While Walmart's low "rollback" prices and product exclusives can be tempting, not every
item that lines the grocery section of your local store is worth the trip.
Here's what you should never buy at Walmart.
We're gonna assume you're one of those people that buys organic products because you don't
like eating pesticides, antibiotics, or synthetic hormones.
Not, of course, because it gives you a thrill to pay $4 for an onion.
If you're always on the hunt for affordable organic produce, you're probably gonna wanna
skip Walmart.
According to the financial advice gurus over at Kiplinger, rival stores Aldi and Trader
Joe's consistently beat Walmart's prices on organic fruits and vegetables.
That means that until Walmart begins aggressively rolling back prices on celery and carrots
at the same rate as everything else in the store, you're better off buying organic somewhere
else.
In fact, you're better off buying any and all produce elsewhere.
According to Consumer Reports, Walmart consistently ranks toward the bottom of their listing of
supermarket chains.
"We asked about the quality of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, store-prepared foods, and
baked goods."
"People gave Walmart low marks in all freshness categories."
Out of 68 supermarkets evaluated by Consumer Reports, Walmart falls at number 67.
Ooph.
The chain is trying to fix its produce department with new monitoring technologies and a 100
percent freshness guarantee, but in the meantime, consider buying produce elsewhere.
As anyone who has watched their 4-year-old pour $24 worth of maple syrup onto 50 cents
worth of pancakes can tell you, those bottles of Grade-A Vermont liquid gold can seriously
blow up your food budget.
Still, if you just can't bring yourself to make the leap to the mass-market flavored
corn syrup brands, you can still find real, tree-tapped, 100 percent natural maple syrup
at a reasonable price… provided you don't go looking for it at Walmart.
According to The Krazy Koupon Lady, an expert on the best deals available at Costco, the
stuff at Walmart is not only lower in quality… it's almost twice as expensive.
Our advice?
Hit up Costco and grab a couple bottles of Kirkland Signature USDA Organic Grade-A syrup
instead.
Your taste buds, and your wallet, will thank you.
Organic milk is always going to be more expensive than conventional milk, simply because it
costs the farmers more to produce it.
Raising fewer cattle, refusing to feed cows genetically modified feed, and milking them
at natural production levels may produce milk that is healthier and tastes better, but cheap
it ain't.
When farmers have to spend more money to produce their milk, they pass that cost on to you,
the customer… and there's not much that even super chains like Walmart can do to control
that.
"Have as much milk as you want."
"Well, that's fiiine!"
Unfortunately, organic milk at Walmart still doesn't present the value found in many of
its other items.
According to Kiplinger, both Aldi and Trader Joe's routinely trounce Walmart in organic
milk pricing, costing less per half gallon.
Sometimes, even fancypants grocery chain Whole Foods manages to undercut Walmart on organic
milk prices… and when a place that's nicknamed "Whole Paycheck" beats you on pricing, you've
got a serious problem.
"Sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo trash to me!"
The next time you're tempted by a big bag of EZ-Peel cocktail shrimp from Walmart, check
the country of origin.
According to Natural News, if you're holding a bag of shrimp imported from Thailand, you've
got to factor some human rights violations into the cost per pound.
Workers, some of whom are children, are often treated extremely poorly, and trafficked as
just another commodity in the shrimp farming industry.
"America's largest retailers are selling shrimp prepared in Thailand by slave labor, including
children."
The work is extremely labor-intensive, and prone to abuse by subcontractors overseeing
both the fishing itself and the pre-processing facilities that handle shell and head removal,
as well as de-veining.
Not only that, but they can pose a threat to your health.
According to a 2015 study by Consumer Reports of 205 imported shrimp samples, half the samples
contained bacteria, and 11 from Vietnam, Thailand, and Bangladesh contained traces of antibiotic
residue.
"We also found bacteria in 60% of our raw shrimp samples including vibrio, a common
cause of food poisoning from oysters."
Some of these antibiotics pose a cancer risk, while others are illegal for food production
use in the United States.
The bottom line?
Focus less on the bargain pricing, and make sure you know where your shrimp is coming
from.
Sure, those rows upon rows of perfectly portioned ground beef may be a thing of bovine beauty,
but you're better off buying your ground chuck somewhere else.
According to a recent survey of standard grocery store purchases by Cheapism, a site that tracks
the best bargains at supermarkets nationwide, Walmart isn't always the least expensive,
and that includes their ground beef.
Cheapism found that discount grocer Aldi routinely beat Walmart's prices by a pretty hefty percentage.
Even if pricing isn't your chief concern when choosing a package of ground beef, the quality
of Walmart's meat can vary wildly.
Bacterial contamination continues to be a problem for packaged ground beef at Walmart;
a company that supplies beef to Walmart recalled 6.5 million pounds of burger sold at Walmart
and other stores as recently as 2018, due to salmonella contamination.
Another recall of 90,000 pounds of beef patties in 2016 was triggered by "[contamination]
with extraneous wood materials."
"The USDA just expanded a recall because the meat could make you sick."
Those numbers are almost bad enough to convert even the most carnivorous meat-lover into
a vegan.
Almost.