Aldi vs. Save A Lot vs. Kroger vs. Publix: Which is the Cheapest for Groceries?

• Aldi 

History

In 1961, the Albrecht Family founded the world’s first discount grocery store in Germany. 16 years later in 1976, they opened our first ALDI store in Iowa. Today, with their ALDI headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, they have grown to more than 2,000 stores across 36 states with over 25,000 employees. For over 40 years, they have stuck to the same guiding principle: great quality should come with everyday low prices.

They hand-select and curate high-quality products for you and your family that meet or exceed the national brands in taste, quality and, of course, price. They also partner with a wide variety of local farmers to offer an array of fresh, in-season produce including organic fruits and vegetables. From USDA Choice meats to gluten-free and organic foods, ALDI are committed to bringing you the highest quality products at considerably lower prices than other grocery stores.

Quality

At ALDI, their teams carefully select the best products to meet all of your requests. From healthier choices, gluten-free items, along with other dietary needs and preferences, more than 90% of the products in their stores are under their exclusive brand.

Their Quality Assurance team has also developed strict guidelines in order to meet your high standards,so you can feel good about the food you buy at ALDI. It’s no wonder that every month, over 49 million peopleshop at ALDI for simply smarter living and to buy healthier, quality foods they’re proud to feed their family.

While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers certified synthetic colors safe for use, ALDI have opted to source plant-based color ingredients, such as beet juice, paprika and turmeric. Added MSG is an artificial flavor enhancer commonly found in savory foods. While it’s considered safe by the FDA and is naturally found in foods like tomato and cheese, ALDI have elected to remove any added MSG based on our customers’ preferences.

ALDI also proudly offer a variety of organic products within their Simply Nature line and produce department. Since 2014, ALDI have added 12 organic produce items and show no signs of stopping. All their organic food must be produced according to USDA Organic guidelines, which include, but are not limited to avoiding synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilizers, GMOs, antibiotics, growth hormones and irradiation. 

If you're looking to avoid genetically-engineered foods or ingredients, they offer a variety of items. Just look for their products, like their Simply Nature line, that bear the USDA Organic or Non-GMO Project Verified Seals.

Bisphenol-A, commonly known as BPA, is a chemical that may be found in food packaging and non-food products. If you want to avoid BPA, you can confidently shop their Simply Nature and Little Journey brands. 

Price

ALDI considers many factors when setting product prices, including production and operating costs, market conditions, local regulations, consumer demand and the competitive landscape. This may cause their prices to fluctuate from city to city, but they strive to offer the lowest prices in town. Aldi also has a number of natural and organic products that are a lot cheaper than other stores. Some of these include beef, fruit, vegetables, pasta, milk, snacks, and even dog food.  

For nine years running, ALDI has held the esteemed title of Value Leader among U.S. grocery stores by Market Force Information, and ALDI has been No. 1 for price according to the dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index Report for three years running. ALDI always maintain their significant competitive price advantage, with ALDI shoppers saving up to 50 percent compared to traditional grocers.

Membership

You do not need a membership to shop at ALDI. ALDI's fresh foods and high quality products are available to everyone at the same low prices.

Delivery Service

ALDI products are available online!  You can save time by ordering your favorite ALDI items online for delivery or curbside pickup.

 Over 95% of their more than 2,000 stores offer delivery to customers in more than 10,000 ZIP codes across the USA. Delivery fees start at $3.99 for same-day orders over $35 and may vary based on the time requested for delivery and size of the order. 

ALDI Curbside Grocery Pickup is rolling out to various ALDI stores across the country, and nearly 700 ALDI stores offer this service. A small pickup fee is applied to each order to offset the costs of ALDI Curbside Shoppers fulfilling orders.

• Save A Lot

History

Save A Lot was founded in 1977 by Bill Moran as an alternative to larger supermarkets. He opened the first Save A Lot store in Cahokia, Illinois, and remained with the company until his retirement in 2006.In 1978, General Grocer Company expanded the company's presence in the greater St. Louis area. Eventually, the store network grew to 30 stores by the end of the decade. At the root of company's growth strategy is its licensee relationship, in which Save A Lot acts as a wholesaler to its independent store owners as opposed to a franchisor. Smaller, independent grocery retailers soon found the limited assortment model to be an effective defensive strategy against the larger chain supermarkets. With help from new licensees, in 1980 alone Save A Lot added 50 stores in the Mid-South region, and a warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee.

In October 2016, SuperValu sold Save A Lot to Onex Corporation. Now Save A Lot have become one of the nation’s leading extreme value, carefully selected assortment grocers with about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.Customers enjoy significant savings compared to traditional grocery stores on great tasting, high-quality private label brands, national brand products, USDA-inspected meat, farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, and other non-food items.

