Foods You Should Never Buy From Walmart
Until 1988, Walmart wasn’t in the grocery business, which is crazy because Walmart absolutely dominates the grocery industry today. The chain is by far the leading grocery store in the country with sales of around $341 billion in 2020 and a 26% market share . What is deceptive about this market share is how Walmart controls certain geographic areas. In some places, Walmart accounts for 90% of all grocery sales. Walmart has changed the way we shop for food, and the reason is simple: Walmart offers high quality products at very competitive prices. Add to that the convenience of being able to shop where you buy almost everything else, and there’s really no mystery to the store’s popularity.
But nothing in this world is perfect. While Walmart is a great choice for buying most of your groceries, there are a few things you should make an effort to buy elsewhere for a variety of reasons, from price (yes, even Walmart sometimes loses out on price) to quality. If you have the opportunity, here are the things you should buy anywhere other than your local Walmart.
Be careful with valuable items
In recent years, almost every major grocery store chain has developed a “store brand”. These brands are often a great choice as they are cheaper than national brands and often (though not always) offer similar quality. Walmart’s private label, Great Value, is no exception. Great value items are definitely cheaper than brand name items and for the most part get the job done in terms of quality.
This does not mean that they are your best option. Compared to other “private label” brands, Great Value tends to get negative reviews from customers , and it doesn’t even make it onto most “best” general purpose product lists . You’re better off buying big name brands here, or getting generics elsewhere, unless low prices are your only motivating factor.
Don’t manufacture at Walmart
Manufacturing is always difficult. Even in season, shipping fruit and vegetables from one part of the world to another is a logistical challenge, and picking fresh, juicy, and delicious produce over wilted, toasty, and rough is tricky. Not surprisingly, most large supermarkets do a poor job of doing this job, but in general, Walmart supercenters do a very poor job of it. They rank last in any review of supermarket products. At the same time, despite Walmart’s reputation for low prices, their products are often more expensive than other stores, which means you’ll pay more for mediocre fruits and vegetables. Again, the convenience factor is powerful, but consider buying groceries elsewhere.
Avoid Maple Syrup at Walmart
There are two types of people in the world: those who think that something with a vague maple flavor and rich in high fructose corn syrup is considered “maple syrup”, and those who know the difference between golden and very dark varieties. If you’re in the latter group, you know that few things cost more by volume than this magical pancake elixir, and that’s especially true at Walmart, where real maple syrup is usually almost twice as expensive as some other retailers. If you literally don’t have warm pancakes on your plate at home waiting for an emergency syrup delivery, get it anywhere but Walmart.
Don’t Buy Organic at Walmart
Whether it’s organic milk or groceries, Walmart is simply not the place to buy them. Organic products are always more expensive than pesticide-laden industrial products, but they tend to be even more expensive at Walmart. Everything from baby spinach to bananas can be found elsewhere for less when it comes to organic produce. Even worse is the case for milk, which outbids Walmart competitors at insane margins of more than a dollar a half gallon.
Grilled chicken shouldn’t come from Walmart
Grocery stores in general will never be your best bet for prepared foods. You don’t buy grilled chicken at the grocery store because it’s the best; you take it because it’s warm, it smells good, and you have a hungry family waiting to pounce on you as soon as you walk through the door, and all you need is a nap. That being said, buying grilled chicken at Walmart should only be an option when you’re about to die from exhaustion. Not only are Walmart chickens tiny compared to other stores’ offerings, they also tend to rank last in terms of taste and customer satisfaction.
Find Vanilla Extract Elsewhere
If you don’t bake a lot, you probably don’t think about vanilla extract… ever. That’s how it should be! If you’re a baker, you know that vanilla extract is incredibly expensive. There are synthetic alternatives that are good , but if you’re serious about baking, you don’t want to deal with vanilla or anything like that. You want the real deal to be done in Africa and delivered to your store via expensive and time-consuming routes. Pure vanilla extract at Walmart is the same stuff you’ll find anywhere else, it’s just more expensive—nearly twice as expensive as some other places.
Avoid Walmart Chips and Snacks
Whether you consider chips and other snacks to be optional luxuries or absolutely essential to a happy life, one fact is clear: you can get them for a lot less if you don’t buy them at Walmart.
Chips are chips. This is the kind of item you can literally buy anywhere and get exactly the same product no matter the price, meaning that a bag of Doritos from a dollar store offers the same voracious experience as a bag bought at Walmart, with the only difference that’s extra money. hip riding after purchase.
Don’t buy meat and fish from Walmart.
Walmart has incredible power due to its market share, and it uses that power to cut prices on almost everything in the store. Read it again: almost everything. One category where prices are not the best is meat. Ground beef and other meat products are more expensive at Walmart. You can find similar (or better) quality meat at many of Walmart’s competitors for a much lower price, and Walmart doesn’t get high marks for its quality either, as evidenced by several beef reviews over the past few years.
Walmart is also struggling in the fish department , with reported high prices and poor quality being a recurring theme. On top of that, they get poor marks for sustainability practices and aren’t too picky about the policies and practices of the providers they use. Bottom line: If you’re looking for a delicious salmon fillet for dinner, get it anywhere but Walmart.