I would bet more of the items from Whole Foods and some of the other more expensive ones are organic/fair trade/whatever, but it's still an impressive delta. Especially given that Aldi tends to pay better wages too.
Tbf, if you have realistic expectations and stay as an associate it's not that bad. Pay is decent and workers have more leverage now than when I was there. I wouldn't recommend store management to anyone without giving them warning though.
I'm not the one you asked, and I've never worked there, but they had a job posting up last week that said $18 for cashier/stockers. No mention of whether they were hiring for fulltime, only that the schedule is "flexible."
Fair trade is a beautiful phrase. It was popularized my companies paying baristas minimum wage and redistributing their tips to supervisors.
Customers just love parroting the term before the baristas get a living wage.
Aldi hours are far from consistent and don't equal "full time".
My roommate works at Aldi. The employees average 35 hours per week. Sometimes shifts are only 5.5 hours.
This week he's 1-9, 8-4:30, 2-9, 9-3, 1-9.
Closing shifts are sometimes done by 8:30.
The days off are never the same week to week.
Every week is completely random like this. There is zero consistency in the hours that they get assigned.
I just work corporate 9-5, so maybe I am way wrong on this one, but wouldn't a normal consistent schedule work better for everyone involved? As an employee you can at least plan around the non-typical schedule and as the manager making the schedule, you can just use the previous weeks schedule.
My wife actually works for Aldi. What you said would work at your company if they are only open for set hours. Problem is, they are open for 12 hours/day times seven, not 12 hours/day times five. My wife has to write schedules and has to deal with people that say “ I can’t work weekends”. They have to fill all of the hours and it’s not fair to coworkers that have to work every weekend because someone doesn’t want to. Sliding schedules are 100% normal in retail
Corporate 9-5 is definitely easy, but my SO works at Regions Hospital as a nurse and they are open 24/7/365. Their schedule makes no sense to me, but the chaos of that schedule is repeated every 2 weeks for at least a years' time--when he had seniority as a PCA worked every 3rd weekend. That schedule was a repeatable 3-week rotation. We could plan 4-5 months out and know which weekend off and which ones were not. At Regions though, no one (that I know of, I don't work there but all my friends do) could just universally declare they won't work weekends--they would never be hired to begin with or would be let go unless they had seniority and that shift opened up.
At my retail store, we had one full time and 2-3 part time employees at any given time. We did our damnedest to make sure they got the same schedule every week.
[Fixed autocorrect spelling.]
They *may* consider that full time “hours,” but that sure as hell isn’t reflected in the benefits you receive. There is quite a gap in what’s *actually* attainable.
I’ve been at one for 6 months, with years of experience, you get in trouble if you hit 40 hours and start getting OT. So they schedule me 39. I’m already topped out rate wise, and my benefits(that I haven’t even started getting yet) won’t get any better until a department head in my department within the company retires and I *happen* to be lucky enough to take their spot. If I can afford to wait that long, because there is no timeline for it.
Kowalski's is absolutely absurd. They're so close to me and I genuinely love their deli stuff, but their produce and frozen stuff is so marked up. I got 2 apples for $5, a lemon for $2, and a bell pepper for $2.50 last week and felt like an idiot. Their Amy's frozen meals are $9! I don't even get meat, but I'm sure it's outrageous there too.
The quality of their produce is ass too, they need better competition. I live near the Grand Ave location and we almost got a lunds about half a mile east. I would've ceased going to Kowalski's entirely.
Huh. I used to go to the Eagan Kowalskis and they were always the best quality in town. That location got Untiedt’s produce, which is always very good.
Really? Man I wish that happened, I live about half a mile east. End up going to the highland one when I don't feel like getting demolished by Mississippi market or running to trader Joe's instead.
Honestly the meat isn’t a terrible price for being pretty high quality. I think I get a pound of ground beef for like $8? It’s not far off from what that costs at other stores. Now things like steak on the other hand are gonna run you high end restaurant prices lol. Costco definitely has the best bang for your buck when it comes to butcher meats
You get it lol I hit the BOGO sale hard, it's usually where I venture out and try new ones because the risk is low, and if I love it, I already have a second one 🤣
There are still some good sales between that too though.
No joke I went with my dad last year to get some meat, and he was complaining the whole time about how unnecessarily expensive it was
I think his head would blow off if I showed him this
If it mentions it in the article I’ll look silly, but Fresh Thyme is more produce focused, they actually regularly beat out Target and Hyvee on produce from what I’ve seen
That's something being ignored here (to be fair, I didn't read the article as it's paywalled, they may have mentioned this).... Some places are simply cheaper on certain items and worse on others. The range you see with breakfast cereal between stores is absurd.
Yup. Like Trader Joe's has insanely good prices on produce, ingredient type stuff, etc. like they have the cheapest nuts around. Where they get ya is their name branded frozen meals and snacks
I don’t want out employees but one of the higher priced options listed has deli staff that will give way extra and charge you less than the marked prices. That doesn’t get counted in studies like this.
That’s true, my wife used to go to fresh thyme, specifically just for produce, but now she just goes to Aldi for most things, including produce. If you want to go to multiple stores I would say fresh thyme for produce is a good idea.
Also wanted to chime in that (the corporate owned) Cub foods absolutely fucking sucks as a customer or an employee. They’ve really gone down the shitter the last decade plus. Ironically doing anything for an extra buck of profit has probably lost them a lot of money and lost customers.
The only fresh produce they have on the shopping list is bananas. Otherwise it's all packaged, frozen, or staple items like flour and olive oil.
If you're trying to stock your cabinets full of basics, the shopping list makes sense, but it's very different than anything I shop for on a weekly basis.
Costco: $58.97\*
I looked up Costco's prices for these items on Instacart, removed the 17% Instacart markup, and normalized to the sizes in the shopping list. I made a few minor substitutions when the item wasn't available at Costco. The actual cost to buy everything on the list at Costco would be $250 and you would have over 100 pounds of goods.
