Have you ever wondered whether it's cheaper to buy your groceries at Walmart or HEB? Are you thinking about getting a Costco membership? Or do you have a Costco membership, but are wondering whether it's worth it? How much a year can a Costco membership save you?
I was thinking about these things, and so was my friend Katie, so we decided to take a morning and compare the prices of about 25 items at HEB, Walmart, and Costco. It was kinda crazy with 4 kids (2 of hers and 2 of mine) overlapping Blake's morning naptime and lunch, but we did it! Katie made these cute little sheets (seen in the picture below) and we turned into a game of sorts- which store was cheaper. Here's what we found-
* There is really no difference between Walmart and HEB when shopping for food staples (eggs, cheese, coffee creamer, bread, bananas, pasta noodles, flour) in the store's brand of groceries- HEB-Hill Country Fare, HEB brand OR Walmart- Great Value. Literally, most things were just cents different. The only 2 things that did really stick out is that a gallon of 2% milk is 60 cents cheaper at Walmart and a 5 lb bag of rice is half as expensive at HEB.
*HEB was cheaper for paper towels, toilet paper, and laundry detergent by 10 cents/unit to up to 50 cents/unit.
*Walmart's Great Value doesn't have quite the selection that HEB's Hill Country Fare. I specifically noticed it on the cereal aisle.
* I have no idea which store is cheaper when it comes to brand names because I only looked at 5 items. 3 were the exact same price and the 2 that were different were Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats were 54 cents cheaper at HEB and Mott's Applesauce was 30 cents cheaper at Walmart.
*Costco is the cheapest place to buy milk, eggs, cheese, romaine lettuce, onions, brand name cereal, Nutrigrain bars, Huggies diapers, Huggies wipes. Basically, if you are going in there to buy a specific item that you regularly buy somewhere else, then yes it is cheaper. For example, if you LOVE Kraft's Mac'n'Chz and that's the brand you are going to buy no matter what, then go to Costco to get it. However, if you usually buy Hill Country Fare's Mac'n'Chz, then going to Costco won't save you any money because they only offer Kraft and it would be cheaper to buy HCF's Mac'n'Chz than the Kraft's bulk Mac'n'Chz.
*We were surprised to find out that Costco's brand (Kirkland's) frozen chicken breasts were 20 cents/lb. more expensive than HEBs. So don't be fooled that everything there is cheaper by buying in bulk.
Obviously, we could save money by renewing our membership to Costco, but we are still trying to add up how much it would save us in a year. On just the stuff Katie and I researched, we determined that we could save $90 a year* minus the $50 membership. *This number is specific to us because I get a 10% discount at HEB. So is $40 worth another trip to the store, and can I actually remember to bring our checkbook when I do go? We are still thinking on it and might need to do some more research.
If anyone wants to see the price sheets, I am going to be typing it into an excel sheet and would be happy to save you the trouble of doing this yourself and just email it to you. Just leave me a comment with your email address.
7 comments:
ME ME ME...I want it :)
Very cool! I'd love to see it as well. Thanks for doing the research. ;o)
SO JEALOUS OF THE PLAY DATE!
WOW!!! That is some great info! Thanks for sharing!
THANK YOU THANK YOU! In true Melissa fashion you have done the work for me...I have had so many folks asking me for the results of our data. Now I can just send em over here. Love you!
I echo Ali's comments about being jealous of the playdate with you guys (Jason and I did something similar when we first got married, but that's not quite the same). Here are my thoughts on Costco (well, technically Sam's Club): 1) Find a friend you can split the membership with so you're only stuck with half of the fee. Or better yet, find some sucker to add you as their secondary account member. Jason's mom did that for me and so we don't even pay the membership fee (it's hard to beat free). She lives in Georgia, so it's not like you have to live in the same city. My sister and I also did this for awhile (before I got married). 2) Since my membership is free, I only shop there a few times a year and buy the name brand stuff in bulk (especially paper towels, toilet paper, detergent, gum and cookie dough). They also have really cheap phone cards, which we've bought and given to inmates or missionaries. It can be a great place to pick up large quantities of fruit or whatever for church fellowships. 3) But by far the biggest cost saver Jason and I have found is TIRES! We have saved hundreds of dollars on name-brand tires (we're partial to Michelin) and they do all of the installation there (and free rotation for life, although we've never used it). So I say if you shop at Costco (or Sam's or whatever), try to minimize your membership fee (which means you start saving quicker), only go for the same bulk certain items, and get your tires there! Huges savings. Otherwise, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle.
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