Hannaford vs Market Basket: Who is Cheaper for Groceries?

By honing our skills in price comparison and store selection, we can flex our frugal muscle and enjoy significant weekly savings on groceries. With a little effort, we can become smarter shoppers and stretch our budget further than ever before.

Today we will do a side-by-side price comparison of Hannaford and Market Basket. We will determine which store is cheaper and if it is worth shopping both stores to save more money!

Is Hannaford cheaper than Market Basket?

For this price comparison, I have made a meal plan for a family of 4 using 25 Cheap food that are filling! as a guide. Our plan is to get groceries for a week that are healthy and cheap!

Here is our meal plan:

Breakfasts

• Egg, Cheese, and Bacon Burritos x2
• Toast with Peanut Butter and Bananas x2
• Baked Apple Oatmeal Bars x3

Lunches

• Spinach Salads with Hard Boiled Eggs and Leftover Ham & Ranch Dressing (and tomato & cucumber)
• Homemade Hummus with Carrots and Celery
• Egg Salad Sandwiches
• Leftovers

Dinners

• Meatloaf with Mashed potatoes and Sauteed Carrots
• Chicken Lo Mein with Broccoli (sauce is made with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sesame oil)
• Leftover Chicken and Dumplings using frozen mixed vegetables and 1 can of cream of chicken soup)
• Ham and Cheese Quiche with Homemade Rice a Roni
• 3 Meat Pizza using leftover Ham, leftover Bacon, and Pepperoni with a Spinach Side Salad
• Leftover Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas with Rice and Black Beans

Snacks

• Bananas
• Carrots & Celery with Ranch
• Peanut Butter and Apples

Sweet Treat

• Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

For this price comparison, I am using prices available in Manchester, New Hampshire. I will be selecting items for our meal plan that are the absolute cheapest.

This means mostly generic store brand options and the smallest size needed. This may not be the best value, but we are going for the cheapest option.

We are assuming that we already have kitchen basics like cooking oil, seasonings, salt/pepper, and baking powder at home. Everything else needed for the meal plan will need to be purchased.

For a more in depth break down on how I would make this meal plan work, check out “Healthy Meal Plan for a Family of 4 on a Week #2.”

Produce Section

This is all the fresh vegetables and fruits we need for the week.

Item	Hannaford Price	Market Basket Price
6 Bananas	$0.49 a lb =$1.17	1 bunch= $1.13
Apples	3lbs of Macoun apples= $3.87	3lb bag of Granny Smith apples= $3.69
Spinach	Fresh Express 8oz bag= $2.99	16oz bag= $2.99
Carrots	1lb bag= $1.19	1lb bag of baby carrots= $1.89
Celery	1 bunch= $2.99	1 bunch= $2.29
Potatoes	4lb bag of Yellow potatoes= $3.99	5lb bag of Russets= $3.49
Tomato	Hot House= $0.99	On the Vine= $0.95
Cucumber	$0.79 each	$1.22 each
Total: (8 items)	$17.98	$17.65

In the produce section, Market Basket came out cheaper with a total of $17.65. This was $0.33 less than Hannaford’s total of $17.98.

Deli/Meats

This is all the meats that we will need from the deli and meat counter.

Item	Hannaford Price	Market Basket Price
Bacon	Hannaford 12oz pack= $3.39 *on sale*	Smithfield 12oz pack= $3.69
Ground Beef (1lb)	Hannaford 80% lean 1lb fresh= $3.99	MB 80% lean 1lb fresh= $3.69
Chicken Breasts (4-6 needed)	Hannaford $1.99 a lb (3.5lbs)= $6.96 *on sale*	MB $2.49 a lb (3.5lbs)= $8.71
Diced Ham	Smithfield 8oz pack= $3.49	MB 1.04lb pack= $2.59
Pepperoni	Hormel 6oz pack= $3.49 *on sale*	Carando 7oz pack= $2.99
Total: (5 items)	$21.32	$21.67

In the meat section, Hannaford came out cheaper with a total of $21.32. This was $0.35 less than Market Basket’s total of $21.67.

Dry Goods

This is all the dry goods and shelf stable items that we need for our meal plan.

