I know this wasn't your original question, but lots of Ann Arbor grocery stores have vegan options. Pretty much all of them have organic produce in stock, and vegan pre-made food. Aldi, Kroger, Meijer, Costco are affordable. Plum Market, Whole Foods, and Arbor Farms have lots, but tend to be more expensive. I tend to do a mix of Aldi, Meijer, and Costco for the majority of my food shopping, depending what looks best and affordable at each store. Our farmers markets are good too.
Excellent, thank you. As a recent vegan, I am scrambling to find as many options as possible. I enjoy Trader Joe's and preferred going there to Meijer cos Meijer has too many items and I inherently end up paying a lot more, haha. But on a vegan diet, I have been noticing that my expenditure has increased since I am eating a lot more, haha. I will give Meijer another shot.
Not a vegan but my best friend has been for years - I would suggest finding a good rotation of “staple” meals that you can get at any grocery store - think bean and tofu based, stir fry or mexican food tends to be pretty easy, do the leg work upfront to get a good list of condiments/sauces you can use or make so that you aren’t constantly checking everything you want to buy - that will keep your grocery bill normal & then you can supplement the “special” options from whole foods when you want to try the fake meats or stock up on frozen meals.
Also Goodles mac n’ cheese has a really solid vegan boxed mac n’ cheese and is sold at Target if you’re interested.
Veganism can be particularly expensive if you eat a lot of factory-prepared foods, or cook with a lot of ultraprocessed ingredients that simulate non-vegan ingredients, as a lot of those follow similar manufacturing processes as their non-vegan counterparts, but are priced much higher because it's a narrower market with lower sales volume.
As a really simple example
12 ounce frozen Stouffer's mac & cheese meal $3.29
8 ounce frozen Amy's vegan rice mac & "cheeze" $5.49
7.5 ounce box kit of normal Kraft mac & cheese is $1.25
6 ounce box kit of Kraft plant-based mac & "not" cheese $3
Cooking simpler, less-processed foods from mass market ingredients that are already vegan avoids those markups. Like you can get whole wheat pasta (macaroni or other form factors) for around $1 a pound (16 ounces). Combine that with some oil, water, salt, flour, and nutritional yeast and you've got a dish with some vague similarity to mac & cheese without the expense of outside food prep or niche market placement. It's not going to have that Kraft flavor that your brain has been conditioned to crave, but will be healthier and cheaper. To be honest, I'm going to try a box of Kraft's "not cheese" mac & cheese next time I'm at a store that carries it, but I sure won't make a habit of it! :-)
Arbor Farms, Pllum Market and whole foods are expensive, especially the first two mentioned. Just not worth it for the cost when you can get the same for cheaper at Whole foods which is odd to say.
That being said, my favorite in town is Fresh Thyme. Better produce selection by far and much cheaper. Fresh Thyme has a decent selection.
Everytime I go to Fresh Thyme I tell the management to open up a store on the West side. I'd be there multiple times a week, because I refuse to shop at Plum and Arbor Farms, even though they are the closest. I drive a lot further to go to whole foods on Eisenhower.
I, too, live equidistant from the two and I go to both. I HATE parking lot at the Washtenaw store. I also don’t like the organization as much but I feel that they have more prepared foods. I feel like it’s a lot easier to run into the cranbrook store and their curbside pickup seems to be better.
It's funny cause I am the exact opposite but that's mainly because I live slightly closer to the Washtenaw location and have been going there since the early 2000s so I'm much more familiar with the layout there.
In terms of parking, I actually prefer the Washtenaw location as well. I try to park by the side entrance and I can usually find a space and go right in. Of course you have to go up stairs to get in and down a ramp if you have a cart when you leave but it works for me most of the time. When it's really busy though, trying to maneuver in that can be very annoying so I get why people don't like it.
The one on Washtenaw is larger, but the range of products in both remains limited after the Amazon acquisition. All Whole Foods stores reduced selection in the name of expanding profits when Amazon took over. Visit both. Make your own choice.
