Cheapest Grocery Store in Boston, MA
Boston Massachusetts is a very busy town with lots going on for locals and tourists. We are going to do a side-by-side comparison of local grocery stores to find the cheapest option!
We will start with our list of 25 Cheap food that fills you up when you are broke and shop these healthy staples at each store.
Then we will compare to find out which store is your best bet for saving the most money on your grocery budget.
Grocery Stores in Boston, MA
We have selected 7 local stores that are common for grocery shopping in Boston, MA. There are tons of smaller grocery stores available in the area and also ones that are dedicated to natural and organic foods. We choose these 7 because they are the most likely choices to shop at for a week’s worth of groceries.
- Whole Foods
- Roche Bros
- Star Market
- Stop & Shop
- Walmart
- Shaw’s
- Target
We will break our list of 25 foods into 3 main sections: Produce, Meat & Frozen, and Dry Goods. At the end, we will see if any store was cheapest in all 3 sections, or if it is cheaper to shop at multiple stores.
Produce Section
In this section, we will be picking up some basic produce that can be used in a variety of ways.
- 5lbs of potatoes
- Head of lettuce
- Spinach
- Head of cabbage
- 1 bunch of bananas (approximately 8)
- 3lbs of apples
- 1 lb of carrots
| Store | Produce Total |
| Stop & Shop | $17.62 |
| Walmart | $18.23 |
| Star Market | $18.49 |
| Shaw’s | $18.49 |
| Target | $18.66 |
| Whole Foods | $21.72 |
| Roche Bros | $24.45 |
Stop & Shop had the cheapest produce for a total of $17.62. The most expensive produce was at Roche Bros with a total of $24.45.
Meat and Frozen Vegetables
I combined all of these areas because typically they are located around the same area.
- eggs
- whole chicken
- canned tuna (technically this is a dry good, but made sense to include with the meats)
- 1lb ground pork
- 1lb ground turkey
- frozen mixed vegetables
| Store | Meat & Frozen Total |
| Walmart | $21.90 |
| Stop & Shop | $26.53 |
| Whole Foods | $28.16 |
| Target | $28.68 |
| Shaw’s | $33.62 |
| Star Market | $35.41 |
| Roche Bros | $41.27 |
Walmart came out with the cheapest total in the meat and frozen foods section with a total of $21.90. Roche Bros was the most expensive with a total of $41.27.
Dry Goods
This is the section in the middle of the grocery store that is mostly shelf stable foods that don’t require refrigeration.
- 1lb pasta
- 2lb white rice
- 1lb dried pinto beans
- 1lb lentils
- Quick Oats/Rolled Oats
- Peanut Butter
- All Purpose Flour
- Sandwich Bread
- Tortillas
- Saltines
- Microwave Popcorn
| Store | Dry Goods Total |
| Walmart | $17.66 |
| Target | $21.99 |
| Shaw’s | $24.91 |
| Star Market | $26.23 |
| Roche Bros | $26.30 |
| Stop & Shop | $27.80 |
| Whole Foods | $34.52 |
Walmart came out the cheapest in the dry goods section with a total of $17.66. Whole Foods came was the most expensive with a total of $34.52.
Who is the Cheapest Grocery Store in Boston?
Now let’s look at the overall totals for each store and see how they rank from cheapest to most expensive.
| Store | Overall Totals |
| Walmart | $57.79 |
| Target | $69.33 |
| Stop & Shop | $71.95 |
| Shaw’s | $77.02 |
| Star Market | $80.13 |
| Whole Foods | $84.40 |
| Roche Bros | $92.02 |
The cheapest grocery store in Boston was Walmart with an overall total of $57.79. Roche Bros turned out to be the most expensive grocery store in Boston.
To save the most money on groceries, you may want to consider purchasing produce at Stop and Shop and purchasing everything else at Walmart. This would have made the total $57.18 which would have been a savings of $0.61.
For more information about different meals plans that can be made with this list of 25 cheap and healthy foods, check out our Meal Planning & Lists section!
