Aldi vs Giant Food Stores: Who is Cheaper?

Aldi is considered a large discount grocery store chain which operates about 2,147 stores in 36 states in the US. Giant Food Stores is a part of Ahold Delhaize Company and currently has about 156 stores in 5 Northeastern states.

Let’s compare food pricing for Aldi and Giant in Lancaster, PA and see if one store has cheaper prices for groceries. Scroll to the end to see the final result!

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Is Aldi cheaper than Giant?

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

Here is our meal plan:

Breakfasts

• Chocolate Banana Overnight Oats
• Easy Sausage Muffins (1cup of Biscuit Mix, 1 lb of sausage, 4 eggs, 1 cup of cheese)
• Scrambled Eggs with Biscuits and applesauce

Lunches

• Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas
• Salad with Hard Boiled Eggs x2
• Leftover Chicken & Salad Wraps
• Dinner Leftovers

Dinners

• Eggroll in a Bowl (1 lb ground turkey, 1/2 bag of coleslaw mix, soy sauce)
• Kielbasa Sausage, Potato, Squash Sheet Pan Bake
• Baked Chicken Thighs, Soy Sauce Rice, and California Blend Vegetables
• Chicken Parmesan Pasta (chicken breasts, pasta, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, breadcrumbs) with side salad
• BBQ Chicken Wraps with Coleslaw (1/2 bag of coleslaw mix)
• Cheesy Shepherd’s Pie (ground turkey, mash potatoes, tomato sauce, frozen peas and cheese) with Biscuits

Snacks

• Bananas
• Celery with Ranch or Peanut Butter
• Homemade Granola Bars (peanut butter, quick oats, and chocolate chips)
• Applesauce

Sweet Treat

• Peach Cobbler (using biscuit mix and canned peaches)

For this price comparison, I am using prices available in Lancaster, Pennslyvania. 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 Grocery List for Family of 4 on a Budget #4.”

Produce Section

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

Item	Aldi Price	Giant Price
6 Bananas	$0.17 each=$1.02	4-6 ct bunch= $1.22
Celery	1 bunch= $0.95	1 bunch= $1.79 *on sale*
Coleslaw Mix	Taylor Farms 14oz bag= $1.75	Dole 14oz bag= $2.19
Potatoes	5lb bag of red potatoes= $3.65	5lb bag of russet potatoes= $3.69
Yellow Squash	1.5 lb pack= $2.25	$0.91 each
Cucumber	$0.75 each	$0.75 each *on sale*
Roma Tomato x4	$0.37 each= $1.48	$0.64 each= $2.56
Total: (7 items)	$11.85	$13.11

In the produce section, Aldi came out cheaper with a total of $11.85. This was $1.26 cheaper than Giant’s total of $13.11.

Deli/Meats

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

Item	Aldi Price	Giant Price
1lb ground sausage	Appleton Farms 1lb roll= $2.55	Hatfield 1 lb pack= $4.29
Pepperoni	Mama Cozzi’s 6oz pack= $2.75	Bridgford 5oz pack= $3.50 *on sale*
2lb ground turkey	Kirkwood 1lb roll $3.29 x 2= $6.58	Shady Brook 3lb pack= $10.66 *on sale*
Kielbasa Style Sausage	Parkview 14oz= $3.85	Butterball 14oz = $3.50 *on sale*
Chicken Thighs	Kirkwood $3.29 a lb (2.08lb) = $6.70	Giant $1.99 a lb (2lbs) = $3.98
Chicken Breasts	Kirkwood frozen breasts 40oz (2.5lbs) = $10.45	Tyson frozen breast tenderloins 40oz (2.5lbs) = $8.69
Total: (6 items)	$32.88	$34.62

In the meat section, Aldi came out cheaper with a total of $32.88. This was $1.74 cheaper than Giant’s total of $34.62.

It is worth noting that at Giant it was cheaper to buy one 3lb pack of ground turkey than to buy two 1-pound packs. So Giant was actually the better value!

