A Florida Price Check Found Publix’s Turkey Cheaper but the Basket Pricier

A cheap turkey can make your holiday grocery trip feel like a win.

But a price check around Palm Beach County found that a low turkey price doesn’t always mean a low total at Publix.

Here’s how the totals stacked up for Floridians in that area.

What the Survey Covered

Stet News reporters in Palm Beach County, Florida, did the price check.

On Oct. 28, 2025, they priced more than 40 food items at 19 area stores.

They rechecked turkey prices at some of the stores on Nov. 19.

Twelve of those items made up the Thanksgiving basket.

The produce was 3 pounds of yellow onions, 5 pounds of russet potatoes, 1 pound of sweet potatoes and eight ears of corn.

The rest was a can each of green beans, pumpkin puree and cream of mushroom soup, plus a gallon of whole milk and a dozen large eggs.

It also had a pound of butter, a box of two ready-to-roll pie crusts and the 12-pound turkey.

The basket totals are average prices rather than one shelf tag.

Publix, Winn-Dixie, Aldi, Walmart and Whole Foods all show up in Stet’s item prices.

Twelve items is a short list. You can price it at your own store.

This is one county’s prices on one October day, with a turkey recheck on Nov. 19.

It is not a statewide survey.

Turkey Prices

Winn-Dixie priced its whole frozen turkey the same as Publix did.

Walmart priced the same turkey at $14.10 and Aldi at $14.76.

At Publix, you would have paid $8.22 less than at Walmart and $8.88 less than at Aldi.

Stet’s Nov. 25 newsletter put the savings at $8 on a 12-pound turkey at Publix and Winn-Dixie.

Per pound, that is about 49 cents at Publix and $1.23 at Aldi.

Winn-Dixie required shoppers to spend $20 at the store to get its $5.88 turkey.

At 49 cents a pound, Winn-Dixie’s turkey matched Publix’s price. But that was only for shoppers who met the $20 condition.

The $5.88 turkeys at both stores were priced “with limits.”

Basket Totals

We’d say that if you shop at Publix, the turkey price alone won’t tell you what your cart costs.

The 12-item basket came to more than $47 at Publix and more than $48 at Winn-Dixie.

The same 12 foods came to nearly $39 at Aldi and slightly more than $39 at Walmart.

Stet’s report says the Aldi and Walmart totals include a turkey.

Its lead on deep turkey discounts suggests Publix’s total includes the $5.88 one.

So even with a cheap turkey, you would have paid about $8 more at Publix than at either store for the 12 items.

The Nov. 25 newsletter rounded the totals to about $47 at Publix and just under $40 at Aldi and Walmart.

Winn-Dixie’s total was the highest of the four, even with its $5.88 turkey.

Item-by-Item Gaps

Publix’s 5-pound bag of russet potatoes averaged $6.07 across six Publix stores.

Walmart’s average was $1.97.

That gap of about $4 was the widest Publix gap among these items.

Publix’s bag cost about three times Walmart’s.

A can of Libby’s pumpkin puree was $2.87 at Publix.

Aldi’s store brand was $1.09.

The labels set a name brand against a store brand there, so part of the $1.78 gap may be the brand.

Sweet potatoes were $1.51 a pound at Publix on Oct. 28.

The lowest price was 65 cents at Aldi, which is 86 cents a pound less.

A pound of butter of any brand averaged $4.79 at Publix, $3.49 at Aldi and $3.67 at Walmart.

On butter, you would pay $1.30 more at Publix than at Aldi.

Stet called refrigerated, ready-made pie crusts one of the largest price differentials, at $4.48 at Publix and $1.95 at Aldi.

The box of two ready-to-roll crusts cost $2.53 more at Publix.

Eight ears of corn cost $6.40 at Publix. Walmart had the lowest price at $5.36.

Winn-Dixie’s $12 was the highest.

The 30-Item Follow-Up

Stet's Jan. 9, 2026 follow-up priced a 30-item cart from the same Oct. 28 survey.

It started with a 44-item list and cut it to 30 items by removing duplicates and household goods.

The cart ran from a can of soup and 5 pounds of flour to 3 pounds of onions and 24 ounces of dry black beans.

Aldi's cart came to $63.15 and Walmart's to $76.65.

Winn-Dixie's came to $105.67 and Publix's to $109.62.

In the follow-up, Publix's $109.62 was the highest of the four totals.

At Publix, you would have paid $46.47 more than at Aldi and $32.97 more than at Walmart for that cart.

Put another way, for every $1 that cart cost at Publix, it cost about 58 cents at Aldi.