I love buying groceries online. I shop at Shaws for sale items and order a day ahead so pay less for delivery. Amazon used to be good to buy pantry items but since Covid no more. Walmart was my go-to for pantry items and I always compare the prices to local grocery. And with their free shipping at $35 good deals could be had.
But now Walmart has made less and less items avail for shipping so makes me sad. And it is touch and go with products being avail at all.
I get a lot of produce. When I order from a Amazon, the expiration dates are only about 6 days away from when I ordered. The produce here is not good anymore.
Yep, you can't just "shop" on Amazon anymore because you'll wind up with a piece of shit that's priced just right or works just enough to not make it worth taking back. It's the quality I would expect from temu
Their online stuff is just an extension Temu/Aliexpress at this point. I was looking at an item for 16 dollars on Wal-Marts website and I could get free shipping if I got 35 dollars worth of stuff. I did an image search and found the exact same item on Aliexpress for 8 dollars with free shipping, no minimum.
I do a lot of online shopping at walmart, and I went back to my purchases from 2020 and 2021 and hit "reorder all items" and was so surprised at how much the prices have gone up. I have pets, and pet food is one of the items with the most significant increases in price. There are so many pets being abandoned, and I wonder how much it has to do with pet food and care being so expensive.
Its pet care mostly. The cost of vet care over here where I live is insane. In fact its more than taking care of a baby or gasp! providing healthcare for myself! A visit to the pet emergency hospital here is like 2k minimum and they want the payment up front, like seriously no one can afford this. Vets are insane. A lot of the vets here have been bought out by corporations that own multiple offices and they charge you out the nose for simple things and they absolutely prey on your love for the animal so that you spend the most money with them.
I currently live in a city where they are trying to figure out what to do with the unwanted pets because the shelters are full.
When a pet ages they become exponentially more expensive as they develop chronic conditions. If you want to keep them around that is. But I don't know any pet owners who want to put their pets down unless they are really suffering, so no one is doing that.
But with insurance even a visit to the ER usually isn't that much for a human but its that much up front for a dog. Even hospitals don't require payment up front for ER visits but yeah if your pet gets sick in the middle of the night you gotta pony up for a visit to the emergency hospital or watch them suffer or potentially die.
It also was NOT like this when I was younger, because I had 2 dogs in the house, and they were big dogs, and it was NOT expensive to take care of them or buy food or get treatment when they were older because trust me on this, if it was we would have never had those dogs as I didn't exactly grow up in a rich household.
I would love to try owning a pet but with the costs there's just no way.
My pet is getting up in age, with declining health. I may have to weigh in the outrageous costs of vet care with how much longer we can enjoy each other's company. My senior discount last week was $2.
It depends on your area and the vet most likely. I don't have a pet but I hear stories from other pet owners and I have other members of my family that own pets. There are some vets here that really overcharge but there are others that are more reasonable. If you feel your vet is overpriced I recommend digging around for a better priced vet.
My uncle's vet for his cat was bought out by another company, and costs like, skyrocketed a million dollars more than they were before this happened. Like the yearly checkup was $74 and it went up like crazy, not sure what it was after the buyout.
I hear you. There's a shelter in my neighborhood that has a shot clinic/general exam for $99 once a month, and the woman who runs the shelter does whatever she can to lower costs for medication. However, I spent well over 5K last year for dental work and epilepsy care. I'm about to shell out another 2-3K for more dental work. I'm lucky I can afford it, but I remember what it was like when I couldn't. I'm moving to Mexico because things are getting too crazy all around in the US.
Pet insurance just saved me.
Yes I had to put 12k on credit cards over the span of a week at the ER and two surgeries. But I got back about 10k deposited into my account within 5 days with my 80% insurance coverage that Iāve had since my cat was 2 (he is now about 9).
It still cost me about 2k but thatās far less money, I saved my cats life and I have an emergency fund that could cover it.
Just something to consider if you donāt want to be sitting in the ER making the decision between wiping your bank accounts/going into debt to save your pets life vs. putting them down.
I hate having to view pets as a luxury but they really are. I miss having a pet for the companionship but it's just too costly to buy the actually nutritious food for them and not the cheapest junk one, plus the vet bills. It makes me so sad because pets bring so much joy and purpose to life... I wish it wasn't a luxury these days.
You should consider fostering. Mist animal rescues desperately need fosters for pets of all ages, so you can get a puppy, adult, or senior dog. They pay for food and medical care. You just provide the love. You get companionship. The pet gets a home. You might literally save a life.
That's a great idea! I'll definitely look into it ā¤ļø
If you knew the vet wouldn't fleece you for every visit it wouldn't be so bad and again it was not like that when I was younger, I had 2 large dogs and my family was poor and feeding the dogs or taking them to the vet was never an issue in my house. Even treatment for a dog that had cancer was not an issue so its not like my grandfather put them down as soon as they got sick. My family was cheap and frugal so again, it used to be not expensive to have a pet because if it was we wouldn't have had them case closed.
But now every little thing is $800-900 and god forbid you need something done its minimum of 2-3k and that's just not affordable for most people. This is more than the cost of healthcare for a baby or other human! Its certainly not 800+ for an x-ray for humans with insurance (most people have insurance and if you are poor then your healthcare is usually covered by the government) but for a dog an xray can be that much or even in the thousands. If the dog runs around outside and gets a cut and needs stitches good luck that's 900-1k. I can't imagine most people being able to tolerate these costs.
