Touring Whole Foods store

As a family we try to shop organic when we can but I am often confused with the different labels that some stores use.  A field trip was organized to visit Whole Foods Store so we signed up to go and learn a little about organic shopping.  This was also our first visit to the store which I discovered wasn't too far from us.

Getting an introduction to the store and what it's philosophy is regarding its practics

Learning the word Conventional on a food means pesticides were used

Organic means no pesticides were used or only environmentally safe ones were used.  It was also discussed that fruits and vegetables that have a shell ie avocados or oranges you don't need to worry as much about pesticides as the skin protects the fruit inside.

I learned how to tell if a pineapple is ripe.  You should be able to pull off the top leaf of the fruit and if it comes out easily it is ripe.  I always wondered about that.

There were plenty of samples for the kids to try.  Whole foods also support local area farmers which is always nice 

Meeting the fishmonger and learning about seafood and how to tell if it is farmed or  from the sea.  

After his talk he blew a conch shell for the kids which they all loved

At the meat counter the kids tried Buffalo jerky,  MarioFan was not a fan but I have never given my kids jerky of any kind so they were not use to the texture or the flavors.  We heard that the store requires meat farmers to agree to certain terms requiring humane treatment of animals in all areas.

Finding out the coloring on all their bakery items is all natural, beet juice is used to make red, spinach to make green etc.  All the kids were disappointed they didn't get to sample a cupcake;) 

instead they sampled raspberry, chocolate and white chocolate pretzels.

At the end of the tour the store treated the kids to free pizza.

I learned a great deal about organic shopping and as long as our budget allows we will continue to try to shop for more organic products.