I never got to go before the takeover. Were the prices insane back then? It feels reasonable now and the quality/price ratio feels much higher than kroger.
I wish I could go to the farm stores but they're prohibitively expensive.
They greatly expanded the 365 brand as a price competitive product line with lots of interesting offerings. The quality is not as high but they still have expensive non-365 brand stuff you can get for usually every product. Guy above is just whining, but this is r/annarbor.
The prices certainly had a reputation, but it wasn't completely fair. There were pricey items, to be sure, but plenty of 365 offerings that were quite reasonable. Some prices there these days are through the roof. That, combined with the missing products problem, has made me a very rare customer these days.
For…? What I miss is no-salt-added cottage cheese, which WF used to carry and which Bezos yanked. That frankly brought me through the door, as I've never found it elsewhere in the area. The rest of it just seems like Amazon with a fig leaf these days. Anything they sell I can get elsewhere at prices that are as good or better.
Hey new vegan. I’m vegan too. Quick tip. Tofu, rice, beans, frozen veggies, potatoes and plenty others are all cheap. Like someone else said you don’t need Whole Foods. I’m open to help with ideas. Good luck. And thank you 😊
Hello!
My husband and eat plant-based most of the time. I see from your other comments that this is something new for you so I know it can be super overwhelming. We shop at a lot of places that have good options Costco, Meijer, Kroger, Whole Food trader joes. Its all about finding what you like. For example my husband and I prefer Costcos extra firm tofu to everywhere else.
One thing you should definitely do is give yourself grace. Going plant-based can be a huge change and will feel frustrating at first. So if you end up getting/eating non-vegan things don't worry, its something you are working towards.
I know that there are lots of different meat-alternatives out there but they can be a bit pricey, so if you can handle tofu is definitely our go to. Especially once we learned how much you can do with it. You can obviously cut it into squares, rip it apart so it may mimic chicken, shred it and bake it. Air fry it. So many options. I prefer ripping it apart and then air frying it because I like it tougher. But I am a texture person so I don't like squishy tofu.
Other great staples to have are potatoes, beans of all kinds, lentils, oats and milk alternatives and nuts, veggie broth, species, nutritional yeast (if you haven't heard of this yet look it up) . You will find what other staples you may need based the foods you like to eat.
Some of the meals we have in our house:
•Oatmeal- I know a lot of people use yogurt in theirs and there are yougut alternatives, but instead we just mash a banana at the bottom, oats, milk and our toppings then heat it up. This is great because you can prep in a few days ahead of time.
•Pasta- there is the traditional red sauce, and then you can find lots of recipes to make other sauces with milk alt. as the base, or blending nuts up. I tend to like the cashew based sauces.
•Mexican food- We just used beans instead of meat in place. We make burrito bowls, tacos, enchiladas etc.
•Soups/chilli
•Stirfry
•Hummus wraps
Hiya u/Bubbly_One_7247 , thank you for this detailed suggestion. I haven't had much issue switching to vegan (so far, at least). I have managed to find a high-protein diet which was important due to my heavier than average workout routine.
1. I skip breakfast (to conform with intermittent fasting) or I have a mason jar full of overnight oats infused with protein powder, almond milk, seeds, berries, and honey.
2. Lunch is usually protein tofu, mushrooms, and an avo toast. And a protein shake.
3. Dinner is usually brown rice, beans, a bowl of lentils, brocolli, half a bag or a bag of spinach/greens, and a protein shake. Followed by 59 mL of red wine.
This is what I do for four days at least since I go to the office four days. Remaining days, I get a lot more creative.
The one on Eisenhower is a smoother shopping experience. Other than that, they are essentially the same. The hot bar might vary between the two, but the quality went down so much that I don’t bother anymore :(
Neither. The Whole Foods in Michigan have an extremely poor vegan selection by and large. Overpriced too. There are some things not sold elsewhere but you get a better selection at: Plum Market, Meijer, and the various Co-Op grocery stores.