My dogs ate the cheapest junk food my grandpa fed them when I was younger and they were fine, but these days there is more emphasis on nutritious food, although you could probably make your own pet food to save some money on that. Perhaps back in the 80's and 90's they didn't put so much junk in the cheapest pet foods.
But yeah this is for those with high paying jobs or the rich these days.
Same here, I grew up poor but we had two cats and didn't struggle to feed or care for them. We'd take them in for shots and vet exams but the cost wasn't so ridiculous. Now as an adult I can't afford upkeep of pets and it makes me so sad. I miss having a pet for the companionship but I won't get one if I can't properly care for it with decent food and vet exams to ensure they're healthy. š
No I wouldn't get one either, its a responsibility just like a child. Because if things got worse for me and I was unable to afford the proper food and care for them I would not want them to suffer and I certainly wouldn't want to inflict another unwanted pet into this world as there are enough of those. I am not able to purchase the proper food for them and I have too much stuff around the house they could get into and I like my stuff. So no pets for me.
For pets I found chewy is great if you log in every few days and look at the promotions instead of doing the automatic subscription. They have $30 GC back on $100 and buy two get one free among other great deals you just have to constantly be checking. It's saved me probably hundreds over the last year and haf not to mention combine that with cashback sites and it's pretty good. Swagbucks once had 15% Cashback and my order was like $150. I've found a LOT of workarounds to make my lifestyle work while not paying full price for it.
I'm sure that's a huge reason. So sad, but what can people do when they can barely feed themselves?
That's their planned business model. Drop prices, drive out competition, raise prices and people have to pay them because all other options are gone.
Stop looking for the cheapest options. Look for sustainable options, and just buy less stuff.
This. I opted for less meat, almost no red meat, and it allows me to buy more high quality produce on the same budget. I also almost never buy premade food or condiments I can make myself.
This so much. Invest some time into combining ingredients. Think of it like a fun science experiment. Make your own food based on what you like, you will find it is always less salt and sugar, and more fresh ingredients.
I love buying discounted chicken for dirt cheap and by using different homemade sauces from different cultures I rarely eat boring or repetitive.
The trick is to have stores that sell with a 50% discount same-day expiring meats and cooking based on what's on sale.
I like to get the big value packs of chicken pieces and I vacuum seal and freeze everything Iām not cooking with that day.
Can you list the names of these stores please?
Consider whateverās on sale at your local butcher. I got 20 pounds of meat last week for $60.
11 pounds of chicken breast ($20), 1 pound of salmon($8), 1 pound of bacon($4), 6 pounds of shrimp ($30) and some hot dogs. Weights and prices are approximate
Portions are everything too. You really don't need a ton of meat. The less you eat the more you'll get used to that amount of food and calories. And don't make enough for leftovers unless you actually plan on eating it. My bf makes so much food and a lot of ingredients jsut get wasted. When being frugal it's better to be left hungry than to just basically through a bunch of food away-- that's literally money you're throwing away (not to mention wasting food is so wrong considering so many people are homeless or can't even buy healthy meals and stuff).
Sides of rice or bread or pasta type things really fill you. I actually love pasta and you can make such delicious and filling pasta every day with such cheap and basic ingredients. Pasta noodles, fresh herbs, cheap bacon or prosciutto, tomato sauce -- for like 10-15$ you could have a few amazing pasta dinners in a week. Also shop at aldi or likewise stores becuase they're dirt cheap for that type of stuff
What about for the people who need those extra pounds and protein?? I do a high physically demanding work, carrying heavies, I need as close to Lebronās nutritionist or that of a Usyk where he doesnāt really belong in heavyweight? Are we doomed from the get go?
You need the protein to build muscle, and carbohydrates are cheap fuel. Frugal means limiting the expensive proteins and getting by with more cheap carbs.
Mostly, you just have to avoid food waste. Way too many people don't eat leftovers at all, and just throw half their food away. The way I do it is by dividing the food up into portions before I start eating, so that the portion stored in the fridge is just as prime as the one I'm eating now.
If something has noodles in it, I'll only cook the noodles right before eating and the sauce is what I split for the fridge. Then I just cook another batch of noodles the next day and reheat the sauce. Like I plan to do beef stroganoff today, so I'll brown the meat and make the sauce, then do half a bag of noodles, then tomorrow is the other half bag of noodles and other half of the sauce.
Proteins donāt have to be super expensive. Shop the loss leaders, sales and markdowns. Coupon. Be willing to hit a couple grocery stores to shop. I can stretch grocery dollars like nobodies business because I do this.
Not using leftovers always was absurd to me. I paid for this stuff, I stored it for however many weeks or months, I put in the effort to make it, why the hell would I not want all of it? Then add in that leftovers are often BETTER than the original dish.
There some I make, like soups and grain salads, expecting the final serving to be better than the first or producing those leftovers being a step in another recipe like stuffed peppers becoming delicious stuffed pepper soup.
This week is just 3 cheap chicken breasts, canned tomatos, and spices in slow cooker then shredded and I am expecting that to be the core of great sandwhiches, pasta sauces, and casseroles up til the 4th.
Also what you said about pasta, another option is frozen. I love cheap frozen ricotta ravioli, like $3 for a big bag that will last me months both as the focus of a meal and as just a small addition to pad things out. Can just grab however many in mood for and throw it straight in the pan of whatever, even just a snack like a small bowl of miso soup.
