Which is cheaper for Groceries? – Low Dough Family (2024)

This grocery store comparison is quite personal for my family. On one side we have my grandma who is an avid Publix shopper, and on the other side we have my dad that swears by Walmart.

We decided to finally find out who comes out as the cheaper option for grocery shopping and how much savings there can be. Grandma swears the savings is only a dollar or two, and Dad claims that savings is huge. Skip to the end to see who was right!

Is Publix more expensive than Walmart?

For this price comparison, I have made a meal plan for a family of 4 using “25 Cheap food that fills you up when you are broke!” as a guide. Our plan is to get groceries for a week that are healthy and cheap!

Here is our meal plan:

Breakfasts

• Scrambled Eggs with Bacon and Toast
• Banana Pancakes with Maple Syrup
• Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars

Lunches

• Leftover Chicken Salad with Raisins Sandwiches
• Black Bean Hummus (using leftover black beans) with Homemade Potato Chips and Carrots
• Taco Salads (leftover taco meat)
• Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream, Cheese, and Bacon
• Dinner Leftovers

Dinners

• Lentil Veggie Soup (using dry lentils, canned tomatoes, chicken broth from cooking whole chicken, and frozen mixed vegetables)
• Baked BBQ Pork Chops with Carrot Raisin Salad (mayo, lemon juice, & maple syrup), and Baked Potato Wedges
• Chicken Carbonara-ish Pasta with Bacon and Frozen Peas (alfredo sauce with Italian seasoning) *using leftover chicken*
• Whole Baked Chicken with Brown Rice and Baked Carrots
• 1/2lb Ground Turkey and Black Bean Tacos (with lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream) and Brown Rice
• 1/2lb Ground Turkey Chili with Cornbread and Side Salad with lemon juice & oil dressing

Snacks

• Bananas
• Carrots
• Popcorn

Sweet Treat

• Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

For this price comparison, I am using prices available in Miami, Florida. I will be selecting items for our meal plan that are the absolute cheapest.

This means mostly generic store brand options and the smallest size needed. This may not be the best value, but we are going for the cheapest option.

We are assuming that we already have kitchen basics like cooking oil, seasonings, salt/pepper, and baking powder at home. Everything else needed for the meal plan will need to be purchased.

For a more in depth break down on how I would make this meal plan work, check out “Healthy Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #3.”

Produce Section

This is all the fresh vegetables and fruits we need for the week.

Walmart easily won the produce department with a total of $11.16. That was $5.95 cheaper than Publix at $17.11.

Deli/Meats

This is all the meats that we will need from the deli and meat counter.

Another win by Walmart with a total of $22.95. This was $6.22 cheaper than Publix with a total of $29.17.

Dry Goods

This is all the dry goods and shelf stable items that we need for our meal plan.

So, this was a huge difference! Walmart came in $17.55 cheaper at $27.55. Publix came in with a huge $45.10. Plus, we were able to get almost double the brown sugar, mayonnaise, and brown rice!

Frozen Foods

These are the frozen items needed for this week’s meal plan.

Walmart came in with a total of $1.68 which was $3.38 cheaper than Publix with a total of $5.06.

Dairy Section

These are all the dairy items needed like milk and cheeses.

We even got twice as much butter at Walmart, and they still came in cheaper at $16.11. That was $6.01 cheaper than Publix at $22.12.

Is Walmart cheaper than Publix?

We could already tell by each section that Walmart was definitely cheaper, let’s see how the overall totals went.

Walmart came in with a total of $79.42 which was $39.14 cheaper than Publix at $118.56. This means just by shopping at Walmart we saved 33% on our grocery trip for one week!

If you currently shop at Publix, even if you just shopped once a month at Walmart you could drastically decrease your monthly grocery budget.

Looks like my dad was right with there being a significant savings by shopping at Walmart! Unless something is on super sale at Publix, just head to Walmart to grab your groceries.

For more grocery store price comparisons, check out “Cheapest Grocery Store in Orlando, Florida.”