I took the same grocery list to Walmart and Target. Both chains had what I needed, but some of the price differences shocked me.
Amena Ahmed
- I took my weekly shopping list to Walmart and Target to compare grocery prices between the chains.
- Basics like boxed mac and cheese and pasta sauce were way cheaper at Walmart.
Last month, I discovered I could be saving a lot of money by shopping at Walmart instead of Trader Joe's. Now I want to compare more chains to see if I'm still getting the best deals.
I think Target is great for groceries, household items, and drugstore products, so I thought it would be the perfect next competitor for Walmart.
I took identical shopping lists to Walmart and Target to see where I could get the best value for weekly essentials.
Here's what my shopping trips were like.
I started with Wamart’s large case of water bottles.
Walmart has a case of 40 water bottles for $5.39, which I think is a great deal.
The price itself is nice, and I can usually only find cases of 32 bottles at other stores, so I get more bang for my buck.
Target’s case was cheaper but had fewer bottles.
The largest case of water I could find at Target was a 32-pack for $3.49.
Although it was almost $2 less than Walmart's — and the price per bottle was about $0.04 less — I'd still have to restock sooner.
Delaying a bulky, heavy purchase is a win by my standards.
Next, I looked for cranberry juice at Walmart.
I always stock up on large bottles of cranberry juice, and Walmart was selling 64-ounce bottles for $2.98.
Target sold an identical bottle for almost a dollar more.
Target's cheapest bottle of cranberry juice was $3.98 for 64 ounces.
I typically wouldn't think that's super expensive, but I was surprised it was a full $1 more here.
I went to Walmart's frozen aisle for ice cream.
Walmart offers cheap pints of ice cream through its store brands, Great Value and Bettergoods.
The least expensive pints I could find were $1.72, and there were a variety of flavors.
Target's options were more limited — and more expensive.
I looked at Target's private-labeled pints for a fair comparison.
The only ones available were nondairy ice cream from Target's Favorite Day brand. There were multiple flavors, which is nice, but unfortunately, they were $3.79 each.
There were lots of cheap shredded-cheese options at Walmart.
My house goes through shredded cheese quickly, so I like to find the cheapest bag on my grocery runs.
I found an 8-ounce pack of mild cheddar for $2.24, which I think is an OK price.
Target had the same size bags for cheaper.
Target won a few extra points from me in this category. The store stocked 8-ounce bags of mild cheddar for only $1.99.
The shreds were also thicker than Walmart's, which is more appealing to me.
I looked for a container of sour cream at Walmart.
I found big and small options of Great Value's sour cream.
My house goes through it quickly, so I opted for the 16-ounce container that cost $1.97.
There wasn’t much of a price difference for the condiment at Target.
I didn't expect the price of sour cream to be that different at Target — I've never paid more than $2 for it anywhere I've shopped.
Fittingly, I found a generic 16-ounce container of sour cream for $1.99.
I left the colder aisles and looked for olive oil at Walmart.
Olive oil prices are usually all over the place.
I found a 25-ounce bottle at Walmart for $9.74, but I wasn't sure if that was a good deal. I was eager to see what it went for at the other chain.
Target sold a similar bottle for almost a dollar less.
The same size bottle of olive oil at Target cost me $8.99.
Although it's not a huge difference, I don't use it every day, so I'd rather pay less. I'd consider returning to Target just for the oil when I'm running low.
It’s easy to stock up on boxed mac and cheese at Walmart.
I love buying mac and cheese from Walmart because it's $0.58 a box.
Sometimes, I buy three or four at a time because it's such a great deal.
Target’s mac and cheese was almost triple the price.
To my surprise, the cheapest mac and cheese I could find at Target was an organic store-brand box for $1.74. I could get three boxes of the same thing at Walmart for that price.
This was one of the heftiest price differences during my shopping trip.
Next up on my shopping list was pasta sauce.
I'm not picky about my pasta sauce, so I opted for the cheapest jar of generic marinara at Walmart.
It was only $1.62.
The red sauce was more expensive at Target.
I looked for a generic marinara sauce at Target with similar ingredients to keep the comparison fair, but the cheapest jar I could find was $2.59.
Walmart offered 10 tortillas for an affordable price.
I always stock up on tortillas for quick meals like quesadillas, and I like to look for bigger packs.
I found a 10-pack of fajita tortillas at Walmart for $2.52.
Target’s tortillas were more expensive but bigger.
Target had a 10-pack of 8-inch tortillas for $3.29.
Although the price was higher and there were only eight, the tortillas were 2 inches bigger than the ones at Walmart, so I considered it a better deal.
Finally, I looked for Liquid IV at Walmart.
I go through Liquid IV quickly, so I'm always on the hunt for the cheapest boxes.
I've yet to find a better deal than Walmart's 14-pack box for $8.98.
Target’s Liquid IV was way too expensive.
I was taken aback by the substantial price jump for the same box of Liquid IV at Target.
The 14 packets cost me $14.99 here.
I’ll be sticking to Walmart for basic groceries.
My total at Walmart came to $37.71, but the same 10 items cost me $45.80 at Target.
Target was cheaper in some departments, like the shredded cheese and olive oil, so the nearly $10 difference surprised me a little.
I may run to Target for specific items in the future, but I'd rather just shop at Walmart for the better overall value.
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