Okay ladies...I have a serious question here. Is shopping at Target or Walmart for your groceries really worth it? I don't have a Walmart anywhere around at all, but there is a Target 1/2 hour away. I see people talking about how they really stocked up shopping at these stores (so I expect they do take coupons there) but am never really sure if it's worth the trip, or if I'm better off at ShopRite which is 2 minutes away.

I don't know about Target for groceries, but I can tell you the Wal Mart "stupid center" isn't worth a crap!

Their produce isn't all that great, and they're not really any cheaper than the "bargain" supermarkets. Another thing I hate about Wal Mart supercenter, the checkout lines are the worst! We went there Christmas eve (busy shopping day) and they only had 4 registers open (2 were express lines, 20 item max HA!). Plus they don't have separate baggers, so the cashier is scanning and bagging all at once, so that takes forever. Plus it's annoying to go in there for a couple things and have to wait in line for 1/2 hr or so because the 4 people in front of you has their carts overflowing with groceries. They should have separate registers for the supermarket part and the regular part. JMHO!!!

Laura

I totally agree. I have a Super Walmart here and I never go there unless its for something I can't find anywhere else. The meats are the worst I have seen and the produce is not much better. I think they are poorly organized and I agree that the checkout lines are long and slow. Probably if you were able to go at 2 in the morning it would be okay. However, I do have to admit that their bakery is very nice and reasonable. I have found that just watching for sales and saving coupons works best for me.

We have a SuperTarget here and honestly I don't think the prices on groceries there are anything to write home about. The bulk of our shopping is done at Super Saver.

I agree if you have a fairly large supermarket close to you don't waste your time with WM. Ours has to be the worst about carrying meats in varity and the prices on meat at our WM is outrageous. Seriously to the point that we just had a beef and pork slaughtered. I purchase my chicken on sale right now our little grocery store has whole chickens on for .49 cents a pound for TYSON, you'll never see WM sell chicken at that price. Highly over rated place to shop for groceries.

Of course I have to be different, lol Where I live in Florida no one doubles coupons or has really great sales. So our Wal Mart is really the best for us. I think our situation is unique though. We do have a Save A Lot but it is very small. Otherwise our Winn Dixie, Kash n Karry, Albertsons and Publix are more expensive than our Super Wal Mart. The meats & produce at ours is consistant to the grocery stores in our area. Plus all Wal Marts price match any advertised price. So I can basically get any loss leaders all in one spot. We have recently taken to shopping at Sam's Club and found that we save a ton of money that way. We are a family of 5 (with an infant in formula & diapers) and we now have our bill down to $220 a month. That includes all cleaning and HBA supplies.
As for Target their grocery prices here are outrageous. Kmart is the same way. But both have a very small selection of groceries. I dont shop for food at either one.
I think it might depend on what region of the country you live in. I think if we had a Krogers. Shop Rite, HyVee or Aldi's I would probably shop those stores instead but we dont. :(
~Michele~

walmart is not my favorite place to shop, but is on my list of stops. Like was mentioned before, they take ads from the other stores and price match, so I can stop once there vs several other stores to get all the deals. My husband like Blue Bunney Icecream and Lenders Bagels.. both are cheaper at Walmart. Overall the prices are as good or lower than anywhere else.

We rarely buy groceries at Wal-mart (we do go there for the things we can't get at Kroger, after checking Dollar General, Fred's and Family Dollar first). We've found we do much better if we plan our meals around the loss leaders at Kroger.

And if you have coupons and there's a good sale, you can get killer deals. Our Kroger is having Super Double Coupons this week. :csign:

I hate to shop at WalMart here. For groceries or otherwise. the super Walmart here is so crowded, they are always out of stuff, the staff is rude, it is dirty. Oh you know on and on. I will drive out of my way and pay more money just to avoid shopping there. There is a Walmart over where I work that I have run into a couple of times and it seems to be much better.
I do think it is one of those hit or miss kind of things dependent upon the local management.

In general, I do not like the concept of the "super center" anyway.
I have a real problem with my child's toys going down the same conveyor belt someone else's raw chicken was just sitting on. Just me I guess.

As a loyal ShopRiter:D , I would say, stick to ShopRite! I do so well there with coupons, I'm averaging a 50% savings or more with coupons every time I go there. Their meat and produce is of excellent quality as well. It all depends on who owns your ShopRite, they are all independently owned I think.

