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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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