Publix vs. Kroger - Week 4

My experiment is over. I spent the last 4 weeks shopping at Kroger in order to compare grocery shopping at Publix. You can read week one here and week two here. I was out of town for the weekend of the third week, therefore Allison did the shopping and I didn't post on her experience.

Obviously, there are many contributing factors that may skew the results of my very non-scientific experiment. Allison and I did, however, keep our shopping consistent. We have recently tried to make an effort to cook more at home and eat out less, but overall the 2 four-week periods were consistent in the types of items we shopped for.

Most of my opinions were outlined in week one and didn't really change. The main non-monetary issue I have is that Kroger doesn't have as many generic items as Publix. The other big deterrent was that Kroger does not appear to carry grass-fed beef. Publix carries it, but we are probably going to start getting it at the Nashville Farmer's Market so this may be a moot point. In terms of dollars, both stores are essentially the same for the Bussell family. Through 4 weeks at Kroger we spent a total of $8 more than the 4 week period at Publix.

Based on this experiment, it appears that financially it may not matter where you get your groceries. It mainly depends on, at least for us, on items and the shopping experience. And if you're like Cooper, which store will give you get a cookie. He refused to go shopping with me once he learned we weren't able to get a cookie from the Kroger bakery.