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My Shop Rite regularly has center cut pork chops or skinless boneless chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound. No store in my area can come near that. I will miss that store when we leave.
I have been keeping track of prices of generics and brand-names at discount supermarkets like Aldi, local supermarket chains like Kroger, Ralphs, etc, and superstores like Super Walmarts and Super Targets.
In general, the breakdown goes like this:
Supermarket (Reference Value): 100%
Discount Supermarkets: 75-100% of supermarket price.
Superstore: 120-150% of supermarket price.
It astonishes me that anyone shops for food at superstores. Generally the produce is older, shipped further (often from foreign suppliers--with who knows what kind of safety controls--processed through US distributors). The meats are almost always pre-packaged (and thus you can assume they are also older). Processed foods are the same, but they cost about 30% more than at the supermarket. "Sale pricing" bring a few items down to 110 - 120% of the supermarket pricing, but few things are usually on sale. Bulk sales can bring items down below regular supermarket prices, however, supermarket sale pricing and bulk pricing almost always keeps every item lower than what you will find at a superstore. And then there's coupons...
Discount supermarkets are a toss-up. Because they stock fewer items and off-brands, usually there are a dozen or so staples which will always be cheaper if bought from a discount supermarket. When they are in stock and/or on sale, produce in discount supermarkets can be up to 50% cheaper than in regular supermarkets.
I wonder if these trends are only regional. This information comes from the Midwest. Has anyone else compared superstore and supermarket pricing in other regions?
It really depends on where you live. We don't have Aldi in California. It also depends on what you buy. The produce might not be cheaper, but the frozen and processed foods often are.
I usually buy some things at Target, some things at Trader Joes, and some things at Safeway. I think this is pretty normal. No one grocery store has the best deals on everything.
If you have discount stores around that's great. My little town doesn't. Escotts has good prices on some things, but overall are more expensive, and besides that there is the dollar store, but they don't have food. If I was to have a car I could get to Stillwater, but there there are still not a lot of other grocery stores and Walmart is still cheaper.
In more populated areas it is somewhat of an illusion, but in rural areas Walmart has forced food costs down because before that there was one store in town and they set the prices as high as they wanted.
WalMart used to be a great place to buy groceries, but the store has really changed in the past few months. I find following sales elsewhere or going to some of the other discount stores (Aldi's, Save-A-Lot, etc) is really cheaper. WalMart also seems to be gravitating to larger sizes....which is fine for a family, but doesn't work for me living alone.
Try support the stores own by local business. Only with competition, you will get better value for what you pay for. When all the local business is gone, you will have either X store, Y store, or Z store. When this happen, you will pay even more.
It is illegal to price fixing, but when the whole market has only a few monopolistic seller, they understand that to make money is by keeping the price high. When one seller keep the price high, the other will keep the price high too because they won't want to have price war between themself when they don't have to. So if we are going the trend we are going right now, it won't be long the major working class is going to pay more and more and getting less and less.
It really depends on where you live. We don't have Aldi in California. It also depends on what you buy. The produce might not be cheaper, but the frozen and processed foods often are.
I usually buy some things at Target, some things at Trader Joes, and some things at Safeway. I think this is pretty normal. No one grocery store has the best deals on everything.
Oh man, I wish I was still based in California! Those were the cheapest groceries I ever bought inside the United States.
99c stores are your best friend, though I think they're very area dependent because they buy locally. I lived in a farming community with lots of fresh produce cash crops, so we'd get whole watermelons (during the season) or 2lbs of strawberries/broccoli/carrots/etc for a buck! The produce was always great because it was the stuff which was too ripe to chemically treat and ship cross-country. So we were getting fresh, full-term ripe, non-preservative-treated fruits and veggies for dirt cheap.
Of course you have to be careful. Some things are rip-offs at the 99c store, and a lot of the packaged stuff is crap, but certainly not local produce if you can find one that carries it.
We shop primarily at Fry's (Kroger), Sprouts, and Costco. Between the three, we get great prices and great quality. We tried Walmart shopping, but found that their prices are not that great, and the house brand quality is horrible, as are produce and bakery.
We also used to like Smith's, but they're gone now. Bought out by Kroger, I believe. Basha's tends to be quite expensive, as does Albertson's. We sometimes go to Food City, especially for Mexican items, and sometimes go to Lee Lee's since they opened one down here.
Do NOT buy fresh fruits and vegetables at Super Walmart!!!!!! And this is coming from a long time Walmart shopper! I often find them cheaper and fresher at local mom and pop grocery stores and regional chains like Food4Less (in S. California)
Their frozen food is priced alright though..
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