.

I like deals because when I save money, I know I can buy more stuff…or better yet save up for a great vacation in 2013! Here are some of my tips on how to save money and time at Whole Foods.

Tip #1 – Check Whole Foods Coupon List

This one is a basic tip…the coupons that Whole Foods has don’t really work for me because I buy so much produce, but if you buy packaged products at WF, definitely check out their coupons before you head to the store. They update the coupons each month. The coupons are for their 365 Everyday Value house brand and also for the big nationwide brands.

Tip #2 – Shop on Wednesday

If you shop on Wednesday, the Whole Foods sales flyer will be in effect for 2 weeks as they overlap on Wednesdays. It’s a great way to save money AND time!

Tip #3 – Buy in Bulk

Most people know that you can buy in bulk at Costco or BJs to save money, but did you know you can buy in bulk at Whole Foods too?!? This is a secret tip so mums the word Here’s how it works: if you buy a case of an item, they will give you 10% off the total price. For example, today I purchased a case (12 bags) of frozen strawberries and the case discount amounted to 1.5 bags free!

So how do you know how many of a particular item is a case? Easy peasy! Look at the below shelf tags – my arrows show you the number to look for and that number is the case amount. Buy that many of the item and instant 10% discount. You need to tell the cashier that you are buying a case.

Tip #4 – The secret cashier

Ok, this tip has to be kept confidential between us ok – promise? If the checkout lines are busy and you have less than 10 items, just go to the customer service desk and they will check you out. If you go the Gateway store here in Austin at lunch time, the queues for checkout are crazy. But there is never anyone waiting at the customer service desk. I just pop over there, they check me out and I am on my way – saving at least 10 minutes. The customer service registers have scales for your produce.

Tip #5 – BYOB

If you bring your own bags, Whole Foods will give you 10 cents off your order per bag. We should all be bringing our own bags anyway so why not grab a few cents off your order. If you do the self-checkout, hit the “lookup an item” button then hit “popular items” and the bag refund will be on the top left.

I hope these tips will help you with your groceries bill and also save you some precious minutes in your day.

Check out some other groovy posts:

1. Whole Foods Austin Salad Bar Review
2. 10 Tips To Eat Healthy While Traveling
3. Quick Tips for a Healthy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season
4. These 8 Foods Contain Meat!