Item	Hannaford Price	Market Basket Price
Flour Tortillas	Hannaford 10ct= $2.09	Pepito 8ct= $1.89
Sandwich Bread	Hannaford 22oz bread= $1.99	Market Basket 14oz bread= $1.22
Peanut Butter	Hannaford 16.3oz jar= $2.29	Skippy 16.3oz jar= $2.99
Quick Oats	Hannaford 18oz container= $2.25	Market Basket 42oz container= $2.99
Brown Sugar	Hannaford 1lb bag= $1.99	Domino 1lb box= $1.22
Garbanzo beans (canned)	Hannaford 15.5oz can= $1.29	Goya 15.5oz can= $1.09
Mayonnaise	Hellman’s 5.5oz bottle= $3.05	Market Basket 15oz jar= $1.79
Soy Sauce	Hannaford 10oz bottle= $2.39	Kikkoman 10oz bottle= $1.89
Hoisin Sauce	Sun Luck 8oz jar= $2.99	Sun Luck 8oz jar= $3.69
Sesame Oil	Kikkoman 5oz bottle= $3.79	Roland Food 6.28oz bottle= $3.69
Spaghetti Noodles	Hannaford 16oz box= $1.29	Market Basket 16oz box= $1.22
All Purpose Flour	Hannaford 2lb bag= $1.85	Market Basket 5lb bag= $1.99
Cream of Chicken Soup	Hannaford 10.5oz can= $1.12	Market Basket 10.75oz can= $0.99
Chicken Bouillon Cubes	Goya 2.82oz box= $1.39	Maggi 2.4oz box= $0.89
Dry Active Yeast (need 2)	Hannaford 3pack= $1.95	Fleishmann’s 3 pack= $1.89
White Rice	Hannaford 2lb bag= $2.15	Carolina 2lb bag= $2.49
Black Beans (canned)	Hannaford 15.5oz can= $1.19	Goya 15.5oz can= $1.09
Powdered Sugar	Hannaford 1lb bag= $1.99	Domino 1lb box= $1.22
Total: (19 items)	$37.05	$34.24

In the dry goods section, Market Basket came out cheaper with a total of $34.24. This was $2.81 less than Hannaford’s total of $37.05.

Frozen Foods

These are the frozen items needed for this week’s meal plan.

Item	Hannaford Price	Market Basket Price
Frozen Broccoli	Hannaford 12oz bag= $1.49	Market Basket 16oz bag= $1.79
Frozen Mixed Vegetables	Bird’s Eye 10oz bag= $1.89	Market Basket 16oz bag= $1.22
Pie Crust	Hannaford 2 pack= $3.49	Pillsbury 2pack= $3.59
Total: (3 items)	$6.87	$6.60

In the frozen section, Market Basket came out cheaper with a total of $6.60. This was $0.27 less than Hannaford’s total of $6.87.

Dairy Section

These are all the dairy items needed like milk and cheeses.

Item	Hannaford Price	Market Basket Price
Eggs	Hannaford 12ct large white eggs= $1.39	Market Basket 12ct large white eggs= $1.49
Shredded Cheddar Cheese	Hannaford 8oz bag= $2.19	Market Basket 8oz bag= $2.39
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese	Hannaford 8oz bag= $2.19	Market Basket 8oz bag= $2.49
Milk	Hannaford gallon= $2.59	Market Basket gallon= $2.99
Total: (4 items)	$8.36	$9.36

In the dairy section, Hannaford came out cheaper with a total of $8.36. This was $1.00 less than Market Basket’s total of $9.36.

Is Market Basket more expensive than Hannaford?

There was a lot of back and forth in each section, so let’s look at the overall totals.

Section	Hannaford Price	Market Basket Price
Produce	$17.98	$17.65
Deli/Meats	$21.32	$21.67
Dry Goods	$37.05	$34.24
Frozen Foods	$6.87	$6.60
Dairy	$8.36	$9.36
Overall Total: (38 items)	$91.58	$89.52

Overall, Market Basket came out cheaper than Hannaford with a total of $89.52. This was $2.06 (about 2%) less than Hannaford’s total of $91.58.

Holy Cow! I am so happy both stores came out under $100 and I love when that happens!

If I could only pick one store to go to, I would choose which ever store had the best sales in their weekly flyer because the totals were so close.

If I had the time to go to both places or place pick up orders, and only bought what was cheapest at each store, then our total would have been $80.15.

That extra $9.37 savings (about 10%) would give us $19.85 that we could use to stock up on a great deals or apply that towards savings.