Dry Goods

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

Item	Aldi Price	Giant Price
Quick Oats	Millville 42oz container= $3.85	Giant 18oz container= $2.79
Chocolate Chips	Baker’s Corner 12oz bag= $2.19	Nestle 11.5oz bag= $3.00 *on sale*
Biscuit Mix	*substitution* Millville pancake mix 32oz box= $1.99	Bisquick 20oz box= $3.79
Flour Tortillas	Pueblo Lindo 20 ct= $1.95	Old El Paso 10ct= $1.66 *on sale*
Tomato Pasta Sauce	Reggano 24oz jar= $1.65	Hunt’s 24oz can= $1.25 *on sale*
Ranch Dressing	Tuscan Garden 16oz bottle= $1.49	Giant 16oz bottle= $2.29
Peanut Butter	Peanut Delight 18oz jar= $1.89	Giant 16.3oz jar= $2.29
Soy sauce	Fusia 15oz bottle= $1.75	Taste of Inspirations 10oz bottle= $1.69
White Rice	Earthly Grains 3lb bag= $2.55	Giant 1 lb bag= $1.19
Pasta	Reggano 16oz penne= $1.05	Giant 16oz rotini= $1.25
Breadcrumbs	Chef’s Cupboard 8oz container= $1.75	Rienzi 15oz container= $1.50 *on sale*
BBQ sauce	Burman’s 18oz bottle= $1.35	Kraft 18oz bottle= $1.89
salad dressing for coleslaw	*substitution* Simply Nature Poppyseed dressing 12oz bottle= $2.75	Hidden Valley 16oz bottle= $3.99
Canned peaches	Sweet Harvest 15oz can= $1.39	Giant 15.2oz can= $1.79
Applesauce	Sweet Harvest 24oz jar= $1.99	Giant 24oz jar= $2.29
Total: (15 items)	$29.59	$32.66

In the dry goods section, Aldi came out cheaper with a total of $29.59. This was $3.07 cheaper than Giant’s total of $32.66.

Frozen Foods

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

Item	Aldi Price	Giant Price
California Blend Vegetables	Season’s Choice 12oz bag= $1.09	Giant 12oz bag= $1.99
Frozen Peas	Season’s Choice 12oz bag= $0.89	Giant 12oz bag= $1.29
Total: (2 items)	$1.98	$3.28

In the frozen section, Aldi came out cheaper with a total of $1.98. This was $1.30 cheaper than Giant’s total of $3.28.

Dairy Section

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

Item	Aldi Price	Giant Price
Eggs	Goldhen 12ct large white eggs= $3.45	Giant 12ct XL white eggs= $3.57
Shredded Cheddar Cheese	Happy Farms 16oz bag= $2.99	Kraft 8oz bag= $2.50 *on sale*
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese	Happy Farms 16oz bag= $3.29	Kraft 8oz bag= $2.50 *on sale*
2% milk	Friendly Farms gallon= $4.95	Giant gallon= $4.46
Total: (4 items)	$14.68	$13.03

In the dairy section, Giant came out cheaper with a total of $13.03. This was $1.65 cheaper than Aldi’s total of $14.68.

It is worth noting that we did get twice as much cheese at Aldi, so that was a better value!

Is Giant more expensive than Aldi?

Aldi came in cheaper for most of the sections, but let’s look at the overall totals.

Section	Aldi Price	Giant Price
Produce	$11.85	$13.11
Deli/Meats	$32.88	$34.62
Dry Goods	$29.59	$32.66
Frozen Foods	$1.98	$3.28
Dairy	$14.68	$13.03
Overall Total: (34 items)	$90.98	$96.70

Overall, Aldi was cheaper than Giant Food Stores with a total of $90.98. That was $5.72 (about 6%) cheaper than Giant’s total of $96.70.

Even with 2 substitutions at Aldi, they still were a much better value on most items. I would rely heavily on the weekly sales flyer to shop the sales.

If you use the weekly flyers to meal plan, you will have a much bigger savings potential on your monthly budget.

You can save even more money at Giant by checking out their coupons using Choice Rewards that will give you money off at checkout. Currently they are offering $30 off a $60 delivery or pickup order for new customers!

For more grocery store price comparisons, check out “Food Lion vs Lidl: Who is Cheaper?” and “Hy-Vee vs Aldi: Who is Cheaper?“