Walking into a Whole Foods Market without a shopping plan is like willingly entering a fugue state and re-emerging very confused an hour later and $200 lighter, with a $20 bag of maca powder in one hand and a $6 kombucha in the other. But if you know what to look for, you’ll find it’s possible to shop and save a few bucks in the process. We spoke with Kate Neu, the company’s Global Sales & Supplier Marketing Manager, about six little-known, smart-shopping hacks that will keep your wallet fuller when you come out on the other side (spoiler alert: none of them involve maca powder).
Ask to Try Anything (Anything!)
Whole Foods has a “try before you buy” policy that you can and should use to your fullest advantage—and it’s not just relegated to the bulk bin aisle. Ask an employee for a sample of just about anything in the store, from a box of cereal to a bottled drink, and they’ll let you try it right in the store. If you’re really lucky and/or persuasive, they might even offer to let you take the full product home.
Ask for Items Hand-Cut
The cheese, meat, and seafood counters at Whole Foods are great because you can buy exactly the amount you want and no one will blink an eye if you ask for “four shrimp.” And just the same way, you can also ask for half a cabbage (or squash, or watermelon) and a team member will hand-cut it for you in the store. It’s a nice option to have when your alternative is to let half a cabbage low-key rot in your fridge because you only used half of it for that one recipe that one time. We should note this is on a case by case basis (i.e. they’re not going to let you buy half an apple), but it’s definitely worth asking about if you don’t want to lug home a monster squash.
Hack the Salad Bar
Look past the sea of colorful grain salads (and those weirdly addictive potato samosas) at any Whole Foods salad bar and you’ll find a section of plain ingredients like sliced bell peppers, celery, and cherry tomatoes. This section of the salad bar is your secret best friend when you need to buy just a little bit of an ingredient for a recipe, so you don’t end up buying a whole head of celery you don’t need just so you can use ¼ cup in a dish. Just remember you pay by the pound, so this is probably not the place to pick up something like cooked rice, which is heavy.
Head to Bon Appétit for the final 3 tips.
Related: How to Buy Groceries: Supermarket Shopping 101
Source: http://www.glamour.com/story/secrets-of-saving-money-at-whole-foods
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