compared christmas dinner prices at 5 different stores and no single store was cheapest for everything

I'm hosting Christmas dinner for 12 people this year and decided to actually compare prices instead of just going to one store like usual. Spent way too long on this but the results were interesting enough I wanted to share.

I priced out the same meal at walmart, target, costco, kroger, and amazon. Turkey, potatoes, green beans, rolls, butter, cranberry sauce, pie ingredients, all of it.

Here's what surprised me. Every single store won on something different.

Walmart had the cheapest turkey per pound at $0.88, but their pie ingredients were more expensive than target. Target had butter for $3.49 a pound when everywhere else was over $4, but their produce was the most expensive. Costco obviously won on bulk items like potatoes and rolls if you're feeding a crowd, but their smaller items weren't great deals. Kroger had the best prices on canned goods and frozen vegetables. Amazon was actually cheapest for spices and some baking supplies, which I didn't expect.

If I shopped at just walmart, my total would be around $140. Just target would be $156. But if I split it strategically across three stores, I can get everything for about $108.

The annoying part is you can't just assume one store is always cheaper. You actually have to check each thing. I was comparing unit prices using popgot and a spreadsheet because I'm apparently that person now, but it saved me like $30 on one meal so I guess it's worth being annoying about it.

Also learned that store brand vs name brand matters way less than which store you're at. Target's store brand butter was still more expensive than walmart's name brand.

Is this normal? Do other people shop at multiple stores for big meals or am I overthinking this?