People typically suggest Costco, Walmart, Aldi, or basically anything else for food besides their local supermarket. I've found the opposite to be true in terms of getting good prices.

Are the regular Walmart/Aldi prices lower than the regular chain supermarket prices? Yeah, probably, who cares. I don't buy things that aren't on sale. So you go to your Kroger or whatever big chain supermarket is in your area, and normally Doritos cost $5 per bag or whatever the hell it is, who knows. But every so often they will be on sale for $2 per bag, and then you buy a bunch of bags. Same thing with crackers, or with microwave dinners, or with all sorts of other things.

Walmart and Aldi don't have sales, so you will never get sale prices. Can you get Doritos at Walmart or Aldi for $2? No you can't. Can you get Cheez-its for $2.50? No you can't. But I can get both those prices at my local Kroger, I just have to wait, and then buy a bunch of them.

Now, this means I can't just go into Kroger and buy whatever I want this week. Instead, I look through the aisles and see what's on sale in the group of things I like to buy. Egg rolls are on sale? Great, 5 packages of egg rolls. Good price on shampoo? 5 bottles, hey, maybe 10.

This of course only works on things you can keep. You can't store eggs or milk long term, but most things last a long time on their own or can be frozen.

Regarding food prices. If your go-to is Walmart for groceries, try another store. I rarely go to Walmart, and I was surprised when I saw the prices of their groceries earlier this week. Just about everything I looked at buying was the same or much higher than Smart N' Final and FoodMax (California grocery stores) for the exact same product. Some items were 40% higher at Walmart.

I imagine people shop there under the assumption that Walmart is the same or cheaper than other stores. If they were, they're not anymore. The same is probably true for Costco. I think they are cheaper for most things, but not everything.

I picked up a 5 piece sound system for my tv. After putting it in the cart, I needed more info that wasn't on the package. After searching online, Google showed multiple retailers selling the same make and model, 4 out of 5 were selling it cheaper than Costco. The average was about 20%, and one was 35% cheaper. Same thing with the 2-pack smoke/CO detector at Costco.

I recently experienced a financial hardship and am currently staying with a relative temporarily. My spouse and I are focused on saving money for a new apartment and other expenses, so we're trying to be as frugal as possible. I've been ordering groceries from Walmart, but I'm considering if I can save more money by shopping at Aldi. What are your thoughts?

With inflation going up, I'm rethinking where I shop for groceries.

Normally I really don't like Super Walmarts and Neighborhood Walmarts seem hit or miss for me, but would Walmart be a better cost saver right now, or would it just be the same as shopping sales at chains like Albertsons?

Hi, I am on a budget of $150 for groceries this month, and need some help figuring out how to make my money go as far as possible. I recently moved to Charlotte, NC and I am still pretty new to shopping for myself. The past couple of months I have tried a few different locations. First I tried shopping at target since I had never been to one before, and I quickly learned its way more expensive to buy groceries there than I thought it would be. Then I tried looking at Harris Teeter, and I was able to find some better deals but I still feel like I wasn't making my money go as far as possible. Last month I went to this Walmart Neighborhood market thing, and its the closest, but it has very little options for products and it didn't seem to be better in terms of price. I understand that groceries are just expensive all around, but I would like some help figuring out how to save as much as possible.

Any help is appreciated.

Smiths, Kroger, Trader Joe’s, target, etc.

All trash IMO.

First off Walmart is the cheapest grocery store I go to by a mile. Does Aldi have better prices on some stuff? Sure, but there’s no Aldi near me.

Smiths and Kroger and target is legit 20-30% more expensive for practically everything.

Trader Joe’s has expensive AF meat and it’s a small store.

What does that leave? Walmart.

Walmart is a one truck stop. I can get literally anything there, at a good price. I hated Kroger because non food items like shampoo were absurdly overpriced.

I actually worked at Walmart. It was honestly my favorite retail job (I’ve had several). No one really gave a shit there. I fucked around a lot at the job. And I made more there compared to target.

The great value brand is tough to beat too.

This reads like a stupid question but i’m 100% serious, every grocery store that is in the Vons Safeway conglomerate are so insanely priced when compared to Walmart. Even some of the “value” stores are about the same price as walmart but just lack variety. I understand if you don’t have a Walmart in your area but it seems like just shopping at Walmart can save up to 5-10% (or more) on almost every item which beats any credit card cash back % offered by far. It was the main reason I chose BCE over BCP, the grocery category without Walmart included is so meh. Another reason why I don’t think the Savorone is as good as the DiscoverIT for a first card.

All other stores and grocers seem to be more expensive. Amazon failed deliveries and inconsistencies are a drag. Seems like this is the best route for most every product right now. Is this correct or is there something I’m missing?

Hey Everyone!

I was wondering which grocery stores you shop at to keep the lowest overall grocery bill. There are a ton of options out there and some things are cheaper at some stores than others, which is why I ask about total bill.

And I’m talking about for staple supplies within the home, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, TVs diapers.

I live in the Central Valley in CA. We have grocery outlet, target, Walmart, Costco, food maxx, food 4 less, sprouts, Safeway, save mart, and Raley’s. I typically shop at Walmart, target, and Costco. Surprisingly Target and Walmart are very close in prices. I haven’t tried food 4 less, grocery outlet, or food maxx in a long time. Does anyone know if these are typically cheaper overall? I have 3 little kids who eat A LOT of produce. Costco seems the best for that. We don’t eat a ton of meat, but we typically get it at Costco and split it up and freeze it.