Who has cheaper grocery prices? Walmart, or ALDI?
See the 2019 ALDI vs Walmart price comparison update here!
A couple of months ago we saw a little flurry of articles about how Walmart is targeting ALDI in its ongoing price wars in stores across several states, including Illinois. In the initial tests reported in these articles, spot checks of various grocery items tended to come out cheaper at Walmart than at ALDI. That didn't sound right to me at all for the Chicago area, but since I'm not a regular Walmart shopper I thought it might be worthwhile to go do my own snapshot test of grocery prices -- to see if my suspicion that ALDI is cheaper than Walmart was actually true.
ALDI vs Walmart Prices: My Methodology
On May 12 I stopped at both a Walmart store and an ALDI store located 2.5 miles apart in the same town (Villa Park, Illinois), and wrote down prices on a number of common grocery items to see how you might fare when shopping at one retailer over another. Here:
- I only checked food items.
- I compared store brand to store brand whenever possible.
- I compared identical sized items whenever possible; when not possible, I've provided per pound or per ounce equivalents in the charts below.
Note that prices at both Walmart and ALDI stores outside the Chicago area are often lower, and that the Reuters spot tests at Illinois Walmart and ALDI stores this February were not conducted in Chicago or its suburbs. You might get different results in a different geographical area than I am getting on my spot-check here, and, since this is just a one-day snapshot, realize that pricing on dairy, produce, and meat items is always highly variable. Lastly, you can use coupons at Walmart, which sometimes knocks the prices of name brand items down to a more competitive level.
ALDI Beats Walmart on Grocery Prices: In Every Category
I'll admit that going into this experiment I did expect ALDI to be cheaper on most grocery items, but I was honestly surprised by how much cheaper it was in many cases. While sometimes items were only a few cents off in price, other items were easily 50% more expensive at Walmart -- even comparing store brand to store brand.
So here are some handy ALDI vs. Walmart price comparison charts I put together for you on a number of common grocery items. The cheaper of the two prices on each item is highlighted in yellow.
ALDI is Cheaper Than Walmart: On Shelf-Stable Grocery Items
ALDI dominated the pantry staples category on every item I checked. While some products, such as 16 oz boxed pasta, only differed by a penny or two in price, many other grocery items were significantly higher at Walmart.
This was also true for baking staples. Here ALDI pricing again beat out Walmart pricing on every single item -- just by a few cents on things like granulated sugar and flour, but by quite a wide margin on items such as canola oil and brown sugar.
And, ALDI again dominates the snacks category. I just checked a few different products here, but ALDI pricing beat Walmart pricing on each.
ALDI is Cheaper Than Walmart: On Perishables
I saw a bit more competition on perishable items, especially in the produce department, but again ALDI was the clear price leader in every section. In the dairy department, Walmart pricing beat ALDI pricing only on conventional milk -- but pricing on many items here wasn't as far apart as I tended to see on shelf-stable grocery products.
This was true of the few organic dairy items I checked, as well.
In the produce department we saw a little bit more competition, but Walmart pricing came out ahead or equivalent on only two items (and not that far ahead; only a penny or two per pound!).
The same pattern holds in the meat department, where Walmart pricing came out a little cheaper this week on boneless skinless chicken breast and tilapia, was fairly close on products such as whole chickens and frozen salmon, but was significantly higher on meats like ground beef and chuck roast.
ALDI is Cheaper Than Walmart: On Frozen Foods
I again only checked a few common items in frozen foods, but ALDI brand products again tended to prove cheaper than Walmart's Great Value brand. The price differences here were insignificant on frozen fruits & veggies, but pretty substantial on waffles and ice cream.
So, that was fun!
As Walmart continues to eliminate price matching in additional stores across the country, it's important to think about the everyday cost of common food items and how much you can save by shopping one store over another. You'll note also that I didn't check a lot of organic and gluten free products on this trip, but have found ALDI's gluten free pricing to be very good overall -- this might be a post for another day, lol.
I only compared straight-up prices, too; which is a different question than that of quality, product availability, and overall shopping experience. I'll leave that today as an exercise for you all at home. 😉
How about you?
I would love to hear from some of you who shop at ALDI and Walmart in different areas: Do you find this pattern to be true at your stores? Is your ALDI cheaper than your Walmart, or do you find prices at your Walmart to be more competitive than those I found at mine?
I wish we had an Aldi. The nearest one is at 1,000 miles away. Lol!
Why so you could get less selection and pay more?
How can you compare generic food to name brand ? too much taste difference for me ,guess I am use to my favorites and don't want to compromise. If you wait ! you will get them on sale and maybe a coupon too (:
There are a couple of things that i notice a difference on and refuse to buy generic (Peanut Butter), but really, everything else is typically made by the same manufacturer just different packaging!
Wow! I totally thought it would be a little bit more even.