I find that if I shop at Super Wal-Mart I tend to spend more money and kick myself all the way home. I like to shop at Kroger and use my coupons or H.E.B. (here in Texas) which has great produce and good prices...but they don't always carry all brands. Super Wal-Mart is just too tempting to overspend!

Only thing I heard good about Super Wal-Mart is to hit their after Christmas sale because they have more items left over. There again it is too tempting to overspend! Ouch!

Y'all are making me wish we had a Kroger and ShopRite . :(
~Michele~

LOL Laura, dh calls it "Stupid Center, too". :laugh:

in 95, I had a seizure, and walked out of wal-mart here in Alabama unintentionally with $7.00 of groceries> I didn't come to till they was reviewing everything in my bag, I even offered to pay them for it, but they were more eager to press charges against me. needless to say, the judge threw it out of court.

Since then, I been boycotting wal-mart everywhere I go, and just thought I would see if any others hate walmart.

I worked at Wal-Mart not once, but twice, and I did not walk into one for four years. I didn't miss it. I bought all my food at Sav-a-lot, Winn Dixie, Publix, and some canned goods and miscellaneous things at Dollar General. That way I never had to drive over two miles (Wal-Mart was 7 miles away at the time), and I could pretty much get anything I wanted. We also have a Beall's Outlet, where I bought most of my clothes. Once a month, we went to the next town and went "big shopping", got all our bulk stuff, and hit the thrift stores. I didn't spend any more than I do now, because I don't buy a whole lot at Wal-Mart. I get bird food and occasionally some groceries, but seriously, I haven't found them to be much cheaper if you shop the loss leaders and stockpile. In fact, if I stockpile only BOGOS and sales with coupons, I come out much better than at Wal-Mart. I don't have time to go through the line with all those competitor's ads.

You might not know it, but all of Wal-Mart's meat comes in frozen, and is defrosted and put out. It all has salt in it. Read the labels.

....I don't think I save any money when grocery shopping at Target. They don't have as big of variety of items and they don't have as many different brands (such as generic) as other grocery stores.

In Cali, Target's groceries are generally cheaper than Ralph's, Vons,and Albertson's.

I buy bread, chips, lunch meat, pb @ Target.

I buy milk @ the grocery.

I like walmart, they seem to do good by me. As far as Target, I think they are overpriced, except when they run a sale, combine it with a manu coupon and a store coupon. Then I can usually get an item for pennies or even free (like the 2 cent tuna). But those are maybe 5-6 items/month. Hard to do much with except add to your stockpile.

To really grocery shop I'd stick with the chain markets, or walmart. I find both their prices are usually pretty good.

I LOVE Super Target! They have great printable grocery coupons on target.com. Coupons for things like apples, grapes, bananas, meat, chicken breast. I think their prices are better than Wal-Mart, and their produce is MUCH better.

we dont have a superwalmart, we have the outlet store where we live. And its not worth it, its no cheaper. i just watch for certian savings and stock up on chk nuggets and things.

We rarely buy groceries at Wal-mart (we do go there for the things we can't get at Kroger, after checking Dollar General, Fred's and Family Dollar first). We've found we do much better if we plan our meals around the loss leaders at Kroger.

And if you have coupons and there's a good sale, you can get killer deals. Our Kroger is having Super Double Coupons this week. :csign:

You have a Fred's too! I check out our Dollar General, then hit Freds before going to the Pig, which is just one street over. I have a system, but it saves me money, LOL.

I don't like Target. I will run in however if I'm in town and check out the dollar bins in the front, but I don't go any farther than that. I don't care for WalMarts meats or produce, so don't buy grocieries there.

We have a "Neighborhood Wal-Mart", which is their grocery store. For me, in a land that doesn't double coupons and doesn't have any stores like Aldi's, it is definitely worth it to shop there. The only other options are Fry's (reasonable with sales, my 2nd pick), Albertson's, Safeway, and Basha's (outrageously expensive). Of course, we also have Target but I've never bought groceries there, Super K-Mart, Wal-Mart and Super Wal-Mart, CVS (just recently started popping up out here) and Walgreens.

Ever see the frontline expose on walmart? There were 2. They really are the Evil Empire! And I've done my own comparison shopping and on some things yes they are cheaper and on other things they are not. Unfortunately the things they are cheap on are all the pre packaged frozen foods which have loads of salt sugar and fat. I do alot of scratch cooking and get better Deals at a local cleveland area chain called MARC's .

