Why I Happen to LOVE Whole Foods Market

According to Google Maps, we live 1.2 miles from the Whole Foods Market flagship store here in Austin, Texas. Whole Foods, as you might know, is expensive. Like, REALLY expensive. Shopping there requires a complete paradigm shift from my days of couponing and bargain shopping. Our family priority now involves clean eating and knowing from where the stuff we put into our mouths comes. Well, that, plus...

But, seriously, that's not the only reason. It's a reason I'm drooling, sure, but... there are many more reasons I love Whole Foods. In no particular order:

1) Rubber bands. They put rubber bands around your egg cartons so they don't flop open and eject embryonic chickens all over your trunk, kitchen floor, etc. They will also do the same with berry cartons, but the cashier today was telling me that he doesn't like to do that because he is concerned that the rubber band could cut through the clear plastic and bruise the berries.

2) Ice packs. If you buy meat and aren't going to be heading to a refrigerator very soon, they will give you little bags of Sonic-esque ice to keep the stuff cold. Sweet.

3) Samples. Yes, on weekends, they have samples everywhere in the whole store. But also, the other day, my sister and I were hanging out looking curiously at the persimmons. The gentleman who was working in produce asked if we wanted to try one, then he went in the back to get a knife, came back, and cut into a persimmon, which he ate with us. The best way I can describe it is a sweet, citrus-y tomato kind of thing. It was yummy and while I didn't feel the need to spend three bucks on one of them, it was awesome that he just split one with us, and that he hung out chatting while we enjoyed it together.

4) It's biker-friendly!

5) The meat... well, the meat has some quality of life before it's slaughtered to feed me and my family. That might sounds dumb, but I really don't want to contribute to a system that has chickens hatched in cages and their leg muscles don't even work because they have no room to stand, and they poop on each other (which I have no doubt they do anyway, but at least it's their disgusting choice instead of a by-product of the fact that they're just stacked on top of each other. 

6) Homeopathy and other personal products. There are so many choices here. If you want a deodorant without aluminum, you can find several options instead of just one. Today, I got an herbal allergy symptom treatment. It worked very quickly!

7) James loved Whole Foods before he moved here because everyone he met who worked at a Whole Foods LOVED it and thought they had the best jobs in the world. All of the places here in Austin must be awesome because they're not quite as happy-happy around the flagship store. Personally, I'm fine with this. The butchers are AWESOME; I love to watch them.

8) The escalators. There are stair escalators up, for people who have legs. But when you're going down to the parking garage with your cart, what do you do? The escalators are brilliant. The carts magnetically "attach" to them so the carts will not roll down the escalator (de-escalator?) when you're heading to the garage.

9) So. many. choices. The flagship store is HUGE. It's awesome.

I'd articulate more, but Munchkin calls!