Coachella Valley’s Whole Food Market expensive or not….that is the question

Coachella Valley’s Whole Food Market expensive or not??…. that is the question we wanted to answer four ourselves!!!

The Coachella Valley has heeded the cries of the people complaining that our new Whole Foods Market is too expensive and has parking issues.  

To be fair…the store just opened so of course parking might be a bit crazy at first, however we wanted to “experience” the parking issues and high prices for ourselves.  So we took $60 cash and went to shop! 🙂

Upon pulling into the parking lot you could see the store was still buzzing from just opening yesterday however there was plenty of parking.  

In fact we parked in front of Nordstorm Rack right next door to Whole Foods and just walked.  We were able to observe that there was parking directly in front of the Whole Foods Market too. You know walking can be good for you!!

Parking problems….on this trip …we did not experience any.

Now let’s shop!  Entering Whole Foods Market Palm Desert was a bit tricky as it was very busy and pushing a cart around was kinda like navigating through rough waters.  

Patience was required and since we were not in a hurry we took a deep breath, smiled and went at the pace of a busy Whole Foods Market.

This allowed us to really take in all the eye candy throughout the store.  The beauty of food is displayed so perfectly it was almost a shame to disrupt the uniformity by grabbing some banana’s or the other items we needed off the shelves.

So what did we buy? A variety of goodness and here is the breakdown….

Fresh Ground Almond Butter .36lb                         $2.88

2 Whole Food yogurts                                                      $1.79

1 Fancy yogurt in a cute little glass jar (splurge)          $2.29

Uncle Matt’s Organic OJ 59oz                                     $5.99

WF brand Unsweetened Almond Milk  1/2gal               $3.49 

Organic Chicken Penne Soup 24oz.                          $7.99

Pecan Blue Cheese Salad for 2                                   $6.39

6 cans of Cat Food                                                           $5.00

4 Coconut Waters w/pulp                                            $6.00

Organic Bananas                                                             $1.66

2 Organic Roma Tomatoes                                          $0.84

Asian BBQ Mahi 1.68lbs                                                $7.09

2 Fresh Pastry Scone                                                      $4.50

1 Fresh Muffin (that did not make it home because I was hungry 🙂 )   $2.25

Total Spent $58.42 but wait!  I had a $15.00 off coupon when you spend $50 or more….so my total was $43.42

We got out of Whole Foods with 2 dinners, cat food, snacks, milk for cereal, coconut water for 4 days, almond butter to go with my bananas and enough OJ to last us a week for $58 if you do not count the coupon.  It may cost a few bucks less to have bought the same or similar items at another store but it would certainly not be the quality of what Whole Foods offers.  

I know for certain that 1 can of soup (Campbell’s which is not organic) is anywhere between $1.89 and $2.50 depending on it being on sale and the Organic canned soup is around $2.67 a can.

Knowing we would need 2 cans you can guesstimate it would cost $5.50 ish for 2 cans of soup.  We paid $7.99 and it is organic, Fresh and not canned.  You get what you pay for.

What we know is that specialty items can be a stretch for most of us. But with a little perseverance you can shop at Whole Foods and find all kinds of value. When you consider the ingredients, presentation and fresh meats, vegetables, and things like pizza by the slice, huge prepared food areas and customer service we had nothing to complain about on this run.

Some may decide it’s not for them. But we suggest you try before you decide.  Oh yea did we mention the spa water, 24 handles in their taproom and local favorites like Brandini Toffee and an amazing outdoor area to relax and eat all equipped with wifi and firepits.

We will be shopping at Whole Foods and we are very grateful to have them in our Coachella Valley 🙂  We are also excited to have the Walmart Neighborhood  Market open till midnight 7 days a week, with a Redbox, right down the street as well. It’s a 1, 2 punch for Palm Desert and Coachella Valley shoppers.

 

 

---

---