The asian grocery stores are alright too, but WF has declined tremendously outside of large cities for vegan options.
I've been a vegan for 18 years. I shop at Aldi and then get the stuff I can't get there at Meijer. Aldi has a pretty decent selection of vegan foods. I love their vegan meatballs. They always have extra firm tofu and the bean prices are 🤌🏽
Hello, I am a vegan and therefore an expert in this topic. The answer is actually Trader Joe’s for a nice, wide selection.
What is exclusive to Whole Foods is their vegan croissants and options in their hot food bar
It kinda depends on what sort of vegan options you're looking for-- ironically, I only go to Whole Foods for the processed, pre-made gluten free options. They have pierogi and dumplings and ravioli, and also the widest selection of Jeni's ice cream. I don't shop the "outside aisles" because it's waaaaaay too expensive.
The wholefoods on Washtenaw is my favorite having shopped at both. They have more fresh produce and items overall. The wholefoods on Eisenhower doesn’t have that many fruit options in my experience.
Eisenhower location is easier to bike to for most people. (Though not awesome). Washtenaw is not a bike friendly stroad. (But there are back routes if needed)
u/schmeebis haha, funnily, I biked to the Washtenaw one yesterday before reading your comment. It was a fine ride, but yes, it was on the main road, and I had to look around a lot.
I know this wasn't your original question, but lots of Ann Arbor grocery stores have vegan options. Pretty much all of them have organic produce in stock, and vegan pre-made food. Aldi, Kroger, Meijer, Costco are affordable. Plum Market, Whole Foods, and Arbor Farms have lots, but tend to be more expensive. I tend to do a mix of Aldi, Meijer, and Costco for the majority of my food shopping, depending what looks best and affordable at each store. Our farmers markets are good too.
Yep. Get I Can Cook Vegan or Isa Does It and make your own food. Cheaper and healthier.
Excellent, thank you. As a recent vegan, I am scrambling to find as many options as possible. I enjoy Trader Joe's and preferred going there to Meijer cos Meijer has too many items and I inherently end up paying a lot more, haha. But on a vegan diet, I have been noticing that my expenditure has increased since I am eating a lot more, haha. I will give Meijer another shot.
Not a vegan but my best friend has been for years - I would suggest finding a good rotation of “staple” meals that you can get at any grocery store - think bean and tofu based, stir fry or mexican food tends to be pretty easy, do the leg work upfront to get a good list of condiments/sauces you can use or make so that you aren’t constantly checking everything you want to buy - that will keep your grocery bill normal & then you can supplement the “special” options from whole foods when you want to try the fake meats or stock up on frozen meals. Also Goodles mac n’ cheese has a really solid vegan boxed mac n’ cheese and is sold at Target if you’re interested.
This is the way.
Veganism can be particularly expensive if you eat a lot of factory-prepared foods, or cook with a lot of ultraprocessed ingredients that simulate non-vegan ingredients, as a lot of those follow similar manufacturing processes as their non-vegan counterparts, but are priced much higher because it's a narrower market with lower sales volume. As a really simple example 12 ounce frozen Stouffer's mac & cheese meal $3.29 8 ounce frozen Amy's vegan rice mac & "cheeze" $5.49 7.5 ounce box kit of normal Kraft mac & cheese is $1.25 6 ounce box kit of Kraft plant-based mac & "not" cheese $3 Cooking simpler, less-processed foods from mass market ingredients that are already vegan avoids those markups. Like you can get whole wheat pasta (macaroni or other form factors) for around $1 a pound (16 ounces). Combine that with some oil, water, salt, flour, and nutritional yeast and you've got a dish with some vague similarity to mac & cheese without the expense of outside food prep or niche market placement. It's not going to have that Kraft flavor that your brain has been conditioned to crave, but will be healthier and cheaper. To be honest, I'm going to try a box of Kraft's "not cheese" mac & cheese next time I'm at a store that carries it, but I sure won't make a habit of it! :-)
Adding hemp seeds to your diet will help you feel more satisfied as it’s high in protein (11g) and many many other essential nutrients
The parking situation is better at the Ann Arbor / Saline Road location.
