Favorite Healthy Grocery Stores

Looking for healthier grocery stores? Our family tries to eat organic, non-GMO foods whenever possible. That is why we enjoy shopping at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Thrive Market!

Whole Foods

Whole Foods carries organic, natural foods along with body care, health supplements, and a limited supply of other household items. The store also sells pre-made food, and food that you can have cooked while you shop. When we don’t have time to cook, we enjoy Whole Foods’ pizza, organic rotisserie chicken, burgers and Asian cuisine. The hot bar and cold bars also sell a variety of healthy foods, comfort foods and some ethnic foods. The cookies, cakes, gelato and ice creams from the bakery are made with real sugar and other real food ingredients. Simply delicious!

Whole Foods seems to be the most expensive of the three stores, but you can save money by choosing the 365 brand (the more affordable Whole Foods brand); you can also save some money if you are an Amazon Prime member. My husband and I spend $20 to $200 per visit. Depending on which products are currently discounted for Prime members, we usually save $2 to $15 per visit. I like Whole Foods because of its wide selection of foods (including pre-made foods) and high-quality products. I have been shopping at Whole Foods for ten years and I can only remember a couple of times when I could not find an exotic food item that I was looking for!

Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s is a kid-friendly store that provides unique natural and organic foods. They also carry a very limited amount of health supplements and household products. My kids love Trader Joe’s because of the kid-size shopping carts, stuffed animals, lollipops and stickers. Each store has some kind of stuffed animal (our local stores have a monkey and a dragon named Norbert) that is hidden somewhere new everyday. At checkout, children are rewarded with a lollipop if they tell the cashier where the stuffed animal is hiding. The children are also given stickers at checkout. Fun seasonal items include pumpkin pop tarts and Trader Joe’s sells unique items like calamansi juice. The food selection is a lot smaller than Whole Foods, but I choose Trader Joe’s over other grocery stores because they promise that all their products are GMO-free. Trader Joe’s is also a win because it is a very affordable, high-quality grocery store.

Thrive Market

Thrive Market is an online store that carries many of the same products and brands as Whole Foods, but at lower prices. Like Trader Joe’s, Thrive also promises that all their products are non-GMO. Products are ordered online and free shipping (shipping takes about three days) is provided for orders over $49. After a 30-day membership trial, you pay a yearly $59.95 membership fee which is donated to a family in need. Members can also receive free gifts such as coffee, pancake mix, supplements, nutrition bars, skin care, and other great products when orders have reached a specific dollar amount. I like Thrive because of its convenience; I don’t have to leave the house and I have an endless amount of time to do research on products before buying. Thrive is also affordable and sells a diverse selection of products.

Where do you shop for high-quality groceries?

This post was originally published on November 14, 2018 and updated on July 29, 2019.