Sprouts Farmers Market

Squeeky cheese curds without flying to Wisconsin??? Thank you, Sprouts.

Awwww snap dog. This Sprouts is the shit.
Sorry.
I’m a big fan of little natural stores. They tend to carry fun vegan stuff, like peanut butter covered pretzels. Sprouts has several vegan cheese items and fake meats and chips and baking things and ice creams and other such silly vegan snacks and treats.
When HEB fails me (vegan-​wise), I head to Sprouts. Which is like once a week. They have awesome sales and super adorable cashiers.
Sprouts used to be Sun Harvest, and once the name changed, well, that’s it. Nothing else really changed, that I noticed.
It smells like my grandparents.
But they are dead, so I guess Sprouts smells like my grandparents when they were alive.
Nevermind.

UGH! This sprouts sucks in all the ways of the south one and then some. Still not a farmers market (no local food). Still overpriced. Bought some fermented cantaloupe. Yum. And the Buddy’s chicken sausage (buddys products are one of their few redeeming qualities) I bought in mid-​October– I discovered as I was throwing the packaging away only after finishing eating it– had a SELL BY DATE OF JULY 20!!!
Yes, I’m yelling. Wouldn’t you?

Sun Harvest is now Sprouts. And that’s a change for the better!
If I’m in the area, I usually stop by to stock up on fruits and vegetables. Their produce prices are fantastic. For example, cantaloupes were recently advertised as 3 for $ 1 and avocados were 39 cents each. Even not on sale, many produce items tend to be cheaper than at the larger grocery chains. Bonus: since this section is small, stock is constantly replenished with fresh supplies.
This location is often bustling but never overwhelmingly crowded. Parking is readily available. There are even two rows of coveted shade spots, a veritable boon during hot days.

Well it looks like a corporate giant took over Sun Harvest, making this market a Sprouts. But never fear, the same great deals and friendly workers remain at this small, but well stocked Anderson Ln. grocery store.
First, this Sprouts rocks because it consistently has some of the best produce prices in all of Austin. I needed Roma tomatoes. Central Market: $ 1.69/ lb. Sprouts: $ 0.69/lb. A full $ 1 cheaper a pound for the exact same tomatoes. Grapes: $ 1.50/lb at Sprouts, $ 2.49 a pound at HEB. Eggplants: 1 for $ 1 at Sprouts, 1 for $ 2.49 at Central Market.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Central Market. It is a foodie haven, and is such a pleasure to shop there. However, I’ve stopped buying produce there. There’s no need to spend three times as much for the exact same product. That’s just silly.
This particular Sprouts also does amazing monthly specials; the store recently just finished marking down every vitamin supplement by 25% along with every hair care and body care product.
And they have additional $ 5 off coupons. BARGAIN HUNTERS REJOICE.
Sure HEB and CM have a better selection, and for dry goods, I’ll stick to the big guns, because nobody really needs a $ 4.99 box of Annie’s Organic Mac and Cheese. But for everything else, especially fresh produce, I’ve found my adorable little market up in North Austin.

We don’t do all our grocery shopping here, but we do go here each week to get some things. They have a lot of items here that they don’t carry at the HEB on Far West. For example, I recently got some delicious hummus and great spinach ravioli. YUM! I’m a big fan of their bulk foods section. They have huge quantities and it’s varied.

For the location its great, since I live right around the corner, but the prices are a bit higher than your local HEB, and the quality varies day by day.
Wednesdays if you can go, is their good sale day, since the last weeks add is still in effect and the next’s weeks just started. I never can get there on Wednesdays though, so not worth it to me.
If you are looking for some specialty items you might find it here, but only if that specialty is the corn syrup free, extra tree branches in the granola with pesticide free grains.
Ok so maybe I am hippie bashing too much. I will always go here over heb if I know they carry the item.
I did hear reports saying that they were bought by sprouts, and would turn into one soon. Sprouts feels fake but that’s another review.

Honestly, I’ve been here twice, both times looking for obscure, hippie-​like items that you’d think would be suited to a store like this. Trip number one: Vegan mozerella. Trip number two: agar agar.
Sadly, both times I’ve come up empty handed. I’ve also noticed that their staff doesn’t really seem to know their products at all. Standing and looking at a shelf with two different staff members (rather than anyone knowing where something is or isn’t) left me unimpressed, to say the least.
I want to like Sun Harvest — really, I do! — but unfortunately, I may as well just go to Whole Foods… they at least consistently know what I’m talking about and usually have what I want.

