While Walmart's low "rollback" prices and
product exclusives can be tempting, not every
item that lines the grocery section of your
local store is worth the trip.
Here's what you should never buy at Walmart.
We're gonna assume you're one of those people
that buys organic products because you don't
like eating pesticides, antibiotics, or synthetic
hormones.
Not, of course, because it gives you a thrill
to pay $4 for an onion.
If you're always on the hunt for affordable
organic produce, you're probably gonna wanna
skip Walmart.
According to the financial advice gurus over
at Kiplinger, rival stores Aldi and Trader
Joe's consistently beat Walmart's prices on
organic fruits and vegetables.
That means that until Walmart begins aggressively
rolling back prices on celery and carrots
at the same rate as everything else in the
store, you're better off buying organic somewhere
else.
In fact, you're better off buying any and
all produce elsewhere.
According to Consumer Reports, Walmart consistently
ranks toward the bottom of their listing of
supermarket chains.
"We asked about the quality of fresh fruits,
vegetables, meats, store-prepared foods, and
baked goods."
"People gave Walmart low marks in all freshness
categories."
Out of 68 supermarkets evaluated by Consumer
Reports, Walmart falls at number 67.
Ooph.
The chain is trying to fix its produce department
with new monitoring technologies and a 100
percent freshness guarantee, but in the meantime,
consider buying produce elsewhere.
As anyone who has watched their 4-year-old
pour $24 worth of maple syrup onto 50 cents
worth of pancakes can tell you, those bottles
of Grade-A Vermont liquid gold can seriously
blow up your food budget.
Still, if you just can't bring yourself to
make the leap to the mass-market flavored
corn syrup brands, you can still find real,
tree-tapped, 100 percent natural maple syrup
at a reasonable price… provided you don't
go looking for it at Walmart.
According to The Krazy Koupon Lady, an expert
on the best deals available at Costco, the
stuff at Walmart is not only lower in quality…
it's almost twice as expensive.
Our advice?
Hit up Costco and grab a couple bottles of
Kirkland Signature USDA Organic Grade-A syrup
instead.
Your taste buds, and your wallet, will thank
you.
Organic milk is always going to be more expensive
than conventional milk, simply because it
costs the farmers more to produce it.
Raising fewer cattle, refusing to feed cows
genetically modified feed, and milking them
at natural production levels may produce milk
that is healthier and tastes better, but cheap
it ain't.
When farmers have to spend more money to produce
their milk, they pass that cost on to you,
the customer… and there's not much that
even super chains like Walmart can do to control
that.
"Have as much milk as you want."
"Well, that's fiiine!"
Unfortunately, organic milk at Walmart still
doesn't present the value found in many of
its other items.
According to Kiplinger, both Aldi and Trader
Joe's routinely trounce Walmart in organic
milk pricing, costing less per half gallon.
Sometimes, even fancypants grocery chain Whole
Foods manages to undercut Walmart on organic
milk prices… and when a place that's nicknamed
"Whole Paycheck" beats you on pricing, you've
got a serious problem.
"Sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo trash
to me!"
The next time you're tempted by a big bag
of EZ-Peel cocktail shrimp from Walmart, check
the country of origin.
According to Natural News, if you're holding
a bag of shrimp imported from Thailand, you've
got to factor some human rights violations
into the cost per pound.
Workers, some of whom are children, are often
treated extremely poorly, and trafficked as
just another commodity in the shrimp farming
industry.
"America's largest retailers are selling shrimp
prepared in Thailand by slave labor, including
children."
The work is extremely labor-intensive, and
prone to abuse by subcontractors overseeing
both the fishing itself and the pre-processing
facilities that handle shell and head removal,
as well as de-veining.
Not only that, but they can pose a threat
to your health.
According to a 2015 study by Consumer Reports
of 205 imported shrimp samples, half the samples
contained bacteria, and 11 from Vietnam, Thailand,
and Bangladesh contained traces of antibiotic
residue.
"We also found bacteria in 60% of our raw
shrimp samples including vibrio, a common
cause of food poisoning from oysters."
Some of these antibiotics pose a cancer risk,
while others are illegal for food production
use in the United States.
The bottom line?
Focus less on the bargain pricing, and make
sure you know where your shrimp is coming
from.
Sure, those rows upon rows of perfectly portioned
ground beef may be a thing of bovine beauty,
but you're better off buying your ground chuck
somewhere else.
According to a recent survey of standard grocery
store purchases by Cheapism, a site that tracks
the best bargains at supermarkets nationwide,
Walmart isn't always the least expensive,
and that includes their ground beef.
Cheapism found that discount grocer Aldi routinely
beat Walmart's prices by a pretty hefty percentage.
Even if pricing isn't your chief concern when
choosing a package of ground beef, the quality
of Walmart's meat can vary wildly.
Bacterial contamination continues to be a
problem for packaged ground beef at Walmart;
a company that supplies beef to Walmart recalled
6.5 million pounds of burger sold at Walmart
and other stores as recently as 2018, due
to salmonella contamination.
Another recall of 90,000 pounds of beef patties
in 2016 was triggered by "[contamination]
with extraneous wood materials."
"The USDA just expanded a recall because the
meat could make you sick."
Those numbers are almost bad enough to convert
even the most carnivorous meat-lover into
a vegan.
Almost.
