With grocery prices high, which Massachusetts chains are the best bet for Thanksgiving?
Walmart edged out Market Basket on prices, but not on quality
BOSTON —
With grocery prices still high and Thanksgiving around the corner, it might be worth shopping around at the Boston area’s grocery chains for your big dinner because NewsCenter 5 found a wide swing in prices. While most stores raised prices over the last year, a few lowered them, including the store that dethroned Market Basket as the new price leader.
From potatoes to pumpkin pie, butter to beans, and of course the turkey and trimmings, NewsCenter 5 shopped for 10 Thanksgiving staples at nine Massachusetts grocery chains to find out which stores offer the best haul for your holiday dollar. Our shoppers used the same list as last year because we wanted to know how prices have changed. Several findings surprised us.
At the top of the low-cost list is usually Market Basket, which won on price last year at $45.50. But this year, despite prices rising just two cents total at Market Basket to $45.52, the beloved chain was edged out slightly by Walmart. The products totaled $44.94 at Walmart, a drop of more than 10% from last year’s total of $50.51.
Kevin Brasler, executive editor at Consumers’ Checkbook, a nonprofit consumer watchdog organization, rates grocery chains in regions across the country, including this fall in New England. He said Walmart almost always wins on price, but shoppers are generally much happier at Market Basket on quality.
Market Basket is “kind of a unicorn in the world of grocery store chains where it gets really high ratings from its customers, or at least well above average ratings from its customers, but also charges low prices,” Brasler said.
This year’s third-place finisher was another surprise: Stop & Shop. The chain announced it was lowering prices this summer, and that appeared to be the case with our Thanksgiving list. Prices at Stop & Shop fell more than 20% from last year’s total of $63.97 to finish at just $49.70.
Stop & Shop also matched the cheapest price we found on turkey — 49 cents a pound — at Shaw’s and Wegmans.
With a total of $54.30, Wegmans finished right in the middle of the pack, but Brasler said in their surveys the chain gets high marks from shoppers.
“Wegmans customers love it for quality of produce, quality of meat, overall quality,” he said. “Wegmans also is able to offer this high-quality experience at pretty low prices.”
Of the nine stores shopped by NewsCenter 5, prices dropped at three — Walmart, Stop & Shop and Shaw’s — but rose at the other six, clearly a sign that food frustration isn’t fading. It is worth shopping around, as our shoppers found wide swings in some staples like Land O’Lakes butter, which ranged from $2.99 at Market Basket to $6.49 at Shaw’s.
Whole Foods was the most expensive store overall, where prices totaled $68.71. Roche Bros. was the second most expensive, but with a total of $61.69, it finished more than 10% cheaper than Whole Foods. Not necessarily a surprise, but Consumers’ Checkbook said these two chains come out on top in quality.
“These chains have, in our surveys, historically done really well, especially for things like quality of fresh produce, quality of meat,” Brasler said. “But there is a tradeoff. Prices were considerably higher than the average of all stores that we shopped.”
Here’s the full list of products:
Cheapest frozen turkey per pound (which was used to price a 12-pound turkey)5-pound bag yellow/gold potatoesPepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing Mix12-pack dinner rolls (snowflake or plain)1-pound Land O’Lakes Salted ButterFresh green beans washed and trimmed 24ozOcean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce 14ozHeinz Homestyle Turkey Gravy 12oz jarBoxed pie (1 large at least 11″ or 2 small 8″)Breyer’s Natural Vanilla ice cream 1.5qt
Store price totals:
1. Walmart $44.94
2. Market Basket $45.52
3. Stop & Shop $49.70
4. Target $51.67
5. Wegmans $54.30
6. Big Y $55.39
7. Shaw’s $57.59
8. Roche Bros. $61.69
9. Whole Foods $68.71
Dining and Cooking