5 Walmart Groceries Worth Every Penny And 4 You Should Avoid

Walmart has built a reputation for some of the lowest prices through its store brands. The Great Value brand was launched in 1993 and has grown to be one of the largest food brands in the country, offering quality, affordable choices on everything from pantry staples to frozen meals and sweet treats. But as every smart shopper knows, cheaper doesn't always mean better. Some store-brand swaps can easily compete with their pricier counterparts, but others fall short on flavor, texture, and overall quality.

This is why many shoppers turn to online reviews, taste tests, and brand comparisons to determine which Walmart groceries are worth purchasing and which are simply too good to be true. In some cases, Great Value products are just as good, if not better than the leading brands, but others are not worth the savings. To help separate the hidden gems from the disappointments, we did our research to find the must-have Great Value foods worth every penny, and the ones you're better off avoiding, according to customers online.

If you often use butter to cook or bake, you might have noticed that this cooking essential can get awfully pricey, but according to customers and home cooks online, store-brand butter often performs just as well as the leading name brands and tastes as good. One woman on TikTok put three butter brands to the test: Challenge, Great Value, and Kirkland Signature. After baking her cookie recipe using the three different butters in each batch, she said, "In these tests there's not much difference ... sometimes the different batches [of butter] perform differently." Perhaps this is because the store brand butters are often made by the same manufacturer as the name brands.

In fact, it's been rumored that the popular brand Land O'Lakes is the manufacturer behind Great Value's butter brand because the products taste so similar. One former creamery employee on Reddit explains why you should always buy store brand butter: "I worked at a creamery for a bit before Walmart, and I've seen the same butter go into Land O'Lakes, Great Value, and their own brand." The thousands of positive reviews online claim that the Great Value butter is just as good, if not better than high-quality name brands like Tillamook, and at less than $1 per stick, the price is hard to beat.

The Great Value pasta sauce is an alluring product because it is one of the cheapest options on the shelves. However, despite having a much lower price tag than leading name brands like Rao's, customers find the pasta sauce to be watery, with a diluted flavor. One review of the marinara pasta sauce explained that the product tasted more like mashed up tomatoes with little to no flavor from the herbs and spices. A customer on Reddit even claims the GV brand sauce tastes like pennies. "Worst would probably be pasta sauce. I don't know what it is, but some of the GV pasta sauce tastes like pennies."

Many customers claim that it's worth spending a few extra dollars on a high-quality, flavorful sauce because it makes a real difference in your pasta. And if you have the time, making your own sauce is the best way to go. But if you decide to go for a store brand option, you might want to steer clear of the GV brand. In our own taste test, we put Aldi and Walmart's sauces head to head to see which store brand pasta sauce is better, and Aldi came out on top in almost every category.

Mastering the art of the frozen pizza is no easy feat, but Great Value has a pizza in the frozen aisle that receives glowing reviews for its value, flavor, and texture. Not only are the Walmart brand pizzas way cheaper than takeout, but customers claim they're just as good, if not better than the leading store-brand options, like DiGiorno. In fact, they are so similar that some shoppers believe the Great Value pizza is likely just DiGiorno disguised in store brand packaging. One pizza in particular that is highly popular is the rising crust three meat pizza that features a combination of pepperoni, sausage, and beef and a thick crust with a crispy exterior and fluffy warm interior.

Not only is the pie less than $5, but some customers even claim it's their favorite pizza. There are thousands of positive reviews of the product on the Walmart site, with many customers explaining how pleasantly surprised they were to find such a high-quality pizza for so cheap. For instance, one Walmart shopper writes, "This pizza is excellent!! It was my first time trying it and I was very surprised how good it was. The sauce, meats, cheese, and crust. This is the best frozen self rising crust pizza I have had and I've tried a lot."

Pizza rolls are a snack that bring back fond memories of childhood, but many of us can't resist giving into our nostalgic cravings and enjoying them in adulthood. However, the Great Value pizza rolls simply do not compete with the Totino's brand that many of us grew up with. Shoppers online have put the two brands up against one another in a taste test and found Totino's was the clear winner. One customer on Reddit said, "The GV pizza rolls taste like the box they come in." And other shoppers recommend trying the Aldi store brand version if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the name brand option.

Another issue that customers have with the Walmart version of this snack compared to the anime brand is that the crust-to-filling ratio is completely off. A food reviewer on TikTok explained that he felt like he was, "... biting into a pocket of pizza-flavored air." Unfortunately, the Great Value pepperoni pizza rolls are one of the Walmart items that have decreased in quality over the years.