Quality

Save A Lot believe that greatness is in the details. They test each and every one of  their exclusive brand products — from baked goods to frozen pizzas — to deliver national brand taste, at neighborly prices.
Farm Fresh Fruits and Vegetables are sourced locally from Farms such as Housers and Baugher Orchards.  They also sell varieties of Organic products based on availability.

Save A Lot proudly offer “Grade A” Tyson, Shady Brook, Honeysuckle and Perdue Poultry Poultry.  Beef selections contain USDA Angus Beef and USDA Choice or higher products. Their Seafood program includes a wide selection of Shrimp, both imported and product of the USA. Save A Lot also have the best prices on Fresh Crab Meat and Oysters (seasonal).Their Quality Fish Fillet varieties are sourced from Baltimore Crab and Great Fish (Leaders in the industry). They also carry in their Fresh Meat Dept, Fresh Atlantic Salmon and Fresh Cod Fillets for your convenience.

Price

Save A Lot have high-quality products, including both national and their own brand names at affordable prices. The chain keeps prices low by focusing on its own brand products, and keeping the size of its stores relatively small. Their select assortment of approximately 1,800 products give you what you buy most, reducing the need for space and eliminating slow moving products from theirdistribution. This allows  their to pass the savings on to you!  At Save-A-Lot,  they make grocery shopping on a budget possible by offering you savings up to 40%.

Membership

You do not need a membership to shop at Sprouts.  There isn't a loyalty card, but you can sign up to receive weekly specials via email.

Delivery Service

Save A Lot now offers a grocery delivery service. You can order your groceries online at Save-A-Lot and get them delivered to your door, or you can order pickup at the Save A Lot grocery store of your choice.

Saving Tip: Such a high amount of cash back comes from Extrabux (What is Extrabux?), it also offers coupon codes and recent promotions, and brings together 10,000+ sites (US, China, UK, Japan, Australia , Germany, France, Italy, etc.).

Just sign up for an Extrabux account and earn up to 80% cash back every time you place an order via the relevant link. Sign-Up Bonus: Join for FREE & Earn $20 Welcome Bonus today! Then earn $5 Friend Referral Bonus!

For Example, If you use Instacart for quick and effective grocery delivery , you can get $1.6 Super Cash Back from Extrabux!

• Kroger

History

Kroger 's story began in 1883 when Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a single grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. He had a simple motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” In the 1980s, their supermarkets evolved into combination stores, adding pharmacy, beauty and health care to a growing store selection. Their stores today offer everything from basic grocery staples to organic vegetables, natural foods, and hot meals ready to eat. They operate more than 2,255 in-store pharmacies that fill 238 million prescriptions a year. Floral shops boom with enough blooms to make them the world’s largest florist. And fuel centers in more than 1,545 locations let their customers gas up and save where they shop.

Now, Kroger have become the second biggest retail company in the United States next to Walmart. They’re also the fifth largest in the world and, with nearly 2,800 stores across the US, they operate the highest number of locations of any supermarket chain in the country with store formats that include 134 multi-department stores, 2,277 combo stores, 188 marketplace stores, and 121 price-impact warehouse stores.

Quality

Kroger is home to many store brands products and it brings in a lot of business for the retailer. Store brand products include everything from home goods to groceries and even clothing. Its most popular brand is the Simple Truth line of organic and natural selections and has attracted many buyers.

It also produces private-brand products that are unique, as opposed to copycats of existing national brands. Take, for example, Kroger Deluxe Unicorn Swirl ice cream, which has inspired a social media frenzy (and spawned a Walmart knockoff of its own) or the store’s Private Selection General Tso’s Chicken potato chips.

Kroger is also one of the largest organic-food sellers in the country. They sell more seasonal products and work with startups to make their produce last longer. The products quality of Kroger is trustable.

Price

Kroger houses more popular name-brand products, so the groceries price is not cheap. It offers steep discounts on a few of the most purchased items, like apples, green grapes, baby carrots, and bell peppers. However, most of the remaining produce, like bananas, spinach, pre-cut produce, and organic produce are more expensive at Kroger.

Membership

In November 2021, Kroger launched its Kroger Boost program.  Join Boost and you can SAVE up to a $1,000/ year on gas, groceries, and delivery fees, any way you shop. Here's how the program works:

• Members who pay $59 a year can get free next-day delivery on grocery orders of at least $35;

• Members who pay $99 a year can get free delivery in under two hours on grocery orders of at least $35;

• All Kroger Boost members can earn two fuel points per $1 spent on groceries and general merchandise;

• For every 100 fuel points earned, shoppers can get a discount of $0.10 per gallon of fuel and up to $1 off per gallon.