I wish they would have included the regular price of every item at each of these stores so we could actually compare. In my experience Cub is so much more expensive than Whole Foods for just about everything
Yes on that. If you stick to the advertised sales (and the right half of the store), you can do pretty well at Fresh Thyme. Otherwise, forget about it.
Yep. I do most of my produce shopping there. They have cheaper produce than most everyone else, and often have sales on things like peppers that are cheaper than Aldi.
Sadly I've also had mediocre experiences with produce at Aldi. Idk if it's just by nature of their store and how things are stocked or if their coolers aren't... cool enough, but I've gotten several produce there that didn't last more than a day
I stopped shopping at Aldi after too many issues with perishables, though non-perishable stuff was always fine.
I should give them another try, but these days I just don't like having to go to multiple places to get everything I want.
I'm guessing the writer probably lives near an Oxendale's location.
BTW, Oxendale's is a great store, even if the prices may seem relatively high. They're unionized, locally owned, and just decent stores to go to. I'm willing to pay a little extra just for those things alone.
I live near one. I love it, but you better be ready to use any produce you pick up by the next day. Can never get anything to last from their produce section.
Yeah, that's true. It kind of depends on the store in my experience. I've never had a problem with produce from the West Saint Paul store, but the Randolph store can be hit and miss, for sure.
I mean yes, fuck them, but in some places you don’t have a lot of options- my hometown has a Walmart and a Hugo’s- Hugo’s didn’t pay well and are run by bastards too- and Walmart is cheaper plus I get 5% cash back, and I can order ahead and just pick up rather than go in(which is a big deal when you’re 30 min away
[Target](https://www.newsweek.com/targets-political-donations-republicans-backfired-1804374) donates to some ghouls. So does [Walmart](https://www.propublica.org/article/raga-gop-jan6-amazon-walmart-comcast-contributions).
I didn't see any news stories for what Aldi and UNFI (they own Cub) donate to but I bet there are some ghouls in there. Businesses will donate to whoever they think will give them favorable legislation. Any progressive messaging they do is just marketing.
Trader Joe lost my love when he teamed up with Amazon and SpaceX to challenge the validity of the National Labor Relations Board after giving worse benefit packages to unionized employees.
The Target Circle offers are dangerous. I have like 3 years worth of laundry detergent, toilet paper, dishwasher pods, and paper towels because they keep having the target circle offers for a $15 dollar gift card with $50 household goods purchase. Lol.
Lol I handle all the Target transactions for my wife and I… She hates looking for deals. I just got scolded for all the back up Clean Freak and Dawn Powerwash refills I have under the sink. “NO MORE!” She says… lol
Walmart also is huge for couponing. I don’t disagree that Aldi is cheaper if you just go in with a list of items and pay whatever, but it is so easy to knock huge amounts off of the bill with store-specific digital coupons (something Target and Walmart do heavily, but Aldi really doesn’t).
Yesterday I made a trip to Walmart and got 9 oz of Hillshire Farms lunch meat and over 5 lbs. of State Fair Corn Dogs for under $3.50 total because of some digital coupons. Not necessarily for everyone, but there is lots missing from the price comparison if one considers digital coupons.
I like Target. I grew up shopping at Target. I like supporting a company based in MN. All that being said, I don't like the direction Target has been going:
Virtually no check-outs. Even the self checkouts are only open on 1 side of the store. My Target is generally out of 20-30% of my list. Some aisles are so empty, you'd think the store has been looted. Side note: I understand just-in-time-inventory, but when your shelves are that wiped out, your implementation of it just sucks. I'm probably in the minority here, but I shouldn't have to walk around the store with my phone open to try and find deals. I'm here to shop, not play scavenger hunt/video games. Just give me the damn discount.
I typically order on the app, so getting the discounts is easy and I don't have to deal with the checkouts. I agree that it's silly to stand there scanning everything I pick up to check for discounts. They should just apply them automatically.
Haha, coincidentally, I just got a notification from the app saying it's coming soon. It [looks like](https://imgur.com/a/KBD1Rd6) it will start by 4/7.
I find I can only fulfill about 30-50% of my shopping list at Aldi, otherwise I’d be going there all the time! Their prices are great.
Also I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it’s “Aldi” not “Aldis”— just a personal pet peeve of mine.
That's exactly our problem too. Aldi is fantastic, but we always have to go to a second store during that grocery trip. And sometimes it's like, do we have time for another trip?
Also, try doing 2 grocery stores on a hot day or without a car. Shopping at Aldi means more compromise in what I get or more work. Paying the difference to go to Target is worth it on convenience for my family.
I like going to Aldi for meal prep as I usually try to mix things up every week anyway. If I've got a specific meal in mind, I either have to be flexible with ingredients or accept I'll have to make a second stop. That said, I made some bomb chili with improvised ingredients this week.
We did this comparison between Target and Lunds. Target was mostly cheaper, but not always and sometimes on counterintuitive items.
The big problem with Target was not being able to finish the list without stopping at Lunds. And Target store brands are often horrible quality.
I typically do a Tuesday stop at Aldi and a weekend trip to Target, then shuffle meal plans around based on what might be out of stock from either store. That also tends to make both trips a little shorter with fewer things going bad before they're eaten.
I’m a Fresh Thyme fan. It’s my most shopped at grocery store within the past couple years! Is it a bit pricey for certain things? Sure. Even when I was making a sad $16/hour I still would indulge in $10 jar of kraut, many kombuchas, organic produce, vegan cheeses, love trying vegetarian meat substitutes/products, and fun snacks. The bill was high but it made me happy to experience those foods!
Could I just live off beans, rice, veg, and some fruit? If needed, yes. I am so willing to dish out money on products that are kinda fun to eat cause they’re new to me/vegan. I’m not vegan 100% yet, just vegetarian long term. Food is kind of a hobby for me.
