Comparing Grocery bills from 3 different stores

elizabethprata

Jul 31

By Elizabeth Prata

A dish I made for Easter week a few years ago. Peas & egg in Phyllo cups.

I have three good options for groceries where I live. There are more than three but I'm counting the three I use or have used. There's Kroger, Aldi, and locally, The Marketplace. With food prices increasing and having to factor in gas, too, I did a small comparison.

Advantages of each are: Kroger Pickup is literally on my way home from church twice a week. It would not cost me any extra gas to pick up from there. My grocery bill is always over $35.00 so I never have to pay the $5 fee. Also a plus: I can accumulate gas points and get a reduction at the pump when I reach certain levels. I have not had to wait to receive my groceries more than 5 minutes typically.

Aldi delivers to my address now. Their prices at the store are much lower. The offset is that their selections are more limited, a factor I add in because I need so many gluten free, dairy free, or produce items. If I drive to the store it's round trip 70 minutes away, 40 driving miles RT. So I'd factor in using at least a gallon to two gallons of gas to shop inside the store, which is $4.60 to $8. Also must add a lot of time, shopping inside Aldi would mean about an hour and a half of my time. It's not near anything, it'd be a single destination stop not a wayside stop. In-person shopping won't make sense for me, so I would do delivery, thus adding about $11-13 to the bill. This nullifies their lower cost, and given the reduced selection, Aldi actually recedes as a viable shopping candidate.

The Marketplace has higher prices on some items (but not all!). They have less of a selection for gluten free and dairy free items. The produce section is much smaller- I cannot get eggplant or spaghetti squash for example, items I typically use often. Nor can I get fresh seafood. But then again I cannot get those from Aldi, either. On the plus side, the store is 3 miles round trip, less if I go after school since it's near school and on my way home. It also keeps my funds local, inside the county. The store employs local people and ex-students. It's locally owned and I like supporting small businesses. It's friendly. It's a smaller store and I never spend more than 15-20 min getting what I need and getting out, a huge plus because I hate shopping. It's time saved.

I think the winner is The Marketplace with Kroger as backup. I am going to delete Aldi as a usual possibility. I like knowing how easy the delivery system is to use and that I can get food delivered if I ever get incapacitated. But I think I will stick with my plan of going to The Marketplace 2 or 3X month and Kroger 1 or 2X a month for the things I can't get locally 1X month.

Note: Aldi fees: 7.99 delivery fee. 3.00 service fee. ~2.00 tip. Service fee tax. Delivery fee tax. Delivery would add between $11-13.

I'm always looking for ways to save, especially with prices for food running so high, so that was my goal in comparing. What do you do to save a few pennies?

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