Call me a skeptic, but my thoughts going into this were that I will not be spending a lot of time at Whole Foods in spite of its new presence less than 3 miles from my home. I could not find a whole lot of reasons to go out of my way to visit it when there were locations across town, I cannot imagine that this will change being closer to the house.
I am willing to give them a chance, however. My experiences I have had with Whole Foods across town, albeit limited have not all been positive. I try not to hold this against a store that is going to be practically in my back yard. They will be local grocery competition. Also with my various digestive and diet limitations/restrictions the Whole Foods experience could be different now. I was willing to give them a fair chance being a brand new store.
A lot of people are not crazy about store “opening day” celebrations and I understand that, but I like to show my support for businesses coming to the area, especially when they are businesses that I am “likely” to frequent. A grocery store is a business that I am likely to frequent. I have gone out of my way to give new local grocery store chains in town visits, why would I not give Whole Foods the same chance? Not to mention, my mom actually wanted to go too. This is a big deal. Those that know my mother know that she does not always feel good and just getting her out and about can be a challenge. The fact that I was able to get her out of the house and to a grocery store that we knew was going to be crowded is a miracle by itself. She did just fine, by the way. It was hot in there and that was enough to make me a little miserable and her blood sugar was a little high when we left, but all in all she did fine until the very end.
Another reason that I wanted to wander out today was because Whole Foods has a nice community donation program. They are fairly generous to the community their stores are in. That is something that I like. As their very first organization to support, they chose the Klein ISD Education Foundation. That is pretty cool. The KEF offers a lot of neat programs and benefits to the district. One of those programs is the district’s Mobile Library – the Reading Express. The bus was on location at Whole Foods today. It was not there just for show either. It was there and fully functional and ready for the students in the area to check out library books. These programs happen because of KEF so funding is a big deal. Whole Foods is donating 1% of today’s sales to the KEF.
Mom and I did not go alone to the store. We took Lance and Katlynn. I think Lance was just glad that he did not have to go alone. You know, grocery shopping is so much fun. I did not intend to buy that much stuff on this trip, I just wanted to check out the store – mostly. I needed a few things but I was not going to buy them at Whole Foods if they were going to be considerably cheaper somewhere else. I did want to help support KEF though. It is an organization that I can support as my children directly benefit from some of the programs. If they do not benefit from the programs and services, their teachers might benefit from some of the grants the foundation provides. Still I was not going to spend a huge amount of money for groceries I could get elsewhere just to help a good cause.
I did not get any pictures of the crowds. The parking was in sane. We finally found a parking spot along the curb just outside the “fire lane” red stripe behind the store. I pulled into that spot so quick your head would spin. I had already driven around the entire parking lot. They had a couple of sheriff’s directing traffic in and out of the parking long on Louetta Rd. It was pretty packed. I can see that this will be a problem for a little while until the “novelty” of the store wears off. The parking lot is just too small. It is also not just the Whole Foods in the parking lot, it is a few other smaller shops in the strip-center with them. Parking is going to be at a premium.
I also did not get any pictures of Lance and Katlynn in the store. They were fine at first. In the produce department I kept them entertained by asking them if they knew what different fruits and veggies were. There were some interesting ones in there as seeing it was a Whole Foods after all. We were comparing the different peaches and telling what the differences were between regular peaches and white peaches. Making it across the produce section brought all of that to an end. Katlynn was then disgusted by the big beheaded fish. Out in the open no less. “That’s disgusting!” Yes. Yes it is.
They were excited about all the samples. I of course was not because keeping Lance away from those things that might trigger a migraine before Cub Scout Day Camp later that afternoon was going to be all sorts of fun. It was too crowded for me to spend time really reading labels and I really did not have the time. So if it might have nuts in it, I denied access. I know, mean mom. Oh well. He will live. The sausage was open season and they kept going back for more. The sample guy kept encouraging all the kids. The deli meat guy was well mannered enough that I even bought some of the meat – two packages. The coupons helped. Lance really liked it. I like the brand and it was buy 1 get 1 free and there was a coupon for the one I was buying. Since I have 2 kids that cannot eat peanut butter, lunch meat is a given. I was just upset that they did not have chicken in the family size packages.
