Let’s Go Winco Shopping
by Katy on March 4, 2025 · 15 comments
I finally reached the point where I was out of/almost out of enough items that it was worth braving the grocery store. I’m trying my hardest to avoid corporate America during my continued economic boycott, which directs me to shop at Winco Foods. Not my closest grocery store by any means, but employee owned and mostly cheap.
I went with a grocery list and my only impulse purchases were the $1.28 artichokes and the Pringles, which were $1.98 per case on the clearance shelf. (Versus $17.99 at Safeway!) I’ve set them in the basement and will bring them out for picnics, road trips and such.
I wasn’t sure if I needed a full ten pounds of potatoes, but at $3.48/10-pound bag, it was a no brainer.
Of course I hit the bulk bins for a couple items!
Eggs were tricky, as Winco prices your first 18-count carton of eggs lower than subsequent eggs. I bought an 18-pack and two dozen as it’s really an issue of buy-them-while-you-can. (The smaller cartons were priced low for your first two.) I made a cake last night and used up our last three eggs.
In the end I spent $79.59, which is more than I’d normally spend, but the eggs, chicken and yogurt were budget busters. The chicken and yogurt are for my husband’s work lunches, which he’s quick to point out are cheaper than getting takeout, like many of his coworkers.
How do these prices compare to where you live?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
This post made me curious if there were any employee-owned grocery stores in my area, and there are! They’re about 20 minutes away, so I’ll go check them out at some point. Thanks for the inspiration. Their sale prices seem really good, so I’m looking forward to it.
I bought those same potatoes at WinCo this week. 10 lbs is a bit much for us so I thought I could make some steak fries for the freezer. Just peel, slice to size, blanch for 3 minutes. Cool quickly, dry them and freeze for future dinners. You want to dry the, before freezing so they don’t become a giant clump.
Thank you for the instructions on how to make steak fries for freezing for future meals. That is really helpful. We can barely make it through a 5 pounder of potatoes before they start going bad. I’m going to try this steak fry freezer prep soon.
It would be no savings for me to bring home a case of Pringles because I would just plow through them. If I buy chips, I buy one small bag, as in single serving size, for each of us. I admire your restraint, but I finally realized I must practice restraint at the grocery store, since it apparently evaporates as soon as I walk in our front door.
I’m the same – chips are my kryptonite. If I know they’re in the house I can’t stop myself.
That’s why I immediately put them in the basement!
Wow, that is one AMAZING Pringles deal, Katy!
There aren’t a lot of food store choices close to where I live. Still, I’m avoiding shopping at most of the major grocery store chains, and limiting my shopping to Costco, Aldi (both of which still support DEI) and a very small local grocery chain that’s known for its philanthropy and what it does for the community. That store’s a little higher priced than the national chain I used to shop at, but it’s worth it to me.
I bought eggs at Costco this past Thursday – $8.49 for two dozen cage free organic eggs. Not a bad price, especially since at Aldi they were $5.99 for one dozen (non-organic).
As far as potatoes, I’m not sure what the prices are around here because I haven’t bought any potatoes since the small local grocery chain I mentioned above had 5 pound bags of potatoes for 79 cents per bag a few months ago. And I bought a number of bags. Since we probably wouldn’t eat all those potatoes before they got squishy and weird, I stored some and with the rest I made several large batches of mashed potatoes which I froze in quart zip top bags for future use.
Vermont here. On Friday, I paid $12.99 for an 18-pack of generic large eggs at Shaw’s!! Sugar was $3.99 for one of those 4-lb bags. A bag of ground Green Man Coffee was $5.49 on sale. The cups of Chobani flavored yogurt was $.88 each, if you bought 12 (which I did–husband’s lunches). It is indeed painful.
Organic free range eggs cost $7.99 a dozen at my local supermarket. 5 pounds of organic yellow potatoes cost $7.99 as well. Food is our biggest expense.
I bought an 18 pack of eggs at Market Basket last week for $6.49. Milk is still $2.59 a gallon. I bought 5 lbs. of all purpose potatoes for $2.49. I’m so lucky to have a store in this family owned chain nearby. Their prices are consistently lower than other grocery stores in the area.
Glad to learn Aldi is still doing DEI and therefore OK to shop at! Thank you for letting us know!
I get milk either at Aldi or the “Park Lane” store brand at HEB bc a gallon is $3-ish as opposed to other brands at HEB (they have dozens!) or our drug/general store, where a regular gallon is $5-something and our Mill King organic milk (from an area dairy) is $6.41 a gallon. Many shoppers like the latter due to its being so healthy. It even has foam at the top. But $6.41? OMG!
Last week, someone bought 18 eggs from our store and IIRC, they were $9.99; I think the cartons of a dozen eggs have hit $8 now. So off to Aldi I go! Haven’t bought eggs in a while, though. Toast makes an OK breakfast for me.
Our store’s Blue Bell ice cream (the best on the planet! so fresh that they say “it was grass yesterday”!) is the lowest in town: a half gallon now sells for a penny under six bucks. Most other stores, even Aldi, charge 7-10 dollars for same. But I’m giving it up for Lent, and also bc I’ve been too indulgent and my waistline shows it.
For a long time, I’ve thought HEB is too high on their prices. So before this boycott thing, I’d shop either at Aldi or Walmart.
There’s also a ministry-operated small grocery store in a poorer neighborhood (a “food desert”) that I shop at from time to time in order to support their good works. This is not done to save money, but to help out the inner city mission/cause. (It helps people! Jimmy Carter would’ve loved this place; tRump would hate it!) Bonus: the mission has a greenhouse that grows some hydroponic organic veggies for the store.
Ran a few errands today – gas 2.92/gal; red grapefruit for my husband 2.00 each; free can of spray paint at Ace hardware with a coupon. I have a 12 year old Volvo and wanted to get the salt off it. Most basic car wash was 11.00. I guess it’s been a while as last time I think it was $7.00. Our part of CT is served by Eversource for electricity. Feb. bill was $380.00! We don’t have electric heat. It’s mind boggling.
Katy, your prices are a bit better than mine in SE Tennessee. I’m still doing the multi-store juggling act to get the best prices. Had to hold my nose today and buy a few things at Walmart Market, but it’s only stuff I can’t get elsewhere.
Cage-free eggs were $7.99 a dozen last week. I did not dare look this week.
Eggs are still about $10/dozen here, which is less than a couple weeks ago. Fage yogurt is currently on sale for $7.69/32 ounces, 5% milkfat. (hey, I should get some.) Potatoes seem about $1/lb. Chicken, of which I only buy Bell & Evans or D’Artagnan (texture issues), seems to be about $11 for three boneless breasts, which is down a bit.
Pork roasts are on sale–I should pick one up. My mom made roast pork fairly often, with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut and usually green beans. Sauerkraut with pork gravy says comfort food to me. Barber Foods frozen stuffed chicken breasts are on sale, so I should get some. They’re expensiveish but they’re very easy and my kids like them, so that’s a simple dinner.
Katy,
Prices are higher here in north Florida. Onions are $1.69 a pound at Publix! I’ve started cutting them in half instead of using a whole onion in most recipes. Publix is even higher on produce prices than Whole Foods, so it’s time to shop around more. I’m headed to Aldi tomorrow to pick up some pantry staples. Also, sugar is really expensive, especially brown sugar. We don’t use a lot, so I hesitated to buy it at Costco. But I just bought sugar and King Arthur flour at Costco in bulk. I will figure out how to store it.
My biggest price surprise today was a routine dental cleaning and X-rays that totaled $323. And that was with a senior discount. Yikes!