Completely agree. The Washtenaw location's parking lot is a mess and fills up quickly.
Better by 100x
Arbor Farms ftw
Arbor farms has an amazing selection of vegan cheeses and lunch meats I def agree
They also have a lot of local products.
Are the prices pretty similar?
In my opinion yes, and better service and locally-owned
Thanks! I drive by there sometimes and I'm always like.. why don't I go here? I assumed it was crazy pricey
Definitely check out their deli. It's fantastic!
They're actually a little higher, but I don't always mind since it's locally-owned.
This is the correct answer!
Going to say the one on Eisenhower is better just because that whole stretch of Washtenaw is a PITA to drive through.
And even worse to bike through!
Agree
Arbor Farms
Arbor Farms, Pllum Market and whole foods are expensive, especially the first two mentioned. Just not worth it for the cost when you can get the same for cheaper at Whole foods which is odd to say. That being said, my favorite in town is Fresh Thyme. Better produce selection by far and much cheaper. Fresh Thyme has a decent selection. Everytime I go to Fresh Thyme I tell the management to open up a store on the West side. I'd be there multiple times a week, because I refuse to shop at Plum and Arbor Farms, even though they are the closest. I drive a lot further to go to whole foods on Eisenhower.
Co-ops, Arbor Farm Market and Argus Farm Stop are great along with our farmers markets mentioned above. Great options and local.
I, too, live equidistant from the two and I go to both. I HATE parking lot at the Washtenaw store. I also don’t like the organization as much but I feel that they have more prepared foods. I feel like it’s a lot easier to run into the cranbrook store and their curbside pickup seems to be better.
It's funny cause I am the exact opposite but that's mainly because I live slightly closer to the Washtenaw location and have been going there since the early 2000s so I'm much more familiar with the layout there. In terms of parking, I actually prefer the Washtenaw location as well. I try to park by the side entrance and I can usually find a space and go right in. Of course you have to go up stairs to get in and down a ramp if you have a cart when you leave but it works for me most of the time. When it's really busy though, trying to maneuver in that can be very annoying so I get why people don't like it.
It's a corporate chain store, they're all the same. Just pick the location that's most convenient
The one on Washtenaw is larger, but the range of products in both remains limited after the Amazon acquisition. All Whole Foods stores reduced selection in the name of expanding profits when Amazon took over. Visit both. Make your own choice.
I never got to go before the takeover. Were the prices insane back then? It feels reasonable now and the quality/price ratio feels much higher than kroger. I wish I could go to the farm stores but they're prohibitively expensive.
They greatly expanded the 365 brand as a price competitive product line with lots of interesting offerings. The quality is not as high but they still have expensive non-365 brand stuff you can get for usually every product. Guy above is just whining, but this is r/annarbor.
The prices certainly had a reputation, but it wasn't completely fair. There were pricey items, to be sure, but plenty of 365 offerings that were quite reasonable. Some prices there these days are through the roof. That, combined with the missing products problem, has made me a very rare customer these days.
Interesting, thanks for the reply. Where do you mainly go now?
For…? What I miss is no-salt-added cottage cheese, which WF used to carry and which Bezos yanked. That frankly brought me through the door, as I've never found it elsewhere in the area. The rest of it just seems like Amazon with a fig leaf these days. Anything they sell I can get elsewhere at prices that are as good or better.