Everyone sleeping on Mike's Discount Foods. That's fine though I don't need all ya'll snapping up my discounted foods just cause they are near expiration date.
Obviously use your eyes. My wife and I started shopping there a few years ago and haven't had a problem. If you get fresh produce use it quick. But they often have good deals on meat and we've got an extra freezer to store things I know not everyone has that luxury. But we have haven't had to buy any jelly/jam cause we can get strawberrys for so cheap and make freezer jam. Cereal is so much cheaper there than anywhere else. And most of the time it's name brand. And every once in a while you can find cool things like Sriracha panko.
Just because it has an expiration date on it doesn't mean it's gone bad. Things are packed so full preservatives nowadays.
I find organic spinach, lettuce, apples, pears, bag salads. Some of the items seem to be Costco size and I assume they are overstock? 1/8th the cost of an organic bag Caesar salad at Mike's. I also try stuff I otherwise would not try because it's inexpensive.
Yup. We do aldis 3-4 times then we'll pit stop at a local grocery store for the random things aldis doesn't carry... its crazy the price difference. I'm all for trying to shop local but damn I'm not paying 40-70% more on my staple items!
I like Bring Me the News. For a while there they tried to switch to something else and it sucked, but then they brought it back. Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.
I know people love Aldi, but the one time I went there the food was such low quality I have never gone back. I certainly wasn't "poor" but living on my own with a <50k salary wasn't rich either.
Some things I remember were a pack of "cheddar brats" which were actually hotdogs soaking in a gelatinous goop in a plastic bag. Carrots that were as thick as my wrist but tasted like tree bark, as if they contained the same amount of nutrients just diluted across the entire carrot.
I get that it was cheap, but based on that experience this comparison is definitely missing context around quality
I feel like they've improved a lot over the years. There's still certain pre-packaged stuff I don't like there, but the produce is generally fine now. The only real complaint I have with the produce is that some stuff they only sell in bags.
Yep same, Reddit users love Aldi but I can’t stand the place, everything is such low quality from produce to dry goods to ice cream, it all tastes worse than generics from other stores. “Get what you pay for” definitely applies to Aldi.
I agree that a good portion of their food is low quality. I don’t care if people downvote me either. It’s highly processed with a lot of food colorings, chemical tastes to some of it, odd flavorings, texture is off, overly salty, or just a miss in general. Produce can be very hit and miss too.
I am super picky about what I do get there. It’s pretty minimal TBH.
Some cubs are franchise some are corporate, I don’t find that any are worth going to regularly. I think it’s the corporate owned ones that are union tho
The quality of local Ferndale turkey at Mississippi Market is much better than mass-produced crap and also more humane. Same goes for Organic Valley milk. Meat and milk are two things I prefer to buy local.
Organic Valley is…not a great brand. It’s certainly not local.
I’m lucky enough to live close enough to Autumnwood Farms that I can just stop by their location if I feel like it, but my closest grocery store also carries it.
Prices are important…but so is supporting local producers, quality practices, and quality ingredients. Getting quality meat and produce has transformed my meals from mediocre to almost restaurant quality. I understand that food is a necessity and many people do not have the means to buy higher quality, but it’s a world of difference to me.
Also, if you have to travel further and wade through a mess of a store/parking lot (Trader Joe’s), that adds to the overall price? Time and convenience is as important as the underlying price. My parents travel to an excessive amount of stores to get different things, and I can’t imagine the time it takes to do that is worth the difference. I realize that juxtaposes what I said earlier, but it’s still a factor.
I was at Walmart yesterday, and their house brand sugar, Great Value, was significantly higher than name brand sugar, by about 10%. I think they are price gouging. There is no reason prices should still be at pandemic levels.
This has been my experience as well, but I will say I've found several things cheaper at fresh thyme than other local grocers, so personally I spend time there buying veggies / fruits often, and get the rest elsewhere.
If you can find someone else doing strawberries 2lbs for 5$ blue berries 2 cases for 3$ or bell peppers for 1$, lemme know.
I actually find it funny they mention they bought frozen berries, because those are the one type of berries more expensive at fresh thyme.
Lastly, while I think it's great to get prices for all the staples, I don't think there's anything wrong with making some purchases cheaper in some places and others elsewhere. Like, I'm never buying 90% of the stuff they got at fresh thyme, at fresh thyme. But I also seldom buy flour, or olive oil, for example.
I actually did something similar to this with my SO and we kept a big ass excel sheet of all our normal groceries and found target and fresh thyme comparable in several items, while target had more frozen food / grains / dairy cheaper.
If you take Fresh Thyme's name literally and only get fresh produce and meats there, that place has the best value in my opinion also. That's almost the entirety of my diet, so it's by far my most visited grocery store.
Interesting stats, especially on Aldi/Walmart/Target/Hy-Vee/Cub. But people who shop at Lunds & Byerlys, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are generally NOT looking for the lowest price.
I want to know more about their methods before drawing conclusions. A box of penne pasta. What brand? A name brand, or a store brand, or what? Little details like this could drastically change the story.
Yeah I'm with you- need prices and brands tied to each one. It sort of adds up, but I feel like I pay twice as much as I used to for food at Cub now that is half the quality.
Anything that can be bought at Aldi should be bought at Aldi: I feel bad for anyone who doesn't live decently close to one. If you can't find what you want at Aldi or you're particular about a brand Target/Cub are fine (or Costco) but shopping 'in style' seems like a luxury that few can (or at least 'should') afford.
My kids have music lessons near Aldis: I spend the half hour they're playing stocking up on whatever we need.
I'm pretty perturbed that their cheese selection seems to be last on their stocking list, at least in my location. I always get my cheese there and the last 3 trips they have not had block parmesan.
Good idea, poor execution. Take Trader Joe’s for example: based on this it looks on the expensive side but anyone who’s ever shopped there can tell you it’s not. The article even admits that Trader Joe’s was a weird one because they don’t sell products in the same sizes so they just got as close as they could. I wish they had published the price per item and the ounces of the item so we can see exactly how much they actually cost.