Of course then they got bored. How do you keep a 9 and 10 year old entertained in a busy and crowded grocery store? Please do not answer that because there is plenty of you that will give me answers that will vary and range on both ends of the spectrum. Lance found that there was a map in the flyer that had the coupons in it. He and his cousin were cooking up some crazy idea. I could tell it. I am not stupid. I am a mom, not stupid.
Well Lance decided that he needed to go to the bathroom…
The two of them gang up on me. I asked them, “Do you know where the bathroom is?” They assured me that they did. “Really?” It was then that I learned about the map. They opened it up and showed me exactly where the bathrooms were on the map. They are smart.
I looked at them both. I am a firm believer of the buddy system. The problem is that I have a boy and a girl and I cannot send them both into the same bathroom. I had me a problem to my usual solution. Oh what the heck! “Take the map. Go with each other. Stick to each other like glue. Do not come back without each other. Wait outside the bathroom for each other. Do not leave without the other. Do not go into the bathroom with each other, but wait outside – patiently. Come back together. Go!” After a couple of “Yes, ma’ams” they were off!!! Ahhhhhh….a few moments of peace to read labels and look at things on the shelf and compare products without “I am bored” and “when can we leave?” in the background.
They were so excited to tell me about their adventure when they got back. Evidently the map was not entirely correct. The bathrooms were not where indicated – exactly. They were, only they were upstairs. They told me all about the stairs and then how they discovered there was an elevator.
The best part? They forgot to get a drink when they went. Whine ensued. “GO!” Off they went again. I think I sent them off 3-4 times before we were finished shopping. They were happy. I was happy. Oh and they had to come find us because we were always in a different spot when they came back.
They were generally well behaved. I am not encouraging the behavior, by the way. At the moment, it was what we needed to save our sanity. Trust your instinct and what your kids will handle in the circumstances. Together they were fine walking back and forth together. She might not have been doing it by herself, likewise him. Together, they did just fine.
As for me and how well I behaved, that is still open for discussion. My list going into Whole Foods was: honey, spreadable tub butter, and rice krispy type cereal. I knew that I would probably grab a couple of other items while I was there if there were good prices in the meat department or frozen foods. Otherwise I was just looking to see what they had. I was especially checking to see their status on Raclette cheese in the cheese counter and also the availability of kosher cheeses.
There was that over-priced thing of honey I bought. Mostly, it was because I needed honey. I made 2 batches of granola bars and ran out of honey in my normal granola bar making jar of honey. I had to rob from the mostly empty jar that was open with the peanut butter. I did not remember there being that much honey left when I had opened the jar before I bought the big one for making granola bars. Even if there was honey at home, I had emptied a 24 ounce bottle of honey. I needed honey. I wanted to make more granola bars. I had my niece read the price for the 24 ounce jar of honey off the display thing where I found it (I was on the back side where there was no sign). She read it at $5.99. I did not think that was too bad. It rang up at $9.99. That is not what I would consider a good price. The last one I bought was $5.99 for the same price.
I did not find any spreadable butter. The butter I did find was over priced and I would not buy it at that price unless it was the only butter available.
The only rice krispie type cereal available was $4.99 or more a box. I was not happy about that. I was content to walk away from those as well.
Of course walking past the frozen Indian foods, there were those little yellow sales stickers marking the ones that Ben likes best. Not only were they marking them, but they were a really good sale! Not just any good sale, a really good sale. It was a better sale than I had seen anywhere else. I knew that he had eaten most of the ones in the freezer at home and I would need to restock some of those meals for his lunches at work so I grabbed some of those. They are a treat but he likes them a lot and that was a really good sale.
