The 28 Most Affordable Grocery Stores in the US

From specialty stores with great deals on unique items to wholesalers with bulk discounts on huge volumes of goods, there are plenty of ways to keep your grocery bill under control. Here are the 28 most affordable grocery chains in the US.

Giant Eagle

Shoppers who prefer Giant Eagle say it’s their favorite because it’s got the best value for their money. While this chain is mainly found in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland, it’s a great option for those who live near one.

BJs

BJs is a wholesale club like Costco and Sam’s Club. Unlike them, it’s not a national chain and is concentrated on the East Coast. Still, with affordable memberships and low prices for bulk goods, it’s a phenomenal choice for those with big families who need lots of volume for their grocery goods.

Smith’s Food

This Kroger-owned chain is present in parts of the Southwest, including Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. They also have locations in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. They offer discounted groceries comparable to those found at Kroger, their parent company.

Safeway

Safeway, a long-running subsidiary of Albertsons, is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, but has locations in some Mid-Atlantic states, too. They offer great discounts on grocery items and have clean, upscale stores with lots of variety and options for savvy shoppers.

Kroger

Founded in 1883 by Barney Kroger in Cincinnati, Kroger is one of the oldest grocery chains in the country. It’s been around for over 140 years for a good reason: they offer great service and affordable groceries. There’s also found all over the country.

Mitsuwa Marketplace

Californian grocery store chain Mitsuwa Marketplace specializes in Japanese goods. The serve everything from ramen and sushi-grade fish to Japanese candy and even imported beauty goods. It’s perfect for shoppers who want specialized goods for a reasonable price!

Food Lion

A grocery chain found in the Southeast US, Food Lion is a discount grocery chain that uses connections to local producers to keep their costs from skyrocketing. While they’ve gotten pricier in recent years, they still offer good deals through their weekly ads.

Hy-Vee

Midwest staple Hy-Vee first opened in Beaconsfield, Iowa in 1930. It’s a higher-end supermarket that offers a great all-around experience. While it might be on the more luxurious side, you can still find great deals through their weekly sales and coupons, making this an enticing option for many shoppers in the Midwest.

Sam’s Club

If you don’t mind getting a membership card and buying in bulk, you can save a lot of money by getting groceries at Sam’s Club. The only real issue with shopping here is that you need to have enough money at once to buy in bulk to begin with.

WinCo Foods

Midwest chain WinCo Foods offers some prices even lower than Costco. How are they able to do that? They buy a lot of their products directly from producers, due to their location in the Midwest. That makes it really easy for them to pass the savings on to customers!

H-Mart

The popular New York-based Asian supermarket chain H-Mart is one of the largest Asian markets in the country. If you’re looking for affordable East Asian ingredients or even imported goods like beauty products, you can’t go wrong with H-Mart—as long as you live near one.

H-E-B

There are two businesses that Texans know and love: Whataburger and H-E-B. Ironically, both pride themselves on being rather affordable. In the case of grocery chain H-E-B, you’ll find their low prices are due to their insistence on working closely with local producers, like WinCo.

Harris Teeter

North Carolina-based grocery chain Harris Teeter has quickly spread throughout the Southeast. Before you protest this entry, remember that saving money isn’t just about the cheapest price for bread or milk. Among its biggest advantages is its discounts on gas through their fuel program. Shoppers have noted that this fuel program can get gas as cheap as you’d find at Costco with a membership.

Food-4-Less

The Kroger-owned chain Food-4-Less is only in California, Illinois, and Indiana, but if you live in one of those states this is a great budget grocery store to hit up. The best way to save here is to shop their weekly ads, where you’ll find extremely steep discounts.

Wegmans

Wegmans locations can be found in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The clean, inviting stores are upscale and feature craft beer, great baked goods, and numerous shopping amenities. Despite their massive size, savvy shoppers who look for deals and use coupons can save plenty of money on their groceries.

MOM’s Organic Market

Mid-Atlantic chain MOM’s Organic Market is a huge hit among environmentally conscious shoppers. It’s an alternative to locations like Whole Foods, offering eco-friendly, organic produce and wonderful health foods. From beauty supplies to vitamins, you can find plenty of affordable organic options here.

Grocery Outlet

How does Grocery Outlet keep its prices so low? It’s an outlet, as its name suggests, which means they buy overstock goods from producers and sell it at a steeply discounted price. That does mean that their selection of deals is somewhat limited from time to time, but you really can’t beat the prices.

Publix

Southeastern chain Publix is based in Florida and has quickly become a Southern staple. They offer excellent sub sandwiches, deli foods, and sweet tea. Their generic groceries are also excellent in terms of both cost and quality when compared to name brands. Remember to shop the sales and scoop up the best deals through coupons to save a couple of bucks!

Market Basket

Another of the regional discount grocery chains, Market Basket is mainly found in the Northeast US. One of their most surprising cost-saving measures is an operational procedure: Market Basket is one of the only debt-free grocery chains in the country.

Dollar Tree

While Dollar Tree’s goods aren’t all just a single dollar anymore, it’s still a great option with goods priced $1.25. Make sure to not shop here all the time, though, as the small portion sizes and reduced quality manufacturers introduce to hit that $1.25 mark can make it somewhat less than ideal for your typical grocery stop.

Trader Joe’s

This entry might seem weird on a list about “affordable” groceries but hear us out. Many of the chain’s generic groceries are actually quite affordable, and they have some of the best wine prices around. They also buy a lot of their produce directly from suppliers, helping reduce costs.

Walmart

How does Walmart keep its prices so cheap? One answer is the company’s extremely streamlined approach to operational costs. It’s got everything down to a science! Another reason is that they’re so big that they can just buy up huge quantities of goods at wholesale prices their competitors can’t even touch.

Family Dollar

Family Dollar is located all around the country and they can offer a compelling alternative to a standard grocery store. While they have slim offerings for fresh food like produce, they do offer really good deals on frozen food and packaged items.

Costco

Like Sam’s Club, Costco is a wholesaler that offers membership cards to access their low prices. And, like Sam’s Club, the only drawback to this genuine money-saver is that you need to buy in bulk to make the most of the discounts, which can be tough for single people or those with less income.

Dollar General

Like Family Dollar, Dollar General is a dollar store. Lately their prices have been going up. And they also have little in the way of actual produce or fresh food, but they still offer great discounts on things like frozen dinners and boxes of preserved food.

Lidl

German grocery chain Lidl is all about one thing: low prices. This chain is found mostly on the East Coast and offers great deals on produce in particular. They make a lot of their savings possible by sharply marking down items the closer they are to their expiration dates, making it ideal for shoppers who don’t mind popping in often to resupply.

Sprouts

Sprouts is well-known as an eco-friendly location where you can find lots of health foods and organic options. Notably, the groceries here can be more expensive than at non-organic stores. But if you’re in the market for high-end, organic produce and similar products, they actually offer better prices than some competitors like Whole Foods.

Aldi

Aldi is the definition of an “austere” grocery store. There are no fancy decorations, no employee discounts, and using a cart costs you a quarter. But the upside is that they offer the lowest grocery prices of any store, even undercutting Walmart. That’s some serious savings!