What are the cheapest grocery stores in the Orlando area? (St. Cloud: sales, coupons)

[Captain Linebacker]

Simple question. In your opinion what are the cheapest stores to buy groceries at within a reasonable distance from Orlando? After years of being away from Florida I'm moving back for quite some time (possibly even the next 5+ years). While I'm looking forward to Florida again one thing I'm not excited about is the higher price of living, specifically the higher price of food.

Inevitably I'm going to end up paying more for the same thing which I accept as just the cost of living here. However I'm looking to cut back on the price of food as much as possible. What stores would you recommend as the cheapest? I'm going to be down in the St. Cloud area so anything around that would be great. Still for lower prices I would be willing to drive further out if it meant saving a few bucks.

[StillRoaming]

Cheapest grocery stores would probably be ALDI and Save-a-lot. They don't have many brand names but have a good variety. You can see their local weekly ads at their websites to get an idea of prices. Of course there's always Walmart, but they're usually not as cheap as ALDI and Save-a-lot.

[LuvOrlando]

There's a Wal-Mat grocery, an Aldi and a generic discount grocery store (forget the name) in St. Cloud. I was in the generic one once and it's kind of messy. They don't bag your stuff up! BYObags. However, the prices at the cheapo store were cheap and the produce was as good as Publix or Winn-Dixie, which isn't saying much. I didn't go to the other two discount stores.

Fresh produce here is kind of abysmal. Even Whole Foods, which is quite a drive from St. Cloud, had some iffy things. They are better than Publix and Winn-Dixie, though. I wouldn't recommend Whole Foods if you're looking to save money, though. Talk about high prices. If you lived here before, you already know about our crappy produce.

[boy3365]

As far as chains are concerned, Aldi, Save-A-Lot, and Walmart will be your best bet for everyday low prices.

However, shopping sales and combining them with coupons at regular grocers (i.e. Publix, Winn-Dixie) and drug stores destroy their prices.

Local produce shops offer better prices and higher quality than traditional grocers. Latin markets will sell meat the cheapest, but the inexpensive NY strip I bought from one near me was so tough.

[Crane's Rooster]

If you buy in bulk you can make a trip to Freshfield farms in Orlando for meat. Good selection, good quality and very low prices for meat. They also have fresh produce next door.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by Crane's Rooster

If you buy in bulk you can make a trip to Freshfield farms in Orlando for meat. Good selection, good quality and very low prices for meat. They also have fresh produce next door.

This. I buy all of my chicken from there. I believe the chicken quarters (non frozen, so no added "concentrate" or "glaze") is around $.49/lb. Can't beat that. And everything is fresh.

[boy3365]

I second Freshfields Farm. Just go during the week to avoid the crowds. It's pretty unbearable for me on the weekends.

For produce, I like Clemons Produce.

[Bealiz]

In my opinion Aldi and BOGO deals at Publix.

[bmw335xi]

Costco