Lunch meat is something we find ourselves going through a lot more of. The sample guy was convincing. Not as convincing as the sale and the coupons he was passing out. Lance was pretty convincing to with his, “This is really good!” I am a sucker for that kid, I tell you. Actually some lunch meats are just not so good. If he is going to enjoy eating it, I can handle that if I can get it on sale and with a coupon. I knew that there were packages at home in the fridge already, but it is not like it goes bad when we now have 2 more children eating it regularly. When all 3 of them were eating peanut butter it could go rancid in the fridge, now they eat it faster than I can find the less offensive stuff on sale with coupons.
Lance scored himself a small thing of pre-cut watermelon. He loves the stuff. I cannot eat the stuff. I do not buy it often. It was cheap enough that I knew he would enjoy eating it this week.
The score for me was the “more or less” kosher jello like product. Jello contains gelatin which is typically made from pork. Not good for me. Ick! Finding kosher jello just does not happen from what I had found so far. Well I did find some at Sprouts but it was flavored and/or colored by beet juice. I am allergic to beets. I could not eat that stuff. The whole reason that this came up is that the kids wanted me to make Jaffa Cakes and the recipe calls for orange jello. I submitted to the fact that I would have to make a batch for them and they could enjoy them and then I would have to try and make a batch for me using Sure-Jell or something like that hoping to get the same results. Today’s find changed that! I found Orange Jello like product that was not colored or flavored by beets. I am so happy!!! That went into the cart. Just one box to try. The price was not bad. It was not as cheap as your typical box of Jello, but it is my digestive track we are talking about here. The $0.75-1.00 difference is priceless in my mind.
Another area of concern for me was marshmallows. They contain gelatin as well. There are just some things that I will miss with the lack of marshmallows. How do you make rice krispie treats without marshmallows? Well there they were. Kosher certified marshmallows! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. There was more than 1 variety too. Of course at nearly $5-6 per bag, they stayed on the shelf and I walked away. A treat they will be if ever the notion/craving arises but until then they will stay there.
I was not impressed by the chicken sausage in the meat counter. As with all other grocery stores they stuff their all chicken sausage into 100% pork casings making their all chicken sausage not 100% chicken. Boo! Not cool! At least at Sprouts they sell it without casings and they told me they would do any of the sausages that way if I asked. I will have to ask them if they will do the same at Whole Foods.
The ground buffalo was the typical going price. No surprise there. A good sale and it is more affordable for a good lean, easy to digest meat. The beauty in the meat counter, however, were the Buffalo Steaks. I have been looking for them for a while. I just want one. I should not have to say anything else when I say the words – lean, easy to digest – but people will always raise their eyebrows at me. Let me say that they are also high in protein. Buffalo is just a good well rounded meat for those of us with digestive issues. The first buffalo burger I had, I was just having it to have one because I could. The next day I was convinced that it was better than just a good alternative if you want something different. Those steaks, however, were staring me in the face. They were beautiful! I even had the guy go so far as to weigh one for me. I wanted to know how much one weighed. These were good sized steaks and they were thick cut. I was curious. I was going to be alone for dinner, I could have one and no one could say anything. My little shoulder angels were totally warring it out. The guy behind the counter pulled out the largest steak and weighed it. It was only 3/4 of a pound. That is all?!. Of course reality kicked in and the $24.99 per pound price tag totally snapped me back to reality. It was a beautiful steak though. I am pleased to announce that the steak stayed there – for today. Those will be planned for but as soon as those babies go on sale I am all over them! My stomach and intestines support that decision.
There was a coupon for $2 off of 2 pounds of ground beef. Even though it was only the 85% lean ground beef and I typically buy 90% or higher lean ground beef, I did pick some up. When Ben is cooking for just the boys, I am less concerned about the leanness of the meat because I am not going to eat it. It was certainly going to get used at some point. The only catch to the coupon was that I needed to have at least $25 in my cart. I looked at the cart and with the frozen Indian food and then the deli meat I was officially over that amount so I decided it was worth getting it now as opposed to waiting.
