New numbers were released a few days ago that inflation was up more than 4%, and many people have anecdotal evidence that prices have been going up. Meanwhile, several stores have made headlines by saying they were lowering prices on hundreds of items. (Source: Major grocery chains are lowering prices on thousands of items)

Back in February, I compiled prices for a variety of grocery items to see which Wisconsin grocery store had the lowest price. This week, I finished checking those same items’ prices to see how much of a difference there was.

I shopped the lowest price possible for each item. Some stores like Costco and Fresh Thyme only had organic versions of the items I was pricing, so they are understandably more expensive. The items I priced include:

• White Bread
• Buns
• Gallon Whole Milk
• Dozen Eggs
• Greek Yogurt Tub (32oz)
• Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp Apples
• Iceberg Lettuce
• Cucumber
• 80/20 Ground Beef
• Fresh Chicken Breast
• Frozen Chicken Breast
• Chicken Drumsticks
• Ground Coffee (25.9oz)
• Spaghetti Noodles
• 15oz Tomato Sauce

All of these prices were obtained February 12-18 and June 10-12, 2026. The prices reflected are the Regular Store Prices, not their sale price.

Breaking the costs down further, you’ll see how much the list of groceries above went up. While Walmart, Meijer, and Fresh Thyme’s prices barely budged, other stores like Target, Hy-Vee, and Woodman’s price totals are up nearly $10.

• Aldi: + $4.77
• Festival Foods: + $5.13
• Hy-Vee: + $9.98
• Meijer: + $0.33
• Metro Market/Pick ‘n Save: – $3.14
• Target: + $9.95
• Walmart: + $0.14
• Fresh Thyme: – $1.00
• Woodman’s: + $9.53
• Costco: +2.39
• Sam’s Club: NA (did not track in February)

Now, these numbers are based upon Regular Prices. Many of these stores have great sales from time-to-time on certain products, like soda or ground beef. I find myself at Meijer occasionally for their awesome sales, or Aldi when I just need to re-stock the house with basics. I recently shopped at Festival Foods for the first time in years because of some awesome sales, yet one of the reasons I rarely shop there is because their regular prices are higher than the other stores. As you can see from the charts, they’re almost $20 higher than Aldi.

What do you think? Are there any surprises? I’m most surprised at Woodman’s numbers. They’ve always been solidly #2 for cheapest prices, and this sample survey drops them to 5th! I’ll break the numbers down further this weekend with a deeper dive into what items’ prices went up the most as well as how much of a difference prices can be across the stores.

Fans of reading may be interested in my other website, Bargain Sleuth Reviews. The majority of books I review are Advanced Reader’s Copies, which are given to me for free. Or I get my books to review from The Brown County Library.

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