Allow me to introduce you to our bakery department.  This beautifully arranged and often deliciously fragrant part of the store is filled with cakes, pastries and breads – perfect for your holiday entertaining needs, as well as your everyday needs.  Did you know you can buy cake by the slice or half loaves of bread?  Have you considered shopping specialty and the bakery for your party needs?  Check out this week’s excellent customer tips for some smart ways to shop this sweet department.

Remember, each week, we choose tips to be featured in our weekly The Whole Deal™ blog post. Every chosen tip gets a $25 gift card, so submit you tips and recipes here.

From Bharathi:

I love the healthy, beautifully decorated, and especially the variety of cakes available in the bakery at Whole Foods. Ever since I started visiting whole foods, it has been my habit to stop by the bakery to see what variety of cake I can get. The specialty of the whole foods bakery is that they provide a piece of any cake. This way you can buy and taste it without buying the whole cake. If you like a piece of cake after tasting, you cal also go ahead and buy the full cake as the same cake is also available in full size. Our family love tasting a variety of cakes at the same visit. So I end up buying variety of small portions of cakes packed independently. Our family has really learned the value of shopping at Whole Foods. You can also do the same by getting a cut pieces of cake instead buying one full cake. Whole foods have an expert baker who will help you in selecting right cake piece for you. So next time you visit whole foods don’t forget to visit the bakery section. A new world of cakes is waiting for you. I am sure that you will love my idea.

From Jackie:

I am originally from Germany and love bread, and trust me German’s know their bread. Until WF came to Colorado I had a difficult time finding good healthy bread. Know I only purchase my bread from Whole Foods. The Prussian and Munich Rye is awesome and reminds me of home. I also like the Nick’s Mountain a lot. Whole Foods lets you just buy 1/2 loaves which is great if you live alone. I usually buy a couple different 1/2 loaves and then freeze them. This way I have healthy fresh bread to make sandwiches for lunch to take to work with me.

From Stacy:

I run a small, non-profit media company and we host a lot of last minute meet-ups and small speaker events. I think it’s always a good idea to have things for guests to nibble on so that they stick around, but often we are on a really tight budget. I’ve found that if I choose one or two trays from whole foods catering department (the crab cakes and the chicken drumette platters are a great deal) I can build around them with other wise choices. I usually get two boxes of plain crostini in the bakery, pick up two or three cheeses and then hit the olive bar. Sweep past the salad bar for sliced peppers and grab a bunch of flowers on the way to the check-out. I end up with a nice little starter spread and guests think I went to a ton of trouble!