I have been wanting to write a review on this place. We found it through google map while shopping at Costco. Weird I know. I must have been looking for something I couldn’t find at Costco or anywhere else around it.
Anyway, I love this place! It’s where I get all my «healthy food» needs. in bulk! They have almost everything I need. and in cheaper prices! I got some sweets and grains for cheap. I was happy! Although I wish the place is a little bigger and easier to spot!

I want to love you, Sun Harvest. You smell all nag champa hippy. But you’re a poseur, aincha? Yeah ya are.
What’s up with the lack of local and organic? Does everything really need to get trucked in from California? And how come the area around the meat section always smells so… like blood? That’s just gnarly.
You act all crunchy granola, but I haven’t seen you live out that commitment with pasture-​raised, humane meats, a good selection of local-​sourced produce and packaged goods… you’re really just a small HEB with some neat options for tea n stuff and a slightly more convenient location than Whole Foods.
You suck, Sun Harvest. You lie and you suck.

Sun Harvest is wonderful for the following reasons:
1. Unexpectedly great selection of tea
2. The super hot chili paste that I love
3. Close enough to walk to
I am not impressed with the produce, though. Very little organic produce to choose from and no local stuff (at least that I’ve ever noticed — could be the location though, it’s a small store).

Since I have grown up and now go shopping by myself for me and the boyfriend. I love getting the Sun Harvest advertisement in the mail every week. Oh they have the most Awesome deals on fruits and veggies every week. I remember when the personal sized seedless watermelons were only 88 cents each. Like I said they have the most wonderful specials on fruits and vegetables. If you don’t get the ads in the mail then you can pick one up at the front of the store as soon as you walk in.
I also like the baked goods section of the store. I stood in front of the italian breads for about ten minutes debating with myself on whether or not I should buy the bread. I did buy the bread which was reasonably priced and worth every penny.

Every time I find myself in here, I wonder what I’m doing back in this hell hole and resolve to make it the last time. But, somehow, the «what if?» siren song of convenience lures me back in for another excruciating bout of just how bad a grocery store can be.
Invariably, they are always out of whatever normal sundry item I’m in search of. Even things that I had bought there on previous trips.
Their stock is unforgivably weird. I feel like Sun Harvest must cater to those who subsist on twig-​and-​barley soup while giving themselves kombucha colonics, escaping their hermetic seal only once a week to shop for a potential cure for every-​single-​allergy. Yet, somehow, I can’t get an organic carrot or head of lettuce I don’t have to throw half of away, or even a cookie that’s not gluten-​free-​dairy-​free-​nut-​free-​sugar-​free-​chocolate-​free-​oxygen-​free-​vitamin-​enriched. Gummy bears in bulk, though, they’ve got those.
No matter what time it is or how busy the store is, it’s impossible to get in and out quickly. The checkers are slow, they seem to constantly be stocking every aisle and the produce section so there are always road blocks, and the aisles are arranged with the strangest groupings of items so you HAVE to go through each one to find what you’re looking for. I’ve learned that even though Sun Harvest is marginally closer to my place, it’s worth the drive to Whole Foods where I can get quality stuff quickly and get back home.
Plus, there’s something off-​putting about a grocery store that keeps a great deal of its stock on pallets outside at all times.
I suppose once we had a good experience with their meat market (actual butchers! oh my!) where the butcher packaged up a sausage for us even though the meat market was closed. That was nice but more than can be expected from the rest of the store.
Still unconvinced? One steamy day, I accompanied my girlfriend to the Sun Harvest and whilst I shopped with her, I became a tad parched. I reached into the cooler for a Zico coconut water to find it completely warm. Being an alumni from the food industry, I checked the refrigerator temperature and found it to be a balmy 65 degrees, a far cry from the 35 – 40 needed for storage. In places I’ve worked, we’ve sacrificed whole fridges full of stock to the gods of broken refrigeration; there’s no safely salvaging anything once it heats up. Just for giggles, I checked all the other coolers: soft drink, beer, juice, MEAT… and found them all to be at room temperature. I vowed to never buy another refrigerated item from that store.
Next time you’re driving on West Anderson ready to get home and cook your lovely meal, and you think, «Damn! I forgot the…» just let it slide, my friend.

