More Bang for your Buck
Madison Paquette
Contributing Writer
While being a college student is tough enough already, learning to fend for yourself and be an actual adult isn’t always as easy as it seems. Most students are used to coming home from a long day at school to a nice, cooked family dinner. Not having to worry about how much caregivers spent on groceries to make that hot meal in front of you. At college, it’s a whole different ball game.
Here in Farmington, Maine, there are three main places where UMF students can go grocery shopping: Walmart, Hannaford, and Food City. While college students pay for groceries, students want to know where they can get the best quality product, with good variety but also at the affordable side. Students want to know where they can get the most bang for their buck.
Students on campus, including a CA that lives in Purington, were asked if they go grocery shopping. If so, where? What top items do they buy? Why do they shop at those certain stores?
The top answers for where students shop were between Walmart and Hannaford. Food City was only mentioned once, by the CA, and his response was: “I typically go to Walmart and Food City.” When asked why he shops there, the CA said, “Walmart is where I typically go where when I’m back at home so that’s just something familiar and I go to Food City because it's walking distance when needed.”
When students were questioned about why they chose Hannaford and Walmart, they all had very common answers. They either said it was because that’s what they grew up doing and where they shop at home or they said that it's where their friends go and they all go shopping together.
The most common food items were Red Bull, microwavable mac and cheese, Oreos, Lays chips, and sandwich bread. Upon visiting both Walmart and Hannaford and comparing the prices, it turns out that Walmart has almost all of the items at a cheaper price than Hannaford. But, Hannaford does have a bigger variety and always delivers when it comes to quality care.
A Kraft four-pack at Hannaford.
For example, a four-pack of Kraft macaroni and cheese at Hannaford costs a whopping $6.49 while at Walmart, the same four-pack only costs $4.74. The $1.75 price discrepancy can certainly add up over time. One example of Hannaford being the cheaper store is in regards to a 12-pack of 8 fluid-ounce Red Bull cans that could cost up to $19.59. It will actually cost a whole 99 cents more to go to Walmart at a total of $20.58 cents. For most people, that is a lot of money and continually buying this product at Walmart might make your wallet a little sad.
No matter what, both Walmart and Hannaford are amazing grocery stores. Overall, Walmart is going to take the win for being cheaper. Consider checking in over at Hannaford Supermarket if you are in search of quality and quantity, because that’ll be the place for you.