I am going to try this idea.
No just change how you buy. A lot of grocery stores rotate when meat is on sale. When that kind of meat is cheap you will the freezer. Ā You cook in large batches and pack it in portions. Vary how you sauce it and the same chicken can be Mexican, Indian, Italian, or just spiced.Ā
You can stretch this with lentils to add more bulk to ground meat. Ā
It can be done if just takes planning.Ā
Since you probably also sweat quite a bit, I'm going to suggest finding ways to sneak artichoke hearts into your meals. They have slightly more potassium than bananas, and over 2x the magnesium. They also have around 4g of protein per artichoke, which is pretty good for a veggie.Ā Can get them decently cheap canned, especially if you stock up during sales.
Ā Ā Personally, I like to fry them with onion and peppers and mix them into pasta.Ā
Sounds good also bananas go bad fast Iāve done everything from foil to cool air. When they ripe the sugars are astronomically high and plus theyāre cancerous. So the insulin spikes are quite bad. What do you do for electrolytes then, ever get muscle cramps???
Iām not sure about canned veggies. Are they really the same?
There are plenty of inexpensive high protein plant based foods. Beans, lentils, pulses, tofu are all loaded with protein.
Also if I was trying to gain weight Iād be eating a ton more peanut butter. Maybe a smoothie every day with pea protein, peanut butter and some fruit.
There are natty vegan body builders and athletes, you really donāt need animal foods to be healthy.
There are edge cases for everything, but looking at a lot of bodies out there, most people could stand to lose a few pounds and could cut down on their macros.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I don't know what you do, but it does make me laugh seeing you're talking about needing high protein and nutritionists and I have seen guys in construction/other high physical blue collar jobs that survive solely on gas station hot dogs and Busch Light lol
Surviving and thriving are two entirely different things.
I used to do that and my life was just horrible. Turned more aware with what food I buy and eat, quality carbs and proteins are expensive and almost always hard to get.
If your job requires a high-protein, high-calorie diet, then your salary should reflect that.
Unfortunately not quite so. Itās also the cost of things driven up.
No, basic carbs might fill you up in the short term, but they'll give you rapid insulin swings which mean you'll be snacking between meals more often. They're nutrient poor compared to meat too. Produce is also the food that goes bad the quickest. If you're looking for frugal meals, the more meat and fat the better. They're the most nutrient and energy dense foods and last the longest before going bad.
The cheapest way to do that is buy part of a cow from a butcher and keep in it a chest freezer (still cheaper even if you have to buy the freezer). Managing your food like this also means significantly less trips to the grocery story which saves on gas and your time.
A quick rule of thumb is 1lb of beef per day, so if you're buying at $4 a pound then you're only paying around $4.50 per day on food which is $1.50 per meal.
Which type of meat would you say is the best of all both to store and eat? I notice I do well with pork with some fat in them and then the occasional beef. If I can afford steak I could probably paint the whole Vatican ceiling. Iām planning on doing vacuum sealing, buy $300 worth of meat in blackfriday Costco make it last half of a year. Question is which type of meat or part of meat is the best both storing and in nutrient density. I can do chicken which Iāve been doing bi weekly, but thereās only so much Costco rotisserie chicken I can take. Plus it feels like itās more bulk carb than actual protein it still works. With good protein comes good transmutation of coffee for me.
Not chicken. Read "The Dorito Effect" to learn why (over bred towards growing rates rather than nutrition. Notice how nearly all chicken has artificial/natural flavoring? It's because we accidentally bred out most of the flavor (and thus also reduced its nutrition). The problem with pork is we don't feed them properly in USA which skews their omega (or saturated?) fat ratios too far. If you can find properly fed pork then great, if not then I wouldn't make this your primary meat source. Beef is considered best, even if not grass-finished. If you eat fish once a week, that compensates for the omega ratios of grass-finished vs grain-finished beef. Buy what you can afford. Any cut is better than eating something else. Personally I mainly buy roasts, slice them, and keep in the freezer and sometimes buy burgers too.
You can look into r/carnivore to learn more.
Wish I could start asking my Costco or Aldi butchers if they fed their cows well š yes but isnāt this why seasoning now exists? The breast of the Costco chicken is sure meaty and plentiful but I doubt it has less nutrition compared to an el pollo loco skinny chicken. It probably has more so itās $ cost effective. Thx I agree with you when it comes to beef. Iām not sure about freezing roasted though. They can go bad pretty fast. Have you tried applying vacuum sealing methods or at the very least, deep freezing or rather super cold freezers?
Our taste evolved to let us eat what we need. Artificial/Natural flavoring messes that up, tricking our body into thinking it's eating some nutrients that aren't actually there. Thus we start over eating things because our body is craving some nutrient and thinks a food provides that but it's really just the zero nutrient flavoring. The book I referenced earlier explains it well, takes us through the history, and goes into how they make the flavorings. It's a great book.
I'm not freezing cooked beef, I'm buying chuck roast with tends to be around 3-5lbs and slicing it into steaks. I'm freezing those slices and cooking one at a time for a meal. I haven't had any issues with the meat going bad. I looked into vacuum sealing but decided against it due to the high amount of plastic usage. I sometimes wrap the meat in butcher paper and I keep it in glass tupperware.
If your being left hungry, that's not being frugal that's being poor.