Pay attention: you can try Kroger Boost FREE for 30 Days.

Delivery Service

You can shop for over 70,000 items online!  Krogers offer both grocery curbside pickup and delivery service.

Kroger curbside pickup allows you to order items from your local store and then pick them up without leaving your car. It is free for orders over $35. For orders that don't reach the said amount, a $4.95 fee will be charged.

Kroger charges a fee of $9.95 to $11.95 per delivery for both same-day and next-day deliveries.Depending on your area and program availability, your groceries may be delivered by Kroger, Instacart, Shipt, or another third-party delivery service. If you are a Kroger Boost member, there are no fees charged for delivery as long as you meet the order minimum of $35.

• Publix

History

George W. Jenkins, the late founder of Publix Super Markets Inc., was born Sept. 29, 1907. Growing up in Harris, GA, he worked in his father's general store. In 1925, he headed to Tampa, FL at the age of 17 with hopes of making his fortune in the Florida real estate boom. Instead, he took a job as a stock clerk in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. After only a couple of months, he was promoted to manager and was later transferred to manage the chain's largest store in Winter Haven, a position he held from 1926 to 1930. It was that year that he resigned from Piggly Wiggly to start his own grocery store.On Sept. 6, 1930, George Jenkins opened his first store, called Publix Food Store, in Winter Haven.

In 1945, he acquired a warehouse and 19 All American stores from the Lakeland Grocery Company. He began replacing these small stores with larger supermarkets. He continued his never-ending expansion, bringing the Publix standard of clean stores, friendly service and quality merchandise to customers throughout Florida. Today, Publix has grown from a single shop into a sprawling collection of more than 1,300 supermarkets that brought in $48 billion in 2021. Each store provides products and services in its grocery, deli, bakery, produce, floral, meat, and seafood departments. Some stores have valet parking, cafés, sushi bars, pharmacy departments, and/or a liquor store.

Quality

Publix stores sell both groceries and non-food items. They are well-known, however, for their homemade cookies, subway sandwiches, as well as fried chicken. Publix has depts such as deli, baked goods, processed meats, seafood, fresh produce, flowers, wine and beer, tobacco, pet products, and more. Furthermore, because Publix is a chain store like every other, you can expect to find almost anything in its stores.

The Publix label of grocery as well as non-grocery items are of much greater quality than other supermarket brands such as Kroger as well as Aldi. Every day, Publix employees stock the store’s shelves, which enhances the freshness and quality of its products.

Price

Grocery shoppers have long complained that the prices at Publix Super Markets are much higher than groceries at other stores in Florida, including Target. Lately, there have even been complaints that eggs are more than double at Publix locations in Florida and that milk is 50 percent more. However, if you spend a little time strategizing, you can score some good deals that make Publix affordable.

Membership

Unlike other grocers, Publix does not offer a loyalty card that triggers extra savings at checkout on select items. Club Publix is a free loyalty program that offers savings, convenience, and personalization to their customers. Members receive:

• Personalized communications and relevant savings;

• Digital tools to make shopping easier;

• Special perks for membership anniversaries, birthdays, and even half-birthdays.

Delivery Service

Publix offer almost full variety of items found in store for delivery or curbside pickup. Select items - including alcohol (in South Carolina only), tobacco, gift cards, prescriptions, and some additional age-restricted items - are not available to order online.

Bottom Line 

Aldi vs. Save A Lot vs. Kroger vs. Publix: Which is the Cheapest for Groceries?

Aldi is the cheapest grocery store. However, more than 90% of the products at Aldi are private label, and the discount grocer carries few national or regional brands. So it is a fantastic store for budget-wary shoppers who don’t stray far from kitchen/pantry staples and who don’t have any favorite name brands that they’re loyal to.

Save A Lot is not far behind. Part of the secret to keeping their prices so low is selling only the most purchased items and selling their own brands.

Kroger was never the cheapest choice, but it houses more popular name-brand products. For shoppers who want lots of variety when shopping,  Kroger may be a better choice.

Publix is recognized for being more expensive than other supermarkets on average. This is due to the retail store’s higher-quality merchandise.

Extrabux is an international cashback shopping site, offering up to 30% cashback from 10,000+ Stores!

B&H Photo Video, Dyson, Woodland Direct, Ooni UK, Bed Bath and Beyond, TUSHY, Zoro, Anthropologie, 4seating.com, GDF Studio, simplehuman, Appliance Parts Pros, etc.

Join to get $20 welcome bonus now! (How does Welcome Bonus work?)