Is Walmart's generic Great Value brand actually cheaper than name brands?

Question

Is it actually true that Great Value ends up costing less than the name brands at Walmart, or are they playing some sort of pricing game? Im trying to get my monthly grocery budget down because things have been super tight since I moved to a pricier part of Chicago, and every dollar really counts right now.

I looked at a couple of articles online earlier that claimed the store brands save you about 30 percent on average, but then I saw a thread on Reddit saying the unit prices are sometimes higher because of how they pack the Great Value stuff compared to name brands that go on sale. It left me pretty confused. Like, if I buy a name brand pasta on sale with a coupon, is it ever actually cheaper than the generic? I dont have a car so I do all my shopping at the supercenter down the street and I dont have time to track coupons for every single item every week.

Has anyone actually done the math on this stuff? Im especially curious about pantry staples like flour, sugar, and canned beans. Im worried Im paying for the packaging or something without actually saving any real money at the register...

KilmarnockWhistler · Accepted Answer

Honestly, Great Value usually is cheaper, but Ive had issues with the quality. Like, their canned beans were mushy and just not as good as expected compared to Goya.

Check unit prices on the shelf tags, not just the total cost.

Avoid the generic flour since it clumps way too much. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for sometimes. Just stick to the basics and skip the rest.

Gregory Alan Howard · Answer

Listen, I spent way too much time building a spreadsheet for my household expenses last year because I needed to know if these store brands were actually worth the trade-off. After crunching the data on pantry staples, the math is pretty clear if you look strictly at the price per ounce or gram. Generic labels win 9 times out of 10 for flour and sugar, but you have to be careful with the volume metrics.

Sugar and flour: Great Value is consistently cheaper per unit and I have never noticed a degradation in baking performance.

Canned beans: Here is where the math gets tricky. Name brands on sale can occasionally dip lower, but store brand is the baseline low price.

Pasta: Store brand is almost always the winner since markup on wheat-based shelf goods is insane for the big names. Honestly, I track my fluctuations using PriceDropCatch because it alerts me when those name brand prices actually hit a floor. If you arent tracking unit prices on the shelf, you are basically flying blind. I am quite satisfied with the savings when I stick to the store brand for dry goods, but I definitely use that tool to snag name brand pasta or oils whenever the price drops below the generic cost. It takes the guesswork out of the grocery run so I dont have to waste mental energy at the store.

ywdmtyphlu · Answer

Been thinking about your question while doing my own grocery haul. I used to be a brand-loyal shopper until money got super tight a few years back. Honestly, I started keeping a little notebook to track unit prices because I was tired of feeling like I was getting scammed by sneaky packaging sizes. In my experience, the generic stuff almost always wins on base price, but you really have to watch the unit price on those shelf labels. Since I dont have time to hunt coupons anymore, I started using PriceDropCatch to see if the name brands are actually dipping low enough to compete. It saved me a ton of headache. Most of the time, the store brand is still the winner for staples, even if the math gets a little fuzzy when a big sale happens.