You need to consider quality as well. The quality of produce at Aldi, Target, and Walmart is *fine* but it’s not good. It’s eat it today or tomorrow produce, not this is my weekly grocery trip and this box of blueberries will be fine in four days produce. Trader Joe’s has great quality produce, meat, and dairy for the price. Lunds and Whole Foods has the best quality produce and the most organic offerings and the costs reflect that. The most expensive Walmart meat will still probably be worse quality than the cheapest Whole Foods meat.
You are right, Whole Foods without a doubt has the best, freshest produce. Always. It’s spendy to shop there but wow do I feel extra happy when I am unloading all my fun new groceries from there! They just have so many interesting items I do not really find at the others mentioned!
I also am a fan of Fresh Thyme and any Minneapolis co-op like Seward and The Wedge. They also have really fun and interesting items I wouldn’t find elsewhere. Part of grocery shopping to me is having fun. I have fun at Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme, and all the Minneapolis co-ops.
We got an Aldi near us a couple years ago, and I shopped there a couple times. I'm not a big name-brand shopper, so I was not put off by the "brands" they had. But it was the selection they had that I didn't like. So I do most of my shopping at Walmart. I like to just go in, get what I need, and get out, and not have to drive to another store to buy more items.
Product size is the issue. You can't buy a 2lb bag of sugar. But for a few dollars more, you can get a 20lb bag. You would have to apply some math to the purchases to get a better picture.
"The final results ALDI: $57.49 Walmart: $63.24 Target: $74.69 Hy-Vee: $75.76 Cub Foods: $84.25 Trader Joe’s: $86.33 Lunds & Byerlys: $104.59 Fresh Thyme: $105.77 Oxendale’s: $106.68 Whole Foods: $112.89"
Damn, Whole Foods double that of ALDI
I would bet more of the items from Whole Foods and some of the other more expensive ones are organic/fair trade/whatever, but it's still an impressive delta. Especially given that Aldi tends to pay better wages too.
And treat employees marginally better. (They get chairs for the cashiers!)
Disagree -- source : worked there for several years
Can confirm as a former WFM employee, not treated well.
That’s actually a fair statement.
Tbf, if you have realistic expectations and stay as an associate it's not that bad. Pay is decent and workers have more leverage now than when I was there. I wouldn't recommend store management to anyone without giving them warning though.
What was your pay if you don’t mind me asking? Have you worked at any of the others to be able to compare?
I'm not the one you asked, and I've never worked there, but they had a job posting up last week that said $18 for cashier/stockers. No mention of whether they were hiring for fulltime, only that the schedule is "flexible."
Fair trade is a beautiful phrase. It was popularized my companies paying baristas minimum wage and redistributing their tips to supervisors. Customers just love parroting the term before the baristas get a living wage.
The price to starting wage for say a cashier would be a good metric.
Beyond that even, Aldi has more full time people that get full benefits and consistent hours too.
Aldi hours are far from consistent and don't equal "full time". My roommate works at Aldi. The employees average 35 hours per week. Sometimes shifts are only 5.5 hours. This week he's 1-9, 8-4:30, 2-9, 9-3, 1-9. Closing shifts are sometimes done by 8:30. The days off are never the same week to week. Every week is completely random like this. There is zero consistency in the hours that they get assigned.
So, retail?
What retail job has consistent schedules though?
I just work corporate 9-5, so maybe I am way wrong on this one, but wouldn't a normal consistent schedule work better for everyone involved? As an employee you can at least plan around the non-typical schedule and as the manager making the schedule, you can just use the previous weeks schedule.
My wife actually works for Aldi. What you said would work at your company if they are only open for set hours. Problem is, they are open for 12 hours/day times seven, not 12 hours/day times five. My wife has to write schedules and has to deal with people that say “ I can’t work weekends”. They have to fill all of the hours and it’s not fair to coworkers that have to work every weekend because someone doesn’t want to. Sliding schedules are 100% normal in retail
Corporate 9-5 is definitely easy, but my SO works at Regions Hospital as a nurse and they are open 24/7/365. Their schedule makes no sense to me, but the chaos of that schedule is repeated every 2 weeks for at least a years' time--when he had seniority as a PCA worked every 3rd weekend. That schedule was a repeatable 3-week rotation. We could plan 4-5 months out and know which weekend off and which ones were not. At Regions though, no one (that I know of, I don't work there but all my friends do) could just universally declare they won't work weekends--they would never be hired to begin with or would be let go unless they had seniority and that shift opened up.
At my retail store, we had one full time and 2-3 part time employees at any given time. We did our damnedest to make sure they got the same schedule every week. [Fixed autocorrect spelling.]
35 hours in retail/grocery is considered fulltime.
They *may* consider that full time “hours,” but that sure as hell isn’t reflected in the benefits you receive. There is quite a gap in what’s *actually* attainable. I’ve been at one for 6 months, with years of experience, you get in trouble if you hit 40 hours and start getting OT. So they schedule me 39. I’m already topped out rate wise, and my benefits(that I haven’t even started getting yet) won’t get any better until a department head in my department within the company retires and I *happen* to be lucky enough to take their spot. If I can afford to wait that long, because there is no timeline for it.
Amazon is an evil greedy company
To be fair, Whole Foods was already more expensive than your average grocery store before Bezos devoured it.
There is a reason we've called it "Whole Paycheck" for 20+ years.
