How to Plan a Multi-Store Grocery Run and Save Money

By LastList · April 2025

Everyone knows that different stores have different prices. Produce at Aldi is often cheaper than at Kroger. Meat at Walmart can beat a specialty grocery store by 30%. Buying in bulk at Costco saves money on pantry staples — if you know what you're getting.

The problem isn't knowing that shopping multiple stores saves money. The problem is doing it without the trip eating up more time than the savings are worth.

Why Multi-Store Shopping Works

The savings opportunity comes from price variation across store types. Discount grocers (Aldi, Lidl) beat mainstream supermarkets on produce and basics by a wide margin. Warehouse stores (Costco, Sam's Club) win on bulk staples. General merchandise stores (Walmart, Target) often have competitive everyday prices with broader selection.

A household spending $200/week on groceries can realistically cut that to $160–175 by splitting strategically across two stores — not every trip, but as a regular habit. Over a year, that's $1,000–2,000 in savings.

The Planning Problem

Most people who try multi-store shopping eventually give it up because the planning overhead is too high. To do it well, you need to:

• Know which store has which items in stock
• Check prices at multiple stores before deciding where to buy each item
• Split your list into per-store sublists
• Figure out the order to hit stores without excessive backtracking
• Handle online orders separately from in-store trips

Doing this manually with apps, websites, and store circulars is genuinely time-consuming. Most people give up and just go to one store.

How LastList Handles the Planning Automatically

LastList was designed specifically for this use case. When you add your grocery items, it searches for real products at stores near you and shows what each costs. You pick the product and store for each item — and LastList builds the plan for you.

Here's the actual workflow:

• Type your list in plain language: "milk, eggs, chicken breast, laundry detergent, paper towels"
• LastList searches Walmart, Kroger, Instacart, and other nearby stores
• You see real products with real prices at each store
• Pick the best deal for each item — maybe eggs from Kroger, paper towels from Walmart
• LastList groups everything by store and builds a unified plan
• Online delivery orders (Instacart, etc.) get handled first with checkout links
• In-store trips come with aisle-sorted checklists for each store

Tips for Making Multi-Store Shopping Work

A few practices that help once you have the right tool:

• Stick to two stores per trip. Three or more gets diminishing returns on both savings and sanity.
• Let geography guide your split. If two stores are close together, it's easy to hit both. If one is out of the way, the detour needs to justify itself in savings.
• Use delivery for one store. Ordering from Instacart for one store while shopping in-person at another is often the most time-efficient option.
• Batch the big-box run. Items you buy in bulk (Costco, Sam's) don't need to be on every trip. Add them monthly rather than weekly.

Start With Your Next Grocery Run

You don't need to overhaul how you shop overnight. Start by entering your next grocery list in LastList and see what it finds at nearby stores. Even moving two or three items from a higher-priced store to a lower-priced one adds up quickly.