<p>if you buy the WF meat in bulk (4 IBS or greater) there is a small discount, so I wait till it goes on sale and then buy it in bulk. Helps a little.</p>
<p>Dog bones. Their dog bones are cheaper than any other grocery store I go to. I believe they call them soup bones (and they would work for that, too), but my dogs love them.</p>
<p>The bulk food section at Whole Foods–at least the ones here in Portland–is great. Organic oatmeal for 99 cents/pound. Lots of different kinds of nuts and seeds. Organic popcorn (very tasty, although a bit too much hull). Four different kinds of raisins (I usually get whatever kind is on sale). Different grains. Different beans. Etc. </p>
<p>As for meat and fish, there’s pretty much always something on sale. That’s generally what I buy.</p>
<p>Their organic creamy peanut butter is a single-ingredient peanut butter (only ingredient is peanuts–no salt, no sugar, etc.) that’s very tasty and very reasonably priced.</p>
<p>365 sesame rice crackers
Bell & Evans frozen chicken patties
Niman Ranch uncured bacon
Fresh mozzarella
Onion focaccia
English clotted cream </p>
<p>Whole Foods is fun, but my heart belongs to Trader Joe’s.</p>
<p>mantori…our Target sells quinoa!</p>
<p>Alas, our Target is just a regular one with a limited selection of foods, nothing out of the ordinary. But thank you for the suggestion! I miss the Targets in the Chicago area. (Actually, when it comes to shopping, I miss everything in the Chicago area. 
)</p>
<p>Was there just a few hours ago. They are in a great location and we park there and then do other shopping in the neighborhood. We end up at WF and need to spend $10 in order to have free parking. Of course we buy more.
Mainly I like their Maryland crabcakes (better than the Dungeness even though we are in Oregon).1 each is plenty. Their 360 brand is often well priced. Love their crab and spicy tuna sushi. Otherwise, occassionally deli prepared tofu dishes, a dessert, a special cheese. Rarely the produce as too much $$$. I would love to be able to afford WF’s as my main store.</p>
<p>Mantori–it’s true beef (and meat in general) is expensive at WF. We don’t eat it often; it’s more like an indulgence than a habit for us. Most of our meals are veggie, so when we do eat meat, we’ll pay the higher price for the quality and standards.</p>
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<p>Would those of you who have Wegmans near you, please stop rubbing it in on the rest of the country that does not! ;)</p>
<p>educate me, whats a wegmans?</p>
<p>Wegmans is a regional supermarket chain based in Rochester, NY; it has a few stores as far south as northern Virginia but not a lot beyond the NY/PA area. There are several in New Jersey (but not enough!). Staff tends to be courteous, stores quite clean, selection very wide, from inexpensive staple goods to fun specialty items. Prices are usually reasonable, certainly compared to WF. Stores are very large and usually have sections where economy-size packages of some products like detergent and paper goods are sold. I do not have a Wegmans close enough for regular trips but do occasionally go to the one closest to me as a treat (their baked goods are very good too, especially their chocolate cake and some of their breads). I don’t think their meat actually does compare that well to WF or even to Kings, which is a New Jersey chain, but I do agree that their produce is competitive–and almost always cheaper than WF. Wegmans has a wonderful apple selection int he fall, I suppose because of its upstate origins. It also buys a lot of produce locally and says what farm(s) it is from. The fresh local corn at the Bridgewater (NJ) Wegmans is consistently as good or better as that from our local farmers markets, which surprises me every time I buy it.</p>
<p>Cat litter, actually. I’ve discovered that their store brand is cheaper than a lot of other brands and works better than anything else I’ve tried. (Clay, clumping litter). Otherwise, I try to avoid produce and prepared foods, but I will get the 365 organic brand for random stuff like dried pasta. I live really close to a Whole Foods – it’s actually my closest supermarket to walk to.</p>
<p>three pages of threads and no mention of gluten free food??; Whole Foods is great for GF needs; yes, of course, Wegman’s is better but like Teriwtt, not near us (even here in NJ)…</p>
