I took the same grocery list to Trader Joe's and Walmart. My money went way further at the bigger chain, and I found cool stuff.

Thu, 08/08/2024 - 10:57

intercut photos of avocados at trader joes and walmart — I bought my standard weekly groceries at Trader Joe's and Walmart.
Amena Ahmed

I took identical shopping lists to Trader Joe's and Walmart to compare the chains.
Basic items like avocados, cucumbers, and lunch meat were much cheaper at Walmart.
I shop at Trader Joe's more often, but seeing how much more expensive it is may change that.

When I go grocery shopping, my go-to chain is Trader Joe's. It's known for offering decently healthy and easy meals for a decent price, and as a busy adult, that's exactly what I need.

But I wanted to see if I was actually getting the most bang for my buck. So, I took the same grocery list to Trader Joe's and Walmart to compare offerings and prices.

Walmart is famous for its cheap prices, and I've been tempted to buy groceries there ever since it launched Bettergoods, its premium store brand, in April. Some of its new, fun items seem comparable to the high-end-feeling products I love at Trader Joe's.

Here's what my shopping trips were like.

I started in the produce aisle at Walmart.

cucumbers at walmart for $0.64 — I was shocked by the low produce prices at Walmart.
Amena Ahmed

I buy cucumbers and avocados on every shopping trip, so I started there.

The avocados were only $0.84, and the cucumbers were $0.64.

I was surprised by how low these prices were for such fresh-looking produce.

Trader Joe’s offered the same items, but for way higher prices.

cucumbers at trader joe's for $0.99 — The cucumbers seemed much more expensive at Trader Joe's.
Amena Ahmed

To my surprise, at Trader Joe's, avocados cost $1.99, and cucumbers cost $0.99.

I wasn't expecting such a large price difference for basic produce.

Bagged salads are quick and easy, so I took a look at Walmart’s selection.

bagged salad kits at walmart — Walmart had a standard variety of salad kits.
Amena Ahmed

Walmart had a variety of bagged-salad options, from classic Caesar to Asian-inspired.

The average price I saw for these multi-serving kits was $3.98, which isn't bad for a couple of fast meals.

Trader Joe’s offered comparable kits for similar prices.

bagged salad kits at trader joe's — I love the miso-crunch salad from Trader Joe's.
Amena Ahmed

Similar salad kits at Trader Joe's were only $3.99, and I felt that there were more interesting flavor options.

My favorite from the chain is the miso crunch, which I'm more than willing to pay the extra penny for.

Next up on my list was fresh salmon.

salmon filets at walmart — I don't have to dig around for the best deal on salmon at Walmart.
Amena Ahmed

I love salmon, but it can be expensive depending on the cut, brand, and size. I typically dig around until I can find the cheapest piece in the store.

At Walmart, the cheapest fillet I could find was $10.38 for around a pound. That's a pretty amazing deal — I've paid upward of $18 at other stores.

Trader Joe’s salmon was priced based on weight.

salmon filets at trader joe's — I can buy smaller (and therefore cheaper) pieces of salmon at Trader Joe's.
Amena Ahmed

I liked that Walmart had a set price for its 1-pound salmon filets, but it was great that I had the option to choose smaller (and cheaper) individual pieces at Trader Joe's.

After digging around, the cheapest fillet I found there was $8.63 for a little under a pound.

Walmart had huge packages of deli meat.

deli turkey pack a walmart — Walmart had an overwhelming number of turkey options.
Amena Ahmed

I was overwhelmed by the amount of packaged turkey at Walmart, so it took me a bit to find the best deal.

I landed on a 16-ounce box of oven-roasted turkey from Oscar Mayer that cost me $6.98.

The packs at Trader Joe’s offered half the amount for almost the same price.

deli turkey pack at trader joe's — There weren't a ton of affordable lunch-meat options at Trader Joe's.
Amena Ahmed

I looked for a pack of oven-roasted turkey as big as the one I found at the other chain, but the best I could do was an 8-ounce pack for $5.99.

Although it was cheaper here, I got a way better deal (twice the amount of turkey) at Walmart.

