If you are at all like me you promise to buy healthier foods for your family all the time! The problem is how much you can spend on these healthier options. I always hear my friends talking about savings and coupons and which store has the best deals. It is so much easier to save money on mac and cheese and chips. As I was shopping last week I was determined to choose healthy options. It is no secret that doing this cost more! After I checked out and got my very high bill for some food I was not even sure my girls would eat I felt a little defeated! I decided to do some comparing of prices around our local stores to see if I could be healthier at a lower cost.
If I did find items at a lower cost would it be enough savings to drive to multiple stores to save the money? Later in the day I took some time to visit 4 local grocery stores to compare prices on the items I purchased. I compared prices on healthy food choices at Kroger, Target, Market Street and Sprouts. In most cases the items were the same brand and if not then I compared the same size and the best price available in these stores. I have to admit I usually just grab what I need and never really look at the price! It amazes me that my friends know how much fruits cost at various stores by the pound. From my day as private food detective here is what I found!
Kroger and Target won the best price on bananas at 52 cents a lb, not really a big difference to other stores high of 54 cents. Next I looked into Mara Almond Butter and found that Kroger also had the best price for this product at 6.59 a jar. ( a big difference from a jar of Jiffy )
My next stop was Sprouts. I was surprised that the produce here seemed to be more affordable than the other stores. Halo oranges were the lowest I found at 3.99 a bag. I was also happy to find the organic spinach was 3.49 for 5 ounces.
I have always been partial to Target for savings. I was happy to find that they offer organic brown eggs for 2.99 a dozen! This was the best deal I found out of all 4 stores. They were also selling Horizon Milk for 3.98 a half gallon. Now let me not forget the most important item for lunches, bread! Target also had the best price on Nature’s Own bread for 2.49 which is a big difference from another store of 3.29.
When I am feeling like a nice shopping experience I love to go to Market Street. Although I did not find any of their everyday prices to be lower they did have a few sale prices that were lower than other stores. Nature’s Own bread was 2.39 and organic waffles were 2/5.00 compared to a high of 3.39 for one package elsewhere.
I must admit that I expected to find more savings between stores after totaling up all of the same items at each store. If you take the time to research and have the time to travel from store to store for one shopping list you can save a few dollars. My shopping comparisons did not include shopper discount cards or coupons which may save you more on some items but I do find those savings are usually not on healthier choices.
If I add the total of all the same items from each store my total only varies 3.00 between all four stores. If I took the time to separate my list and purchase the lowest priced items at each store I could save 10-13 dollars on my total bill. I was a bit more impressed with that figure.
Ok, truth be told I probably will not take the time to run around to all four locations to save money. If anyone has some great shopping secrets to save on healthier foods I would love to hear about them. Higher prices is one reason I believe we choose the less healthier options too many times!!