Even if you’ve never step foot in Whole Foods, I bet you’ve heard the store’s infamous nickname “Whole Paycheck”—right? And it’s true: Whole Foods is not for the discount savvy, budget conscious, everyday gal. But while the prices are undeniably steep, they do come with a lot of value. I’ll explain.

Whole Foods doesn’t carry your typical Target finds like Lay’s potato chips, Oreos, Clorox wipes or Covergirl mascara. These exclusions aren’t to make them appear classy or pretentious, but rather because they don’t align with their Quality Standards guide.

Whole Foods has actually taken the time to research thousands of harmful ingredients found in conventional foods, body care products & household cleaning products.

They’ve even gone a step further to work with third-party agencies to evaluate each product for environmental impact, safety, source and animal testing.

What’s even cooler is that Whole Foods has actually created their own rating scale when it comes to household cleaning products. With Green being the cleanest & Red being the dirtiest (and not sold in stores), you can know exactly how your choice ranks when it comes to being pure & chemical free. Think of it like walking into a physical storefront that followed the Think Dirty rating scale, where 8’s, 9’s & 10’s were not allowed; think of how much stress is saved from not having to scour labels for nasties!

So what does all of this mean to you? It means that you can walk into the grocery aisle at Whole Foods & spend less time reading labels on your food because you know the ingredients that you’ll never find in store. It means you can walk into beauty aisle & be confident that your product doesn’t contain paragons, phthalates & over 100 other chemicals found in conventional beauty care. It means you can look at a label of laundry soap & know just how “clean” it is.

So, yes—Whole Foods is not budget friendly for your weekly Sunday afternoon shopping trip. However, there is definitely value in being able to walk into a full store & know that they’ve done the research for your when it comes to your health.

Take a peek at each of the Whole Foods Quality Standards lists fore each department.

Food Quality Standards - Ingredients you won’t find at Whole Foods

Body Care Quality Standards - Over 100 ingredients that are not allowed in Whole Foods

Cleaning Products Quality Standards - Unacceptable ingredients for Whole Foods

Cleaning Products Quality Standards - Overview of the Eco-Scale Ratings System