Grow veggies buy meat. Even in an appointment with a window you could grow sweet potatoes and eat the greens, they are great any time you would saute spinach.
Just buy less groceries?
I am also confused about this suggestion. Likeā¦?
Simply stop eating is the suggestion
Yeah, just eat less, buy less stuff, you know the drill /s
Looking at the average bmi in murrica that's a good suggestion.
Also, not everyone has time to make condiments etc from scratch all the time....
Personally, that's venturing into cheap territory. A bottle of mustard can be cheaper to make, but how long will a $2-$5 bottle of mustard from the store last? And how much are you actually using before you need to throw it out your homemade mustard?Ā There comes a point where you can save something doing it yourself, but ultimately it won't amount to much versus buying it premade or paying someone else to do it for you.Ā
Yep. I made my own almond milk... Not only was it very expensive but it was time consuming and then it spoiled in like 4 days.
I fully believe there should be a limit on how many years a business can operate at a loss to prevent this. With unlimited runway you could destroy any industry with cheap prices, how is that a good thing for society in the long run?
Aka enshitification
Everyone should just cut back on consuming as much as possible, build your wealth up for something else, these companies prey on people looking for convenience and ease.Ā
And Amazon did it to Walmart
I hardly ever see branded products on amazon anymore- grey market nonsense name brands that are obviously cheap junk are all that shows up
I don't know of course where you are at, but do you have a Winco Foods? I get my pantry items there, the price is very good. I also shop their bulk foods on occasion for flour or beans and similar. While it's not online, I can do a shopping in store every month or two and stock up on items I know I need in the pantry and use often.
Winco bulk is no longer the cheapest option for quite a few items now. I always price compare with Costco and Walmart. Now if you want just a small amount definitely the way to go.
Yes you always have to shop with a price list in mind. I have a Thunderbird Market right next door to Winco. I go in with a list and price at one and it's a 1 minute walk to the other's front door. I don't mind going back and forth a time or two, can save me up to 1/3rd my grocery bill!
I LOVE Winco's bulk food section! I can buy a pound of almonds for $3.98 versus nearly $7 from prepackaged. Plus the different rices, and grains, and anything baking related.
Also super cool if I need a weird seasoning I don't normally use for a specific dish.
It makes it very economical to buy like, just the right amount of dried fruit you need. Plus things like banana chips and granola.
My grocery budget is $240 a month, so these things super help!
I was reading through these comments on here thinking to myself "Oh thank you so, so much, sweet Winco..."
Places like Walmart have been Trojan horses for society - they came in, killed out āmom and popā shops with their initial low pricing, and once all of the local stores are dead, they hike up their prices to outrageous levels. Amazon is doing the same with brick & mortar stores.
Regular folks will never learn the game and will keep paying into it.
You can't blame places like Walmart. They just made an extra big trojan horse, they didn't come up with the design.
The original trojan horse was supermarkets themselves, they were the ones that originally drove your local family grocer out of business in the 1950s.
Walmart is just a superdupersupermarket, capitalizing on and cannibalizing trails already blazed by others.
I think they came up with the design tweak of using your size to demand cheaper products from the manufacturers leading to lower quality, but identical looking products lines being shipped to Walmart while the original, higher quality lines being shipped to everyone else.
If you saw a product named X at Walmart and X at another store, that didn't mean they were the exact same item. I don't know if that's still true anymore. Everyone has shitty product quality nowadays, or at least the quality products don't know how to advertise themselves.
They did this. They refused to stock things unless they were made under a certain price point.
However Walmart doesn't specialize in any one particular thing and they carry the most basic things. You will get a better pair of shoes if you go to the running shoe store. The bike store will have a much superior bike to what you can find at Walmart. The hardware store is going to have a much better selection of tools and well hardware type things than walmart. This is where they fail, and where local retail comes in. This is just a couple examples of local stores I have here that are doing just fine.
What you say about product x at Walmart is true in some circumstances mostly with TV's and large electronics but there are other products that are Walmart only. You just have to compare the products and figure that one out for yourself. But this isn't true in all cases, in some cases Walmart stocks the exact same product other places do, one example here would be video game consoles. The only thing here is are the other versions of the same thing really any better or much different at all?
Heck, there was Sears driving local retailers out of business back when railroads made it affordable to ship goods away from waterways for literally the first time ever.Ā
That might be nostalgia, or conflating lower inflation levels with better pricing. Even now, supermarkets have way lower gross margins than the mom and pop grocers from the 50s to 70s. They needed to charge 40%+ gross margins to cover fixed costs, compared to supermarkets at 22% to 25%.
Right... that's why the family grocers went out of business, and why Walmart and its ilk are driving smaller supermarkets out of business today. Scale.
Supermarket gross margins haven't increased in decades, despite being borderline duopolies in some areas. The trojan horse story would be more realistic if markups increased with concentration.
Markups rise in areas that lack supermarkets, with stores like Dollar General getting over 30% margins.
Interestingly, at least in my neighborhood, Amazon Fresh was 20% more expensive when I took my receipt and built the same basket at Kroger. The Fresh near me has been struggling for awhile they keep trying different things, but nothing seems to work. I think theyāre only keeping it open for the optics
Drugstores do the same when opening in a new area. Other businesses are known to play that game, as well. It's not fair and it's not one company in particular.
