Over the last several weeks, I’ve been attempting to improve my thriftiness, particularly with groceries (inspired by my super-savvy mother-in-law). For my latest project, I decided to get some actual data to help me decide which grocery stores had the best prices, and (in the future) to decide whether a sale is actually as great as it looks.

So, I made a list of our favorite staple products and wrote down the prices at 6 different grocery stores in town. Then, with the help of my skilled husband, I made a nifty little spreadsheet.

The result? A combination of Sam’s and Target is the best choice for us. I was surprised to find that Target’s grocery prices are very competitive, even beating Wal-Mart on several of my list items. The same cart of groceries that costs $78.13 at Wal-Mart costs $80.74 at Target. (Both of these totals are significantly lower than United, which is practically the only true grocery store in town.) When you subtract my team member discount (I work at Target, for those of you who didn’t know), I can get it for $72.67! If we get basic things like cheese, butter, sandwich meat, etc., at Sam’s, the total goes down even more. Yay!

Side note: My Target is actually not a SuperTarget, but is just what we call an “extended set.” This means we have an extensive grocery section, but it’s limited to packaged foods. Produce, fresh meat, and deli products are things I’ll have to go to Wal-Mart or Sam’s to get. Ah well.

So there you go. I’m sure I’ll have more projects to come!