Also go down to Amish country here in Ohio alot and there are produce stands where you can buy in bulk and get much better deals. I buy extra and freeze.

I don't shop at Walmart and our Target isn't a SuperTarget. The only foods they have are dry goods (canned/boxed) and a very limited freezer and dairy section. No eggs, no meat, no fresh produce.

I usually only get food there that I can get free or nearly free by combining Target coupons w/ MFC ;)

I hate, hate, HATE WalMart....I do,however, love SuperTarget. The closest one to me is 30 minutes away. About 1 or 2 times a month, I make a "loop" with Super Target, Homeland (doubles 1.00), a few mystery shops, Aldis, and whatever else. I did this yesterday with a bit of Christmas Shopping too. You can get some serious great deals at Target with their printables and manufact. coupons.

No Super Target here, but 2 Super Walmarts. I always end up going in there, but never for produce. Their produce is terrible and NOT cheaper than good produce at Wegmans less than a mile away. Their other groceries are cheaper sometimes, but not always. Waiting in line there ALWAYS sucks.

I don't shop for groceries at WM. I avoid shopping there altogether for everything and have been doing so for a couple years. They put our local grocer and only toy store out of business and now they are working on outdoing the rest. We don't have a Target but I used to like them for clothes sales.

Our Walmart here is not too bad....however, the prices have gone way up and the help is just so so!!! I've been shopping a bunch at our Kroeger and IGA here as the deals have been way better than WM!!! Katy

We have a regular Target. I do pretty well there when I combine a Target coupon with a manufacturer's coupon.

I know that the Capri Sun pouches are around 1.60 for a 10 pack at Target and I pay a lot more than that at the grocery store. I do not buy a lot of cereal but I heard some women talking in Target and they said they have compared the prices of cereal to the regular grocery stores and they said Target has the best prices. (I am sure with sales and double coupons some of us could do better at the grocery store for cereal.)

I am careful about my shopping at Target because I used to buy too much stuff off the clearance racks so when I go in for the grocery deals, that is all I buy. I do not allow the rest of the store to entice me into dropping more of my money.

I have found both Target and Walmart to be better deals on packaged goods like mac and cheese and things like that. Kraft mac and cheese is half the price than any of the local grocery store here. But, we do not have any Super Walmarts or Targets so there is no meat or produce, just frozen, packaged, and beverages. Juice boxes are definately a ton cheaper too.

I don't think Target is the best choice for groceries. Medications maybe.

Although we do have WalMarts in our area, there isn't one that is anywhere convenient to my home or work, so I don't go there.

For the most part, I think you get better/same pricing and MUCH better quality at a grocery store. :chug:

I keep praying for a Super Kmart..
I don't like Target or Walmart
I try to do all my shopping at Price Chopper, Great American ( we have one left ) and Aldi's ,BJ's and a local grocery store ( best meat in town )
The Great American is 5 miles from me the local grocery is 7 miles. All the rest are 25 miles away

Living somewhere that doesn't have a Walmart you can get to right quick is something I will never again do!
I do the vast majority of my grocery shopping at WalMart. Target I would have to drive an hr to get to and I think their prices on just about everything are outrageous.

Target has good looking housewares but everything, including groceries, seems overpriced to me.

WalMart has some good grocery buys but not like it used to. I've found if I watch the sales at Kroger, Food Lion, and get my "usuals" at Dollar General, I seldom need to go to Walmart. Plus the nearest one is about 20 minutes away, while Kroger, etc., are all within 5 minutes of my house. So I take into consideration the expense of gasoline and also time.

I shop Wal-mart for stocking up on canned goods, particularly Muir Glen tomatoes, but that's about it. I agree with others about the produce being less than appetizing, so I stick to King Soopers (Krogers) for most everything else. I tend to avoid Target for groceries, because most of what I find there is high-sugar, high-fat, convenience foods. Perhaps SuperTarget has more variety?

I do not have a Target that sales groceries, but I have a Walmart Supercenter. I only purchase a few items there. I do not like the meat they sale, so I purchase it elsewhere. I would prefer to shop for my groceries in a regular grocery store that doesn't complain about the coupons I use.

Lets see, for four years I shoped 90% at walmart. I meal planed , used coupons and bought a lot of rice and beans.

Fast forward to today, for the last year I have not bought any food at walmart. I buy all my groceries at Publix a windixie. I shop lose leaders with coupons. I spend WAY LESS and have way more.

