If you're just joining us, check out my introductory post here that explains why I'm shopping around for the best prices in town!
After swearing I'd never do it, I found myself pushing my cart around Giant Eagle, examining prices and trying to remember what the same items cost in other stores. Some things I buy so much I have the price memorized (take Nutrigrain bars for example...I know that at Walmart and Target, they run about $2.69, target sometimes has sales for $2.49) Giant Eagle had them for $3.09, so I skipped buying those and knew I could grab them at Target next time instead.
Ok, let's get to the comparing! These are the prices taken from the receipts of both Walmart and Giant Eagle. I will also factor in coupons and try to indicate if the item was regular price vs. sale price at Giant Eagle.
Honey Nut Cheerios (Family size box)
Walmart: $4.48
Giant Eagle: $4.39
Winner: Giant Eagle
Whole Wheat Penne (store brand)
Walmart: $1.00
Giant Eagle: $1.00 (on sale from $1.09)
Winner: Tie due to the sale
Campbells Kids Soup
Walmart: $1.58
Giant Eagle: $1.00 (on sale from $1.60)
*I had a coupon for these soups, .40 off of 3 cans; since GE doubles coupons, that went to .80. So the price per can when taking the coupon into account came down to just .73 per can!)
Winner: Giant Eagle due to sale, normal price is a tie....unless of course, I have a coupon, then Giant Eagle is the winner :-)
Yoplait Kids Yogurt (4 pack)
Walmart: $1.78
Giant Eagle: $2.00
*I had a coupon both times I went to these stores, so taking that .35/2 coupon into account, here is the math for that:
Walmart with coupon: $1.78 x 2 = $3.56 - .35/2 (coupon) = $3.21 for 2 packs / 2 = $1.60 per pack
Giant Eagle with doubled coupon: $2 x 2 = $4 -.70/2 ( doubled coupon) = $3.30 for 2 packs /2 = $1.65 per pack
Winner: Walmart, by just a bit
Ritz Peanut Butter Crackers
Walmart: $2.48
Giant Eagle: $2.39 on sale ($2.58 regular price)
Winner: Giant Eagle for sale price, Walmart for regular price
Frozen Veggies (same size bags)
Walmart: .98
Giant Eagle: $1.00 on sale (regular price $1.50)
Winner: Walmart in either case; though to be fair, the walmart veggies were the great value brand; I purchased Birds Eye at Giant Eagle since that's what was on sale for $1. I will need to check next time to go to see if the Giant Eagle brand is closer to $1 regular price.
Looking over that list, I'd say taking those items into account, it's pretty much a tie.
I'll continue to do a bit more research (hopefully comparing some of these items to Target and Aldi), but as it stands now, I'd say that if I choose to switch to Giant Eagle, I'm not going to be paying an enormous amount more, though I do think GE still has drawbacks (why is it so insanely crowded all.the.time?? Why are the aisles not arranged in a logical manner?) So the question will be: are those drawbacks enough to send me back to my 30 minute drive to Walmart? We shall see....
3 comments:
Food for thought (pun intended): GE offers fuel perks, so you need to take that into account for overall savings. Also, convenience factor. GE is < 10 minutes away whereas Walmart is >25 minutes. As the old saying goes, "Time is money."
I'll be honest if you pay attention to sales and stock up when giant eagle runs sales it often beats walmart. We shop at Giant Eagle, County Market and Walmart depending on what we need and I have noticed we spend less on groceries when we go to Giant Eagle or County Market because we don't buy none grocery items.
Walmart can be cheaper, but with the double coupons, I usually save more at GE. And there are usually less crazy people at GE. My usual rotation is Sam's Club once a week, GE every other week and Aldi on the opposite week. It isn't easy to stretch the money!!
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