Last week the HH had an appointment down in Portsmouth, NH. So while he was busy with that, I decided to pop by ALDI to see if there was anything I couldn’t live without {there wasn’t} but also to check out their prices on a few basic things.
In the old days I used to buy whatever brand of milk was the cheapest. But since moving to New England and discovering Oakhurst milk, I’ve become a bit of a milk snob and willing to pay practically twice as much for it.
Another thing I’ve found myself willing to pay more for is local, end of the driveway or farmstand eggs from people around town {usually priced at $3 or $4 a dozen}.
Other than those two items, I typically try not to buy something unless it’s on sale and I can stock up on it {meat especially!} for a good price.
Yada yada yada…
While I was in Portsmouth, I noticed I was also close to a Whole Foods, a Market Basket, a Walmart and a Hannaford so I decided to pop into those stores as well to compare prices since I had some time to kill {and apparently nothing better to do}.
Here are the prices I found on a few basic items.
Whole Foods $27.34
- Milk $4.89 a gallon
- Eggs $3.79 a dozen
- Butter $4.39 a pound
- Hamburger {85/15} $7.49 a pound
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $5.99 a pound {without Amazon Prime}
- Bananas {organic} $0.79 a pound
Walmart $18.72
- Milk $2.52 a gallon
- Eggs $3.23 dozen
- Butter $3.98 a pound
- Hamburger {85/15} $5.33 a pound
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $3.24 pound
- Bananas $0.42 a pound
Hannaford $18.23
- Milk $2.59 a gallon
- Eggs $3.69 a dozen
- Butter $3.98
- Hamburger {85/15} $3.99
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $3.49
- Bananas $0.49 a pound
Market Basket $17.05
- Milk $2.59 a gallon
- Eggs $2.50 a dozen
- Butter $3.49 a pound
- Hamburger {85/15} $3.99 a pound
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $3.99 a pound
- Bananas $0.49 a pound
ALDI $15.32
- Milk $2.52 a gallon
- Eggs $3.07 a dozen
- Butter $3.86 a pound
- Hamburger {73/27} $2.99 a pound
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $2.49 a pound
- Bananas $0.39 a pound
Even though this was just a small sampling of a few items from a larger city, imagine if you had to purchase 5 or 10 times the amount of items or if you were in a more rural area {like we are}.
The price difference from store to store would really add up. In some cases probably even double depending on which store you chose to shop at. It really does pay to shop around, and know your brands AND wait for a sale.
Are the prices above comparable to prices in YOUR area?
What are YOUR stock up prices for the basics like milk, eggs, butter, hamburger, chicken and bananas these days? Do you have anything in particular you are brand loyal to?
Do you shop around? Or do you pretty much stick to one store?
Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
Lisa says
I have 2 teenage boys, so the grocery bill was high already before price hikes. I usually stick to shopping at Aldi, but also shop sales at other groceries in town. I recently found butter on sale at Safeway for $1/lb!! I bought a dozen, stuck them in the freezer, and will use stick by stick when I need. I have found some good deals on meat, like $1.99/lb for ground beef, but deals are rare, so I stock up when I find them. I have 2 ‘egg ladies’ near me, so I pay $3/dozen for eggs, but we’re egg snobs…(you just can’t beat the freshness). I’m fairly certain my family would revolt if I tried to stick to $100/month on groceries, so I really enjoy reading your blog, living vicariously and all!
CherylV says
I am brand loyal to yogurt. I will only buy Chobani greek. When inflation really started jacking up the prices, a 4-pk jumped up to 5.29 at Kroger, 4.79 at Walmart. I refuse to buy it unless it is on sale. I am NOT paying 1.50 for 5.3 ounces just to line someone’s pockets.
Mallory L. says
Mavis, did you know you can check any “brand” of milk to see where it’s produced? You just need the plant code off the bottle. Go to whereismymilkfrom.com and plug it in. I live in Southern Maine and almost always buy our milk from Market Basket, their house brand comes from the Oakhurst plant last I checked. Though your not the only one to swear that the Oakhurst branded milk is better!
