Many people seem to think that shopping at bigger box stores is cheaper than shopping at your local grocery store(s).
Is it really???
I try to do our family’s grocery shopping once a week. This week I went online to walmart.com to compare prices to Mullen’s Macke’s Grocery Store afterwards. Thanks to our kitchen remodel project and the fact that we’ve been gone more than home lately, this was a smaller than normal cart of groceries.
Prices are listed with Macke’s first, then Walmart’s.
Shredded cheddar cheese, 16 oz: $3.99 plus a 75¢ coupon vs $4.22
Daisy sour cream, 8 oz: 88¢ vs $1.74
Cream of chicken soup: 69¢ vs 68¢
Refried beans: $1.29 vs $1
Tomato soup: $1.25 each plus a coupon for $1 off 4 vs $1.26
Life Savers mints: $2.77 vs $2.62
Sandhill honey from Chandler’s, 3 lbs: $19.95 vs $25.99 - cheapest I could find in my search
Scott toilet paper: $6.54 plus $1 coupon vs $5.68
Bananas, 2.10 lb: 99¢/lb vs 50¢/lb
1% milk, 1 gallon: $4.03 vs $3.50
Spaghetti sauce: $1.50 each, coupon for $1 off 2 vs $2.58
So, no, it’s not actually cheaper to go out of town to buy your groceries! This trip would have cost $10.11 MORE and that’s without including gas money and time.
An avid budgeter, I don’t make a trip to the grocery store without first looking over the sale flyer - in your issue of the Tribune, or online at www.mackesgrocery.com. I’m not a hoarder, but I definitely stock up on items that we’ll use when they are on sale. I’m also fine with buying store brand over name brand for the majority of items - but name brand products go on sale all the time too! Also, Macke’s has recently added digital coupons that you can use with your rewards card. Every penny counts!
As a small business owner myself, I know firsthand who gets asked to donate to every local fundraiser and I’ll let you in on a secret - it’s not Walmart or Amazon!!!
If you want LOCAL businesses to support LOCALS, you better be spending your money LOCALLY so they can afford to do so.
My family purchases everything we possibly can at businesses here in town, no matter how much “cheaper” it is somewhere else.
Plan ahead and watch sales - your grocery budget will thank you!
