Whole Lotta Savings at Whole Foods

I love Whole Foods Market –  such variety! such healthy and organic products! such high prices?!?! Now, that would be the one thing I don’t love about Whole Foods. Don’t get me wrong, if I had deep pockets, I would have no qualms about spending $10 on a jar of spaghetti sauce. But, I don’t and aside from their 365 line, most of their products are out of my price range. So, imagine my delight when last Friday I was able to leave the store with the below items for only $6.50.

That’s eight bottles of Honest Tea (my very favoritest bottled tea), one bottle of Santa Cruz Organic Strawberry Lemonade, and one package of Back To Nature Fudge Striped cookies. Plus! I was also able to score this freebie.

what was inside the pack

Pretty snazzy, huh? So how was I able to do this?

In a nutshell, it was a combination of a sale and coupons. Every item I purchased was on sale (bring the total to $11.50). On top of it, I had a coupon for every item (reducing the total to $6.50).

So how can you do it? Well…I’m not going to tell you how to recreate this purchase because most of the coupons I used are no longer available. But I would like to give you some tips on how to save at Whole Foods (and similar stores).

There are many blogs out there that give detailed information on how to save money at specific stores. The blog I like to use as a resource for Whole Foods is Organic Deals. This blogger does an awesome job of showcasing organic deals one can find at various stores – online and brick and mortar. She also provides links to several online coupons to help sweeten these deals.

Ah yes, coupons, that is the magic word. I can’t tell you how much I love coupons. They allow me to save money every time I shop, I’d be sunk without them. What’s awesome now, is that several coupons are available online – simply click and print. In an earlier post, I highlighted Mambo Sprouts as an awesome Organic coupons resource. But there’s also, coupons.com, smart source, red plum (to name a few); as well as manufacturer’s and store’s websites. Even Whole Foods got in on the action.

And that’s pretty much it – check out the sales, clip out the coupons, and let the savings begin!

Oh yeah, the freebie! I almost forgot. That was courtesy of the awesome Mambo Sprouts. In addition to online and in store coupons, they also have a van that roams the country handing out freebies, like the pack pictured above. They’re in California through the end of the month. I highly recommend seeking them out. That gift pack was pretty sweet!