Mavis Butterfield says
Well that’s exciting!!! next time I’m at Market Basket I think I’ll stock up then. Thanks.
Mallory L. says
You’re welcome – you can probably check if it’s Oakhurst or Hood right in the store on you’re phone so you know for sure that they haven’t changed!
Honeybee says
Mallory thank you for this. I just moved and will find this very useful.
Andrea Haywood says
We live just north of downtown Dallas, TX, in a really competitive grocery market. There are 19 grocery stores within about 10 minutes of our house! I never pay more than $2.49 for 80/20 ground beef and chicken thighs are always 99 cents/lb somewhere. Our Kroger has ribeyes for $6/lb or under pretty consistently. It helps make up for our insane property taxes 🙂 The one item I must have is the Irish butter from Aldi ($3.49) because it is so delish!
Margo says
My son lives in Texas and keeps using the argument about the cheaper living to entice me to move there. And then I point out the property taxes! In the end it’s “6 of one and half dozen of the other”.
Rosemary Calhoun says
It definitely pays to shop around! A few years ago, I did a price comparison on Costco vs. Sams. The end result was just a few pennies difference. Since Costco was closer (use less gas to get there), we decided to go with Costco for certain items. We use Walmart and Publix as well. Publix comes out cheaper on the BOGO items but there are times when those items are still cheaper at Walmart. I made a “price book” a while back to list prices from all 3 stores on the items we use. This plan worked really well for a long time – and then the shortages (and price hikes) started happening. Now it is a real mental exercise to stay on top of it all.
Here in north Florida: Costco has ground beef for 3.99/lb. When Publix puts it on sale for less (such as 3.49/lb), that’s when I buy it. Recently Costco had pork loins on sale for 1.99/lb – I bought 2 and cut them into 6 pork roasts. Earlier this month, 2% milk was 3.92/gallon at Costco and bananas were .44/lb at Walmart. The last time I bought butter it was 11.99 for 4 lbs (at Costco) –it used to be 9.99 for 4 lbs. The price of bacon has skyrocketed – I usually buy it at Costco in 4 lb. packages (unless Publix has it BOGO). The last time I bought it at Costco, it was 19.99 for 4 lbs. – last year it was 12.99 for 4 lbs.
Each week is a new adventure in grocery shopping!
April says
I wish I could get farmstand eggs for $3 a dozen! The low end in my area is $7 and I’ve seen prices up to $12. These aren’t new price hikes either.
Margo says
Milk at Albertsons is now 4.99 a gallon. We use lactose free which is now $4.49 a half gallon there. Butter is $4.79 a pound, ground beef is about $6 a pound. Eggs are $4 a dozen. The farmers market had a dozen last week for $10! The smart and final here has milk at. $4.99 a gallon for lactose free, butter for $5.99, eggs for $3.99 a dozen. I don’t know how families are managing. I have a small freezer and just bought a pressure canner to stock up on whatever meats I can store.
Mavis Butterfield says
Margo what state are you in?
Margo says
I’m in San Diego, California.
Annette says
I will pay more for grass fed beef, and now Wal-Mart has it. Sometimes Aldi too.
Trace says
I’m moving! Here in CA’s Central Valley I’m seeing store brand butter for $5.98 per/lb, (Kerrygold is $11.00 per/lb), Ground Beef is $7.99 per/lb, Chicken Breast is on sale for $4.00 per/lb, and eggs range between $7.99 and 3.98 per dozen. Milk is $3.98 per gallon for store brand and $6.50 for organic. Bananas are .79 per/lb.
Thankful for our garden and stocked freezers right now.
Kath says
We are in northwestern Pennsylvania. We aren’t brand loyal and we shop at Giant Eagle or Walmart.