I have saved thousands of dollars this year and I have a spread sheets to prove it.

I Will never buy food a walmart again.

I have not darkened the door of any Wal-Mart for over 5 yrs. and don't plan to ever again. But I live in a city. I do have other choices. Fortunately I don't live in a small town where Wal-Mart has run most of the other retailers out of business.

I don't really have anything against Target but I never go there -- it's just not convenient.

I don't think our Walmart has made a huge impact on local business here. We don't have a SuperWalmart, though. I buy most of my groceries at Tops. We have Aldi, but I don't really like their selection.

I used to shop at Walmart but with the prices continuing to be raised 30 cents every so often, it pays for me to drive an hour away to Save A Lot. I only go to Kroger's for the 10 for 10 sales, they are expensive and Food Lion is outrageous with their prices. Those are the only grocery stores I have near me here in VA. I also go to Dollar General once in a while.

I went into Walmart recently, which I always do with hesitation, and decided no more. I'll just stick to Target which is right next to Wegmans here. I never bought produce at Walmart anyway. I have no justification left for Walmart.

I enjoy shopping at Target more than WalMart. I don't use them for groceries, though. Just laundry soap, household stuff and of course the fun stuff. (that I am trying to cut back on, oops) I just enjoy the decorations, displays, and people of the Target we have.

As far as being frugal goes, though, I should probably choose WalMart as I could ride my bike there compared to using the car to get to Target. I dislike our WalMart in general so I don't think about that part of it. Once I went in and they had a quart of oil for some ridiculous price and I thought to myself, "what a rip off, this is Gas Station price!" and have rarely darkened their door since then. That was several years ago. I really dislike the store.

Cute thread idea!

I don't shop at either for groceries - neither doubles coupons :(

I prefer Kroger :D

I am a creature of habit.
I can walk the aisles of my favorite grocery
stores in my mind and write my grocery list.
So I really don't care much for change.
Especially in the quality of the food I'm
buying.

But...I did give Walmart's groceries a look
and I wasn't impressed. I tried two different
stores and the food didn't look that great to
me and I have to agree with some other
posters about the long lines, not enough
cashiers open and so on.

The Target that's open now doesn't sell groceries.
They are building another one not to far
away but right next to it will be a Whole
Foods so I don't think they will be selling
groceries either.

We don't have a Target grocery store, and when I have gone to WalMart, I have noticed their prices are not as good as Winco. I do like the meat section, because Winco seems to have really "fatty" meat. I haven't ever done my big shopping at WalMart, and I might never do it. Just my two cents...

with the price of gas I would not drive that far for groceries.

Now I do like Walmart.. ours is clean, well stocked. plenty of checkers and great prices good produce... BUT I do not buy meat there it is too high

We buy our main groceries there stop across the street for our meat and then hit aldi on the way home for produce they carry the rest at Walmart or the second store. I do not go out of my way for any of the stops.... I do have one other store we watch the ads for great meat prices and IGA and I stock up and freeze.

Meg

I am not a big Wally world shopper.....

Now, Target on the other hand I will tell you that I buy most of my dairy there:

Yogart, .52 / grocery .67 and up
Shreaded cheese 2.09/ grocery 3.00 on sale
1/2 & 1/2 LOL 2.54/ grocery store brand is 3.79

Since I have Target and Safeway within blocks of each other its worth a extra stop to get a few things at Target and around here their stores are really nice and clean.

JMHO,
leezza

Small town here and Wal-mart is the main store. I HATE it, never enough cashiers open but it is where I buy most of my groceries. I always try to go at "off times" so my frustration level does not soar. :pdoff: I absolutely HATE their meat though (I always seem to get nasty stuff in it) so I use a little bitty Farmers Market for that. Also, we do have a Homeland, to me they are priced too high, but I use many of my coupons there for double off.

I like Target's store brand (Archer Farms), but I don't have one close enough to justify grocery shopping there. I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart for anything fresh. The produce is disgusting, the baked goods are sub-par, and the last time I got ground beef there it was DYED red. gross.

I have 2 super Targets within 10 miles of me and I've been to them both. I find them kinda high to be regularly grocery shopping in.

Beat the crowds at walmart and do your shopping very early in the day or off hours from when the mass public shops.

I have never been to a super target but I do get some good deals at Walmart. I depends on the store also. When we lived in NH I would never have bought meat there. Their meat department was skanky. But the meat at our Walmart in WI is great, only had to take back 1 item in 3 years.