We Bought 27 Grocery Staples at Walmart: Here’s the Final Checkout Cost

Greetings, Walmart shopper.

In the past, I didn’t shop at Walmart much. But over the last year, I’ve found myself getting stuff from Walmart, both online and in person, for two reasons. First, they make it incredibly easy to return items. Primarily, I couldn’t ignore how much lower their prices seemed.

I shopped there with a list of 27 common grocery store items to pick up. My list cost me just around a hundred bucks, coming in at $102.74.

Affordable groceries are critical for consumers. Americans are experiencing deep wells of financial anxiety. In fact, we spend a quarter of our time stressing out about money, according to the State of Financial Anxiety report. 

And it’s no wonder. In August of 2022, a thrifty family of four could eat every meal for a month on $969, according to the USDA’s Monthly Costs of Food Reports. That number rose to $1,024 this August, an almost 6% increase. Avian flu, wars in Ukraine and Iran, supply chain issues, tariffs, climate conditions and more have increased the cost of every trip to the store. So, can you get a good deal by buying Walmart store brand (called ‘Great Value’) items? Here’s our Walmart Shopping experience review. 

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My Experience Shopping at Walmart

The produce section in south St. Pete’s Walmart is huge. It was well stocked on one day I visited, but slightly bare on another day. There also were some price cuts to items on my list between the two days (Walmart does change prices weekly, but denies that its digital price tags are for dynamic pricing).

On the down side, I didn’t like the look of the regular ground beef. The section looked rifled through, and there were a few brown looking packages of meat. The chicken, pork and other meat offerings looked fine. Also, the frozen vegetable aisle was chaotic. It might have been a bad organizational day at the store, but it was a turn off. 

Walmart does have a pretty good selection of well priced gluten free and vegan options. Some of the items were significantly less than local grocery stores. That, and feeling like I genuinely saved money shopping there, will bring me back. Let’s get into the rest.

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Produce and Fresh Essentials

The butter at Walmart was well-priced, JoEllen Schilke

Most of the veggies (baby carrots, romaine lettuce) were ten to twenty cents cheaper than other nearby grocery stores. One discrepancy I noticed is that a 5 lb bag of russet potatoes was $4.44 in the store, but $3.87 online. I thought I would keep my eyes open for any other instances of digital differences. 

Ground beef didn’t seem like a deal at this Walmart, nor did it look very enticing. A 2.25 lb package costs almost $15. However, the store-brand boneless chicken breasts and thighs were decently priced, with a slightly more than 3 lb package selling for less than $12. The fresh meat section is well stocked. However, it did seem that many packages’ sell by date was pretty close. 

Milk, eggs and butter were well priced, with Aldi being the only local store with lower prices. Definitely lower than Publix. Orange juice and Greek yogurt weren’t great deals. Shredded cheese was very economical at $1.97. Overall, cheese prices were pretty good at Walmart. Bacon was also very reasonable. Guess who is making bacon, cheese and avocado sandwiches!

Pantry, Bakery and Frozen Staples

Do you start your day with a nice cup of coffee? Coffee prices have more than doubled in the last six years. Weather disasters, trade wars, inflation and other factors have driven prices up. You can get Walmart’s 12 oz. store-brand ground coffee for $7.32. Name brands cost between $1-7 more. 

I also looked at basics like bread, peanut butter, black beans, spaghetti, cooking oil and rice. Walmart brand spaghetti is a little pricy, but their canned beans, oil, bread and rice are all deals. Their name-brand peanut butter prices are also pretty good. However, both times I tried to buy peanut butter, the checkout price was different from the shelf price. 

Frozen pizza occupies a lot of space at Walmart. Their store brand isn’t the cheapest one on the shelves (Jack’s Frozen Pizza wins), but at $4.46 for a 12” pepperoni pizza, it is a pretty good deal. Their name-brand frozen pizzas are priced lower than all of the nearby stores. Even the frozen gluten free pizzas were well below other stores. 

