Is the quality of Wal-Mart spices as good as from a regular grocery store?

Question

Holiday shopping everyone needs to stock up on vanilla, lemon extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. You can get the same name brands (McCormick, etc.) at Wal-Mart for maybe a buck and some change and the same name and ounce/size will be $3 at Harris Teeter or another grocery store. I feel like I'm getting fresher, better quality if I pay more. Is this true?

Answer 1

Being a truck driver I can tell you that alot of things that are name brand and off brand are made at the same place. They are packaged differently at the same place and all your paying for is the name. I buy spices all the time that are not name brand and never have a problem. Save your money and get the off brand!! Merry X-mas!!

Answer 2

Given the same brands, I'd wonder if you wouldn't be getting _better_ stuff from Wal-Mart -- they don't seem to lack for customers, and seem to sell only basics nearly everybody wants; what I mean is that their spices &c probably fly off the shelves and get re-stocked quite often, so they probably have a good chance of being fresher than you'd find at some grocery stores.

'Harris Teeter' (?) is a funny name for a grocery store, though not as funny as 'Piggly Wiggly' or 'Overwaitea' (the latter pronounced over-weighty; I thought it was a joke when I first heard it), but that's neither here nor there...

Answer 3

From what I found walmart is cheaper. They employ people to go around to all the other grocery stores in the area and do price checks to make sure that they are marked lower than everyone else. You can pretty much count on their prices being lower. BUT weekly advertisements can be lower. Especially buy one get one free sales. Walmart doesnt do that. And coupons....they don't double coupons. So if you see a sale in an ad from a store that double coupons, that combination will get you a better price. Another loophole at walmart--they match ad prices. If you see something on sale at rite aid, walgreens, food lion, tom thumb, bring the ad into walmart and you can get it for the other store's price. Again, the exception is buy one get one free sales, they don't honor those. The store ad also has to be local. If its a drive to get to that store, they wont honor it because the know you wouldn't actually drive far away to get the sale. Overall though, there are more choices in selection at your regular grocery store. But I do the majority of my shopping at walmart. But I do not recommend buying your meat and produce at walmart. Walmart doesn't portion their own meat. They get it frozen, and thaw it. They put their meat man in a white coat to give you the illusion that they package their own meat. Don't be decieved, they don't. I don't know the details about the produce. I've just had too many bad experiences with it. Try your local meat and produce market. You're likely to get the best quality meat there.

Answer 4

Yes, there is a terrific mark up on spices and extracts in the "regular grocery stores".

Wal-Mart is fine with spices and they are a lot cheaper

Mostly I order my spices and extracts on line, in bulk, from the Great American Spice company and they are much much cheaper - you can keep them in the freezer to keep them fresh or split some with a friend

http://www.americanspice.com/

Answer 5

i work in a store and over a period of time ive found out that alot of stuff like this is made by the same companys just with a different label, sometime it may be a few days older than the ones with the brand name lable....bread for instance, most places you can buy a loaf of bread for 99 cents, its the exact same as the brand names like bunny or sunbeam only a few hours older.

Answer 6

I would say yes, except it might be the "knock off's" from the brand names, anyhow, it will be the brand name companies that are supplying Wal Mart under the Wal Mart name.....in my opinion

Answer 7

I've never had a problem with buying spices from wal-mart they have name brand also

Answer 8

I Say no I have found many products that are better in the cheaper brand.

For instance walmart sugar free powdered drink mixes and drink stix are 10 times tastier than crsytalite. that's just one item.

Answer 9

not true at all, in fact if anything i found the products from walmart to be just as fresh if not fresher (my thinking is that they sell more since they are cheaper) buy them without any reservations at all

Answer 10

I've never had a problem and use store brand all the time.