Wholefoods Market Orlando | Self Service Options | Vegan | Take Out | Cafe | Phillip's Crossing

Well... as you might know by now, I LOVE Wholefoods- I adore it! Not so much in the UK, although i like it alot but it doesn't have the same magnet powder that the WFM does in Orlando, and stores within other areas of the USA in general.

We stopped by a few times during our time in Orlando... ok, pretty much everyday... because I found it so hard to eat out in the parks and restaurants ( more on that soon ) as I knew I could get a good vegan self service meal that could be modified to gluten & soy free for Opeie and I.

Since I've had so many allergies hit me like a bus (fast) in the last 3 years one might think it's annoying or obsessive to only ever talk about food on a blog, but when all you can eat are plant based things/ingredient/foods/snacks/meals it does become a passion to seek out the things you CAN eat.

My trainer Gareth always saying I'm focusing on what you CAN eat, rather than what you can't, so let's forget about dairy, eggs, soy and gluten, and focus on veggies.... I do this too most of the time, but then there are times where I just wish I could eat soy or gluten as there's so many foods I LOVE that aren't easy to find replicas of that are free from everything I can't eat.

Well, at Wholefoods, they cater for everyone. Seth ( my eldest son age 7 ) adores Wholefoods like me! He's not Vegan, but he makes his own choices and does enjoy alot of the vegan food Opeie and I eat. ( Opeie is vegan through his own choice, he doesn't really like anything non-vegan too much, I believe in letting your children decide for themselves - there's a great clip of a little boy doing just that here ) Pauly is definitely NOT vegan, although after a recent trip to Ethos, he declared in the car on the way home, IF he could get those burgers in the UK , he would switch to vegan-ism as he literally couldn't tell the difference between them and meat meat.

So, back to Wholefoods. They cater for everyone ( unlike the WFM in the UK which I find extremely difficult to eat at since everything is soya, non vegan or gluten based, they're not flexible on their options and they seem to only be able to offer a jacket potato and beans everytime I go since everything is covered in dairy butter, including all the vegetables! Annoying.

There are around 20 main meal options within the self service that are vegan friendly, a huge salad bar which contains fruit also. I found that were around 15 gluten free options, 8 soy free options and around  5 soy free AND gluten free options, which was good concidering that most places can't offer you anything at all.

Also :There were

4 types of rice
3 Cous cous' - sadly 2 were covered in (delicious looking ) feta - one of my prevegan fave cheeses.
Quinoa
3 types of fried tofu & veggies mixed together
2 Types of seitan
2 types of vegan pastas
3 vegan curries containing soy but no wheat / gluten
Stuffed vine leaves
Mashed butternut squash with Aubergine & Peppers
Roasted squashes and aubergine
12 types of salads / fruits
3 types of noodles
Nuts & dried fruits
Loads of sauces & herbs & dry inactive yeast sprinkle

( There's lots more, but I can't remember!!!)

It can be pricey depending on what you have, it's weighed ( I wish it was per container, as I'd pile it high, but sadly not) It was $7.99 per lb, and for the 4 of us, including pizza to take home it came to around $40 - which was including pieces of fruit, a punnet of strawberries and a bunch of bananas.

If you fancy pizza, the pizza chef's can whip up vegan pizza in around 8-12 minutes as they have Daiya and other vegan cheeses at the counter, Seth fell in love with Daiya while he was away, as he is a huge cheese lover like me!

and.... the best part, you can take the self service food home for breakfast!