Protecting Your Pocketbook: Grocery Shopping Part 2

   It may be no surprise to you, but a new USA Today-Gallup Poll shows rising food prices are a concern for 73% of consumers. Almost half say the more it costs to fill their grocery cart, the more of a hardship it becomes. Food inflation alone rose to an annual rate of five point three percent over the last three months, with eggs and bananas having the highest percentage of increase.

Even with this in mind, all of us can still be smart shoppers.

On Monday, we went shopping at Kroger and purchased 9 items, just Kroger brand, and the total after using my Kroger card came to $14.97

On Tuesday,  we went to Walmart, with our shopping list, and purchased those same 9 items, only Walmart brand, with goal of comparing Walmart vs. Kroger.

 Our list consisted of: bread, lunch meat, canned corn, tuna, canned peaches. oatmeal, crackers, frozen fish, and paper towels.

At the station I compared Kroger's receipt with Walmart's receipt, and determined that I saved 22 cents at Walmart buying the same items I purchased at Kroger the previous day. Only this time, in some instances,  Walmart actually gave me more bang for my buck. For example, I got three rolls of paper towels at Walmart for the price of one at Kroger. There's no question buying generic will help you protect your pocketbook, and ultimately whichever brand of generic you choose may just end  up being a matter of preference.