Whole Foods - Austin, TX Review

Whole Foods is my very favorite store. Sure I love Trader Joe’s for their frozen turkey, frozen chicken breasts and wild salmon. However Whole Foods is a supermarket which carries everything I could ever need.

They can be found all over the country though not in every state. They are in Canada and in the U.K. as well. I’ve been to many stores and there are slight differences. For example the store closest to me sells food in bulk and has an area in which prepared food can be purchased and eaten. In this area I can buy coffee and smoothies.

What prompted this review is the fact we spent five nights in Manhattan with a Whole Foods around the corner. We ate dinner from Whole Foods four of those nights!

There are a few major differences between this one and the one near my home. The one in Manhattan has two floors and an escalator on which to put my wagon.

They are so busy that they have a line system and just installed a monitor. This monitor shows which line is next and what cash register to go to. There are about 30 cash registers in this very busy Whole Foods. The line moves quickly though.

The food bars in Manhattan are fabulous offering vegetarian and Indian foods. You’ll also find tradition salad ingredients in three separate stations. Some of my favorite items are the fallafel balls; (Falafel is made from chick peas, fava beans or a combination of the two.) the marinated, grilled veggies and the rice dishes.

You’ll find fresh home made soup in a separate station. If you don’t feel like spending time at the stations there are dozens and dozens of prepared packages of food and already cooked items at the deli, hot bar and fish bar. One night we got shrimp tempura. This was already cooked. We just heated it up.

Another difference between stores is that the Manhattan location doesn’t sell bulk foods. We love nuts and would prefer to buy them in bulk rather than in pre-made packages. I’m sure this was a business decision but I do like my Whole Foods for that reason.

Every time we leave Whole Foods we feel good. The staff is friendly and they look healthy. The stores are clean and it is easy to find products though with Manhattan’s two levels it can be a bit chaotic.

We buy many vitamins from Whole Foods and it is the store where we buy Hanna’s dog food. I can’t find it anywhere else close by. (Paul Newman’s)

With all these accolades I can’t help but mention you will pay a premium. One nice thing Whole Foods does is have conventional versus organic produce so if $5.99 is a bit over budget for you to spend on a pint of strawberries you can buy them more reasonably prices. Still much of the food you will find to be more expensive than elsewhere but I think it’s worth it. Since we eat primarily organic foods we have decided to bite the bullet and spend the money. The salad bar is $7.99 a pound which is probably a $1.00 or $2.00 more than you are used to spending.

The breads which are phenomenal will run you over $3.00 a loaf but you have to try one before you say you’d never spend that when you can buy bread for $1.29.

They have a wonderful display of cold drinks, organic cottage cheese. sheep yogurt and organic items that are hard to find elsewhere including paper goods that are recycled.

Whole Foods takes credit cards. Each store has its own hours so check before you go.

Jo’s Point of View

Many thumbs up!