This has been my experience: There are 5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Walmart.
Are these all random items? Absolutely, wait till you see! And would I surely be able to find them if I continued to drive all over Lincoln and see what my options were at all of our many different grocery stores? Maybe. But here’s what works for me:
- I do the majority of our grocery shopping at Costco, Sam’s, and Aldi. (None of the items I’m mentioning here today are found at those stores.)
- I don’t have time to check out other stores in town, especially since I’ve found my rhythm now that we’ve lived here for eight months.
- Even if I discovered any of these items at a different grocery store, it’s unlikely that the price would be much better and it’s not worth it for me to go to another store for just one or two items.
- And…while Walmart isn’t my favorite place to shop anymore (prices are overall much better at Costco, Sam’s and Aldi) – I do go to Walmart a couple of times each month.
Why do I go to Walmart every month if I don’t buy much there?
There are two reasons. One is to get these grocery items I’m about to tell you about. And the second is because our four youngest kids qualify for WIC benefits through their Foster Care or Adoption Subsidies. I’ve found that Walmart is the easiest place to shop for WIC items, especially because BabyBoy#11 has to drink Pediasure and Walmart is the only place we can find it so far.
So off to Walmart we go.
Are you ready to see the very exciting list of items I must get at Walmart? You aren’t ready for this level of excitement.
5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Walmart
1. Dry WHOLE Milk
There is Dry NONFAT Milk at other stores. But finding the whole milk variety was super exciting for me! Now I can make my favorite Peanut Butter Honey Puffs regularly – which I do. We love these.
This large package costs $12.44, which seems pretty expensive. But I’m still going strong on the first package I found a few weeks ago and there are many cups of this left in my pouch. This is saying something because I truly make this recipe at least once each week.
2. Jif Natural Individual Cups
Sam’s has these cups in the “regular” Jif variety – the kind with the hydrogenated oil we like to avoid. Those cups are cheaper at Sam’s, but I’m not willing to compromise on the unhealthy fat. So I pick up a couple boxes of these Jif Natural Cups at Walmart when we need them as they are fantastic to send in school lunches.
Did you know that baby carrots dipped in peanut butter is the only way to eat baby carrots? So says my eight year old daughter and I’ll certainly get behind it! Also? These don’t have to be refrigerated so typically one of these cups can be used for three of her lunches because she doesn’t eat the whole thing in one day. We just slip it into a baggie and send it back with her carrots the next day.
3. Wheat Germ
Costco, Sam’s, and Aldi don’t carry this in my area so I always get it at Walmart when I need it (which is rare). This jar lasts a long time and I use it when I make Mudballs.
4. Mr. Dell’s Shredded Hashbrowns
This 4-pound bag provides two or three casseroles or soups for us and only contain 100% frozen potatoes.
5. Walmart Markdowns
Ok, fine. Sam’s and Aldi have markdowns too. Plus Costco offers good clearance finds.
But there’s something about Walmart Markdown items that are unique and they are very fun to discover! Whenever we go to Walmart, if I have a few minutes, I walk up and down aisles to see what I can score. I also look in the refrigerated sections and end caps to see what’s waiting for me to snatch at a crazy low price!
Remember my $5.00 hams?? These were marked down after Christmas to just $0.50/pound!! Best deal on meat I’ve ever found!
During the fall, cans of Pumpkin were just $0.50/can so I bought 12.
A couple of weeks ago these super large pizzas were $6.88 or less each.
These Christmas Fudge Kits were marked down from $6.46 to just $1.50. Note that this box contained an entire package of Nestle chocolate chips which normally costs $2.98 (and the off-brand costs $2.32). So buying these kits at this price was worth it just for the chocolate!
I’ve gotten super cheap tomato sauce, marked down chicken and roasts, crazy low priced pork loin – these are all such fun finds!
Chicken breast for $1.76/pound!
It can be easy to be sucked in to buying something that’s marked down just because of the deal, so I’m careful to only get what we’ll use and what actually saves me money. But it’s very worth looking up and down (literally down as typically many of the clearance foods in the aisles are toward the bottom) to see what you might find!
Are you a Walmart shopper? What are your favorite items to get there?