It's always nice to have a couple boxes of mac and cheese in the pantry for when you need a quick and tasty meal. Walmart's Great Value mac costs less than $1 per box and the product is highly reviewed, earning 4.5 stars across more than 2,000 reviews. Customers are divided on how the store brand compares to Kraft. Some customers claim the GV version is better than the name brand while others believe that Kraft is indeed the brand behind the product and that the two are essentially the same.

Regardless, it's well worth saving some money and going with the store-brand version, according to customers online. One self-proclaimed "connoisseur of comfort food" explains in a Walmart product review, "The pasta consistently achieves that perfect al dente texture, never mushy or overly soft, which is a common pitfall for many boxed mac and cheeses. Then comes the cheese ... It's rich, creamy, and possesses that quintessential tangy-yet-mellow flavor." Plus, customers share tons of creative ways to upgrade the cheap meal with cream of chicken, bacon bits, taco seasoning, and more.

When it comes to ranch dressing, customers don't mess around. And while the general consensus is that restaurant ranch is unquestionably better than anything store-bought, the Great Value ranch dressing from Walmart is particularly offensive to ranch dressing connoisseurs who appreciate a thick and creamy dipping sauce. One reviewer on YouTube described the product as flat and stale, and said, "It's flat, stale ... in this case year old ranch flavor. It has a lot of funk happening, and not the good kind." He rated it a measly three out of 10. 

Other reviews of the product claim it's watery and thin. A particularly spirited Walmart customer said, "Nasty. Tastes like oily feet and smells sour. I will pay the extra dollar or two for name brand." If you abide by the whole idea that food is simply a vehicle for the sauce, you're better off making your own ranch dressing. There are entire Reddit threads dedicated to sharing tips for doctoring up Hidden Valley ranch packets with ingredients like mayonnaise and sour cream to get that restaurant-grade texture.

Bottled water brands can be expensive, but the Sam's Choice purified drinking water is a highly popular purchase among Walmart shoppers for its value and quality. It's no secret that customers can be picky about their water, but a 28-count pack of 20-liter Sam's purified bottles costs less than $5 and receives glowing reviews online. One customer on Reddit even goes so far as to claim it's the "... best water you will ever drink."

A former Walmart employee also said on Reddit, "I swear people were always asking me to check in the back for that water ..." And with more than 20,000 5-star reviews on the site, it's clear that other shoppers agree. Customers can't explain why but they simply feel the water tastes better than other bottled brands and the price is unbeatable. Not to mention, shoppers also appreciate the bottle itself, as they never have issues with the lid leaking, like so many other brands.

Walmart sells several name brand candy bar dupes under its store brand. They have a peanut, caramel, and nougat bar that is a copycat for Snickers, a milk chocolate crispy wafers bar that is similar to KitKat, and fluffy nougat bar that is similar to 3 Musketeers. While Walmart's knockoff candy bars are certainly cheaper than the name brand versions, customers online warn shoppers about the sacrifice in taste and quality. The cookie & caramel bar, a Twix copycat, receives particularly poor reviews for being a far cry from the original.

Customers claim the cookie has a bizarre taste and the bar leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. One Redditor did a side-by-side comparison of the GV version and Twix and confirmed "... the Walmart one is not worth buying" despite the low price. Even in a blind taste test, customers could easily identify the real deal from the Walmart version. Customers agree that if you're treating yourself, it's worth spending a little extra on higher-quality chocolate.

Great Value ice cream tends to receive high praise from customers for being a worthy alternative to some of the more expensive name brands. And perhaps that's because the brand behind this popular Great Value product, Wells Dairy, is also the producer of several popular name brands, including Blue Bunny and Halo Top. The company prides itself on using high-quality, farm-fresh ingredients in its products, and customers are satisfied.

Consumer Reports listed Great Value vanilla ice cream as one of its top store brand picks, describing it as "... creamy and smooth, with a firmer texture and stronger vanilla flavor than the Breyers." Some customers even prefer it to the Target store brand ice cream, and it's cheaper as well. For just $2.97 per pint, you can find a variety of flavors ranging from your classic vanilla and chocolate to sea salt caramel, mint chip, peanut butter cup, and more.

To determine which products are and aren't worth purchasing, we pulled customer reviews, social media posts, and ratings from the Walmart site. We also gathered insights from several taste tests comparing Walmart's products to the name-brand version that they emulate. 

We maintained an unbiased perspective. And this allowed us to focus on the consensus of customer sentiment across several platforms.