Cheapest Store To Buy Groceries
This project might be one of my biggest grocery shopping projects yet and I was honestly amazed at what I discovered in my search for the cheapest grocery store. I am so excited to share all the details with you here today!
cheapest store to buy groceries
Note: I did this price comparison in 2019 for the first time, and updated it in 2021. With the rapidly increasing inflation, I did a complete update in May 2022 to help us all save money on our groceries.
I looked at the stores that had the biggest reach. Walmart is national chain that boosts low prices. Is Walmart really the lowest? Aldi claims to beat Walmart but do they really? Meijer and Kroger are considered higher end grocery stores, but they have a large reach with great sales. For the sake of this price comparison, these were the four stores I chose to compare.
Some products were name-brand specific but many were simply for the cheapest generic version available at the store. I did not include fresh produce in this price comparison since it varies so much by season.
After multiple store shopping trips and researching through various store apps, my list was finally done. Once I found the price totals, I went through and started comparing price to see which was the cheapest grocery store.
As I was comparing results, I realized that several stores were within pennies of each other. If you were already shopping at one store, it makes sense to pick up other items that are still a good deal. Keeping that in mind, I went back through the lists and highlighted every price that was within 5 cents of the lowest price. This gave them a mark for the second lowest price.
<!--td border: 1px solid #ccc;br mso-data-placement:same-cell;-->As you can see, Aldi had the most lowest prices and Kroger had the least. There were a few categories where all 4 stores have prices within a dime, but only a few.
If you are going by the everyday low prices at the store, the clear winner to the cheapest grocery store in 2022 is Aldi. Walmart is a runner up, with Meijer and Kroger trailing behind.
Walmart is probably the cheapest grocery store available nationwide. I say probably, because Walmart does not have sales, so that is a factor because sale shopping can save you a lot of money on groceries.
Next, take your list and price those 25 products at the different grocery stores. Quick tip. Many grocery stores have great websites or apps where you can view the prices from the comfort of your own home. For Aldi, unfortunately, you have to venture into the store to see the actual prices.
At the same time, with gas prices increasing as much as they are, we need to be smart shoppers. Gone are the days of running to one store just because. We need to combine errands and be wise about how we shop.
How do you save money on groceries? That is something we all need to figure out. We are living in a time where food costs are skyrocketing, and the prices of other items are also increasing. The good news is that there are ways that you can save money on your grocery bill! In this blog post, I am going to share 8 places that offer the best price for grocery shopping on a budget.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spends around 387 dollars a month on groceries. Americans spend nearly 10 percent of their disposable income on food which seems like a large percentage and can be comparable to more of our expensive bills.
This is due mostly to families splitting their food budgets between eating out at restaurants or getting fast food, while the other half is spent on groceries to be made at home. The price of convenience for many food items can add an increase to your monthly food budget, that is not necessary.
The USDA publishes food plans based on the average cost of food items that you would buy at your typical grocery store. For the year 2021, it is stated that a family of four on a moderate budget would likely be spending around 1,200 dollars a month. A low-cost plan for a family of four would likely spend around 900 dollars a month. The average leans more toward the moderate budget of spending for average families of this size.
This is a good tip for shoppers on a budget as these items are perfectly fine to cook with and eat, they just may not be up to the grocery chains standards. Below we will be discussing the best grocery stores to buy from and the services they offer! Another great tip is to sign up for loyalty programs with your grocery store of choice in order to get money off of store brand items and coupons!
This store gives out weekly discount flyers and sells its own private label products that can be sold to you at the prices they choose because they have streamlined their supply process. You can buy all of the usual essentials, even meat and produce are cheaper on average, and they have options for some dietary restrictions.
This is another option for larger families or those who have space to store bulk products and preserve what they will not use in a timely manner. If you have a lot of freezer space or have a large family that regularly meal preps, then this chain will save you a lot of money by buying your foods and essentials in larger quantities. This means less trips to the grocery store because you can buy more in one trip while spending less overall.