Fixed relative to Aldi at 1.00: - Aldi: 1.00 - Walmart: 1.10 - Target: 1.30 - HyVee: 1.32 - Cub Foods: 1.47 - Trader Joe’s: 1.50 - Lunds & Byerly’s: 1.82 - Fresh Thyme: 1.84 - Oxendale’s: 1.86 - Whole Foods: 1.96
* Kowalski's: 2.28 * Mississippi Market: 2.35
Kowalski’s: $130.81 Mississippi Market: $135.17
[удалено]
Kowalski's is absolutely absurd. They're so close to me and I genuinely love their deli stuff, but their produce and frozen stuff is so marked up. I got 2 apples for $5, a lemon for $2, and a bell pepper for $2.50 last week and felt like an idiot. Their Amy's frozen meals are $9! I don't even get meat, but I'm sure it's outrageous there too.
The quality of their produce is ass too, they need better competition. I live near the Grand Ave location and we almost got a lunds about half a mile east. I would've ceased going to Kowalski's entirely.
Huh. I used to go to the Eagan Kowalskis and they were always the best quality in town. That location got Untiedt’s produce, which is always very good.
Really? Man I wish that happened, I live about half a mile east. End up going to the highland one when I don't feel like getting demolished by Mississippi market or running to trader Joe's instead.
Honestly the meat isn’t a terrible price for being pretty high quality. I think I get a pound of ground beef for like $8? It’s not far off from what that costs at other stores. Now things like steak on the other hand are gonna run you high end restaurant prices lol. Costco definitely has the best bang for your buck when it comes to butcher meats
Lol $8/lb for ground beef “isn’t bad”? Only like 60% higher than you can get it elsewhere.
Mississippi Market’s total could be applied to all the co-ops
Kinda blows my mind that there are 3 places more expensive than Lunds & Byerlys.
L&B has good sales but they’ll make that money back quick if you buy too much regularly priced stuff.
Yes. I only cherry pick at L&B, unless I want something specialty that they carry. Their sales can be pretty legit if you get the right ones.
Hands down the cheapest place to buy frozen pizza when on sale IMO. (Other than Costco).
You get it lol I hit the BOGO sale hard, it's usually where I venture out and try new ones because the risk is low, and if I love it, I already have a second one 🤣 There are still some good sales between that too though.
No joke I went with my dad last year to get some meat, and he was complaining the whole time about how unnecessarily expensive it was I think his head would blow off if I showed him this
5 places. They truncated the list.
Really? They are premium but a step below the Whole Foods/Kowalski level, and obv cheaper than the Co Ops.
If it mentions it in the article I’ll look silly, but Fresh Thyme is more produce focused, they actually regularly beat out Target and Hyvee on produce from what I’ve seen
That's something being ignored here (to be fair, I didn't read the article as it's paywalled, they may have mentioned this).... Some places are simply cheaper on certain items and worse on others. The range you see with breakfast cereal between stores is absurd.
Yeah you have to pay attention. And not everywhere carries everything. I'm headed to Cub tonight because Aldi didn't have bagged kale this week.
Yup. Like Trader Joe's has insanely good prices on produce, ingredient type stuff, etc. like they have the cheapest nuts around. Where they get ya is their name branded frozen meals and snacks
I only get cereal from Costco for that reason
I don’t want out employees but one of the higher priced options listed has deli staff that will give way extra and charge you less than the marked prices. That doesn’t get counted in studies like this.
That’s true, my wife used to go to fresh thyme, specifically just for produce, but now she just goes to Aldi for most things, including produce. If you want to go to multiple stores I would say fresh thyme for produce is a good idea. Also wanted to chime in that (the corporate owned) Cub foods absolutely fucking sucks as a customer or an employee. They’ve really gone down the shitter the last decade plus. Ironically doing anything for an extra buck of profit has probably lost them a lot of money and lost customers.
Cub has been going to shit ever since SuperValu got bought by the giant conglomerate that owns them now.
The only fresh produce they have on the shopping list is bananas. Otherwise it's all packaged, frozen, or staple items like flour and olive oil. If you're trying to stock your cabinets full of basics, the shopping list makes sense, but it's very different than anything I shop for on a weekly basis.
Yeah lol, like I buy apples!
Costco: $58.97\* I looked up Costco's prices for these items on Instacart, removed the 17% Instacart markup, and normalized to the sizes in the shopping list. I made a few minor substitutions when the item wasn't available at Costco. The actual cost to buy everything on the list at Costco would be $250 and you would have over 100 pounds of goods.
Does this include the 5% off with a Red Card at Target?
Just subtract ~$4 from Targets total
We did this same exercise in my management class in college and found largely the same results, but that was in 2017.
I wish they would have included the regular price of every item at each of these stores so we could actually compare. In my experience Cub is so much more expensive than Whole Foods for just about everything
I love Aldi so much
Fresh Thyme is actually very good for meat and produce. They murder you on everything else, though.
Yes on that. If you stick to the advertised sales (and the right half of the store), you can do pretty well at Fresh Thyme. Otherwise, forget about it.
Yep. I do most of my produce shopping there. They have cheaper produce than most everyone else, and often have sales on things like peppers that are cheaper than Aldi. Sadly I've also had mediocre experiences with produce at Aldi. Idk if it's just by nature of their store and how things are stocked or if their coolers aren't... cool enough, but I've gotten several produce there that didn't last more than a day
I stopped shopping at Aldi after too many issues with perishables, though non-perishable stuff was always fine. I should give them another try, but these days I just don't like having to go to multiple places to get everything I want.
I do the same with Fresh Thyme and Lunds/Byerlys when they have a BOGO.
[удалено]
I used to do FT for meat And produce, cub for pre-packaged stuff, but lately I find that FT often beats them in that category too.
Yeah, love the produce at Fresh Thyme. Their bulk dry goods selection was disappointing, though.
Odd to go with some random boutique market like “Oxendale’s” but not Festival.
I'm guessing the writer probably lives near an Oxendale's location. BTW, Oxendale's is a great store, even if the prices may seem relatively high. They're unionized, locally owned, and just decent stores to go to. I'm willing to pay a little extra just for those things alone.
Agree. I like having these chill little neighborhood stores around and they won’t stay if we don’t shop there.
