Shopping The Ethnic Aisles

Here in my little corner of the South, there aren't a whole lot of ethnic grocery stores. There are one or two around - and I have gotten great deals on lentils at the Indian store and crushed tomatoes at the Latino store. But neither is close by - and driving to them for one or two items isn't really worth my time when I pass at least 10 other stores on the way.

Today I needed to buy salsa, so I made my way to the Latino food section of Walmart, grabbed a couple of jars and started on my way - and a 1.25 ounce bag of ground cumin caught my eye. I don't need any - but the price was only 75 CENTS. Then I noticed the bag of cinnamon sticks above it. 92 CENTS per ounce.

*Nerd Warning*

I decided to take comparison shopping to a new level. I pulled out a pen and flipped over my shopping list. I looked around and jotted down five things that I knew I could find in a couple of other aisles, then went and found the price that - I assume - the majority of Walmart shoppers would usually pay (because I assume they aren't shopping the Latino section). Here's what I found:

Sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz can:
La Lechera: $1.42
Store Brand: $1.54

Extra long grain rice:
Latino brand: $3.58 for a 5 pound bag
Store Brand: $1.28 for a 1 pound bag ($6.40 for 5 pounds)

Goya black beans: $0.96 per can
Store Brand: $0.48
Name Brand: $0.82

Ground Cumin:
Latino brand: $0.60 per ounce
Name Brand: $1.31 per ounce

Cinnamon Sticks:
Latino brand $0.92 per ounce
Name Brand: $6.51 per ounce

Four out of five things were significantly cheaper in the Latino section, which was only about 1/4 of the aisle - it's a pretty small section.

Now I know where to buy my long grain rice!