Last Saturday, I decided to see which store would save me money: Aldi or Kroger. Buying the same 10 items at each store for an apples-to-apples comparison [items included: ground chuck, taco seasoning, ranch dressing mix, and various canned vegetables], I spent $15.23 at Aldi and $14.37 at Kroger.
The canned foods prices were basically the same. The modest savings at Kroger came from the ground chuck.
Publishing these findings to Facebook, friends said that Aldi would definitely save money on certain items: items that I hadn't bought. People specifically mentioned paper products and produce.
I went back today, and wrote down the prices for five paper items and five produce items at Aldi, Kroger, and (this time) Walmart Supercenter as well. These items were chosen based on two criteria: 1. they had to be something I thought my family actually might buy; 2. they had to be comparable to what I was able to find at the other stores (I had to scratch a couple of items off of my list due to not being able to find them at all three stores). Below are my findings.
Paper Products
Napkins, 250 ct. $1.49
Paper Towels 8 roll $5.99
Toilet Paper 12 roll $4.99
Facial Tissue 184 ct. $1.19
Paper Plate 40 ct. $2.99
Total: $16.65
Produce (all prices per pound)
Bananas: $0.44
Red Onions $0.50
Carrots $1.25
Zucchini: $2.49
Mandarin Oranges: $1.00
Total: $5.68
Paper Products
Napkins, 250 ct. $2.50
Paper Towels 8 roll $6.99
Toilet Paper 12 roll $4.39
Facial Tissue 160 ct. $1.39
Paper Plate 40 ct. $4.60
Total: $19.87
Produce (all prices per pound)
Bananas: $0.59
Red Onions $1.99
Carrots $0.99
Zucchini: $1.79
Mandarin Oranges: $2.00
Total: $7.36
Paper Products
Napkins, 300 ct. $2.52
Paper Towels 8 roll $4.97
Toilet Paper 12 roll $6.47
Facial Tissue 200 ct. $1.32
Paper Plate 45 ct. $4.16
Total: $19.44
Produce (all prices per pound)
Bananas: $0.52
Red Onions $1.15
Carrots $0.78
Zucchini: $1.98
Mandarin Oranges: $2.00
Total: $6.43
For paper products and produce, Aldi was cheapest, with Kroger as the most expensive. Kroger was more expensive than Walmart Supercenter on paper products, even though for facial tissue and paper plates Walmart's closest comparable size was a bit larger than the amount sold at Aldi and Kroger. It is important to note that for three produce items-red onions, carrots, and mandarin oranges-Aldi only sold them in two pound bags; I basically divided the cost amounts in half for comparison purposes. This demonstrates how selling in bulk reduces customer cost. When shopping for produce at Aldi, one would want to be sure that all of the fruits or vegetables were going to be used before they went bad.
A couple of things to note: Aldi does not participate in WIC; also, Aldi does not accept credit cards (our family uses a credit card and pays it off each month to earn airline points).
One final note: my friend Terry Braswell tells me that the best meat prices may be found at Ingles. There are no Ingles in Kentucky, but my Georgia friends may benefit from this insight.
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