Joanna Gaines on Her Favorite Grocery Store in Texas

Joanna Gaines might have started out purely in the design world, but with the launch of her restaurant and first cookbook, Magnolia Table, she’s made the full transition to running a lifestyle empire. Her cookbook is full of recipes and the inevitable stories that accompany them. There’s the biscuit recipe that Chip can’t get enough of, and the casserole recipe that has a sneaky amount of vegetables that her kids don’t seem to notice.

My biggest question for someone who loves cooking is always the same: What’s your favorite grocery store? It’s so fun to watch as people’s eyes light up and they explain their shopping strategy. So, when I recently sat down with Gaines to talk about her new cookbook, I had to ask what her favorite grocery store in Texas is.

If you’ve ever been grocery shopping in Texas, the answer isn’t too surprising.

“So, locally we have an H-E-B, which I love. It’s huge. You have a ton of options,” Gaines said. She explained that she enjoys the variety of options at the grocery store and the fact that many of the options are organic. “I feel like any time I go, I just get inspired to try something new, whether it’s new spices or fun ingredients.”

In case you’re not familiar, H-E-B is a grocery chain with 350 stores throughout Texas and northeast Mexico. As Business Insider recently pointed out, H-E-B was voted the third best grocery store in the United States. People love it for its wide selection of produce, local Texan products (including Whataburger snacks and condiments), and a great private-label collection.

Besides H-E-B, Gaines says she likes visiting Whole Foods and wishes that Waco would get a Trader Joe’s. “That would be really nice,” she exclaimed.

Have you ever been to H-E-B?