<p>FWIW, at least Whole Foods is in most areas of the country even if one has to drive 30 minutes to find one…</p>
<p>for those of you in the south, what is Harris Teeter? is this considered a higher quality type supermarket?</p>
<p>Sorry for those of you who don’t have a Wegman’s. I really think it’s an amazing store. It has an extensive organic section - kind of like a mini-Whole Foods. And it has specialty ingredients for international cooking. Awesome fresh fish. Local produce. Terrific breads. And I have found the organic chicken and and grass-feed beef to be just as good as WF, although not much cheaper. An amazing bottle shop with every beer you could imagine. It also has the cheap stuff (1.99 ice cream, 99 cent tuna) so it’s good on the budget. No lines. Friendly folks. I don’t think I’ll be moving out of PA any time soon…well maybe NJ if I had too :). They are a model of what ALL grocery stores should be. Although I still do Trader Joes, I can’t really find a reason to go back to Whole Foods. Although I do like the machine that makes freshly ground peanut butter :)</p>
<p>Harris Teeter is a cut above Safeway, and a cut (or two) below Wegman’s.</p>
<p>We go camping every Labor Day around Ithaca and my husband and his friend have the best time in the Wegmans there. Never even heard of it before that, no Wegmans near NYC.</p>
<p>rodney, pretty much what Hunt said; Harris Teeter is a relatively upscale but well-priced southern chain that reaches up to northern VA–there is one on the same stretch of Route 29 as Wegmans. I like HT a lot but would agree that their produce and meat offerings are not quite up there with Wegmans and WF. Very nice chain though. Those of us lucky enough to have access to both the ubiquitous WF and at least one of the other good mainstream chains are able to pick and choose without wasting a lot of time or fuel. But if I had to choose just one I think I would go with either Wegmans or Harris Teeter, or Kings if I were only in NJ because you can get at least some decent grass-fed or organic meat and poultry at any of them (Bell and Evans is everywhere these days) but you cannot get Bisquik or Ivory soap at WF!</p>
<p>mattmom…I hear you about the bisquick and ivory soap! I generally stay away from processed foods but I don’t like that I can’t find some regular stuff (and junk) at Whole Foods - I admit to wanting to purchase a small bag of twizzlers! (mostly for DH as a weekend treat). Wegs allows me to consolidate my shopping and save time. I’ve been doing some price comparisons too…for example I get Organic Smart Bran cereal at Wegs for $3.19. Same cereal is $4.79 at Whole Foods. Yikes!</p>
<p>My wife likes organic food, she gets a lot of salad ingredients there, for example. She also goes to the local farmer’s markets for same, but there are some particular items they don’t seem to usually have there that Whole Foods usually carries.</p>
<p>Also there are a few particular items there (in-house Italian roast beef, one particular brand of bread, couple other particular brands of things) that my son likes, where we don’t find those identical brands/items elsewhere around here.</p>
<p>It’s like that for a lot of things, We wind up shopping in about five different stores, because there are particular brands/ items that someone here likes that aren’t in all of them.</p>
<p>We have Weggies, WF and TJ. Now all we need is an In-and-Out…</p>
<p>We have a Whole Foods about 20 mins away. It’s inconvenient enough that I don’t go often. When I do go, I get fresh fish and meat (stock up on whatever is on sale), produce (wide selection, excellent quality), bulk dried beans, frozen calemari. Most of my shopping is done at a nearby Trader Joe’s. I’m going to see if there is a Wegman’s near here; it sounds great.</p>
<p>I do some of my grocery shopping at Amazon. For example, they have Bob’s Red Mill quinoa (highly rated. doesn’t need washing), low-mercury tuna, good quality sardines, Al Dente pasta. You have to buy in bulk, for example, 6 bags of quinoa. Their prices are lower than stores, if you set up auto-shipping you save 15% and get free shipping. Auto-shipping can be at various intervals, up to every 6 months, and you can cancel any time.</p>