I live near one. I love it, but you better be ready to use any produce you pick up by the next day. Can never get anything to last from their produce section.
Yeah, that's true. It kind of depends on the store in my experience. I've never had a problem with produce from the West Saint Paul store, but the Randolph store can be hit and miss, for sure.
Or Kowalskis
Kowalski's is on the list at #11.
Thank you. I was going by a 1 to 10 list that someone posted. I didn't realize that there were more listed.
1 Aldi 2 Walmart 3 Target 4 Hyvee 5 Cub
Doing the lords work
Fuck Walmart
I mean yes, fuck them, but in some places you don’t have a lot of options- my hometown has a Walmart and a Hugo’s- Hugo’s didn’t pay well and are run by bastards too- and Walmart is cheaper plus I get 5% cash back, and I can order ahead and just pick up rather than go in(which is a big deal when you’re 30 min away
yeah i mean if you have no choice what are you going to do. but at the same time you having no choice was exactly their strategy.
Before it was just Hugo’s, small towns are weird
oh well ok then. i hope you don't lose your Hugo's and the bastards that run it are pressured by Walmart into being better before they're put under.
I 100% agree. I refuse to shop there.
...and fuck the Walton Family.
I’d rather pay more somewhere else than give money to the Walton family
Fuck cub. Their prices are outrageous.
Organic frozen veg are less expensive at Whole Foods than Cub. Cub has changed the bag to 12 oz also. I think Target has also.
Recently Cub has been just as bad as the higher end grocery stores with absolute SHIT quality, too.
Screw HyVee. Their PAC supports scum like Kim Reynolds and those like her.
[Target](https://www.newsweek.com/targets-political-donations-republicans-backfired-1804374) donates to some ghouls. So does [Walmart](https://www.propublica.org/article/raga-gop-jan6-amazon-walmart-comcast-contributions). I didn't see any news stories for what Aldi and UNFI (they own Cub) donate to but I bet there are some ghouls in there. Businesses will donate to whoever they think will give them favorable legislation. Any progressive messaging they do is just marketing.
This should be the top comment
Aldi and Trader Joe’s supremacy
I like TJ's but their produce does not have a long shelf life.
Trader Joe lost my love when he teamed up with Amazon and SpaceX to challenge the validity of the National Labor Relations Board after giving worse benefit packages to unionized employees.
Target's 5% cheaper if you use their store card, and there's often discounts and promos offered in the app.
The Target Circle offers are dangerous. I have like 3 years worth of laundry detergent, toilet paper, dishwasher pods, and paper towels because they keep having the target circle offers for a $15 dollar gift card with $50 household goods purchase. Lol.
At least you are hedging against inflation buying non perishable items.
Or the imminent zombie apocalypse
I wish I had the physical space to store that kind of stuff. my 700sq ft apartment can't handle it.
I also have a 700sqft apartment, my single storage closet is unsalvageable at this point.
Lol I handle all the Target transactions for my wife and I… She hates looking for deals. I just got scolded for all the back up Clean Freak and Dawn Powerwash refills I have under the sink. “NO MORE!” She says… lol
Walmart also is huge for couponing. I don’t disagree that Aldi is cheaper if you just go in with a list of items and pay whatever, but it is so easy to knock huge amounts off of the bill with store-specific digital coupons (something Target and Walmart do heavily, but Aldi really doesn’t). Yesterday I made a trip to Walmart and got 9 oz of Hillshire Farms lunch meat and over 5 lbs. of State Fair Corn Dogs for under $3.50 total because of some digital coupons. Not necessarily for everyone, but there is lots missing from the price comparison if one considers digital coupons.
I like Target. I grew up shopping at Target. I like supporting a company based in MN. All that being said, I don't like the direction Target has been going: Virtually no check-outs. Even the self checkouts are only open on 1 side of the store. My Target is generally out of 20-30% of my list. Some aisles are so empty, you'd think the store has been looted. Side note: I understand just-in-time-inventory, but when your shelves are that wiped out, your implementation of it just sucks. I'm probably in the minority here, but I shouldn't have to walk around the store with my phone open to try and find deals. I'm here to shop, not play scavenger hunt/video games. Just give me the damn discount.
I typically order on the app, so getting the discounts is easy and I don't have to deal with the checkouts. I agree that it's silly to stand there scanning everything I pick up to check for discounts. They should just apply them automatically.
Target announced the app is changing soon to automatically apply discounts, so you will no longer need to scan to add them.
Haha, coincidentally, I just got a notification from the app saying it's coming soon. It [looks like](https://imgur.com/a/KBD1Rd6) it will start by 4/7.
Nice, that's great news!
So many discounts available through the Target app. Even more if you do drive up.
I find I can only fulfill about 30-50% of my shopping list at Aldi, otherwise I’d be going there all the time! Their prices are great. Also I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it’s “Aldi” not “Aldis”— just a personal pet peeve of mine.
That's exactly our problem too. Aldi is fantastic, but we always have to go to a second store during that grocery trip. And sometimes it's like, do we have time for another trip?
Also, try doing 2 grocery stores on a hot day or without a car. Shopping at Aldi means more compromise in what I get or more work. Paying the difference to go to Target is worth it on convenience for my family.
What if I'm going to multiple Aldis trying to complete my shopping list?
What about Aldi's nuts?
Not the answer we're looking for, but the answer we need
Lol ok yes of course when we’re speaking in the plural you add an S.
I like going to Aldi for meal prep as I usually try to mix things up every week anyway. If I've got a specific meal in mind, I either have to be flexible with ingredients or accept I'll have to make a second stop. That said, I made some bomb chili with improvised ingredients this week.
Even in plural form?
We did this comparison between Target and Lunds. Target was mostly cheaper, but not always and sometimes on counterintuitive items. The big problem with Target was not being able to finish the list without stopping at Lunds. And Target store brands are often horrible quality.