Frozen vegetables were plentiful, and very, very frozen. A 12 oz bag of mixed vegetables was 98 cents, cheaper than other local stores. I did find bags that seemed fresher than others. While I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh produce section at Walmart, the frozen produce section wasn’t very appealing. 

Household and Cleaning

People often develop a personal preference for items like laundry and dish detergent. Walmart dish soap is another item that is cheaper online than in the store, $1.96 vs. $2.46. Their prices for name-brand dish soap are also competitive. 

Walmart brand laundry detergent and soap cost slightly less than known brands. I noticed Walmart doesn’t stock very many smaller sizes of dish or laundry detergent in store. They definitely don’t stock paper towels that aren’t super sized. There were either single rolls or packages of six rolls that were really 18 or 24 rolls’ equivalent. There is an entire aisle of paper towels.  

If you buy large sizes of these items, it is worth getting them at Walmart. 

What I Paid

These prices are from a Walmart in St. Pete, Florida in October 2026. 

Category	Item	Target Brand/Size	Qty	Price
Produce	Bananas	Loose, per lb	3 bananas	$0.49
Produce	Baby carrots	1 lb bag	1	$1.32
Produce	Russet potatoes	5 lb bag	1	$4.44
Produce	Romaine lettuce	1 bag	1	$3.63
Produce	Avocados	Each	1	$0.80
Meat & Protein	Boneless chicken breast	Per lb	3 lbs	$11.88
Meat & Protein	80/20 ground beef	Per lb	2.25 lbs	$14.93
Meat & Protein	Large eggs	1 dozen, grade A	1	$1.87
Meat & Protein	Bacon	16 oz	1	$4.24
Dairy	Whole milk	1 gallon	1	$2.92
Dairy	Shredded cheddar cheese	8 oz	1	$1.97
Dairy	Butter	1 lb, 4 sticks	1	$3.06
Dairy	Greek yogurt	32 oz tub	1	$3.28
Pantry	White rice	5 lb bag	1	$3.52
Pantry	Pasta – spaghetti	16 oz box	1	$1.98
Pantry	Canned black beans	15 oz can	1	$0.92
Pantry	Peanut butter	16 oz jar	1	$1.52
Pantry	Cooking oil	48 oz bottle	1	$3.82
Pantry	Cereal – store brand Cheerios	Family size box	1	$2.86
Frozen	Frozen mixed vegetables	16 oz bag	1	$0.98
Frozen	Frozen pizza – pepperoni	12-inch	1	$4.46
Bakery	Sandwich bread	20 oz loaf	1	$1.52
Beverages	Coffee (ground)	12 oz bag	1	$7.32
Beverages	Orange juice	52 oz	1	$3.96
Household	Paper towels	6 rolls	1	$8.12
Household	Dish soap	18 fl oz	1	$1.96
Household	Laundry detergent	46 fl oz	1	$4.97
TOTAL CART				$102.74

Tips for Saving at Walmart

Walmart has some great loss leaders throughout their grocery sections. Milk, cheese, bacon and butter are well priced. In the past, I skipped their produce section, but I won’t do that anymore. The onions and garlic were firm and fresh. They have a solid organic section that’s cheaper than the nearby stores.

Walmart does sell a lot of known brands cheaper than other stores, but that’s not always the case. And its orange juice and greek yogurt seemed overpriced. Using their website to plan your shopping list will give you good insight into where to save money. I did notice there were significant and changing sales from day to day. 

Using the website to shop also allows you to create a subscription to some commonly used items, which also can save money. A helpful area on the website is the ‘Rollbacks & More’ page, where they list their specials. 

You can become a Walmart member through the Walmart+ program. It costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month (half price for people on assistance and college/grad school students) plus tax. It does offer some financial benefits through free delivery and early access to sales. Mainly it offers convenience. 

And, if you’re curious how Walmart’s shopping experience compares to Target, we wrote about that as well.

The Penny Hoarder contributor JoEllen Schilke writes on lifestyle and culture topics. She is the former owner of a coffee shop in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has hosted an arts show on WMNF community radio for nearly 30 years.