In digging through the depths of my purse yesterday, I found an eleven day old receipt from the Grandmart. I remember stashing this thinking, I’d love to do a comparison of savings between here and Safeway. No, I’m not being endorsed by the Grandmart (but I should be).
Now, I like Safeway; I do. But nobody beats Grandmart in produce, which was the majority of my purchase that day.
The reason I’m mentioning that this receipt was old is that I realize that I’m using this week’s Safeway sales to compare a purchase that happened around two weeks ago. Additionally, I’m doing this comparison from the comfort of my couch, so the prices that I’m looking up are slightly more approximate than exact as sometimes when pretending to shop at Safeway online, I have to indicate a quantity of produce instead of a weight. Regardless, I think it’s safe to say that the difference amounts to mere dimes and nickels.
A lot of my friends won’t shop at the Grandmart because 1) it smells like fish (they lay it out on ice… but I like that I can pick it up and smell it) and 2) it’s farther away than their usual grocery stores. Personally, I think the cost difference more than makes up for the few extra miles worth of gas. And, yes, the produce might look less “perfect” than “perfect” grocery store produce, but it tastes just as good!
Check it out:
Grandmart: four yams at $0.69/lb. = $1.42
Safeway equivalent: $1.59/lb. = $3.28
Grandmart: one bunch of celery = $1.49
Safeway equivalent: $2.29
Grandmart: 1.73 lbs. of fuji apples at $1.49/lb. = $2.58
Safeway equivalent: $1.04/ea. = $5.20 (I think I got 5 apples)
Grandmart: a banana bunch at $0.59/lb. = $1.22
Safeway equivalent: $1.62
Grandmart: two lemons at 3/$1.00 = $0.67
Safeway equivalent: $.79/ea. = $1.58
Grandmart: .88 lbs. of peaches at $1.99/lb. = $1.75
Safeway equivalent: $2.18
Grandmart: .81 lbs. of pears at $1.29/lb. = $1.04
Safeway equivalent: $2.20
Grandmart: a big, fresh bunch of spinach = $1.29
Safeway equivalent: $1.99
Grandmart: three kiwis at 3/$1.00 = $1.00
Safeway equivalent: $0.79 ea. = $2.37
Grandmart: one bunch of green onions at 4/$1.00 = $0.25
Safeway equivalent: $1.09
Grandmart: .88 lbs. of fresh green beans at $0.99/lb. = $0.87
Safeway equivalent: $2.29/lb. = $2.02
Grandmart: 1.39 lbs. of cluster tomatoes at $1.29/lb. = $1.80
Safeway equivalent: $4.11
Grandmart: fresh on ice cod fillets that sold for $6.99/lb. = $5.87
Safeway equivalent: the cost is usually the same, though the fillets are usually frozen, then thawed and smell fishy, so… $5.87
Grandmart subtotal: $21.25
Safeway subtotal: $35.80
Grandmart 5% tax: $0.53
Safeway 5% tax: $1.79
Grandmart grand total: $21.78
Safeway grand total: $37.59
Ya see? That’s a savings of $15.81! Think of how that could add up over time!
Yeah about a year ago I did that comparison between Wegmans and Trader Joes. Trader Joes is way cheaper! Milk and bread and produce, the frozen veggies and produce is all organic and yet still cheaper than wegmans. I just found out about pinkslime and now will be getting my meat at trader joes as well. But with all of the savings in my other purchases, I’m still saving a ton even though meat might be about .60 a pound more again it’s all organic. So if I compared organic meat to organic meat it’s still cheaper. I spend about 50.00 less at trader joes get more stuff than I do at wegmans. Wegmans is good and closer for sure. But with soon to be two kiddo’s 50.00 buys me a lot of diapers!!!
I really need to get acquainted with Trader Joe’s.
Wonderful, I’m so glad you have good stores to choose from over there. I wish we had stores like that around here. We can only shop Walmart, Food Lion or dollar stores for groceries. Farmers’ Market on Weds/Saturday is good for fresher, healthier produce and worth the trip (about 20 miles round trip) and I don’t even think about any extra expense at the market, because they’re saving me from planting, weeding, harvesting, battling gnats and heat, so I think I’m saving in the long run …..
WOw! Hey, I’m all about saving money. Especially if it’s for the same exact items as in the other over priced places. THRIFTINESS!