Are you getting a good deal on your groceries? Five On Your Side tests 5 stores
Do you think you’re getting a good deal on your groceries? Where you shop could mean the difference between saving big or spending unnecessarily.
Because of inflation, prices at the grocery store are up 13.5 percent overall compared to last year. The cost of some individual items is even higher. Eggs cost 40 percent more, bread is up 16 percent and butter is 29 percent more expensive. While you can’t necessarily control inflation, you do have power over where you choose shop.
WRAL's Five On Your Side put local grocery stores to the test to find out which have the best deals right now.
Five On Your Side visited five stores: Walmart, Food Lion, Dollar General, Harris Teeter and Aldi, and bought the same five items -- a half gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a bag of frozen vegetables and a can of chicken noodle soup -- at each store.
- At Food Lion, the items totaled $12.90.
- At Harris Teeter, the items totaled $11.24.
- At Dollar General, the items cost $13.06.
- At Walmart, frozen broccoli wasn't available, so Five On Your Side subbed in frozen green beans for a total of $10.08.
- At Aldi, the items totaled $8.09.
While Aldi did not offer the same name brands as the previous stores, it did offer the biggest savings.
Aldi was the least expensive grocery store and Dollar General turned out to be the most expensive.
Nutritionist Dr. Jessica Soldavini explains that shoppers can still choose healthy items despite out-of-control inflation. She suggests buying in bulk, purchasing cheaper cuts of meat, buying in-season fruits and veggies, and choosing store brand items.
Soldavini tells clients to look at price per unit rather than the cost of an item. She also suggests taking stock of what you already have in your kitchen before you go to the store.
“I think a shopping list is one of the key strategies to eating on a budget, because if you just go and start wandering around a grocery store you might just see things and impulsively purchase them,” she said.
Each week, WRAL Smart Shopper tracks the prices for staples at Triangle grocery stores to see how cost compares week-to-week.
