Target Vs. Walmart: Which Retailer Has Better Deals On Generic Food Brands?

Private label brands aren't exactly what they used to be. In the 1980s, private-label products were often characterized by simple black lettering and plain white packaging, so stripped of brand descriptors that customers had no choice but to call them generic. The products tended to get a bad rap, the stark packaging a glaring reminder of the accompanying bad quality. It wasn't until around 2008 that grocery stores realized the opportunity they were missing with generic products: The recession demanded affordable products without the name-brand price tag. As a response, grocery stores have essentially become brands in themselves, offering products with personalized names, colors, personality, and quality.

Target and Walmart are two superstores that have mastered generic brands. Walmart, the largest grocery store in the U.S., has an impressive portfolio of in-house grocery brands such as Great Value, Freshness Guaranteed, Marketside, and Bettergoods. Each has a general purpose: Great Value is mostly everyday, shelf-stable products, Freshness Guaranteed supplies the meat and prepared foods, Marketside is largely the premade dinners and salads, and Bettergoods, the newest, is focused on unique, healthy foods and allergen alternatives. Target, on the other hand, has just a few brands to boast about, but with arguably the bigger footprint — brands like Good & Gather, Market Pantry, and Favorite Day are such high-quality, recognizably chic products that they're just as good as buying name brands. You could argue about quality, which can vary, but the real question is: Which store has better deals — and if quality is of no concern, where should you shop for the lowest prices?

Without getting into the mysterious specifics of generic brand sourcing, dairy is a category you can feel fairly certain is going to be like-for-like with the name brand stuff. Often, the same farms that produce the name-brand milk also produce the generics, meaning the product is at least similar –- if not the same. Of course, that can vary product by product. For example, Walmart's butter ranks lowest among competitive butter brands, while the store's private-label Greek yogurt ranks among the highest. Quality aside, which store has the lower dairy prices? 

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For most of the category, it almost seems like Walmart is intentionally determining their prices based on Target's; many of the products are just a few cents cheaper at Walmart than its competitor. The sliced cheese is $2.24 versus $2.29. 16 ounces of half and half comes out to $1.79 at Target and a whole cent cheaper at Walmart at $1.78. Almost every product is dominated by Walmart, if only by a few cents — the exceptions being cream cheese, butter, and oat milk. If you swear by the creamy milk alternative, grab it at Target, where it's over a dollar cheaper.

Unlike the dairy section, the produce seems to have a little more discrepancy between each store. There are a few products that are competitive, like the chopped salad kits (both about $3.50) and bananas, each store selling the single yellow fruit for about $0.30. Some products, though, are different by as much as a few dollars. And not all of Walmart's produce is necessarily generic; some are sourced and sold without labeling at all, like any grocery store would do.

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For the most part, the Walmart products are cheaper than the Target products, especially when Marketside's label is on them. Shredded lettuce is $3.39 with Good and Gather versus the Marketside $2.18. A 2-pound bag of lemons is $4.49 at Target and $3.92 at Walmart. Most notable is the prepared fresh fruit, like watermelon and pineapple. Pineapple chunks are a whopping $6.99 at Target and a much lower $4.58 at Walmart. One of the only products Walmart seems to sell at a premium compared to Target? Avocados, which sell at $3.89 and $6.97 respectively.

Meat and seafood is another category with some large price differences — but this time, the affordability sways in Target's direction. Again, some things are priced almost identically, such as fresh burger patties around $8, frozen scallops around $20, and sirloin steaks just under $11. Other products, though, seem to vary quite a bit, with Target usually sitting a little bit ahead. For example, the frozen Atlantic salmon filets at Target sit at $10.99, with the Walmart counterpart selling at $12.48. The lean ground beef is a bit better, too: Target's is priced at $7.49 versus Walmart's $8.46. Target also seems to rule the deli meats and sausages, with each category priced 25 to 75 cents less than Walmart's.

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That's not to say Walmart doesn't have some deals. You're more likely to get a better deal on a value pack of chicken breasts at Walmart, cheaper bacon, very slightly more affordable fresh salmon, and cheaper frozen shrimp. Walmart also has a noticeable difference in quantity, with Target's meat area reduced to just a few square feet of the refrigerated section. If you're hunting down good ground beef or highly rated generic bacon, head to Target; but if you're looking for fresh, whole tilapia or a few lobster tails? Walmart might be your better bet.

The pantry aisles are vast at either store – and no matter what, you'll be getting a great deal compared to almost any other grocery market. Both stores have mastered pantry products, selling them for unbeatable prices in every single aisle. With some products, the difference is indistinguishable from name brands, and combined with new modern packaging, it hardly matters whether you buy generic or name brand pantry products anymore. The question is: With thousands of generic pantry products, does either store have a noticeable cost advantage?

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To compare, we looked at the most common pantry items, such as dried pasta, sauces, condiments, dressings, spices, and broths, as well as baking goods like flour, sugar, and vanilla. Walmart does again what it does best: price matching. On almost every single product, Walmart was 1 to 5 cents cheaper. For example, dried pastas at Target sell for $0.99, and at Walmart they sell for just $0.01 less — same story with green beans, ranch dressing, yellow mustard, and marinara sauce. Does this really make Walmart the more affordable option? In some cases, yes. If you're a baker who uses generics, you may want to head to Walmart. The flour, sugar, chocolate chips, baking soda, and vanilla were all 20 to 30 cents cheaper, beating out Target in a pretty big way. On the other hand, if you're someone who likes a good condiment, you might want to stick with Target, which sells items like Heinz-copycat ketchup and mayonnaise at slightly better prices.