The problem is, the quality of most generic foods is terrible - and the quality of cheese, ham, yogurt, and ice cream at Aldi stinks.
I'd much rather buy name brand with a coupon (and deal) and get the quality I want.
JMO
Sorry but I totally disagree. I love Aldi's store brand products. Everything I've tried has been extremely similar to name brand stuff and completely blows other generics out of the water.
I live on the south side of Chicago, which is historically a "food desert": neighborhoods without nearby full-service grocery stores. We are definitely getting more places to shop, but they tend to be more expensive than in the suburbs or other parts of the city (and judging by the condition of the produce, it looks like we get the rejects!). We got a Walmart Market (just the grocery store) recently, and it's been great to have it nearby---the prices are *significantly* better than those at Jewel or Mariano's, or the local grocery chain nearby. However, I've noticed that the Walmart prices are always quite a bit higher than Aldi, and the longer the Walmart Market is here, the higher their prices get!
Regarding the quality of food at Aldi, I think it's quite good. Anything I haven't liked has just not been to my personal taste, but didn't seem like a quality issue to me. Everyone's taste is different, but I never hesitate to try new things at Aldi. And generics in general are greatly improved since the days of the original black and white packaging! You can find any number of articles online, from respected sources, that verify that many generic/store brands are made by the big-name manufacturers. Again, it's a matter of personal taste, but since most stores have a money-back guarantee, I think it's a safe bet to try a store brand; particularly if you need something and there's no sale/coupon combo available that day. I also like the ease of Aldi: no coupon clipping, and fast checkout no matter how busy the store is.
Many generic/store brands ARE made by the same companies that make the big-name products. But the quality is lower because the formulation is different. You can taste it in everything from the cheese in the dairy case to to the no-name taco mix. Cheaper ingredients, irregular size particles, odd texture, etc.
I appreciate the opportunity to save money at a place like Aldi. However, I live in an area that has two major grocery chains that offer BOGO deals on just about everything. If you combine those deals with coupons, you can beat Aldi - and get better quality items - most of the time.
I agree with you about the ease of shopping. There have been very few things at Aldi that I didn't like. I took them back and got a refund. Easy peasy!
The major grocery chains nearby (Kroger and HEB) don't have any BOGO or double-value coupon gimmicks, so I only go there if I can match a sale with a coupon. And have AT LEAST an extra half hour to walk through the store. I also buy my fresh meat at the major chain, because the fresh meat prices at Aldi are quite a bit more than what I would get at the other places.
I generally don't find Walmart a pleasant shopping experience, and I have a hard time figuring out why it is always so busy. The stores are usually disorganized, and it takes you forever to find what you are looking for, and there is never anybody to help you find the item. There are a few items that Aldi's does not carry that I can get cheaper at Walmart or Target. King Arthur flour is one thing, and Swiss Miss Simply cocoa is another thing. I also love Swanson natural goodness chicken broth, and I bought a bunch when it was $.59 a can back in December at Target. There are a few things that I have no problem buying the generic version of. Sugar, salt,tomato sauce, WW pasta, cottage cheese, and vinegar are a few examples. I will not buy generic detergent, toilet paper, soy sauce, chicken sausage, and a few other things. I have bought yogurt at Aldi's, and it is ok, but I love Wallaby yogurt, and they often put it on sale at WF. I have on rare occasion seen it on sale for $2.69 there. When I go to Aldi's, I often buy their store brand of WW wide loaf bread, and it is okay, but I only go there if I am in the neighborhood anyway. I usually only go there every couple of months. I can usually get milk cheaper at CVS. Aldi's does not have frozen yogurt, and so I get that at Jewel. The produce at Aldi's is much better than it used to be, but since the farmer's market is open now, and I can walk there, I would much rather get my produce there. I went to the Evanston farmer's market yesterday, and got two bunches of fresh picked asparagus, a huge bag of organic spinach, and a bag of organic mesclun salad mix. I paid a grand total of $13. I also went to New Orleans for jazzfest, and came back on Tuesday. My Sister took me to the farmer's market down there on Tuesday morning, and I got a pound of fresh Gulf Coast shrimp in the shell for $5. If I could get it that cheap here, I would eat a lot more shrimp. My Sister said that you can even get it in the grocery store down there for $6 a pound, which is less than half of what it is in the stores here. I also went to Jewel on Friday, and I ended up getting a lot of clearance stuff, including bags of birdseye, steamfresh protein blends, Asian style, marked down to $.44, and small cans of salmon for $.57.
Wow I never took the time to sit through and look at this. We don't go to Aldi often because we eat so much produce and its so hit or miss at the Aldi's by our house on produce.
Yes!! The 2 Aldis by me have fruit flies around their produce!
Very interesting! I like in the UK, so this isn't an exact comparison for me, however, Aldi stores here are significantly cheaper than other big superstores and have much better quality food! I love Aldi!