I looked for sliced cheese to go with the meat.

sliced cheese at walmart — I could also get a 24-pack of cheese at Walmart for $3.74.
Amena Ahmed

It was nice that Walmart offered smaller and larger packs of sliced cheese.

The 12-pack of sharp-cheddar slices I went with was only $1.97.

Again, a similar pack was twice the price at Trader Joe’s.

sliced cheese at trader joe's — Making a sandwich with Trader Joe's cheese is more costly.
Amena Ahmed

Unfortunately, a 12-pack of sliced cheddar at Trader Joe's was $4.79, which I found way too expensive.

I was impressed by the yogurt prices at Walmart.

walmart's bettergoods greek yogurt — I thought Bettergoods' Greek-yogurt flavors sounded fun and interesting.
Amena Ahmed

So far, Walmart's Bettergoods private label has impressed me. Its 32-ounce tubs of Greek yogurt were just $3.97.

There were even some fun flavors, like strawberries and cream.

The breakfast staple wasn’t as cheap at Trader Joe’s.

tubs of greek yogurt at trader joe's — Trader Joe's Greek yogurt was less fun and more expensive.
Amena Ahmed

Similar 32-ounce tubs of Greek yogurt were $5.99 at Trader Joe's, and the store only had basic flavors like vanilla, honey, and plain.

Walmart offered basic frozen pizzas for an OK price.

Although there were a bunch of name-brand frozen pizzas at Walmart, like Tombstone and Jacks, I wanted to check out its Great Value brand.

The Walmart brand offered a selection of frozen pies that cost between $4.97 and $7.66.

Trader Joe’s offered a little more variety.

frozen pizzas at trader joe's — The frozen-pizza selection was a little more varied at Trader Joe's.
Amena Ahmed

I like that Trader Joe's sells so many different kinds of pizza. But I also noticed that a lot of them were personal-sized or at least smaller than the ones at Walmart.

The cheapest one that appealed to me was the vegetable pizza for $4.99, which was pretty much in line with the competitor.

Next on my list were ice pops.

ice pops at walmart — I couldn't believe how many ice pops Walmart was selling for under $3.
Amena Ahmed

Walmart offered a basic 20-pack of tri-flavor ice pops for $2.54.

I loved how big the box was, especially for the low price.

There weren’t any boxes as big as that at Trader Joe’s.

summer themed ice bars at trader joe's — I love Trader Joe's seasonal flavors, but the small boxes aren't a great value.
Amena Ahmed

I didn't see any variety packs at Trader Joe's, but there were six-packs of ice pops with seasonal, summer-themed flavors, like root-beer float and tangerine cream.

The flavors were fun, but $3.29 seemed like a lot for just six ice pops.

Tomato-basil pasta sauce was pretty pricey at Walmart.

tomato basil pasta sauce at walmart — The cheapest pasta sauce I could find at Walmart was organic.
Amena Ahmed

Walmart's Great Value brand had a 24-ounce jar of organic tomato-basil pasta sauce for $2.36.

I expected to find a better deal, considering it's a very common and generic sauce.

The sauce was one of Trader Joe's cheaper items.

tomato basil pasta sauce at trader joe's — Trader Joe's had better deals on basic pasta sauce.
Amena Ahmed

I found the same sauce for only $1.99 at Trader Joe's.

Although it wasn't an organic jar, the ingredients were almost identical.

I've been overlooking Walmart's groceries, but I'm definitely going there more often now.

exterior shot of a walmart — I'm excited to go back to Walmart.
Amena Ahmed

When I brought the same shopping list to both chains, I was really expecting Trader Joe's to be cheaper. But after adding up the totals, I spent $38.63 at Walmart and $42.34 at Trader Joe's.

The price difference may not be huge, but the items at Walmart were also more of a bargain — especially the bigger packs of turkey and ice pops.

In the future, I think I'll only shop at Trader Joe's for a few quick items, like pasta sauce. Otherwise, I'm getting the bulk of my groceries at Walmart from now on.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Food, Retail, Freelancer, freelancer-le, Groceries, trader-joes, walmart, walmart-grocery, Food, chains, grocery-chains, review

Source

I took the same grocery list to Trader Joe's and Walmart. My money went way fur…