Food Experiment: My Trip to Whole Foods with Coupons

Posted on | August 19, 2010 | 5 Comments

I’ll confess, I typically only shop at Whole Foods a few times a year when I have been on the run and feel like picking up some fresh premade food for dinner. As far as shopping the actual aisles, I was unsure of what I would find in terms of cost.

Before heading out the door to Whole Foods, I did some research for coupons. I found a few websites that house printable coupons for natural and organic products, such as healthsavers.com, mambosprouts.com, and a great article on about.com. I also did a search on the grocery coupon database on couponmom.com for natural and organic coupons. The following is what I found:

  • Eggland’s Best Cage-free/Organic: Smart Source 5/03 and 6/28, $0.50 off
  • Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter: Red Plum 5/03, $1.00
  • Terra Chips: Smart Source 5/03 and 6/07, $1.00
  • Mahatma Rice: Red Plum 4/26, $0.75/2
  • Blue Diamond Almonds: Smart Source 5/17, $0.50
  • Boca Meatless Product: Smart Source 6/7, $1.00/2
  • Nature Valley Granola Bars: Smart Source 5/31, $0.75/2
  • Silk Soymilk: Smart Source, 6/14, $1.25/2 half gallons
  • Brown Cow Farm Yogurt coupons
  • Organic Valley Dairy/Egg coupons
  • Kashi coupons

I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of manufacturer coupons scattered throughout the store. Perhaps this is due to the economy, or maybe Whole Foods always attaches manufacturer coupons to products throughout the store.

In total, I spent $113.30, with coupon savings of $8.00. All of the products I purchased were HFCS-free, fresh, and most were organic. I also spent $23 at Froberg’s for fruits and vegetables. The groceries that I purchased will last me for the next two weeks.

This is significantly more than I normally spend on groceries. For my next shopping trip, I will be going to Wal-mart and attempting to buy HFCS-free, fresh, and natural/organic. I am hoping for a lower cost. Let’s see what I find!

Small Signature

Comments

5 Responses to “Food Experiment: My Trip to Whole Foods with Coupons”

  1. Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
    August 19th, 2010 @ 1:50 pm

    I thought this sounded expensive for you! I’m used to seeing all your bills at 2 digits or less I guess. :-)

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  2. Amanda L. Grossman
    August 20th, 2010 @ 9:47 am

    Dear Crystal: Hehehehe:). You are right!
    Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living

    [Reply]

  3. Michelle
    August 20th, 2010 @ 10:02 am

    Did you pick up their in store shopping flier aka The Whole Deal? There’s at least 10 coupons in each one and they usually have the couponed product on sale at some point during the two month period the flier is good for. The coupons are also available to print on their website. The flier also contains a section with recipes and ideas for meals for 2 people.

    I recently have been purchasing the majority of my meat there but I only buy the cuts that are on sale that week. My local grocery store had closed their “full service” meat counter and now everything is prepackaged. I’ve been burned too many times by prepackaged meat where the top piece looked great but then they had poorer quality pieces underneath. I’m willing to pay extra for quality meat and service (the meat counter guys & gals are very knowledgable and eager to help you pick out the best pieces). Plus the beef and pork actually taste like the meat I grew up with on the farm. Another plus is if I need one or two italian sausage links for a recipe, I can get them there versus buying a whole package that then I’ve got to freeze the extras (which takes up valuable ice cream space).

    So you spent $136 for a two week grocery supply. For two of you that is $34 per person per week. I drop more than that on lunch alone every week (not very frugal of me :) but with the hubby on the road right now, lunch is my time to socialize and get away from the stress of the office).

    [Reply]

  4. Amanda L. Grossman
    August 20th, 2010 @ 10:10 am

    Hello Michelle!

    I didn’t realize you grew up on a farm as well. What kind of farm? Ours was dairy.

    Thanks for the information on the fliers and such.

    Paul and I have recently started using full-service meat counters for lunch meats…but have not gotten into it for other types of meats (though that is what I am used to from up North). I think we may give it a try; too many prepackaged foods make me hesitate.

    Thanks for your comment! The next post in this series is next Thursday (the actual grocery shopping experiment was completed prior to this month, so yes each trip accounts for two weeks’ worth of food, but I am posting once a week for it, in case there is any confusion:)).
    Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living

    [Reply]

  5. Thankfully Thrifty
    August 22nd, 2010 @ 12:37 am

    I shop Whole Foods for milk and meat mainly. All their meat is organic! http://www.thankfullythrifty.com/2009/06/whole-foods-tip/
    But don’t forget that you can stack coupons there, well depending on your store but argue it! So sometimes I have an organic valley manuf coupon AND Whole Foods coupon. :)
    Thankfully Thrifty recently posted..Weekend Coupons

    [Reply]

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