Except in Germany, where they kicked them out. Mom and pop shops are still flourishing.
https://ecomclips.com/blog/why-walmart-failed-in-europe-what-went-wrong-in-germany/
eh, there the problem has just a different name: Aldi, Edeka, etc. with very few exceptions (the bio-shops where they sell organic/locally produced stuff), the only "mom and pop" shops that thrive are the ethnic shops with e.g. Turkish products. but those are catered to a very specific audience.
Many places in Europe do inhibit the reach of massive conglomerates like Walmart, which is a good thing for Europe. When I traveled there, there are so many interesting and unique shops that you donāt really find in America anymore.
I've seen co-ops slowly become a thing but then there's like places like aldi which also is a giant in it's own right.
Thatās fucked.
Are you actually under the impression that Walmart hikes prices to outrageous levels? Iāve consistently seen fantastic pricing at Walmart.
Compared to what and when?
The resellers with ridiculously jacked up prices on Amazon ruin it for me. They'd get so much more business from me if it wasn't for resellers.
me too. love kedems grape juice usually at most $5 for 64 oz. Amazon $15 argggh
It's 6 pounds of juice. Not paying for shipping separately means they just wrap it into the base price of items.
So yes, the only surprise is how often Amazon is willing to eat the cost of shipping, not that sometimes it won't, or that other retailers on the platform can't afford to.Ā
Online grocery shopping is not frugal shopping
Yeah there are exceptions but the prices and fees are generally cheaper if you go in and do it yourself.Ā
Of course its good the services exist and if you don't have the time or the transport or are disabled or have to pay for childcare or a number of other reasons it can be cost effective and worth it.Ā
Apples to apples it's cheaper to go inside though if you have the time and way to get there.
I prefer going inside. The curbside picks always contain damaged cans, slimy greens, expired perishables, dented cans, etc. The very items that the indoor shoppers will not purchase. Getting home from an hours drive to only find I was cheated makes going inside a no brainer.
Disagree, although your mileage may vary depending on location.
Here in the Midwest, our grocery store offers free pickups on an order over $25 for any customer and doesn't have a markup on the products.
You could probably argue this is MORE frugal since you're not tempted with extra items and can easily compare prices as you add items to your online cart.
If you're someone who tends to add a lot of extra stuff to your cart, then yeah, maybe you would save money by online grocery shopping. Personally, I usually stick to my list. If I add anything, it's usually because I forgot to add it to my list.
Which store is this by the way?
HyVee
Jewel and Kroger both do free online pick-up same price as in the store. Produce is a bit of a gamble but you can request a refund in the app and they always approve it immediately with no need to return it (seems like every other trip they give me moldy raspberries or something, but my kids are only slightly better and it's rather convenient.)
It's not free for Kroger unless you spend $35 or more. We don't have a Jewel where I'm from.
That's probably true. I can't remember last time I spent less than $100 for a pick-up. If it's less than $35 I probably run in an grab the couple things I need.
Online to curbside is -I shop the sales, stay under a budget, and never deviate from my list. Walmart takes EBT for this too. I haven't been inside anyplace besides the asian market in a couple years.
I disagree, but it also heavily depends on your circumstances. I get all my groceries delivered. $15 delivery fee, but the local grocer doesn't accept tips, so that $15 is the only extra charge. That may not be frugal in and of itself, but I also work from home - so I am able to earn money while someone else is shopping my groceries. If I go to the store it sure won't be while I'm on the clock earning money. It also saves me time, and I'm not tempted to add extra shit to my cart either.
I see it as a good deal for some and worth it, but it is a little of a splurge for the convenience.
For staple commodities (flour, oil, that sort thing) Target is cheapest in my area (I donāt have an aldis so I canāt compare from personal experience, but 5lb AP flour is $2.59 at Target, which is the same price at ALDIs from what I can search online.)
$0.50/lb for flour is pretty normal. But you can generally pick that up around the holidays when the grocery stores discount it as a loss leader for down to $0.20/lb. If storing flour in bulk, freeze it to kill any insect eggs, then make sure the storage is air-tight. (You may not want to store it in the freezer long term, because it can pick up other flavors from your freezer... But I keep mine in the deep freezer, which isn't as bad for that because it doesn't automatically defrost.)
Aldi's online prices are higher than their in-store pricing, they explained why on one of the web pages
Second this - have been using Target as my primary for the last 2 years because everything else in my area has gotten much more expensive. And with free 2-hour pick up, you donāt have to do any shopping in-store. Order online, and swing by to pick up at any point in the next two days when convenient. Supplement the cheap staples with garden veggies, farmers market, and gourmet stores as needed.
+1 for walmart. 5 years ago I could ship most dry groceries on walmart but now it's very limited for same stuff.
Oh, don't get me started on how bad amazon has become.
I've come across items that are 400% more expensive on amazon then at the local corner store.
How many seller names can you pronounce on amazon? It's become a joke.
I understand people who don't have access to local stores, but a lot of people will shop at these chain stores, and shop online, even when they have much better options locally.
The BEST stores to shop at are ethnic stores, esp Indian/Asian, if your city has them, discount grocery stores like Smart & Final, dollar stores and finally the chain supermarkets. You have to be careful to buy things based on price/lb, a lot of people don't pay attention to this - and on Amazon a lot of times they only list price/unit and not lb.
I tried Walmart+ for a month because I was in very poor health. its useful but a lot of items get substituted, I think you don't get the same deals as in store.
