Grocery Price Differences across the Country

[Auryn]

I just wanted to do an update
I finally made it to Aldi last Friday.
Here is a quick run down of what I found
As far as volume- they were all equivalent
A box of saltines

Publix brand  National Brand  Aldi brand
$2.09            almost $3         $0.79

Oyster Crackers
Publix brand  National Brand  Aldi brand
$2.25            about $3.50        $0.99

Milk
Publix          Target             Aldi
$3.89           $3.49               $2.89

[PollyPoPo]

No Aldi around here.  Wish we did.

[SirRichardBear]

Shop at Aldi's all the time for canned and packaged food, also have very prices on frozen food their breaded chicken cutlets are very good.  Only problem is their fresh producte selection is very limited and not very fresh.   Which is OK because I normally get fresh producte from the Farmers market.

[LadyStitch]

My mum does a yearly buy trip to aldies and buy cases of items that she uses all the time. (Ie Soups, pasata sauses, canned veggies)  Honestly with the PP and I we found that by buying the canned goods, and such that we use all the time in bulk every 3 months at the local sams works out well for us.  We keep to a $100 for everything, and that has served us well.

Dishwasher tabs   25 for $5 vs 200 for $9
Cream mushroom soup  8@ $.80ea= 6.40 vs 12 for $8.50
Trash bags roll of 100 for $8 vs 500 for $20
Laundry detergent 100 load jug $12 vs 300 load jug $25
Our big one is formula- Emphamil 44oz $38 vs Generic 3 pounds $22 - considering our daughter before she started solid food would down 32oz of formula a DAY, you can guess which we went with?
Then Diapers Pampers 200 count size 2 $55 vs 200 count pampers $45 (Generic you can get 200 for $35)

[DonaCatalina]

Beef prices are creeping up again.
Drought and wildfires decimated the Texas herds and nor fires in Colorado and Dakota are causing more havoc.

[Rowan MacD]

    The best meat prices I have seen were at Fareway.  I used to buy meat exclusively at the Commissary on base, but Fareway is much closer and the prices are within a penny or two per pound:
  90% lean Fareways Own ground beef (made from the scraps from the full service meat counter on site, so no 'pink slime' added) is $3.49 lb.  You can get the cheaper ground beef but it comes pre-packaged from the packing plant and almost certainly has the slime in it.
  Whole fresh chicken-$1.49 lb.
  T-bone steaks-$6.99 on sale, $7.99 lb regular price.
  If you are entertaining- whole beef tenderloin (AVG 8-10 LBS)  $11.99 lb-cut and wrapped free, if you want filet mignon (precut filets are $14.99 lb)
  Cinnamon/apple brats made on site from scraps-$3.49 lb (incredibly tasty)
  Iowa chops (1"+ thick)-$2.69 LB
  spare ribs-$2.69 lb
  Baby back ribs-$3.29 lb.

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[Merlin the Elder]

The meat I buy will generally be what is on sale that week. I'll buy whole chicken when it's .69/lb and make soup, or do BBQ. Legs & thighs go on sale for .89, breasts for 1.89, and I'll stock up in the freezer.  Steaks I'll buy in the family packs when they are 5.99 or 6.99, depending on steak. I have found that I save a ton of money buying the meat this way, and I can have a variety in the freezer.

[Rowan MacD]

  I shop for meat once per month and freeze it.  Buying in bulk saves money too.  I only buy tenderloin maybe 1x per year but I save $4-$5 per lb buying the whole piece and having it cut free.  That's 3-4 filet mignon dinners for 4.
  Nobody in my family besides myself likes rare beef (gah) so I gave up on prime rib for Christmas.  I refuse to cook it to death. 

[mehan]

Well, my buying in bulk came back and bit me in the butt.  6 pounds of nice shrimp (21/26) for 6.99 lb; 10 pounds of nice chicken breast at .99/lb, 10  pounds Italian sausage .65/pound, 20 pounds of beef ribs at .99/lb and various and sundry homemade lasagne's, eggplant casseroles, and beef barley soup - headed for the garbage pail.  95+ heat and no power for 4 days with approximately 4-6 more days coming.   

On the plus side, all that wine and coffee is certainly being put to good use. 

I will say, one of our local Kroger's, on the first day without power, just started giving away their perishables - which I thought was pretty nice.  The other Kroger's brought in refrigerated trucks and fresh market (Shame on them!) just threw everything away after 2 days. 

[DonaCatalina]

When you hear about tens of thousands of people without power for days (now going in to weeks) you don't think about the lack of perishable food. I'm very sorry for all of you up there.

[Baron Frederick]

I found out frozen food lost thru power outage is one thing that is covered 100% on your home owners or renters insurance.  Better check this out.

[mehan]

Dona - I am humbled by the eloquence of your response.   Compared to what my neighbors and friends both here and in the west amid the firestorms - a few pounds of shrimp is truly not something to worry over.  The death toll, just in my little burg has risen to 26.   A volunteer fireman who stopped to help a family whose car had been struck by a tree was himself killed by another falling tree - our neighbors home is totaled and their dog died in the destruction.  Without power and no smart phone to keep me connected, I lost track of what was really happening.  We, thankfully got power last night, three days earlier than promised.  There are still more than 20% of the city's population without - while crews from as far away as Arkansas working in record heat  on a holiday to get us all back on line.

Makes me pretty proud of my city - so today, when they come to make special collections of spoiled food (city workers volunteering for extra shifts so spoiled food doesn't sit on the streets and compound problems), I will happily add mine to the collection and counts my blessings instead of my savings. 

[PollyPoPo]

My thoughts are with you and the huge number of our neighbors across the country who have been affected by this power outage and heat.