Walmart is a superstore staple that likely everyone has stepped foot into at least once. So, unsurprisingly, they have made the list for stores that you can buy cheap groceries from. While Walmart does not solely sell grocery products, they still have a wide selection of products for those shoppers who use this chain to buy their food.
Due to the sheer size and popularity of this chain, they can afford to buy their stock in bulk at lower prices than many competitors, which helps to drive their prices down for their shoppers. The supply model that Walmart works off of also gives them the freedom to set their own prices and to avoid warehouse costs being forced onto consumers. Walmart can even sell some items lower than they paid for it because the size of their stores leads shoppers to buy other items because of the many options available.
Walmart is one of the biggest superstore chains and its shoppers often buy items that may not have been on their list which makes up for many of the under-cost items that are on the shelves. All in all, this is a tried-and-true store for many shoppers and if you follow simple budgeting tips like couponing, avoiding name brands, and shopping clearance then you are sure to save money on your monthly grocery bill.
This way you only pay for the amount of product itself you are going to use and not the brand name packaging or the empty spaces in the containers. Winco has a very popular coupon mailing list that shoppers can sign up for and get further discounts on their products, so all of you couponers will really be able to capitalize on the products at this retailer. Winco does not accept credit cards and they make their shoppers bag their own groceries; this may seem like an inconvenience but it actually helps to drive costs of items down even lower as they do not spend money on the labor of grocery baggers.
This chain is owned by Kroger, and while Kroger may not always be the cheapest option their sister store is consistently on the list of cheap grocery options by consumers overall. Being an affiliate of Kroger also means shoppers will still get to enjoy perks like saving on gas with fuel points they can get from their grocery purchases, which can translate into savings at the pump with their affiliate gas locations.
This chain does have smaller stores, and less flashy setups on shelving and produce bins, but this is all to help bring their shoppers more affordable options. They have low priced produce, but they still have a lot of options that you would find at many of your larger retail chains. Much like some of our other options, Food4Less sends its shoppers weekly ad deals, which attribute to more savings to be had every week.
Much like Kroger, but cheaper, they offer brand names and generic brands to meet every kind of budget. This store also has many gluten-free options and other dietary restriction alternatives. Since this store is more focused on value, they save their shoppers money by having them bag their own groceries and then redirect the saved cost from not having baggers into their deals.
We have been shopping at Kroger as our main grocery store for several years, and have found that buying the generic brands, using digital coupons, and cashing in our gas rewards, has helped our family save hundreds of dollars on groceries each month!
Those of us trying to create a budget and stick to it may feel that we will have to sacrifice the quality of our groceries in order to do this, but that is not true! The above list of grocery stores has many options for those on a budget that does not diminish the quality of the foods. While finding a cheap location to buy your groceries is an important step in your monthly savings, it is also important to remember to implement the other tips as well.
The retail behemoth offers plenty of bulk-sized pantry items by mail through its regular search engine. Walmart offers membership service Delivery Unlimited, where for a price of $12.95 every month or a grand total of $98 a year, you can have an unlimited amount of Walmart Grocery Delivery orders. Walmart now offers InHome Delivery, a convenient way to shop for groceries and have an employee load groceries directly to your fridge. Learn the 14 things nutritionists always do while grocery shopping.
Walmart is well-known for having some of the lowest prices of any national retail chain. In this analysis of the cheapest online grocery delivery operations, its budget-friendly reputation held up. Walmart pretty much swept the field with the lowest total cost in every grocery subcategory except one -- pantry staples -- for which Target has the lowest total by about $2. Many of Walmart's cheapest items come courtesy of its in-house brand, Great Value. Target has an in-house brand of its own called Good & Gather, while Amazon sports a number of generic brands including Amazon-branded groceries along with Happy Belly and 365 by Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon. 041b061a72