This is of course for groceries - but everything else has disappeared from local stores a long time ago. And it will only get worse.
The asian stores are expensive near me, definitely more expensive than regular stores, and the produce quality is so awful. The stores emit a horrible horrible stench that makes it not worth it for me to enter the stores. I believe it is the smell of rotten fish and the smell is there for a reason, they sell garbage.
The dollar stores are legit but watch out for things like recalled cinnamon and lower quality products and counterfeits if you are shopping at various types of dollar stores.
Sorry to hear that, and I agree about the rotten fish etc. I'm a vegetarian so I only go to Asian stores to buy tofu, soy and chili sauce and noodles. Where I live the Indian stores are much better and I prefer that food anyway.
Surprisingly you can get a bang for your buck with Sprouts produceā¦.
Sprouts is so expensive! Maybe good for produce. But other stuff is way expensive. Eggs for like 7.00 a dozen? I'm in utah.
Ya thatās why I just said produceā¦. But I love spending a little bit more on dairy and meat bc itās more natural. The store works w lots of local farmers rather than say Walmart or another place..they charge $0.10 for bags though, so make sure you bring your own reusable
they charge $0.10 for bags though, so make sure you bring your own reusable
Cries in a place where the local government put a $0.10 tax on plastic bags
I also have good luck at Sprouts. I maintain a $99 Instacart subscription that is linked to my Sprouts account, and there are no other upcharges for doing online shopping/curbside pickup. (I don't know if there are upcharges per item without the Instacart, but I think you pay a small pickup fee with each order). Each order I get 'instacart credits' back which are maybe 5-10% of the order. I have been so happy with how the system has been workign that i haven't dared to cancel the instacart (and I use it maybe once a year when we rent a house for vacation, so i don't use it otherwise).
Every once and awhile I think I am probably paying more than the 'regular' grocery store (here, that would be a Kroger near me, which is not as expensive as Publix but not as inexpensive as my friends rave that Aldi is). Every time I compare a receipt, prices are the same, or one thing is a bit more at Sprouts while another is a bit more at Kroger. The produce is always better and more variety at Sprouts (even with someone else doing the shopping, whereas I go into the Kroger and inspect everything). Sprouts uses an in-store employee as the shopper, and i have had the same shopper for YEARS - and she does a great job replacing items for me. I do tip her cash around Thanksgiving and usually once in the summer when it is hot or if it is a rainy day when I pick up.
Now, I do have a food allergy and I do spend the money on foods with more limited or organic ingredients (which are going to be more expensive but I think worth it for the health).
Also, I found that i spend way less when ordering online from home. No impulse buys, I see the total going up as I shop (and decide i can wait a week and see if this or that goes on sale, and i can check my stock and look at my recipes and only buy what i need. Bulk dry beans and grains make inexpensive meals.
Sprouts also does a 'double' sale on Wednesdays, where the weekly sales overlap, so twice as many items are on sale.
So, if you have a Sprouts near you, give it a try and see if it works for you.
Amazon is whole foods. They are very overpriced.
It really is insane for groceries
The quality of the items Amazon sells have gone downhill.
ALDIs!!!
I found that Aldi is only cheaper when buying in person. Did a comparison a few months back about buying in-person at Aldi vs. online for curb pickup, and they marked up their in-store prices by ~15-20%.
they mark up curb pickup? that's nasty, even walmart doesn't do that
Curb pickup requires labor to pick the order. And ALDI is famously minimalist on labor costs, that's part of how they are so cheap. Walmart is mostly passing those curb pickup labor costs on to everyone else.
So go inside and get it!
That's what you did 5 years ago before the curbside pickup stuff started.
Right, exactly. But OP's original question was online to-go prices so thought I'd chime in about how Aldi's is more expensive.
Curbside pickup is literally the best thing to come out of the pandemic IMO for those of us with newborns and young children. No more dragging screaming kids through the grocery store aisle. I'd like to think my fellow shoppers appreciate the lack of cranky kids.
That said....I definitely don't do the curbside pickup for Aldi. Not only is the markup on a per-item basis, but they also have a curbside pickup fee, and they charge for paper bags. Much more affordable to go inside, in that case.
. . . There's a pandemic. That's why more places started doing curbside pickup.
Fear is expensive.
Yes. But less expensive than becoming disabled from long covid. And I'd never forgive myself if I killed or disabled someone else.
no fear!
Good luck with that I guess?
Going through life fearful is dull, expensive and boring.
I don't know what state you're in but in Cali, Aldi is expensive af even for knock off stuff.
Compared to what? I'm in CA and Aldi is cheaper than pretty much anywhere else for most things.
edit: still have my receipt from my Aldi run on Monday, here's how some random items compare to other stores near me, all prices are in-store and for store brands
| Aldi | Walmart | Stater Bros | Vons | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast /lb | $2.19 | $2.67 | $2.99 | $2.99 |
| Roasted garlic hummus 10oz | $2.49 | $2.87 | $3.99 | $2.99 |
| 5lb Jasmine rice | $5.89 | $5.97 | $6.99 | $8.49 |
| Cilantro /bunch | $0.49 | $0.57 | $0.50 | $0.99 |
| Frozen salmon fillet /lb | $4.89 | $5.24 | $6.99 | $6.00 |
| Dozen large white eggs | $1.92 | $2.64 | $3.99 | $3.99 |
So Aldi is cheaper even than Walmart let alone "normal" grocery stores and generally pretty good quality (produce can be hit or miss tho)
Yeah, I was surprised when I went for the first time last week.