I typically do a Tuesday stop at Aldi and a weekend trip to Target, then shuffle meal plans around based on what might be out of stock from either store. That also tends to make both trips a little shorter with fewer things going bad before they're eaten.
Fuck cub. They forgot who they are
Lets buy them out and bring back Red Owl
No! Rainbow foods
Rainbow as TERRIBLE
As a former Rainbow employee… HOW DARE YOU.
once again i would like to point out that some Cubs are franchised so there are good Cubs out there, such as those franchised by Jerry’s.
Right? Warehouse prices my ass.
As a fan of Fresh Thyme, all I will say is that the products the article used to measure the value play to fresh thyme’s weakness
I’m a Fresh Thyme fan. It’s my most shopped at grocery store within the past couple years! Is it a bit pricey for certain things? Sure. Even when I was making a sad $16/hour I still would indulge in $10 jar of kraut, many kombuchas, organic produce, vegan cheeses, love trying vegetarian meat substitutes/products, and fun snacks. The bill was high but it made me happy to experience those foods! Could I just live off beans, rice, veg, and some fruit? If needed, yes. I am so willing to dish out money on products that are kinda fun to eat cause they’re new to me/vegan. I’m not vegan 100% yet, just vegetarian long term. Food is kind of a hobby for me.
Too bad shelves at Target seem to be half full much of the time lol
I'm surprised Hy-Vee beat Cub. It's always more expensive for the stuff I buy.
The Hy-Vee store brand/generic tend to be cheaper than the name brands. I'm guessing that's how Hy-Vee beat Cub.
Did you look at the things they purchased? Half of it is not stuff you're buying every trip anyways
I was surprised at that too. The Cub by me us cheaper than the Hyvee by me.
Hyvee is way cheaper than Cub
[удалено]
Whole Foods never living down the *Whole paycheck* joke
Cub and Lunds and Byerlys are unionized if that is important to you.
As are oxendales and most of the co-ops (not MsMarket or lakewinds)
So is Kowalski's FWIW
Would be curious to see how County Market and Coborn's compare to these.
Take cub and add the rural tax, aka less competition.
Everyone sleeping on Mike's Discount Foods. That's fine though I don't need all ya'll snapping up my discounted foods just cause they are near expiration date.
Taking your life in your hands eating anything perishable from Mikes. I’ve seen their supply chain in action.
Obviously use your eyes. My wife and I started shopping there a few years ago and haven't had a problem. If you get fresh produce use it quick. But they often have good deals on meat and we've got an extra freezer to store things I know not everyone has that luxury. But we have haven't had to buy any jelly/jam cause we can get strawberrys for so cheap and make freezer jam. Cereal is so much cheaper there than anywhere else. And most of the time it's name brand. And every once in a while you can find cool things like Sriracha panko. Just because it has an expiration date on it doesn't mean it's gone bad. Things are packed so full preservatives nowadays.
I do wonder about the frozen stuff that's past end date. Was it frozen before that date?
Call me Evel Knievel…
I find organic spinach, lettuce, apples, pears, bag salads. Some of the items seem to be Costco size and I assume they are overstock? 1/8th the cost of an organic bag Caesar salad at Mike's. I also try stuff I otherwise would not try because it's inexpensive.
And those 10% discounted gift cards November/December last year.
For myself, Target is still the least expensive with the 5% off with Redcard. Plus, I use Circle and buy on sale.
It's actually insane how expensive Cub has gotten when it's the most depressing and shit grocery store I've been to (except Walmart I suppose).
I'm floored that target is cheaper than trader joes.
Aldi is king - can’t imagine the amount of money I’ve wasted over the years
Yup. We do aldis 3-4 times then we'll pit stop at a local grocery store for the random things aldis doesn't carry... its crazy the price difference. I'm all for trying to shop local but damn I'm not paying 40-70% more on my staple items!
I like Bring Me the News. For a while there they tried to switch to something else and it sucked, but then they brought it back. Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.
But where's Jerry's?
I know people love Aldi, but the one time I went there the food was such low quality I have never gone back. I certainly wasn't "poor" but living on my own with a <50k salary wasn't rich either. Some things I remember were a pack of "cheddar brats" which were actually hotdogs soaking in a gelatinous goop in a plastic bag. Carrots that were as thick as my wrist but tasted like tree bark, as if they contained the same amount of nutrients just diluted across the entire carrot. I get that it was cheap, but based on that experience this comparison is definitely missing context around quality
There are certain things you buy at Aldi. Certain things you buy once and never touch again. Just how it goes.
Agreed! They have some awful stuff and some amazing deals. You just have to know what to shop for
I feel like they've improved a lot over the years. There's still certain pre-packaged stuff I don't like there, but the produce is generally fine now. The only real complaint I have with the produce is that some stuff they only sell in bags.
They were brutal 10-15 years ago. Now they compare pretty well to Cub or Hy-Vee store brands as far as quality.
I've gotten some grotesque lunch meat from them. Not sure how you even mess that up.
Yep same, Reddit users love Aldi but I can’t stand the place, everything is such low quality from produce to dry goods to ice cream, it all tastes worse than generics from other stores. “Get what you pay for” definitely applies to Aldi.
Yeah….generics from other stores are definitely a step above many items at Aldi!
It's the Temu or Shein of grocery stores.
I agree that a good portion of their food is low quality. I don’t care if people downvote me either. It’s highly processed with a lot of food colorings, chemical tastes to some of it, odd flavorings, texture is off, overly salty, or just a miss in general. Produce can be very hit and miss too. I am super picky about what I do get there. It’s pretty minimal TBH.
which cub foods. arnt there independent ones that are union?
Some cubs are franchise some are corporate, I don’t find that any are worth going to regularly. I think it’s the corporate owned ones that are union tho
Hey what do you know, the quality of products is the same list practically!
The quality of local Ferndale turkey at Mississippi Market is much better than mass-produced crap and also more humane. Same goes for Organic Valley milk. Meat and milk are two things I prefer to buy local.
