With only 45 minutes for lunch, making the most of your off-campus time is important. Let’s ignore the “where’s the best lunch spot” debate and just agree: it’s Whole Foods. So here’s our guide to getting through Whole Foods quickly, if not cheaply.
First, make a beeline for the hot bar in the back, making sure to stop by the cheese and dessert samples for a free tasty snack. Upon arriving at the hot bar, grab a small brown box and start your culinary exploration.
Start with a base layer of cilantro lime rice (or salad depending on how healthy you’re feeling). The first thing we discovered at the hot bar: the rice is simply a staple no matter what meal you’re having. It ties together any meal.
Next, add protein. Our star studded go-tos include the chicken tenders, butter chicken, and chimichurri pork carnitas. The chicken tenders are crispy and warm and always a hit. If you’re trying to save your wallet, be sure to pick small ones. The butter chicken is flavorful but not too spicy, so it is perfect for those of you with a low spice tolerance. Finally, the chimichurri pork carnitas are the best thing to ever grace our taste buds. They are so tender and the sauce is so good. Life hack one: use the chimichurri sauce on your chicken tenders to level up the flavor.
Lastly, grab some extras to round out your plate. The cucumber sesame noodles are a great palate cleanser and add a couple of vegetables to your meal. If you need even more vegetables, the broccoli is perfectly inoffensive. We would like to call out Whole Foods for taking away one of the hot food bars to add wine and cooked turkeys. We beg them to bring back our perfect caprese salad with sweet tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fresh basil. We cry every day that it’s gone.
As you leave to pay, hope and pray it won’t be too expensive. Life hack two: pick up a half pound bag of cheese and compare the weight to get a rough estimate of your price.
Lastly, grab some forks before heading upstairs to fight for a table. You might need to steal chairs from adults innocently enjoying their lunch, unprepared for the mass of high schoolers that are about to appear. Life hack three: have any friends that did not buy food eat under the table to avoid the attention of the Whole Foods guard who roams and tells people to leave. He seems scary but if he can’t see you eating outside food then he can’t tell you to leave (foolproof!)
On the way out, you can grab some more samples or a can of coffee to get you through the rest of the day. However, even without caffeine, Whole Foods lights up our life like no coffee could.•