Check out Target. They have decent prices on a lot of pantry items. And basically everything that's non-refrigerated is available for shipping, unlike Walmart. And also a quick tip - Target prices vary by location, so if you live in a high cost of living area, you can change your preferred store in the app to a different location, and then the prices you see will be whatever the prices are in that region.
I have become a Target girlie in the last couple of months. I was fed up with the quality of produce I was getting at Walmart so I just did an online order at Target to price check it and it was actually cheaper. Much better quality. They don't have the same variety because the grocery section is so small at my local Target, but I pick up the slack at a local grocery store, which I'm able to shop at with the savings I'm getting from Target.
I was really shocked to see for a lot of things target was cheaper for us food wise. Even close to aldi prices.
Clark spoke of that a few weeks ago. He explained why Wally and Target have been dropping prices and it's not what you might guess.
This is what weāve been doing, and using the app for coupons
For some reason, my recent order that was over $35 did not get me free shipping ($9.95 charge) at WalMart so I just went in and picked it up.
Which is what you used to do 5 years ago so what's the big deal?
My local family owned grocery store has the best prices overall, so I shop there first.Ā Aldi second.Ā Big name stores are only for circular or couponed items that seem like a great deal (and keep track mentally on price.)Ā
Also if you have the space, get a cheap freezer to store meat on loss leader to get you through more expensive times.Ā
Gotta do the math on savings for meat versus electrical cost of running the freezer though. There's definitely value there but you have to know what that number is
Deep freezers cost ~$4 / month.
As long as itās being used, it seems likely itās way worth it.
Plus it cuts down on food waste
I had some good cheaper paper towels on Amazon for awhile but yeah price jumped, most people don't bother to stop subscriptions and keep paying the price. Sneaky sneaky
Pickup at Walmart isnāt so bad if you plan ahead. Itās still way way cheaper than my alternative option (Wegmans), but it is irritating that a lot of items you canāt get shipped and can only get via pickup or delivery. Amazon for pantry items is terrible because of their no refund policy, even with expired or opened goods. It sucks because it would be nice to be able to get basic things shipped at a decent price, and only have to go to the store for fresh stuff.
so agree this would be optimum. and yes Walmart has cut back on the items shipped than before :((
Honestly the best advice I ever got when it comes to Walmart and Amazon is wait a month before buying anything. If you still want it get it. If it was a pure impulse buy, the feeling will fade.
There was a tik tok post put on reddit recently where I guy did his walmart order from two years ago and it went from $130 to $420 ish in just two years. He had like 43 items in the cart, the exact same quantiles and brands.
neither have ever been frugal if you take into account the environmental and societal cost of both organizations
I know what you mean. Like, I donāt need 24 things of hand sanitizer for 32 dollars. I want a normal amount for a normal amount of dollars.
Inflation has made all grocery shopping difficult
Greedflation. Thanks corporations who have made record profits since the pandemic. Squeezing as much out of the consumer as they can.
Let's not forget the government's hand in all of this. When they spent trillions of dollars they didn't just pull it out a piggy bank, they printed it all and simply devalued all of your moneyĀ
Walmart is for emergencies only! Most surplus/ outlet stores still have the best prices for staples.
Two bags of Walmart groceries, $150. Cart full at Sams, $150. Amazon kinda sucks now. I feel like itās heading the way of eBay
Yeah. I'm thinking of dropping Prime. It doesn't really seem worth it anymore.
Idk I have no issues with Walmart. We do grocery pickup every single week. The bonus we get is because we're placing an order via the app we also get free shipping on anything the store doesn't stock.
Walmart is way cheaper than all the local grocery stores near me. (Upstate NY).
I just don't even look at prices anymore. Inflation has increased everything so much that its entirely pointless. I just buy what I can afford and don't give a fuck. I have no choice, they are never going to reduce the prices. So its either stop buying the things I want to have or just suck it up. Really sucks. Nobody is going to save us, the rich are winning like they always do.
In our area Aldi is cheaper but def shop on my own or Instacart charges me like 20$ on my order. So shopping online is a special occasion type of thing. I know through some other local grocery stores they charge a flat rate (used to be 5$
My trick w Amazon is to put it all in The cart and only order one day a week. Then I have a weekly goal that I stick to-somethings can wait until next week, somethings I donāt need at all, so I weed out per the budget and thatās that.
While itās not technically always cheaper it helps me to stay on target.
Target! I get most of my staples there.
at least u dont have to goto walmart....
Fuck me i checked egg prices after reading your post and yup eggs fucking doubled in price at my store I'm glad you posted this
Do you have an Aldi nearby? I cut my grocery bill by 30% just by getting most stuff there.
Iām slowly moving towards Aldi
I had no idea Walmart had more items that don't ship. Here's the deal for me, I buy just a small number of regular things, so I know the prices locally and online.
Walmart sells yoghurt for $2.39 vs about a buck more for other brands. Their milk is cheaper and it ships. Veggies, meat, etc...
I was under the impression that most people buy abut the same things or close to the same types of things when they shop for food.
I can say that this inflation is all over the map. One of my staples was potatoes and they went up 300%, I stopped buying them because for the same amount of money (give or take) I can enjoy a grilled hamburger or other food.
BTW, I was really surprised that Safeway has some great prices and they have special deal on Fridays that can be amazing.