Giant Eagle –
Milk (2%) $4.74 a gallon
Eggs $2.59 a dozen
Butter $4.09 a pound
Hamburger {85/15} $6.24 a pound on sale, regular $7.49
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $6.79 a pound
Bananas $0.59 a pound
Walmart –
Milk (2%) $5.00 a gallon
Eggs $1.95 a dozen
Butter $3.98 a pound
Hamburger {85/15} $4.97 a pound
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $2.97 a pound
Bananas $0.42 a pound
Diana says
I do not look at prices ever! Eating healthy food is the most important thing. We try to buy local and seasonal. We shop at farmer’s markets, a wholesale restaurant organic food supplier, and a local small grocery store. I try not to buy food that has been transported long distances. I also support companies I believe in and choose to buy organic. We grow a huge amount of our own food year round and give away a lot to anyone who goes by our property, the mail delivery, UPS, FedEx, Sanitation workers, the crossing guard at the nearby school, and of course neighbors.
Carol says
I’m very much in your corner. Healthy food is important to us. We shop our farmers markets and local Food Co-op, but I’m not immune to specials on fresh salmon at QFC, which is our Kroger. Right now, because of the amazing sockeye run this year, fresh, wild sockeye salmon has been on sale almost all sockeye season. I was also lucky enough through networking to get on the list of a salmon fisherman and will receive a couple of 12-14 lb. salmon in late Sept., line caught, cut into steaks and flash frozen on the boat for $7.99 a lb. We buy few veggies and fruits during the harvest season, and we freeze all the extra and also make jams, jellies, pickles and can tomatoes. Am so envious of your garden space, Mavis!
Cindi says
I live in a rural area and am limited to a Safeway, a Kroger, Walmart, and a natural foods store. I shop them all, depending on what’s on sale. The natural foods store always has local free-range eggs for $1.99 a dozen and avocados for $1 each, so I stop every shopping trip to pick up those and anything I need from their bulk bins. Safeway is the highest price, but has great sales. Last week I bought 10 lb of butter for $1.99 a pound, plus they sent me a coupon for $10 off a $10 or more purchase. Kroger and Walmart are very similar in prices, so I usually shop Kroger and pick up their sales. (Last week was 1/2 gallons of milk for $1.99.) I put anything I’m able to in the freezer. Some Krogers have great clearance prices, but I don’t see a lot of that at my store. We make a trip to Costco about every quarter to stock up. The hearing aid batteries and dog food alone pay for that membership. (Their Kirkland grain free dog food is $20 a bag cheaper than a comparable brand locally and the hearing aid batteries are half the price.) I’m brand loyal to ketchup, graham crackers and Coke, but we don’t use a great deal of any of those, so they feel like an okay splurge. And I stock up on anything we buy regularly when I find a good sale.
Kathi says
Cindi,
1st: I have been “involved” with dogs for over 50 years, including breeding and competitive activities. Because of this involvement, it resulted in extensive sharing of information between others who were/are also concerned and knowledgeable regarding dogs and vet topics.
2nd: I fed all flavors (red, blue, yellow) of Kirkland Grain Free dog food for years. I did so because I had research it and it “appeared” to be a good choice at a reasonable price.
3rd:. Unfortunately, a year ago I lost a dog to DCM. It has only been the past decade that DCM has become an issue in my breed, and imo, so did feeding a grain free diet to dogs.
I just mention this to offer a bit of information regarding this fact, in case you were not aware, especially if you choose to feed a grain free diet.
https://atlantaskinvet.com/the-grain-free-dilemma.pml
Ruth K. says
I’m definitely not brand-loyal, but I used to exclusively shop at Aldi or Trader Joe’s here in Indianapolis. With recent price increases, I’m finding milk and half-and-half roughly $0.25 cheaper at Meijer or Walmart than Aldi, and I’m shopping around more than I used to. I’m also always looking for discounts and food rescue programs like Flashfood, which sells close-to-expiring food for a big discount. I’m also just super thankful for my community garden this year, which is where I’ve been getting most of my produce. Still nowhere near $100 a month though!
