Hi everybody! Up to now, I have only shopped for groceries at Walmart and Aldi. I try to buy decent quality food, but money is tighter lately. So, in an effort to reduce my spending on food, I’ve been wondering if I should shop at other grocery stores as well. Nearby, I have a Lidl, Ingles, Food Lion, and Costco. Do any of these stores have consistently better costs for food? I’m based out of South Carolina, if location affects anything. Thank you for your time!
Excluding Walmart and Aldi, what stores are best to shop at to save money on food?
byu/w_whatevs inFrugal
Posted by w_whatevs
41 Comments
Mexican grocery stores have great produce and dry goods like beans, legumes, etc. and sauces.
Costo/Sams Club *if* you can go through enough volume. Its a no-brainer for my family of 4. It doesn’t make sense though for my retired parents.
Grocery Outlets, just have to watch the expiration dates.
I think the majority of the big names can be affordable like, giant, food lion, Kroger, Weis, or whatever is in your region. Get the rewards cards, shop the sales especially the front page and produce page. Also get to know the store brands and the spots where they put mark downs. Manager specials on meat have saved me a lot of money, some chains have specific days where they markdown meat you can ask someone from the meat department what day that is.
Food Lion was always the cheapest in my hometown (MD).
Costco is cost effective for pantry staples that you want to keep in bulk.
Kroger! (If you have one in your area) The coupons in the app are great. Some weeks they even give free product with any purchase coupons . This is especially common around Thanksgiving at my store.
Discount grocery outlets, if there are any in your area, and produce markets.
> consistently better costs for food
It’s my experience that no store is best at everything. If you have the time and ability, seeing what costs more at which stores can save quite a bit compared to choosing the one with the lowest average.
In Canada Shoppers Drug Mart has the best points card redemption.They sell groceries too.
Get the FlashFood app. Grocery stores will sell items that are closer to the expiry date for low prices. You should try to shop the app the day before your next shopping trip, as, again, these items are for immediate use or freezing.
Lidl has good prices but limited selection.
Also in SC. I’ll start by saying my preference is Publix, but it’s getting far too pricey for it to be my primary store. Recently retired so having to be a bit more careful with my grocery budget.
I don’t like to shop at Walmart and Aldi because, well, I don’t like them. I find Food Lion saves me a good bit of money and I can consistently get everything I need, without the things that bug me about the forementioned. I don’t love their produce, and their meat is hit or miss, but I can indeed get everything I need and save a good bit.
Costco is good for bulk. I buy canned veggies in cases (like green beans/green peas) and large packs of meat that can be broken down and frozen. Also olive oil, seasonings, sauces, etc.
There’s only 2 in our household so veggies and bakery goods aren’t something we can easily buy in bulk.
It’s not in your area, but if anyone else is near one Winco is the cheapest grocery store I’ve shopped at!
meijer has some decent prices. I check sales there and just get those items and use their coupons. I do most of my shopping at aldi and maybe a third at meijer.
Internet and sales flyers are your friends. And digital coupons.
In our area, Walmart and Aldi are cheapest. Costco or Sam’s are good for bulk items but can be pricey because everything is in bulk and hence has a higher price. Seriously, it’s almost impossible to get out of Costco for under $100. Meal planning and sticking to a list are great strategies to save money.
Weekly sales at local grocery stores. Target.
Winco has the best prices and selection in my area.
Go local for all fruit and vegetables, look for your family owned fruit markets. They always have the best deals last week mine had 10 bell peppers for 2$ and 3 for 1$ pints of cherry tomato’s.
I stock my freezer with Food Lion’s manager specials.
Ethnic grocery stores
Put some time into preparing a list before you go shopping.
Check the ads. Sometimes it’s worth it to go to more than one store.
Clip coupons. A lot of grocery stores have apps that allow you to select the coupons in the app. They’re automatically used when you check out.
Get the Flashfood app. Grocery stores in your area can list stuff that’s near the Use By at half off the regular price.
Lidl is another inexpensive option like Aldi.
Compare prices on Costco vs your walmart/aldi… Some things you aren’t really saving much even though you are buying more bulk, other things are considerably cheaper.
If you are looking for fresh produce cheap, see if there’s any farmers markets or even farmers that have on-premise sales. If you are really trying to squeeze savings sometimes they have ‘ugly’ produce they sell very cheap.
