Georgians Who Assume Aldi Is Cheapest May Pay More Than at Kroger, One Test Found
Most shoppers have a go-to store they assume is the cheapest.
A small price test of store brands suggests that hunch may not always hold up, though one test can’t speak for every Georgia shopper.
Here’s what the test found, and where its limits are.
Who Ran the Basket Test
Aldi and Kroger landed in this test for one reason. Restaurant Furniture Plus priced store-brand staples at four chains.
The company sells commercial furniture.
It compared the store-brand versions of 15 everyday items at four chains: Kroger, Walmart, Aldi and Albertsons.
FOX 5 Atlanta and Benzinga both reported the results on July 20, 2026.
Both reports name items like milk, bread, chicken breast, spaghetti, canned beans, canned diced tomatoes and sugar.
Neither prints all 15.
Because a company ran it, this is its snapshot, not a government survey.
If you were hoping to see Costco, Trader Joe’s, H-E-B or Piggly Wiggly, the test left them out.
Trader Joe’s didn’t carry some of the items.
Costco’s bulk model made single-item comparisons hard.
Four chains made the cut.
Here is how the four baskets ranked, cheapest first.
Four Totals
Kroger’s store-brand basket came to $30.00, the lowest of the four.
Walmart was close behind.
Its total came to $30.95, just 95 cents above Kroger’s.
Aldi landed third at $33.15.
Albertsons finished last at $35.58, which is $5.58 above Kroger.
If you shop at Aldi because you assume it’s cheapest, you may pay more than a similar basket costs at Kroger.
The Math Behind Aldi’s $3.15 Gap
Aldi’s $33.15 basket minus Kroger’s $30.00 basket leaves a $3.15 gap. That is about 10.5% above Kroger’s total. If the same gap held on a $100 basket, Aldi would cost about $10.50 more.
Spread across 15 items, that is about 21 cents more per item. Aldi averaged $2.21 an item. Kroger averaged $2.00.
Aldi’s Claim and Store Brands
Aldi says it offers the lowest prices of any national grocery store.
That’s a claim about the whole chain. This test checked something narrower: store brands only.
At Aldi, store brands cover much of the shelf, and nearly 90% of its items are exclusive brands.
Psst! How far apart are the four store-brand baskets? Sort the totals below and see where Aldi lands.
Two Store-Brand Lines, Compared
Each chain’s store-brand line set its total in this test.
Kroger’s store-brand line is called Our Brands, according to its annual report.
The Dallas Express says Aldi had the lowest price on two products, including a gallon of whole milk for $3.05.
On the other 13 items, a different chain’s brand had the lowest price.
Every chain prices its own brand. So the test compares store-brand lines, not identical products.
If you shop at both stores, you’re comparing brands.
Different lines, different prices.
No Store Locations, No Dates
Aldi and Kroger both have stores in Georgia. But FOX 5 Atlanta’s report gives no store locations or collection dates.
Kroger’s Atlanta Division, for one, lists Atlanta, Savannah and Augusta as places it serves.
So you can’t treat the gap as a receipt from the Kroger or the Aldi near you.
The researchers say prices differ by store, and sales change often.
Your stores may differ.
Pricing a few store-brand items at the Kroger and the Aldi near you tells you what your stores charge.
What 15 Items Cover
Does the Aldi gap on 15 items carry over to a full cart?
The test can’t say.
The Dallas Express calls the result a snapshot of 15 common grocery staples.
It isn’t the cost of a full weekly shopping trip.
That’s a small sample.
If your cart has many more than 15 items, the gap on your receipt could be larger or smaller.
A Different Test, a Different Winner
A different test came out the other way.
FOX Business published it on July 19, 2026, and Aldi came out on top.
It priced eight store-brand items in four places: the Addison area in Texas, Chicago, the Burbank area in California and Washington, D.C.
Aldi had the lowest basket total in all four markets.
Walmart generally came in close behind Aldi there.
That test used eight items.
The Kroger result came from 15.
Both can be right, since you’re reading two different baskets.
One headline can’t settle it.
Aldi’s Fall Price Cuts
Aldi’s Sept. 23 release said its fall price cuts run until at least Nov. 3.
The company estimates it will save shoppers $86 million.
Nearly one-third of the products on its shelves cost less than they did last year.
Examples include chicken breast family packs at $1.99 per pound.
Chicken breast was one of the items named in the July reports.
Timing matters.
If you price the same items now, your totals could differ from the reported ones.
Psst! How well do you know Kroger, Aldi and grocery price claims? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Store-Brand Price IQ
Answer these questions on Kroger, Aldi and the fine print behind grocery price claims. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Aldi’s website says its exclusive brands cost “up to 50% less.” Less than what, according to the fine print?
Where Kroger Won
In the test, Kroger had the lowest price on 10 of the 15 items.
That was the most of any chain, according to the Dallas Express and Benzinga.
That's two-thirds of the items.
If you buy store brands, Kroger's are worth checking.
Kroger had the lowest prices on several pantry staples.
Canned diced tomatoes, spaghetti and sugar are among them.
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