economie

My family of 4 took the same grocery list to Publix and Lidl. We were shocked by the savings we found at the bigger chain.

October 7, 20240
Fresh herbs were cheaper at Lidl (right) across the board.

Elliott Harrell

Fresh herbs really do make a big difference in recipes, so I buy cilantro and parsley most weeks.

Parsley was $0.89 at Lidl but $1.69 at Publix. Cilantro was $0.57 a bundle at Lidl and $1.49 at Publix. I was surprised by the price difference since the offerings in each store seemed comparable in size and freshness.

If I bought one bundle of each every week (and prices stayed the same), I could potentially save about $90 a year by purchasing these herbs at Lidl instead of Publix.

Bell peppers were more affordable at Lidl, too.
The green beans at Publix (left) were pricier than they were at Lidl (right).

Elliott Harrell

I don’t mind paying for the added convenience of being able to steam my veggies in the bag in the microwave. Still, I was surprised by the price difference between these veggies at Publix and Lidl.

At Publix, I paid $3.79 for a 12-ounce steamable bag of green beans. At Lidl, the same size bag of steamable green beans was only $2.47.

Although Lidl’s green beans seemed to have a special price cut, the “old price” was still over $1 less than what I saw at Publix.

I saved about $13 buying my proteins at Lidl instead of Publix.
Fairlife chocolate milk was cheaper at Lidl (right) than Publix (right).

Elliott Harrell

I buy the same Fairlife chocolate milk every week.

I like to add it to my coffee and I feel OK about my 3-year-old drinking it because it’s lower in sugar and higher in protein than many other chocolate milks we’ve found.

At $4.48, the 52-ounce bottle was 61 cents cheaper at Lidl than Publix.

Whole milk was cheaper at Lidl, too.
Publix (left) has more spices than Lidl (right) but the prices at the latter were pretty good.

Elliott Harrell

We were running low on a few seasonings this week, so I looked for paprika at both stores.

Publix definitely has a much broader spice selection than Lidl, but I haven’t had a problem founding my basics at the latter.

The cheapest paprika I found at Publix cost over $2. It came in a larger container at 2 ounces compared to Lidl’s 1.76 ounces.

Even so, Lidl had a better deal — its regular paprika works out to $0.49 an ounce compared to Publix’s $1.20 an ounce.

Even store-brand seasonings I found at Publix couldn’t beat Lidl’s.
It’s important to check the weekly deals at each grocery store.

Levon Clark/Shutterstock, Remigiusz Gora/Shutterstock

I saw similar savings throughout other aisles of Lidl as I shopped. From store-brand cashews to name-brand Baybel cheeses, my groceries were cheaper at Lidl across the board.

The only exception I found on my list was an 18-count carton of eggs that was $1.20 cheaper at Publix.

I knew Lidl had great deals, but this experiment opened my eyes to the potential for savings I could find at the German discount grocer.

On this trip, I saved over $40 shopping the same list at Lidl instead of Publix. If I could save like that every week, I have the potential to save over $2,000 annually on items that I feel are similar quality or exactly the same.

Of course, this is just a peek at my list and prices I came across on my most recent visit. Grocery prices and the sales available at each store change often.

The shop that’s best for you can also vary by region and depend on what groceries you by. Plus, some shoppers factor company ethics and accessibility into their grocery purchases. If you have to drive 30 minutes to get to a Lidl and you have a Publix two minutes from your home, the savings might not pay off.

That said, I feel fortunate my local Lidl as accessible to me as a Publix. Unless the latter has major deals or price drops, I’ll continue shopping at Lidl on a regular basis to save as much as I can.