thanksgiving dinner price-check report 2017
TRANSCRIPT
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HOW WE DID IT
For each product, agents were instructed to locate the least expensive brand carried by their assigned retailer. Our objective was first and foremost to find where, if Thanksgiving were today, Americans could buy several items to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for the least amount of money.
Since price is just one factor in grocery shopping, Field Agent also asked agents to collect nutritional information on the basket of goods: calories, sodium content, and sugar content.
For each product in the audit except turkey, Field Agent derived the pricing and nutritional information in this report from the most common (i.e., mode) brand carried by the individual retailer.
For instance, if agents submitted six photos of the retailer’s private brand and two photos of a name brand, then we would have used the private brand (since it was most commonly cited as the least expensive option available) to determine the results that follow.
Because turkey showed sharp price variance (even within a single retailer), we used the mean price of turkey to determine its per ounce price.
Field Agent audited Thanksgiving dinner at 6 retail chains (8 stores per chain):
Aldi Kroger Lidl Target Walmart Whole Foods
Agents were instructed to collect pricing and nutritional information (primarily by photo) on the following 7-item basket of goods:
Whole turkey Fresh sweet potatoes Canned green beans Canned yellow corn Canned cranberry sauce Canned pumpkin pie filling Cornbread mix
N = 48 Stores Walmart Supercenter
Super Target
Kroger
Lidl
Whole Foods
Aldi
THANKSGIVING DINNER PER OUNCE COST OF ENTIRE BASKET OF GOODS
Determined by adding together the MODE, per-ounce price of all 7 items in the basket of goods. (Due to sharp variance within a single retailer, Field Agent used the mean average for whole turkeys)
The overall cost of Thanksgiving dinner ultimately depends on what and how much individual families prepare for their holiday meal. Here we simply show the per ounce price on a seven-item basket of goods, without regard for how much families may serve of each item.
$0.46$0.42
$0.47 $0.54 $0.78
WINNER $0.36
(LEAST EXPENSIVE BRANDS AVAILABLE)
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A Look at Grocery Shopping in the Digital Age
FREE REPORT
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
Whole Foods Aldi Kroger Walmart Target
4441
4138
32
570570
560550
480 1,2601,1451,050975
425
Sodium (grams) Carlories Sugar (grams)
BUT WHO HAS THE MOST NUTRITIOUS THANKSGIVING DINNER?
WINNER
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRANDS AVAILABLE)
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WHOLE TURKEY Price Per Ounce
Target Lidl Aldi Walmart Kroger Whole Foods
$0.12
$0.08$0.08$0.08$0.06
$0.05
Whole Foods - Oklahoma City, OK Kroger - Lexington, KY
Lidl - Richmond, VA Aldi - Nashua, NH
Agent Photos
Honeysuckle Shady Brook Butterball Butterball Honeysuckle Rancher
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
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SWEET POTATOES
Price Per Ounce
Aldi Walmart Target Lidl Kroger Whole Foods
$0.06$0.06$0.06$0.06$0.06
$0.04Kroger - Coppell, TX Lidl - Norfolk, VA
Walmart - Oldsmar, FL Whole Foods - Las Vegas, NV
Agent Photos
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
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CANNED GREEN BEANS Price Per Ounce
Lidl Aldi Walmart Kroger Target Whole Foods
$0.10
$0.05$0.04
$0.03$0.03$0.03
Kroger - Coppell, TX Aldi - Oldsmar, FL
Walmart - Sterling, IL Whole Foods - Cherry Hill, NJ
Agent Photos
Lidl Brand Happy Harvest Great Value Kroger Brand
Market Pantry
365
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
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Lidl - Culpeper, VA Aldi - Marietta, GA
Walmart - Sterling, IL Whole Foods - Las Vegas, NV
Agent Photos
CANNED YELLOW CORN
Price Per Ounce
Lidl Aldi Walmart Kroger Target Whole Foods
$0.10
$0.05$0.04
$0.03$0.03$0.03
Lidl Brand Happy Harvest Great Value Kroger Brand
Market Pantry
365
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
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CORNBREAD MIX Price Per Ounce
Aldi Walmart Target Kroger Lidl Whole Foods
$0.15$0.13$0.12
$0.06$0.06$0.06
Walmart - Carrollton, GA Kroger - Pekin, IL
Lidl - Virginia Beach, VA Whole Foods - Wellington, FL
Agent Photos
Jiffy Jiffy Jiffy Jiffy Lidl Brand Arrowhead Mills
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
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Aldi - Nashua, NH Kroger - Coppell, TX
Whole Foods - Cherry Hill, NJ Walmart - Middleburg, FL
Agent Photos
CANNED CRANBERRY SAUCE
Price Per Ounce
Lidl Aldi Walmart Kroger Target Whole Foods
$0.16
$0.09$0.07$0.07$0.06
Lidl Brand Happy Harvest Great Value Kroger Brand
Market Pantry
365
Unavailable*
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
*At the time of this audit, no Lidl store visited was carrying canned cranberry sauce. To calculate the price of the full basket of goods on page 3, Field Agent multiplied 88% (i.e., the discounted rate on all other Lidl goods in the audit, relative to the average price of all goods charged by the other
retailers) by the average amount the other retailers were charging for canned cranberry sauce.
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PUMPKIN PIE FILLING Price Per Ounce
Aldi Lidl Walmart Whole Foods Target Kroger
$0.13
$0.10$0.09
$0.08$0.07
$0.06Walmart - Middleburg, FL Kroger - Pekin, IL
Lidl - Greenville, SC Whole Foods - Cherry Hill, NJ
Agent Photos
Baker’s Corner
Seneca Great Value
365 Market Pantry
Kroger Brand
(BASED ON LEAST EXPENSIVE BRAND AVAILABLE)
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IN THEIR OWN WORDS: What do you think about shopping for Thanksgiving Dinner at this retailer?
“Kroger has a huge variety of affordable brands to buy if you need to cook a large or small Thanksgiving dinner!”
“Walmart has pretty...low prices. I personally have had a few of their Great Value brands and they taste just as good as the name brand foods. I would purchase most of my Thanksgiving items from them
because of the low prices and delicious taste.”
"Whole Foods is a great place to buy these supplies. Their options are organic and healthy.”
“Target pricing [on Thanksgiving meal items] seems pretty reasonable and lower than grocery stores…[I could] also get 5% off using my
Target RedCard.”
“Although Aldi doesn't have a huge selection, what they do have is high quality and they seem to have all the
[Thanksgiving] staples.”
“The prices at Lidl are great and compare to other stores. However, [they] don't have all the items out at this time. I'm sure Lidl prices will beat that of the bigger stores.”