Lissa says
Willamette Valley, Oregon: We don’t eat beef or pork, very rarely chicken, so I don’t really know those prices. Our big ticket item is milk. I can only drink A2 milk due to milk allergies, and only two stores carry A2. At LifeSource (a local grocery/healthfood store like Whole Foods, but more expensive), I pay $7.99 a HALF GALLON for Alexandre A2 milk.
We buy local eggs from the EggGuy around the corner, $4/dozen.
Butter is KerryGold from Costco, only buy when it goes on sale. I think it was $14.99 (with discount) last time we purchased. There are 4 – 8 ounce cubes per box. I stocked up and still have a few boxes.
Bananas were still $.59/lb at Winco last week. The rest of our fruit we harvest at local farms that offer U-Pick, then bag and freeze for the year. U-Picks included Blueberries $1.50/lb; Veteran Peaches $1.90/lb; and Triple Crown blackberries $1.90/lb. The Raspberries and Black Cap raspberries were “free” from our garden.
KC says
I used to do a lot of hunt-the-bargains; most stores that do loss-leader sales have higher prices on most other things, so I’d buy just the loss-leader things (plus check their clearance bins) at ACME/Albertsons, and then hit up Aldi and international grocery stores for other stuff.
Now I’m not able to do that, so we’re just doing Walmart pickup/delivery and it is a lot simpler.
While I used to enjoy The Grocery Game (what rotation of grocery stores keeps us in stock at the cheapest prices with minimal trips? reshuffling meals based on what came up in the clearance bin! wait, refried beans are now cheaper at X store instead of Y store), you need the time and mental energy it takes to play it. Also, it would not have been any fun during the pandemic [I like games I can *win* with effort, and “should I buy X now because it will turn out to be out of stock at the grocery store it’s usually cheaper at and we’ll need more before we come back around to this store *and* maybe it’ll be out of stock here then as well or maybe it won’t…” would have been zero fun].
It’d also have been an enormous pain in the neck during the grocery store price hikes; it’s one thing to learn prices slowly and then spot changes, but having nearly *all* the prices change, repeatedly, over less than a year: nope.
(one weird thing with Walmart, though, is that their “bulk” sizes are sometimes more expensive per ounce than their smaller sizes, so, uh, watch out for that.)
Randini says
I’ve heard of Whole Foods being referred to as ‘Whole Paycheck’.
Linda Sand says
My husband now does our grocery shopping and he doesn’t care about prices. If he can’t get it at Target he will go to Cub but that’s it. We live in Minnesota
Jennifer H. says
Atlanta area – Milk is $1.99 at Kroger, eggs are about $3 there as well. Kroger had been running great deals on eggs about every 5 weeks so the last time I purchased them I was able to get 5 packs of 18 eggs for $2.79 each. This weeks sale
will be butter for $2.49 (limit 5) and 8 oz. cheese for $1.49 again limit 5
.
As far as meat goes I only buy marked down or great sale priced meat. I have been able to buy hamburger for about 2.99 and bacon for between $2 to $4 per pound.
We also shop at Publix for their BOGO deals on pantry items and Sprouts for some produce and marked down meat.
Bella Lewin says
I live on curacao, not much choice in stores and no offer. Our prices are in guldens but minimun wage is 10 a hour.
1 l of milk( long preservation) 3.
One pound of butter, 15.
12 eggs 9.
Mince meat, a pound 14
Chicken a pound 7.
Bananas a pound 9.
Food is very expensive and people with low income eat stuff like pasta and margarine, or rice with ketchup.
Leslie says
I buy at Costco and Aldi’s usually. Not crazy about everything I get from Aldis, but I like a lot of it (especially prices on cream!)
The prices of everything just make me sick. I’ve stopped buying many things I want, not so much because I don’t have the money but because they just seem too ridiculous.
Mimi says
I’m in the Willamette Valley, always looking for a deal, shopping sales at 2-3 stores. I just paid $1.70 for a gallon of milk, 1.50 lb. for butter, and 2.80 for 6 1/2 lbs. of discounted (perfect, not yet ripe) bananas. Egg prices go up and down so fast I get dizzy. I buy quality pasture raised ground beef and chicken breasts when the price dips to 3.99 lb. and stock the freezer.
