what do you buy at Whole Foods?

[ume]

I know Whole Foods is not the most popular place for those on a budget, but a recent trip to the Cambie location produced some good finds. I liked their salmon lox trimmings and breakfast turkey sausages; both of which I would go back to buy and thought they were fairly priced. What items do you tend to go back to Whole Foods for and are reasonably priced?

[meghany]

Roasted garlic (I'm lazy)
GF products - they have a solid selection
Ready-to-bake pizzas on Tuesdays (2 for 1) (not for me)
Nutritional yeast, alternative flours
House made sausages - soooo good, and fresh
Chicken, fish (though I find it expensive, but no more than a fishmonger)
The deli - all ingredients listed so I know what's GF and what's not, makes life easier!

[islandgirl]

Dairy-free items that are hard to find elsewhere: Daiya "cheese", Amande almond-milk yogurt (anyone have another source for this in Vancouver?)
Cinnamon Mount Royal Bagels
Ginger-rice muffins and Vegan Chocolate Mousse cake from the in-house bakery
non-Chinese garlic and ginger
whatever organic fruit and veg, preferrably local, is on sale this week
Italian-style turkey sausages (with fennel; these are much better than the pork ones they also make)
diapers (I know it's not food-related but it's one of the main items I go to Whole Foods for)

[watashi]

No Frills actually carries Daiya vegan cheese. It's regularly priced at around $4.99 there. Not sure how than compares to WF, but you'd think No Frills would try to beat WF's price.

[islandgirl]

Thanks for the info. Daiya is actually quite prevalent but I have yet to find another source for the Amande almond-milk "yogurt". It's a relatively new item at WF so I'm hoping some other stores will start carrying it soon.

[thatwhileifound]

Yep. Their distributor & broker are just starting to push it out there to get it on retail shelves. I couldn't avoid seeing Amande everything in my work's inbox starting as of about a week ago, so I imagine others are getting similar. It'll probably start popping up in all of the obvious retailers soon enough: Drive Organics, Nourish, Choices, etc.

[LotusRapper]

Daiya is also sold at Famous Foods on Kingsway (Vanc)

[watashi]

-smoked salmon trim pieces
-the lemon or chocolate single-layer cakes ($12.99 for a round one or $15.99 for a sheet cake)
-bread from Bread Affair or Terra (the bakery counter will slice it for you)
-dessert from their bakery if I want a special treat or if I'm taking something to someone's home
-Island Farms milk
-yogurt when it's on sale (Liberte, Olympic)
-49th Parallel coffee

[KarenDW]

Fair trade bananas, and a fresh mushroom mix are on my regular list.
When they are on sale, I buy whole organic chickens, and have them cut up (including boning out the breasts), and wrapped. If the butcher counter is not busy, the butchers will wrap the various cuts separately - this is where the real value is :) Otherwise, I take the whole lot home & start the stock pot, while I wrap the various pieces for freezing.
Other stuff I buy on sale: gluten free bread, some frozen organic veg, sausages (made in-house with no wheat products).

[waver]

Raw kale salad, but now I make my own. Mmmmm.

[grayelf]

I buy the proof-and-bake-yourself frozen croissants from Vancouver Croissant. Also the 365 laundry detergent which is an excellent value (but not very tasty). I could be convinced to get the kumato tomatoes again as well.

[Sam Salmon]

Free samples.

[LotusRapper]

LOL

:-D

[lunchslut]

Healthy, portion controlled (by me) lunch from hot bar
Roast whole chicken
Organic garlic
Miscellaneous desserts

House brand (365):
-Organic flour
-Panko (has nice large crumbs)
-BPA-free canned beans
-Demerra sugar

[repartee1]

I go there for florentines and d'affinoise cheese. Guess those are not so reasonable but oh, so good.

What seems to be there at around 5:00 are lots of samples from their seafood counter.

[Val]

I'm not in Vancouver but I also like many of the 365 house brand items...their solid white tuna is excellent, along with their red sockeye salmon, and frozen wild organic blueberries. From the bulk bins I get the organic yellow popping corn, oats and golden flaxseed (and grind them up myself for a week's worth of ground flax). Not sure if they sell their fresh crabcakes up there in Vancouver but back at the seafood counter, WHEN THEY ARE ON SALE, I do buy them--just about 100% crab meat, 4 ounces of heaven!

[LotusRapper]

- Whole roasted chicken
- Various desserts, depending on what picks my fancy
- Burrito (eat-in)
- Whatever's on sale

But WF isn't my regular stop, I shop between Famous Foods, IGA @ Main (or Buy Low @ Kingsway/Broadway), Windsor Meats and T&T + Chinatown shops.