Aldi has just gone big in our town and many told me they have loads of German's product. I wonder if their formulayion is more geared toward european taste buds. But all we eat is produce, make our own mayo and pb and stuff, this is a great information.
With the high cost of everything and a general avoidance of Walmart, this post is really informative and helpful.
Thanks for doing the research and sharing.
I love aldis! It has been a godsend since it opened up next to me
We have an Aldi's literally right next door to Walmart in my city! I once went once, when it first opened, and wasn't that impressed. But after seeing how much cheaper their stuff is, I may very well have to start shopping there for groceries instead! Great post, thank you!!
I drove past the Aldi's in Skokie a few weeks ago, and they are remodeling the store right now.
The only thing I use mayonnaise for is tuna fish sandwiches, and I don't eat a lot of those. Every time I buy a jar of mayonnaise, I end up throwing 3/4 of it away. I am more of a mustard fan. I also don't make my own peanut butter because I can buy it just as cheaply. The natural PB frequently goes on sale for $1.50 at F4L, and I bought two jars of natural PB recently at Jewel when their store brand was on sale for $2. It was a bonus Monopoly ticket item too.
I thought some people here went to Walmart instead of Aldi's, because they could price match. They do not allow you to do it anymore? I noticed that they still have Savings Catcher, but there are all kinds of rules you have to follow to use it.
Yes, Aldi's originated in Germany, and they carry lots of German items in the store, but most of them are special buys, and so that means that they are only there until they sell out. They might get the item back a year later, or they might not.
Part of Walmart's generic pricing is based on making the generics 10 to 30 percent cheaper than the name brand. Walmart doesn't want to compete with Aldi they want Jewel's customers--people who will drop $200 on a single trip.
I think a lot of people assume that everything at Walmart is a good deal, and that is why they do a ton of business. I belong to Sam's Club, and I get all of my prescriptions there, as well as tires and batteries for my car, and gas. I do occasionally get a few other things such as coffee filters, as well as occasionally books. I see a lot of customers loading up on stuff that I don't consider to be a good deal, such as giant boxes of cereal. I think a lot of customers there consider everything in the store to be a good deal when most of it is not. Some of the deals there are for items where you have to buy a huge amount. Some of their cheese is relatively cheap, but you have to buy five pounds of it to get it cheap.
Walmart is hoping that since you are in the store buying groceries, that you will also consider buying some clothes, and people who shop at Aldi's would be less likely to be impulse shoppers.
I am also the type of person who prefers to buy brand items for the same price as generics by using sales and coupons, but I have found that there are several products at Aldi which are more worthwhile to purchase. I primarily get produce and dairy products from Aldi, but I also like to get their rice cakes, can tomato sauce and refrigerated pizza dough ($1!). I have never seen milk at Walmart as cheap as $2, whereas Aldi is often under $2. I do see a vast fluctuation in milk prices between the city and suburbs (skokie), so I tend to stick to the suburbs. I used to price match at Walmart so would shop there a lot, but since they stopped the price matching several months ago, I hardly ever get anything in the food section there.
So nobody here is a Walmart fan? Walmart is where I purchased the Dell desktop that I currently have. I got it on clearance, and paid $300 for it., but I step inside a Walmart store approximately three times in a year, but every time I go there they are always super busy, and I can't figure out why. I much prefer Target.
BTW- I just found out last night that Lidi, which is a chain that originated in Germany is opening up 100 stores in the US. Their US headquarters is in Virginia, and all of there stores are going to be on the East coast. They are supposedly similar to Aldi, and have tons of stores in Europe..
Not all of the Lidl stores will be on the East coast. I am in the Conroe, Texas area and they just got all of the permitting processes done to build a store here.
The WM in Plano, IL has Roma frozen pizzas for $2 each, but not sure these are available in all areas. We tend to divide our shopping between Aldi & WM- there's some things (like the Armour brand "lunchables" that are $1 each at WM but unavailable anywhere else) that we stop by WM specifically for- so anything I can't accomplish at Aldi is done next door at WM.
I have multiples stores 10 minutes from me, including a woodmans. The walmarts are always dirty and overcrowded. Woodman beats them on price. The only thing I don't get at woodmans is produce ( I do the buy the bagged salads as they are super cheap and as fresh as the other other stores bagged salads). I go to Butera for produce and deli meats.. I use the Meijer M-perks as well and save a lot with their 20.00 prescription coupons too. We also have a butcher shop so we get a lot of our meat their or at Costco. I can't stand the smell every time I walk into an Adli's. The workers are always rude and I've found the quality of the foods (frozen pizzas, frozen breads, frozen waffles, canned fruit) to be very poor. My kids won't eat their cheese or any of the other foods I mentioned. I'll stick with Woodmans which by the way now has a kiosk where you can print your own coupons from coupons.com.