Have you tried growing potatoes? It's super easy even for someone without a green thumb.
I spent 74$ today for milk, dog food, grapeseed oil, vegetable oil, and eggs.
Target pickup is amazing for their store brand pantry items!
Just a reminder that if you patronize these businesses you're also helping to make other people poor.
What I've noticed on Amazon is there are a lot of sellers who are clearly selling B-stock items marked as new. I've ordered several All Clad pans that came scratched (very bad for non-stick). I've ordered bulk food that expired in less than a month (based on the type of food it is implied that it was at least 3 years on a shelf before making it to me) which would defeat the purpose of it.
Amazon capitalizes off of people who aren't observant. And like everything with a star rating system, you should probably skip most things that don't have 5 stars.
At this point, if there's any chance something might be counterfeit, I don't buy it from Amazon. Because of their "commingled inventory," even if you buy something sold by Amazon.com, the item you get may have been sent to the warehouse by a third party seller.
Fortunately a lot of retailers match Amazon prices (very easy to do online with Target and Best Buy, for instance).
I still find walmart useful. In fact, if I limit myself to items that are in stock locally, I can order "for shipping", and they'll deliver from the local store the same day, for free. Put a single "for delivery" item in the cart (as opposed to "for shipping") and they charge $10 for delivery, so I don't do that.
I buy pantry basics. Not everything is available, but it's better than Amazon's pricing, by a lot, for the things I do get.
I buy bulk spices from Amazon. Some grains items are okay (but not cheaper than local) for multi-pack purchase. Pasta is a little more expensive than local, but if I want it delivered, this seems to be the only option for free delivery.
Some of the items I've gotten from Amazon have been poor quality, or mis-marked cans, e.g. crushed tomatoes in cans marked pizza sauce.
I realize many folks are here because they are lower income and frugality is a necessity. That's a whole different story.
I am fortunate that frugality is a choice for me, within reason. To me, amazon and walmart are not frugal, even when their prices are lower, because the true cost of those lower prices is obfuscated. For example, we subsidize many large, highly profitable corporations through welfare benefits to their underpaid employees:
Almost every item I buy at Walmart I price check target and 9/10 itās cheaper at target plus you get 5 percent red card off. People are just so used to going there that they often do not check other places, but itās shocking how much the prices have gone up at Walmartā¦.
Yes my Shaws how all kinds of Barilla pasta on sale 99 cents last week. good deal!
Itās because keto and I hate it.
You have to look at the times of sales. Amazon Prime day maybe? Wal-mart is still alright for me but I mostly use Aldis.
I stopped shopping at walmart completely they have everything locked
Totes
Well yeah they already got you hooked into that yearly subscription. Good times is over.
Also check Grocery Outlet, if you have one. The prices are often so much lower. Shop your list there first. No delivery. Not a great variety, and the long-term availability is iffy. Produce prices are great. I got a big of lemons for $4.99.
Market Basket > Shaws
Last mile delivery is super expensive. The money to pay those drivers have to come from somewhere, and Amazon and Walmart were operating those services as a loss for a long time to build market share.
Yes, they pulled everyone in by not making a profit, put a ton of stores and retailers out of business undercutting them - and now that consumers have no choices they get to set the prices. Sometimes cheapest isnāt best.
I use digital rebates and coupons so I very rarely pay full price for groceries. Walmart has the most deals so I shop there most often. I usually save at least 50% each trip. Itās the only way to really save money these days.
I've been saying this for years.
You can still find decent deals on pantry items on Amazon, but you have to look a lot harder to find them now. I've stopped ordering any kind of food items from Amazon though. Every time I order soda that's on sale, the cans come dented. I just received a box of little debbie snack cakes that I added to my Amazon order to clear the free shipping threshold - those things look so old that I threw them straight into the trash. I'm done ordering food items from anywhere other than my local grocer.
A problem I have had lately is nothing local wants to stock anything but the bare necessities, and like 5 varieties of the same thing. I've ended up having to order from Amazon just because of their shitty inventory in local stores.
Amazon used to be good to buy pantry items but since Covid no more
Factually wrong. Amazon has kept the mostly similar prices between 2020-now, while grocery store have increased by a higher margin around 10-15% more.
What kind of frugal is online shopping anyway. Get off the couch and go to the store.
This is not possible for some people for different reasons.
Amazon has basically always built the shipping price into the product price, unless it's a very well known brand. But, not even then at times.
...and order a day ahead so pay less for delivery.
What did you do, say, 10 years ago when local delivery wasn't really a thing other than pizza? I mean, if you are paying for local delivery of groceries and other necessities that isn't really frugal considering you used to go to the store and get it yourself.
Lots of things can change in 10 yearsā¦.my spouse had a stroke so grocery delivery became a necessity.
Amazon prime is where itās at
Nooo Amazon is not it anymore. They hardly sell single items anymore and what they do is EXPENSIVE
I never fell for Prime yet I get the same prices as Prime customers and I never pay for shipping.
Theyāve also gone down in quality for non-grocery items as well.
A lot of stuff is sourced out to third parties allowed to sell on the site (as seen with Walmart), weirdly named brands (Amazon), and poor quality products for higher or nearly identical prices as name-brand. Thereās also the conmingled inventory issue with Amazon.
Like if Iām looking for a replacement phone charger, itās cheaper and more reliable to go to the store than to order it online.