Saving Money on Grocery Staples

It's always a good idea to keep a list of items you purchase regularly and compare shop on things like toilet paper, butter, eggs, bread, milk etc. Keep track of prices for these items.

Often, but not always, Aldi has much lower prices than other well known stores and things like Almond milk can be up to $1 less than elsewhere.

Make sure you compare not just prices but sizes.  Recently I thought a large package of toilet paper was a good price at Costco until I compared the square footage of the same brand in Walmart and found that Walmart was actually cheaper for the same number of rolls (but not in a bulk package).

Lacura Q10 night cream is $3.89 at Aldi and is between $9 and $17 on Amazon.

Try Aldi for Grocery Savings

Aldi grocery stores have only recently started popping up around the Dallas/Fort Worth area and they are well worth checking out. Many of their items are 60% cheaper than other stores (even Walmart) and their return policy can't be beat. Their Twice as Nice program: if you're not 100% satisfied with a food item, return it to the store and they will exchange the item AND return your money.


Note: Keep a list of pantry items and staples (along with prices) you use frequently i.e. toilet paper, coffee, eggs, bread, chips, crackers etc. and refer to it when shopping.  You'll quickly be able to review your list and see if something is cheaper than you usually pay elsewhere.

Aldi vs. Walmart

With gas prices so high, I tend to weigh up whether shopping at several places is going to save me money. However, WalMart and Aldi are usually situated quite close together. Here are my thoughts:

Aldi's dairy products are considerably less than WalMart (sometimes a dollar or more) and well worth the extra trip for staples such as bread, milk, yogurt, butter. Recalls like the eggs last year didn't include Aldi's farms.

Aldi uses their own brand products so coupons won't be of any use.

Produce is cheaper, but usually pre-packaged and unless you are going to use it the same day, I don't recommend buying fresh fruit and vegetables. Having said that, recently our Benbrook WalMart has less than stellar quality produce and I purchased celery which looked fine on the outside, but rotten underneath the first couple of layers. Same with strawberries and other items I have purchased. Other WalMart stores in the area seem to have fresher produce.

Cereal is cheaper in Aldi, but again, it's their own brand.

I haven't bought meat very often at Aldi. One package of beef I bought, that looked fresh, when opened was two different pieces of meat. The meat shown through the package was wrapped around darker colored meat that was obviously older.

It's worth making a list of things you buy regularly and checking prices at a variety of stores.