I also like to go to Asian & Mexican groceries. You can find the real ethnic stuff there that regular groceries don’t stock, and also they are usually considerably cheaper.
A vacuum sealer is a great thing to get so you can buy meat in bulk / on sale / discounted… portion it out, seal, and freeze! Lasts years in the freezer and won’t get freezer burn.
I’m in Northern California and I buy 95% of groceries at Grocery Outlet and Trader Joe’s. Between the two I can get most everything I need, and cheaper!
These days Publix and Kroger are getting more expensive than Whole Foods, especially if you have Prime discount and use the Amazon visa card.
Sadly you have to shop at multiple to really get the deals. Also depends on how many you are shopping for and how you cook. I generally do Costco once every 8 weeks. Walmart once a month, Aldi and Trader Joe’s when I need a particular item. And Publix only for the bogos. Kroger is new to my area and I have been testing it out. So far it’s pretty close to Walmart pricing but does not stock everything I want.
King Soopers is usually the cheapest here. The loss leaders at Safeway are usually some of the best deals, but unless it’s on sale it’s typically more.
We have local Indian, Mexican, and Asian supermarkets where those international ingredients are usually the cheapest.
I shop at 2 Asian stores, one middle eastern store, a Mexican market, a restaurant supply, Costco, Kroger, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Amazon, and Azure Standard. Each one has sigficantly lower prices on a few items. I know what I need and have a pretty good memory for prices. Or I take photos of prices. If I fell on hard times and qualified for SNAP benefits, my budget wouldnt change much. We are a plant based household (no meat, cheese, oil, or refined sugar. That pretty much cuts out convenience foods.
You can be frugal for price or frugal for value. I find different stores have things I like.
Walmart: store brand cliff bars, store brand cereal, staples – beans rice some canned goods.
Kroger: meat especially chicken breast.
Aldi: most anything they have but I go there for TP and paper products.
I don’t go to costco-sams club because I always spend too much and buy more than I need.
I also have a good local produce store that buys stuff they can offer cheap direct from the produce terminal.
I could probably spend a little less but I get stuff I like too.
I have been shopping meijer and sams club. I price match meijer, sams club and aldi but lately meijer and sams club have been the best value per unit. It does require you to buy in bulk.
The grocery store near where you live which has an app and has a weekly flyer with loss leaders. Get an idea of what things cost, realize you will need to substitute or not purchase items when not on a good sale. Do not over stock when things on a good sale, but at least have a back up. I live where there are two grocery stores, a Dollar General, and a Dollar tree. Fifty miles to Walmart. I know which store has better buys on certain items, look at sale circular on the phone on a Wednesday when it comes out. Don’t have to visit both stores if there isn’t anything that week.
Also know where they stock day old, on super loss leaders and store runs out, know when the truck comes.
Winco.
if you can afford a membership, costco is good for certain restocks that add up elsewhere. produce and some meats I’ll get from a mexican grocery store nearby (or an H-mart if I’m lucky!) and anything processed (canned goods, pasta, box food) is picked from grocery outlets/food for less stores.
dollar store, winco, maybe grocery outlet.
1) Check your local food banks first. Money is tight is enough reason to visit your local food bank, don’t wait until you’re on the last dollar or starving.
2) Check the sale flyers and MEAL prep around the SALE items and food from the food bank.
I like to batch prep grains, beans, veggies for each week.
If I make a big pot of stew/lasagna etc I freeze half for another week and so I’m not eating the same thing for the whole week and it gives options for when I don’t feel like cooking or am sick.
Any grocery if you shop the “loss leaders”. In other words, the sales. Track what would be a good price/value. Also, store brands may be much less expensive.
We have a couple of stores close that sell items close to expiration dates and such. One is “Grocery Outlet” and the other is more local. The thing about these stores is that you never know what they will have. So, you go first, or you go and just buy up things you will eat. They are great, but I could not really build a diet around them. One has a great price on coffee much of the time and the other is great for snacks, ice cream and tea. Although, sometimes they have none of any of it.
I use the flipp app to see the weekly specials. It allows me to make a list from them and then I review the lists to see which store I want to shop at.
Do you have a Produce Junction? Those are great for fresh fruit, veg, nuts, etc.
Save A Lot
Walmart is not the cheapest anymore.