Erin Quarterman says
Have you checked your local Sam’s Club for the Pediasure? I live in Georgia and ours sells them for $42.98 for 24, but they usually go on sale once every 2 months for $34.98. I still give half of a one mixed with whole milk per day to my very picky granddaughter who will barely eat anything. I’m not sure if you get help with this from WIC. If you are, it may be better to just keep buying them at Walmart. I hope this helps. Thank you for your weekly posts. They have helped me find some new things that my granddaughter actually enjoys eating.
Laura says
Thank you for the info – so glad to know they have them at Sam’s!
Jana says
Here in Canada we can get dry whole milk powder at Costco, and it’s a decent (ish) price plus all natural. You might check your Costco online if the store you go to doesn’t have it. Amazon as well, I know up here they have a really good (no antibiotics or hormones or anything bad) whole milk powder though it tends to be more expensive. Also Azure Standard should have this sort of thing?
Laura says
Ah yes, thanks for the tip! I’m not seeing any at Costco.com but Azure has it!
Laura B. says
Thank you for sharing this very specific information—I love it! Your blog is a blessing to me!
Jackie says
We go to Sam’s when we have VA appointments and since we end up going 365 miles round trip we hit all the stores in Albuquerque NM to get bargains at Sam’s club, Walmart warehouse store, Sam/s and Sprouts, I bought 2 capons for $0.50 a pound and what would have cost me $50 for one only cost me a total of #10.00 at Smiths. My groceries that day should have cost me $850 only cost me $250 because of all the mark downs and store coupons. It was funny. My husband looked at the receipt and just looked at the original price and about blew a gasket. We always go to this woman because she knows we only come 1-2 times a month and many times it is a couple months months apart. She got on the speaker and said we have a family who just bought $850 worth of groceries for only cost her $250 Congratulations Schlageter family. We also had credit for gas that was over $100 for $50. I think we did really good that day.
Laura says
Wow, you’re amazing!! That’s huge savings!
Julie says
We use Walmart for just a handful of things. Vinegar, and then personal care items since we won’t give Target business.
If you have the energy, I recommend checking supersaver’s ad this week. The mega meat sale (twice yearly) started yesterday .
Laura says
I had noticed that while driving by a Super Saver one day and your comment made me go for it! We headed there for our morning outing with the kids and scored some great meat prices!! THANK YOU!
Julie says
Yay! You’re welcome! Their next one will be early October I believe, or thereabouts.
Loy says
Amazon has Whole Milk Powder, 4lbs | rBST Hormone Free, Pasture Raised Source, Premium Grade Dry Powdered Form | Great for Baking | Rich in Protein | Non-GMO for 29,99 or 25.46 with Subscribe and Save which would be 6.37 a lb. It has great ratings. Thought you might like to know.
Laura says
Thank you; very good to know!
Laura says
I would love to hear more about finding clearance items at Walmart. I regularly go down the Clearance aisle for household goods. I have found amazing things there! Clearance refrigerated goods sounds intriguing. I will look for those. When you say you walk up and down the aisles, do you mean every aisle? Where do these clearance items lurk? Thanks for the help!
Laura says
If I have time, I do walk up and down every aisle. (The kids are happy in the cart as long as we are moving, so they usually allow this to happen!) The clearance items lurk randomly in the aisles. As in, it appears that if an item is being discontinued, they just clearance it out right where it originally lived on the shelf. All of the price tags at Walmart are yellow. But the clearance price tags are LARGER. So they are a bit harder to spot because they are the same color, but I try to scan for bigger tags. Also, the clearance prices usually stand out as being a round number like $2.00 instead of the normal $2.98.
The refrigerated clearance is a bit easier to spot as they are usually in the middle, open cold coolers. I almost never find anything marked down in the refrigerators with the doors. If that makes sense! :)
Megan Hauser says
I get nearly all of my groceries from Wal-Mart, but I do pick-up. I should check out the clearance and sales online! I buy the Great Value/Equate whenever possible. We all have our name-brand preferences, but this definitely helps.
Rita says
I like the Mr. Dees hash browns too. I usually buy them at Woodman’s, but I think that’s a Wisconsin thing ?!