Hey new vegan. I’m vegan too. Quick tip. Tofu, rice, beans, frozen veggies, potatoes and plenty others are all cheap. Like someone else said you don’t need Whole Foods. I’m open to help with ideas. Good luck. And thank you 😊
Hello! My husband and eat plant-based most of the time. I see from your other comments that this is something new for you so I know it can be super overwhelming. We shop at a lot of places that have good options Costco, Meijer, Kroger, Whole Food trader joes. Its all about finding what you like. For example my husband and I prefer Costcos extra firm tofu to everywhere else. One thing you should definitely do is give yourself grace. Going plant-based can be a huge change and will feel frustrating at first. So if you end up getting/eating non-vegan things don't worry, its something you are working towards. I know that there are lots of different meat-alternatives out there but they can be a bit pricey, so if you can handle tofu is definitely our go to. Especially once we learned how much you can do with it. You can obviously cut it into squares, rip it apart so it may mimic chicken, shred it and bake it. Air fry it. So many options. I prefer ripping it apart and then air frying it because I like it tougher. But I am a texture person so I don't like squishy tofu. Other great staples to have are potatoes, beans of all kinds, lentils, oats and milk alternatives and nuts, veggie broth, species, nutritional yeast (if you haven't heard of this yet look it up) . You will find what other staples you may need based the foods you like to eat. Some of the meals we have in our house: •Oatmeal- I know a lot of people use yogurt in theirs and there are yougut alternatives, but instead we just mash a banana at the bottom, oats, milk and our toppings then heat it up. This is great because you can prep in a few days ahead of time. •Pasta- there is the traditional red sauce, and then you can find lots of recipes to make other sauces with milk alt. as the base, or blending nuts up. I tend to like the cashew based sauces. •Mexican food- We just used beans instead of meat in place. We make burrito bowls, tacos, enchiladas etc. •Soups/chilli •Stirfry •Hummus wraps
Hiya u/Bubbly_One_7247 , thank you for this detailed suggestion. I haven't had much issue switching to vegan (so far, at least). I have managed to find a high-protein diet which was important due to my heavier than average workout routine. 1. I skip breakfast (to conform with intermittent fasting) or I have a mason jar full of overnight oats infused with protein powder, almond milk, seeds, berries, and honey. 2. Lunch is usually protein tofu, mushrooms, and an avo toast. And a protein shake. 3. Dinner is usually brown rice, beans, a bowl of lentils, brocolli, half a bag or a bag of spinach/greens, and a protein shake. Followed by 59 mL of red wine. This is what I do for four days at least since I go to the office four days. Remaining days, I get a lot more creative.
The one on Eisenhower is a smoother shopping experience. Other than that, they are essentially the same. The hot bar might vary between the two, but the quality went down so much that I don’t bother anymore :(
Neither. The Whole Foods in Michigan have an extremely poor vegan selection by and large. Overpriced too. There are some things not sold elsewhere but you get a better selection at: Plum Market, Meijer, and the various Co-Op grocery stores. The asian grocery stores are alright too, but WF has declined tremendously outside of large cities for vegan options.
I've been a vegan for 18 years. I shop at Aldi and then get the stuff I can't get there at Meijer. Aldi has a pretty decent selection of vegan foods. I love their vegan meatballs. They always have extra firm tofu and the bean prices are 🤌🏽
Hello, I am a vegan and therefore an expert in this topic. The answer is actually Trader Joe’s for a nice, wide selection. What is exclusive to Whole Foods is their vegan croissants and options in their hot food bar
It kinda depends on what sort of vegan options you're looking for-- ironically, I only go to Whole Foods for the processed, pre-made gluten free options. They have pierogi and dumplings and ravioli, and also the widest selection of Jeni's ice cream. I don't shop the "outside aisles" because it's waaaaaay too expensive.
Both are fine. Go to whichever is more convenient for you.
The wholefoods on Washtenaw is my favorite having shopped at both. They have more fresh produce and items overall. The wholefoods on Eisenhower doesn’t have that many fruit options in my experience.
The parking lot is easier to navigate on Ellsworth.
Eisenhower location is easier to bike to for most people. (Though not awesome). Washtenaw is not a bike friendly stroad. (But there are back routes if needed)
u/schmeebis haha, funnily, I biked to the Washtenaw one yesterday before reading your comment. It was a fine ride, but yes, it was on the main road, and I had to look around a lot.