Let's start with the basics: Target's Market Pantry sells the simple, classic chips for around $1.79, while Walmart's Great Value chips are around $1.98. Mini pretzels are a few cents cheaper at Walmart, while trail mixes tend to be $1 more expensive. A 10-count of fresh cookies costs as much as $1.50 more at Target, while fruit bars and crispy rice treats are about the same at each. Where the prices start to get interesting, though, are the specialty snacks.

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Bettergoods is Walmart's answer to Target's excellent snacking aisles. Between Favorite Day, Market Pantry, and Good & Gather, Target has thousands of snacks, many of them dupes of name brands and others completely new inventions. Bettergoods is here to compete, offering snacks like sesame chips, miniature cookie bites, and macarons. Some of these beat Target's prices — the gluten-free cookie bites are $1 cheaper at Walmart, and the macarons about $0.50 less — but Target otherwise has this category locked down, with incredibly low prices on nuts (cashews are $1.34 cheaper), fruit snacks (an entire $2 cheaper), and fruit strips (a whopping $5 less). Though a few items here and there might be a little more expensive, Target is the place to go for your snacking needs overall, especially if you are looking for specialty products and flavors.

Both stores have impressive frozen food aisles, usually 3 to 4 rows deep with well-stocked freezers. Both stores carry the basics like fruit, veggies, and meat, as well as common freezer-friendly foods like French fries, chicken nuggets, and pizza. With basic items, Walmart is impressively more affordable, almost everything several dollars cheaper than Target's offerings. 10 ounces of frozen peas, for example, sell for $2.19 at Target, while Walmart carries a 12-ounce bag for only $0.98. It's the same story for French fries, broccoli, and berries, all of which sell for several dollars less at Walmart.

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It's easy to call Walmart the cheaper option here and call it a day. But before doing so, it's important to note that after the basic items, each store sells vastly different frozen snacks. Target has an array of specialty pizza flavors and a lineup of appetizers that Walmart simply doesn't have — take spanakopita, potstickers, and mac and cheese bites, for example. The ice cream flavors, while a few dollars more than Walmart's, are another example of Target's expansive offering. The verdict: Go to Walmart for cheaper frozen staples like veggies, fruit, cheese pizza, and vanilla ice cream, but turn to Target for party appetizers, artisan pizzas, and Halo-Top-esque ice cream.

Both stores sell many options for easy dinners, like marinated meats, packaged appetizers, and microwaveable meals. Each store also sells private label, ready-to-eat prepared foods, offering the customer a quick and easy option for when cooking simply isn't an option at all. These foods include salad bowls (not kits, which need assembly), potato salads, hummus, soups, sandwiches, salsas, and dips. Think about the foods you'd need to grab on your way to a forgotten work party, last-minute picnic, or hurried lunch.

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Walmart far surpasses Target in offerings in this category, a surprise for the store that was lacking in snacks and frozen specialties. Walmart offers dozens of ready-made sandwiches, wraps, and salads that Target simply doesn't have. Target focuses instead on products that aren't necessarily made in-house, like soups, dips, and salsas, and prices them more affordably than Walmart. Compared to the other categories, the prepared foods section is unexpected from both stores, Target being more affordable but offering less unique options. This could be explained by Walmart's in-house bakery and deli, which is able to prepare foods fresh daily. So if you're in a rush and need lunch, Walmart may be the place to go, while Target can be reserved for ready-made snacking.

Finally, the last aisle of the store. Each store sells generally the same beverage selection, with Target offering a few unique soda and seltzer flavors that Walmart forgoes for cost. If you're looking for total basics, like lemonade, orange juice, or plain sparkling water, Walmart is the better option (though Target has one of the highest-ranked OJs on the market). One thing Walmart doesn't sell quite as affordably is bottled still water, which differs by just $0.06 against Target. In this category, quality is less of a concern — water is water, after all — so Walmart is the better place to stop for affordable beverages.

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If you're a little bit of a seltzer fanatic or really love soda, though, Target may be the better choice for beverage shopping, their store-brand sparking waters one of the store's best-kept secrets. Walmart's Bettergoods mimics Target in offering a few great sparkling water flavors, but Target's selection is vast, including almost any flavor combination you could dream up. Target also sells healthy, calorie-free sodas, which Walmart hasn't quite touched. So while Walmart may be the more affordable store for basic beverages, Target may offer more options.

Across the board, Walmart has the better deals, but many times only by a few cents. Walmart's advantage over Target is their bakery and deli, which can churn out fresh breads and foods at low prices. It also has a cost advantage for basic items across all categories, like popular fruits, generic pantry products, simple frozen foods, and plain beverages. What Target does best is variety, especially when it comes to snacking — the store offers hundreds of unique snacks, frozen appetizers, and delicious desserts, many of which are nonexistent on Walmart's shelves at all.

So which store should you visit for a better deal? It depends. Purely for deals alone, Walmart will be the lower grocery bill, the majority of the generics strategically priced a few cents below Target's. For snacking, frozen food, and beverages, though, you might want to visit Target to stock up on specialty products. While Walmart's Bettergoods is offering strong competition with unique, healthy options, there's no beating the master of in-house brands. The truth? You're better off stopping at both stores if you really want to save money.