Safeway had large mangoes for 5 cents each this week. I bought my limit of 4, my son bought 4 more for me and I froze them for smoothies at a total cost of 40 cents.
I’m not going to let these rising prices get the best of me!
Cindy says
I live in western Washington and we have two big stores to shop at in the town. Walmart and Safeway. I shop Safeway by sale adds ( I do stock up on sale items) and produce. Walmart for staples, dog food. Milk Darigold at Safeway is $4.99 at Walmart $4.37. I do compare both stores on staples we use. I normally stick to name brand items from past experience they taste better. We’re moving so know stocking up for now. Everything has gone way up in prices in Washington state.
Mavis my mom made ketchup one year and it tasted so good. For the tomato garden that is exploding.
T.C. says
Uhhh, how did she make the ketchup? We have a lot of cherry tomatoes and wanted to try and make it but there seems to be so many variations online!
Heidi N. says
I love Land o’ Lakes Butter, so I wait for it to go on sale for $2.99 lately. It used to go on sale for $1.99/lb pre-pandemic. Here in southern Colorado:
King Soopers (Kroger):
Large Eggs: $2.99 (Extra Large $3.19)
1 gallon 2% Milk: $3.79
Butter: $4.19
Hamburger: $4.99/lb
Boneless chicken breast: $4.99/lb
Bananas: 65 cents/lb
Walmart:
Large Eggs: $2.50 (Extra Large: $2.80)
Milk: $3.69
Butter: $3.98
Hamburger: $4.96/lb
Boneless Chicken Breast: $4.96/lb
Bananas: 58 cents/lb
Holly S says
I’m in Denver. I shop around but only stores close to me, combined with other errands due to the price of gas. I check the weekly ads for the two grocery stores near me (Kroger and Safeway) for the good deals and stock up on manager’s specials when I’m lucky enough to find them. Seems like even the discounted food Le are still sky high! I also go to Costco every 2 weeks. I’m not brand loyal with a couple exceptions: Noosa yogurt and Dove soap.
SB says
I’m on the North Shore in MA and ONLY shop at Market Basket. Not only are prices competitive, but I think I’m MUCH less likely to impulse buy because there are no loyalty cards or crazy deals. Yes, there are sales at MB, but nothing crazy. Even Aldi sucks me in with their amazing weekly deals (that I don’t often actually want or need, but that adrenaline rush of thinking that you’re saving is real!).
I also factor in my time and sanity. I used to also shop at Trader Joe’s or see what was on sale elsewhere. Thanks to simplifying during the pandemic, I realized that *almost* everything I thought I really needed at Trader Joe’s could be purchased at Market Basket (with some exceptions, but then I stock up about 2X a year)!
Haha, grocery shopping is fascinating, and definitely personal!
Donna says
We check the sales at our local chain first, but get the bulk of groceries from Aldi. The way prices just keep going up, we’re going to have to be even more proactive about our food costs. We’re about 50 miles northwest of St. Louis.
Cat says
Saskatchewan Canada
Milk $5.01 a gallon plus bottle and recycle deposits so about $5.65 ish
Eggs $3.78 a dozen
Butter- no name $5.97 a pound (Name brand is 7.79)
Hamburger -regular ground $4.99 a pound- lean is probably 5.99
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts $6.49 a pound
Bananas $0.69 a pound
Everything priced out is the no name brand for the cheapest price except milk. I think they’re bad enough now but I know prices are terrible if you head up to the northwest territories because everything is flown in so they’re probably triple in price.
Judy says
Hi Mavis, we are in British Columbia. Our milk is 6.79 a gallon, whole chickens (just small fryers) are 11-13$ each, butter 5lb, we have our own chickens for eggs. I only buy sale meat and fish, usually a large size and cut down and freeze. A large garden certainly helps and I am only brand loyal to Japanese mayo.