The Ultimate Northeast Price Comparison

It's no secret that groceries are expensive. And everyone seems to want to save money when they shop. But how expensive really is your supermarket? Well, I did the math.

I compared prices on a sample basket of 50 items across more than 30 supermarkets in the northeast region to see how they stack up. The highest and lowest definitely weren't a surprise: ALDI comes in at just $257 for the order, while the same basket is $429 at Kings. Here's what I notice looking at these prices:

• Discount stores offer the best prices -- if you're willing to compromise. The discounters I checked for this comparison, ALDI and LIDL, were the cheapest for the overall basket. But they also had a more limited selection, and more substitutions. You can save big by shopping there, but be prepared to not get exactly what you were looking for.
• Walmart and Hannaford are good choices for a full selection but low prices. Walmart and Hannaford had nearly everything on the list, and low everyday prices. If you're in PA, both the Weis and the Giant that I surveyed had excellent prices with minimal substitutions.
• Nearly all of the lowest-priced stores handle some or all of their distribution themselves. It's clear that the chains that own their own warehouses and do their own distribution -- rather than relying on a third-party wholesaler as a primary distributor -- can offer better prices.
• But not all wholesalers are created equal. The smaller chains supplied by Bozzuto's, a wholesaler based in Connecticut, had very high prices. Bozzuto's also owns Roche Bros. and Adams IGA, which were two of the most expensive stores. Adams IGA was the most expensive conventional supermarket surveyed. Most stores supplied by Topco, C&S, or UNFI are in the middle price-wise.
• Yes, there are several missing. Unfortunately, this comparison doesn't include certain stores like Trader Joe's, Market Basket, CTown, or Ideal Food Basket -- because those stores don't have a reliable place to look up in-store prices online.
• Things look a little different if you only buy food. If you separate the order into food only and nonfoods only, the rankings change.

• So, don't go to international supermarkets for your nonfoods. That's pretty well-known, but the international supermarkets (purple) came out as some of the most expensive supermarkets for nonfoods items, while they're much more reasonable on food. The laundry detergent in this survey is $13 at Walmart, but $25 at Food Bazaar, for example.
• In this survey, Target is more expensive than Walmart -- but only on food. You'll spend about $20 more on your grocery order at Target vs. Walmart if you're looking at food items only, but when you look at paper, cleaning, pet, and HABA, the difference narrows to just nine cents.

• The Can-Can Sale doesn't save ShopRite from getting lost in the middle. For the past several years, it seems like ShopRite has gotten consistently more expensive, and they're no longer quite as low-priced as they were. In this survey (which compared only one location of each chain, so there is definitely variation in other locations), ShopRite was almost exactly in the middle price-wise for each category. That's even with prices being observed during the famous Can-Can Sale, a big twice-annual sale known for large discounts. Still, ShopRite ended up only a couple dollars away from the average on each comparison.
• Stop & Shop's price cuts are notable, but they haven't made the chain a go-to for savings. An initiative started last year at the Ahold Delhaize chain seems to be working, as Stop & Shop is comparable to several large competitors in this survey, but they -- like ShopRite -- are stuck in the middle, while sibling chains Giant and Hannaford are notably lower in price overall. The same basket is $40 more expensive at Stop & Shop than Hannaford.
• Things get expensive quickly on the high end. The biggest jump is between Foodtown and LaBonne's, of about $30. So even though Foodtown is the fifth most expensive, it's still closer to the average than to the most expensive -- by a lot. Foodtown is $30 higher than the average, but $70 lower than the highest-priced.
• Some notes on methodology: these prices were observed online on January 15 and 16. Sale prices may require a digital coupon, app, or loyalty card, and are noted in red on the spreadsheet. Some items are adjusted for size or quantity and are noted in blue. Substitutions are pink and notes on what is substituted are at the bottom. Prices are, of course, subject to change, and I am in no way affiliated with any of the stores on this comparison. So no, unfortunately, I cannot get you a coupon on the chicken breast.
• UPDATE: I've removed Amazon Fresh from the comparison because in-store pickup prices online are lower than the shelf prices in store. Thanks to Acme Style for pointing that out!

Want to check out the comparison for yourself? Visit the full spreadsheet here. Click on "details" at the bottom to view the actual table of prices, and see notes and the color code at the bottom. And I'm interested to hear what you think and have seen in your local stores!