Something that I have been wondering about for a long time is where to get the cheapest, best groceries. When we were living in Philadelphia, grocery stores were small and expensive, so I primarily stuck with Trader Joe's. But now that we're living in an area where we have access to multiple grocery stores, I decided to conduct an experiment.
Johnny helped me create a spreadsheet of all the grocery items that I would normally have in my kitchen, and I went to Trader Joe's, Wal-Mart, and Target and wrote down the prices of all the items. I did my best to keep the quality of the items the same across the board and documented not just the cheapest item but the items I would actually purchase.
The short story of what I found was that surprisingly, there wasn't much difference between Trader Joe's, Target, and Wal-Mart, but there were certain things that stood out. Here are a few of those major things that I found interesting, and if you are interested in getting more information, the spreadsheet is available here: Groceries
- The best place to get cooking supplies is Wal-Mart. Things like bulk flour and bulk sugar should definitely be purchased there; though, Trader Joe's has the cheapest chocolate chips (Who knew?).
- Super Wal-Mart also has a large, high quality meat selection with prices that beat out Trader Joe's and Target.
- Produce should NOT be purchased at Wal-Mart. I have a tie between Trader Joe's and Target, but I like to think that Trader Joe's has better produce than a huge box store like Target.
- Ginger and most other spices were the best variety, quality, and price at Target.
- Nuts are the cheapest at Trader Joe's, which is really good to know for the holidays.
- Everything else generally tied. Prepared foods, frozen foods, dairy, and others are either evenly divided across the board or have very little difference in price between the three stores.
