Based on my several years’ of shopping experience in the Twin Cities, I’ve come up with this list of “Best places to buy…” in regard to various items often shopped for in our household. Here’s what I’ve got so far. (I started with baby items as lately that’s been consistently at the top of my shopping list!) I would love some help continuing the list, though… additions are welcome.
|
Item |
Best place(s) to buy… |
|
Baby food, formula |
Walmart |
|
Baby diapers |
Walmart |
|
Organic Milk |
Varies, but shouldn’t be more than $6 for a gallon. SuperTarget has their own good brand of organic milk (Archer Farms). |
|
Soymilk |
SuperTarget |
|
Other dairy (cheese, eggs) |
SuperTarget (Target brand when possible) |
|
Fresh beef, meat |
Varies – try to spot manager’s specials at Cub or SuperTarget (I’ve gotten a pound of 94/6 ground beef for $2 or less) |
|
Fresh chicken breasts |
$3.50-$4 on sale for package of three (Gold’n Plump) at Cub or SuperTarget, $7-8 frozen at Trader Joe’s, often $1.99/lb on sale at Rainbow which is good. |
|
Nuts |
Trader Joe’s, Aldi. |
|
Produce |
Trader Joe’s, though selection limited. If you want better selection + good price, go to Cub. Aldi’s is good sometimes. |
|
Juice (100% such as grape or apple) |
Aldi, though SuperTarget sells a gallon of their own brand of 100% apple juice for $3.04-$3.54 (depending on if on sale) |
|
Vegetarian/meatless products |
Trader Joe’s (For example, Morningstar Farms veggie bacon or sausage patties are around $2.99 here, and usually $3.99 or more elsewhere) |
|
Cereal, oatmeal |
Aldi, Trader Joe’s (large box of their own brand of Cheerios is under $3) |
|
Granola bars |
Trader Joe’s, otherwise watch sales |
|
Bread (organic or natural, whole-grain) |
Trader Joe’s |
|
Grocery/canned/boxed products |
Aldi, Trader Joe’s or Walmart |
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Let’s not forget Costco! It’s like a larger version of Trader Joe’s, kind of. Anything we’ve ever bought there has been of the best quality. Their meats on sale can’t be beat. They have a large selection of all sorts of organic products including meats, produce, cleaning products, & packaged groceries – best selection and prices I’ve ever seen for this stuff.
It’s also fun to go to Costco and try all the samples offered, just ask my kids.
Their Kirkland label is often made by some big brand name company (Starbucks does their coffee). I’ve gotten some great deals on health and beauty aids there (especially when I found out we suddenly needed to spend $$ at the end of the year or lose it in our flex fund account ;-).
They don’t take manf. coupons, but they do send out a few of their own every month, I don’t find I use many of them, but the ones I have used have been worth it. When we had big ticket items (mattresses, tv, washer…) we used their coupons. The price of the membership is more than paid for with an end of the membership year rebate check (forget what % of our spending it was). We got back over $100 last year (after subtracting membrsp cost). That wouldn’t be a normal spending year for us, we just ended up needing to buy some big ticket items.
The employees at the Costco I use are not quite and delightful to be around as every Trader’s Joe employee, but they have always been cheerful and helpful.
You could not pay me enough to eat kirkland chicken. One fresh pack of chicken netted one (possibly more, couldnt stomach the thought of looking) piece -when removed from the grill fully cooked-chock full of still moving maggots. Unfortunately a seven year old girl noticed it only after biting into it.
This chicken is sold by Aldi foods Costco and other discount grocery stores. please beware what you eat. always check the meat at these stores.
We just got our first costco membership! I cannot believe how cheap organic chicken is there. And organic eggs!
I am so happy to find another TC blog. I look forward to reading. 🙂
Welcome to my blog, Stephanie! Someday I’d love to join Costco, to see if it’s worth the membership. Sounds like they’ve got great prices!