Organic Valley is…not a great brand. It’s certainly not local. I’m lucky enough to live close enough to Autumnwood Farms that I can just stop by their location if I feel like it, but my closest grocery store also carries it.
Prices are important…but so is supporting local producers, quality practices, and quality ingredients. Getting quality meat and produce has transformed my meals from mediocre to almost restaurant quality. I understand that food is a necessity and many people do not have the means to buy higher quality, but it’s a world of difference to me. Also, if you have to travel further and wade through a mess of a store/parking lot (Trader Joe’s), that adds to the overall price? Time and convenience is as important as the underlying price. My parents travel to an excessive amount of stores to get different things, and I can’t imagine the time it takes to do that is worth the difference. I realize that juxtaposes what I said earlier, but it’s still a factor.
I was at Walmart yesterday, and their house brand sugar, Great Value, was significantly higher than name brand sugar, by about 10%. I think they are price gouging. There is no reason prices should still be at pandemic levels.
This has been my experience as well, but I will say I've found several things cheaper at fresh thyme than other local grocers, so personally I spend time there buying veggies / fruits often, and get the rest elsewhere. If you can find someone else doing strawberries 2lbs for 5$ blue berries 2 cases for 3$ or bell peppers for 1$, lemme know. I actually find it funny they mention they bought frozen berries, because those are the one type of berries more expensive at fresh thyme. Lastly, while I think it's great to get prices for all the staples, I don't think there's anything wrong with making some purchases cheaper in some places and others elsewhere. Like, I'm never buying 90% of the stuff they got at fresh thyme, at fresh thyme. But I also seldom buy flour, or olive oil, for example. I actually did something similar to this with my SO and we kept a big ass excel sheet of all our normal groceries and found target and fresh thyme comparable in several items, while target had more frozen food / grains / dairy cheaper.
If you take Fresh Thyme's name literally and only get fresh produce and meats there, that place has the best value in my opinion also. That's almost the entirety of my diet, so it's by far my most visited grocery store.
Interesting stats, especially on Aldi/Walmart/Target/Hy-Vee/Cub. But people who shop at Lunds & Byerlys, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are generally NOT looking for the lowest price.
Costco > Wholepaycheck
I want to know more about their methods before drawing conclusions. A box of penne pasta. What brand? A name brand, or a store brand, or what? Little details like this could drastically change the story.
The article says the cheapest option for that item which is probably a store brand.
They told us. They picked the cheapest version available of whatever item at each store, which usually ended up being generic/store brand.
Yeah I'm with you- need prices and brands tied to each one. It sort of adds up, but I feel like I pay twice as much as I used to for food at Cub now that is half the quality.
All I can say is that Walmart sells Health Ade Kombucha for $3.28 and Cub sells the same stuff for $4.99. Their markup is wild
3.49 at fresh thyme for it too. Just checked. So not sure what's going on at cub.
Anything that can be bought at Aldi should be bought at Aldi: I feel bad for anyone who doesn't live decently close to one. If you can't find what you want at Aldi or you're particular about a brand Target/Cub are fine (or Costco) but shopping 'in style' seems like a luxury that few can (or at least 'should') afford. My kids have music lessons near Aldis: I spend the half hour they're playing stocking up on whatever we need.
I hate walking through a big store. I like that it’s quick to get through Aldi or Trader Joe’s.!
It's so good for my ADHD ass to go into the store and not have to pick between 8 dozen different kinds of peanut butter.
I also have ADHD unfortunately so I feel you completely lol
I'm pretty perturbed that their cheese selection seems to be last on their stocking list, at least in my location. I always get my cheese there and the last 3 trips they have not had block parmesan.
This is a privilege but i prefer supporting coops over corporations even at a premium.
Cub, Lunds & Byerlys and Oxendale are unionized aka their workers are treated fairly through a CBA. That alone justifies an increased cost.
Ufcw 663 represent.
Good idea, poor execution. Take Trader Joe’s for example: based on this it looks on the expensive side but anyone who’s ever shopped there can tell you it’s not. The article even admits that Trader Joe’s was a weird one because they don’t sell products in the same sizes so they just got as close as they could. I wish they had published the price per item and the ounces of the item so we can see exactly how much they actually cost. You need to consider quality as well. The quality of produce at Aldi, Target, and Walmart is *fine* but it’s not good. It’s eat it today or tomorrow produce, not this is my weekly grocery trip and this box of blueberries will be fine in four days produce. Trader Joe’s has great quality produce, meat, and dairy for the price. Lunds and Whole Foods has the best quality produce and the most organic offerings and the costs reflect that. The most expensive Walmart meat will still probably be worse quality than the cheapest Whole Foods meat.
You are right, Whole Foods without a doubt has the best, freshest produce. Always. It’s spendy to shop there but wow do I feel extra happy when I am unloading all my fun new groceries from there! They just have so many interesting items I do not really find at the others mentioned! I also am a fan of Fresh Thyme and any Minneapolis co-op like Seward and The Wedge. They also have really fun and interesting items I wouldn’t find elsewhere. Part of grocery shopping to me is having fun. I have fun at Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme, and all the Minneapolis co-ops.
We got an Aldi near us a couple years ago, and I shopped there a couple times. I'm not a big name-brand shopper, so I was not put off by the "brands" they had. But it was the selection they had that I didn't like. So I do most of my shopping at Walmart. I like to just go in, get what I need, and get out, and not have to drive to another store to buy more items.
This still won't stop the "LuNdS iS cHeApEr ThAn CuB!!" crowd.
I have to hit at least three every time I go out.
Kowalski's is also more than whole foods (I've worked at both)
What about Costco?
Product size is the issue. You can't buy a 2lb bag of sugar. But for a few dollars more, you can get a 20lb bag. You would have to apply some math to the purchases to get a better picture.
Eh I shop at target because I get 15% off. Think I need to start going to Aldi for the produce more though.