I have a confession to make. I have an addiction, I may as well admit it right here, right now. I’m that annoying person that spends hours at the grocery store browsing and reading all of the labels. I do it way more often than I’d like to admit and quite frankly, I’m sure I’ve pissed off more than a few grocery store security cameramen, you know the ones that secretly zoom the security cameras in on the “suspicious people” that spend way too much time in an aisle.

Whew, I feel so much better admitting that. There is one place in particular that I can go and indulge in as much label reading as I want without anyone getting suspicious, Fruitful Yield. I visit Fruitful Yield pretty often, probably every other week or so for their organic produce and frozen foods. It’s one of the only places I feel comfortable purchasing food and supplements for my youngest son, who, as you guys know has a ton of food allergies. Well earlier this week, I was invited to the Fruitful Yield in Elmwood Park to check out the store as they get prepared for a wellness event that they are having for the community this weekend to celebrate their one year anniversary. It took me all of 5 seconds to respond, “Hell yes, I’ll be there”. I couldn’t wait to get the lowdown behind the scenes and label read. 🙂
The Elmwood Park location is gorgeous, bright and sunny, lined with windows on two sides, with stupid long aisles where I was free to roam and read labels until my little heart was content. When I arrived I was greeted by the nicest employees and a rep from Vega was there providing samples, bonus!! Samples are my second favorite thing about shopping for food.

 

I got to learn about the history of Fruitful Yield from the store manager, Tina, who by the way was totally well informed about allergies and auto-immune issues. It felt great talking to someone that understands how careful I am with choosing what my family and I eat at home. We talked about the stores pricing strategy and how they price almost all of the products 20% below regular retail prices, which is one of the reasons I visit my local Fruitful Yield so often. The discount that they build in, plus coupons, make Fruitful Yield one of the most cost effective places for me to purchase nutrient rich food for my family.

The company has been around since 1962, which makes it older than me :). They currently operate 13 stores and are exclusive to the Suburbs of Chicago for now, one day we may have to share their greatness with the rest of the world. I also find it awesome that it’s still family owned after all of these years.

Although Fruitful Yield employees are trained by clinical nutritionists on staff and by outside educators, they often invite experts in to discuss Wellness issues with the public. Which is what’s happening this weekend.

 

The Elmwood Park store will be hosting the Get Fit – Get Healthy expo with demos, gift bags, prize drawings, and a boatload of samples. There will also be a Clinical Dietitian on hand from Fitness Formula Clubs on Saturday (1/23/16) from 11am-2pm along with personal trainers from X-Sport Fitness on Saturday from 2pm-5pm and Sunday (1/24/16) from 11am-2pm. It sounds like a good time and the chance to get your questions answered for free by the experts.

If you can’t make it into the Elmwood Park location, be sure to check out one of the other locations, I know from personal experience that you’ll definitely receive fantastic customer service.