That was the extent of my Whole Foods “grand opening” shopping experience. I did not buy 2 of the items on my list, but I did buy things that Ben will use. I did get that bottle of over-priced honey. I will not buy it again, but I did get it today. I now know where to get certain items that I “will” buy at some point in the future. I will definitely go back to Whole Foods. It will NOT be my every day grocery store but I can see going in for certain items.
Their reward for good behavior in Whole Foods? Getting to check out the new Reading Express. They even got to check out 2 library books each. Don’t they look happy?
I actually was not thrilled about it when I first heard about it. I thought it would be lame. It is a school bus that they converted into a library after all. It is not even a big bus. How nice can it really be? How exciting can it really be for the kids?
Lance said he wanted to check it out when he brought the flyer home from school. I told him I would see. I glanced over the schedule and said, “We will see.” That was my half hearted attempt to act like we would do something cool like his friends this summer.
Walking into the bus, however, was a different experience. First, let me say that I am not a fan of libraries in general. I just do not like them. I get this huge overwhelming feeling that I am drowning and I practically cannot function. It is fine if I know exactly what I am looking for and know where to get it. The fact that libraries often do not have what I want to read or am interested in, does not help.
All of that in mind, having my kids in the kids section of the library was like being in a closed in tube and something was crushing me. It was suffocating. The fact that they would be in there for the entire time I was trying to find books and still could not find books by the time I returned would drive me nuts. “Just pick two, five. Just pick.” They could not do it. I would pull things off and hand them to them and they would get upset and it got to the point where I could not handle it anymore. That feeling was more than I could handle.
The fact that I would have to go out of my way to get to either library and actually return the books. Remembering to return them was a problem. Even if I remembered to renew them online, not everything could be renewed. I would then have to go out of the way to return the books and whatnot. It was not such a big deal when I was enrolled at the local community college and the library was on campus. The problem was that I was only going to campus ever few weeks to take exams. I was not going every 2 weeks. I took online courses for a reason. So the late charges started to add up. I actually think that there is a fine balance on my library card right now. It is not really cool. It is obviously under the amount the County will come after you for because they have not pursued it in the many years and they let Lance get a library card. See I am not a horrible mom, I let my youngest kid get a library card in spite of my dislike for libraries.
Anyway, the feeling in this bus although a little on the dark side (it is a bus after all), was different. It was small and the selection was limited. There were only only so many books for the kids to select from and it was not this entire huge room filled with rows and rows of above my head bookshelves filled with gobs and gobs of books. We are talking just a few really. I was standing at the very back of the bus with my back against the back windows taking the pictures above. That was all there was. Just that many shelves on both sides.
The thing I liked most is that it was SO EASY!!! They asked the children which school they went to and then their names. They typed those in and their records came up complete with their pictures. They thought that was pretty cool! They then scanned the bar codes on the books and we were on our way.
I like that returning them is going to be SO EASY!!! The bus will be at the Elementary School less than 3 miles from my house. The school is actually .8 miles from Lance’s school. It will be there on Thursdays for about 45 minutes. They can return them at that location or any of the other stops, but this one is the closest to us. Even better is that they can return the books when they are DONE with them. There is no set due date. So if Lance was done with the 2 short books today, we could have returned them today. My niece got 2 long books. There is no pressure on her to finish or return them if she is not done. If the kids have any books when school starts, they just return them to the library at their school.
The worst part is that I am not mostly committed to go get my niece on Thursday afternoons to take her to go visit the Reading Express now. That is not so bad, really.
I am just glad that I do not have to feel that horrible experience at the library and Lance can still have a good summer experience with something different that he wants to do just because it should be fun. He can get 2 books each week if he wants as long as he returns them.
For me, KEF is a great investment simply because my experience on the Reading Express made ME feel comfortable at the library with my child. I did not have to feel that horrible crushing feeling and he did not have to experience my frustrations with him in the library because he cannot pick from the way too many books. I do not have to worry about due dates or fines. I just have to go 3 miles from my house instead of a 20 minute drive one way if the traffic is good.
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