God I love Sun Harvest — it has what I want foodwise and makes me feel good about avoiding Whole Paycheck.
Their veggies are fresh, they have a big organic selection, the meat is typically cheaper than what i find at HEB and this Thursday it saved my LIFE with some canned dark cherries and a couple of plants for my colorful pots outside.
They are open until 9:30 7 days a week!

This all depends on what you’re looking for. This is a great place to buy vitamins and supplements. It’s also a great place to buy bulk foods and you can find some really far out chips and juices and nifty things like that.
You CAN find some really good deals on some succulent meat and seafood, if you’re lucky.
On the downside though, the place is very often out of random, common things. Like sweet potatoes. You have organic bok choy but no plain old sweet potatoes?
Think of this place like the lottery: You could go in and find beef tenderloin for $ 5.99 a pound, pick up some two for one deals on your daily vitamins and get to see a hippie freak haggling over their biodegradable shopping bags that are so dirty you can smell them over the hippie. Or you might come in looking for some potatoes and t-​bones and walk out empty-​handed. Just be warned.

On my way to work, I had a strange craving for dark chocolate. I couldn’t be bothered going to HEB or Central Market because it was way crowded on Friday.
I’ve heard about this place through a co-​worker of mine. So I decided to try it out.
Very small place. But it wasn’t super-​crowded so I didn’t mind. I wandered around the place to get acquainted with the layout of the store. There’s a corner in the back that has all the dry food you buy by the pound. The front consists of the produce where it seems a lot of people were buying their food. The aisles in the center of the store were not the packed.
I’m hesitant on shopping at the place with a cart because it’s small and I’m afraid of hitting someone but definitely a place to check out.

Mike doesn’t believe me, but you should: Sun Harvest has the best produce for the price in town. This is my summer of fresh fruit addiction and Sun Harvest is my dealer. They’re always having good berry sales. They occasionally have chicken breasts for 1.99lb. Just checked today’s ad: 1.47lb cherries and .77 plums. How can you turn that down?
Their meat is usually very good. I got some center cut pork loin that was to die for last week.
(I should add that I’m the type who shops three different grocery stores depending on what I’m looking for. I’m a former food buyer for UT; most of my food shopping habits would make a sane person flee for the hills.)
I also like their bulk section, though it’s not as good as Central Market. I don’t buy regular groceries there because I buy (gasp of horror) regular giant corporation brands of stuff like pasta and canned goods. (Actually, I buy Hill Country Fare; I’m a complete heretic).
As noted, Wednesdays is double ad day so trot out your patience and prepare for a line. I’ll be having cantaloupe with blueberries and cherries with my dinner tonight.

I’ve started trying to shop there for what I can on my list (and what I can justify paying for there) to support my closest local grocery store. I ended up with most of my produce (minus the fruit — they didn’t have honeycrisps and their berries were expensive, so I passed), deli sliced turkey, acai berry emergen-​c, and a few other odds and ends.
As I keep on my weekly trips and perhaps find other gems, I’ll consider upping the stars. Would be 5 stars if I could get my entire list there…

I like Sun Harvest. They have a useful gluten-​free aisle complete with different flours (rice, graham and tapioca), healthy baked gluten-​free items and snacks. I found everything I needed for my killer gluten-​free coconut lemon cupcakes that will rock your world.
The customer service at Sun Harvest is superior to other small health food stores. If I cannot locate something, they will walk the entire store to find it for me. If they don’t have it, they just might go out and purchase it for me elsewhere. I have asked for a specific brand of kefir they did not carry and suddenly it’s there in the dairy case.
I do not purchase or even go near the bulk bins. Did you know cockroaches can squeeze through cracks? I am not saying I ever saw one in a bin but I can’t let go of the idea that I might scoop one up.
So to end on an upbeat note: I love the older people who work here. They are cheerful, helpful, trustworthy and friendly. Must have been girl scouts back in the olden days.

Sun Harvest is my favorite go-​to produce and bulk food grocer! Produce prices are lower than HEB and it’s fresh and local. The only downfall is that they don’t always have the same produce items week to week (it’s hit or miss with items like corn on the cob, strawberries, and even green onions from what I just discovered during my last trip!).
They also have a lot of the organic brands that you would find at Central Market or Whole Foods, but at a lower price! Their own brand, Henry’s, is a great alternative as well.
The small size of the store allows you to get in and out in no time. So for those of us who like to buy local, organic, but like value, go to Sun Harvest (Whole Foods, don’t you wish you were this cool).