Target Vs Walmart: Which Has The Cheaper Generic Food Brand?

If you're trying to save money while shopping, you probably have experience with choosing the store brand over the name brand. Target's Good & Gather and Walmart's Great Value are readily available, affordable labels that sell a wide variety of items, which explains why they're so popular. However, when Chowhound pitted these brands against one another to determine which retailer has the better deals, it found that Great Value is generally a bit cheaper because it's more willing than Good & Gather to rely on artificial ingredients.

Overall, Walmart's Great Value label is more affordable than Target's Good & Gather and Market Pantry brands, but the margins are pretty slim. For example, a loaf of Great Value white bread costs $1.42, while Target's Market Pantry white bread costs $1.49. The same goes for water bottles, with a 40-pack from Great Value going for $5.64 (or $0.14 per bottle) and a 32-pack from Good & Gather costing $4.79 (or $0.15 per bottle). Granted, that's only a difference of $0.01, but Great Value technically still takes the crown. Keep in mind, however, that prices at both Target and Walmart are likely to keep increasing due to tariffs and other economic variables.

There are plenty of foods you should always buy at Target, like sparkling water and fresh produce, but if you're on the hunt for generic brands, you have two to choose from: Market Pantry and Good & Gather. The former was Target's original generic brand before it began remodeling and modernizing its stores in 2017 with additions like new electronics and improved same-day services. In 2019, it launched Good & Gather to phase out the Market Pantry brand, though you can still find certain items under this label on store shelves. The prices of Good & Gather products reflect the line's improved quality, even though it remains more affordable than larger name brands.

Target's store-brand pricing remains competitive with major labels while maintaining quality ingredients that are free of artificial sweeteners and coloring. For example, the brand's unsweetened applesauce is $0.30 cheaper than the same product from Mott's. This trend also applies to items like pasta; a 16-ounce box of Good & Gather rotini costs $1.19 while the same amount from Barilla costs $1.69.

Walmart is known for having more affordable prices than Target, even though the difference usually only ranges from a few cents to $1. Still, don't make the mistake of overlooking the Great Value brand when shopping at Walmart because, compared to big name brands, it maintains comparatively low prices. At Walmart, an 18.12-ounce package of name-brand Oreo cookies costs $4.88; meanwhile, Great Value's Twist & Shout dupe only costs $3.37 for a slightly larger 19.1-ounce package. While Good & Gather doesn't have a substitute for Oreos, it's interesting to note that Target's base cost for the same package of Oreo-brand cookies is $0.41 more expensive than Walmart's.

As another example, let's take a look at frozen chicken nuggets. Great Value's 32-ounce bag costs $5.97, or $0.19 per ounce; compare that to the Tyson version, which usually costs $6.46 for just 29 ounces, or $0.22 per ounce. Compare that to Good & Gather and you'll find that the price falls right in the middle, with Target's 29-ounce bag costing $5.99, or just under $0.21 per ounce.

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