Welcome to the first edition of Manchester Ink Link’s Grocery Hunt!
On Saturday, we asked our readers on our Facebook Page to provide a list of grocery items and grocery stores in the Manchester area for a price comparison.
Since this is our first week, we’re going to go through each item one-by-one as there were some slight variations that are worth highlighting.
Please note that all prices were checked on Wednesday, Jan. 6 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and prices and availability may change without notice. Other iterations of these items may be available at these stores, but they were not immediately noticeable at the specific time when prices were checked.
If you’ve got pictures of prices of these or other items, please e-mail them to andy@manchesterinklink.com! We’ll include those pictures in our next edition of the Grocery Hunt.
Horizon Milk
Only one of the stores on this week’s list, the Hannaford on Hanover St., had Horizon Organic Milk. There, it was $5.69 a gallon and $4.69 a gallon for their DHA-Omega 3 brand of milk.
So, instead we looked at store-brand generic gallons of milk. All prices were the same for all types of milk in stock and are listed by price from lowest to highest.
- Aldi (1111 S. Willow St., Manchester, NH) – $1.48
- Price Rite (365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH) – $1.99
- Market Basket (460 Elm St., Manchester, NH) – $2.59
- Hannaford (859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH) – $2.59
- Trader Joe’s (2 Market St., Bedford, NH) – $2.99
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Here, we attempted to look for a generic store brand, but also included other brand-names where applicable. Prices are listed from lowest to highest by generic store brand.
- Hannaford (859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH) – $1.29 lb. (Hannaford all-natural option – $5.75 lb., Farmer Focus – $7.99 lb.)
- Market Basket (460 Elm St., Manchester, NH) – $2.99 lb. (Perdue – $3.49 lb., Oasis, $3.49 lb.)
- Trader Joe’s (2 Market St., Bedford, NH) – $5.99 lb.
- Price Rite (365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH) – n/a (Amick Farms – $1.69 lb., Amick Farms Halal – $3.49 lb., Perdue $3.49 lb.)
- Aldi (1111 S. Willow St., Manchester, NH) – n/a (Kirkwood – $2.49 lb., Kirkwood Thin Sliced – $3.49 lb.)
Original Cheerios
Each store had different sizes of Cheerios and two stores had off-brand versions only. Prices here also include box size and are listed in order in which they were found.
- Trader Joe’s (2 Market St., Bedford, NH) – n/a (“Joe’s O’s” – $1.99, 15 oz.)
- Market Basket (460 Elm St., Manchester, NH) – 2/$6, 18 oz., or $4.99 21.7 oz.
- Price Rite (365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH) – $2, 8 oz.
- Hannaford (859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH) – $2.49, 8 oz.
- Aldi (1111 S. Willow St., Manchester, NH) – n/a (Millville Crispy Oats, $1.09, 12 oz.)
Steak Tips
An apples-to-apples comparison was not possible here as well, so the prices in this category are listed in the order in which they were found.
- Trader Joe’s (2 Market St., Bedford, NH) – $10.49 lb. (sirloin)
- Market Basket (460 Elm St., Manchester, NH) – $8.49 lb. (Angus sirloin)
- Price Rite (365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH) – $8.49 lb. (Angus sirloin thin)
- Hannaford (859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH) – $9.99 lb. (marinated, various types), $9.99 lb. (Angus)
- Aldi (1111 S. Willow St., Manchester, NH) – n/a
Scallops
Much like the steak tips, there is a wide variety in terms of scallops that were available. Prices here are also listed in the order in which they were found and price per weight is listed where applicable. The difference between sea scallops and bay scallops is also listed where it could be found in nearby labeling.
- Trader Joe’s (2 Market St., Bedford, NH) – $17.99 lb. (sea scallops, bagged, frozen)
- Market Basket (460 Elm St., Manchester, NH) – $21.99 lb. (fresh dry sea scallops), $19.99 lb. (frozen large scallops), $10.99 lb. (dry scallops), $8.99 (Magdalena Bay scallops, frozen 16 oz. bagged), $15.95 (Market Basket brand sea scallops, bagged, frozen, 12 oz.)
- Price Rite (365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH) – $14.99 lb. (Cape Gourmet sea scallops, frozen, bagged), $8.99 lb. (Atlantic Cape bay scallops, frozen, bagged)
- Hannaford (859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH) – $5.32 lb. (Matlaw’s stuffed scallops, 9 oz., packaged), $17.99 lb. (dry, fresh, wild caught), $9.99 lb. (dry,fresh, farm-raised bay scallops)
- Aldi (1111 S. Willow St., Manchester, NH) – $9.99 lb. (12 oz., frozen, bagged.)
