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by lucaslee 2175 days ago
The curbside pickup at Walmart is surprisingly good. You pay the same price as in-store shopping and the grocery selection is very good. Instacart is just too expensive. I like honest pricing.
4 comments

Wally is very good. They got hosed like every other grocer but were quick to retool and revamp, especially online. When the supply chain changed, they changed. We graduated from curbside once delivery became available. My wife and I, each on our own Chromebook, work over the order for a week kibitzing, questioning, suggesting and sometimes ridiculing. Definitely beats pushing a cart around to endless elevator music...
And for $90 a year, they’ll drop it off at your house. Never been a big Walmart supporter, but I’ve been impressed with their online grocery delivery.
Since the riots and looting at the beginning of June, all of the Chicago Walmarts have been closed. So that's out for me.
Walmart really fails at providing quality food that isn't highly processed. I find much better quality, and often better prices on the grains and legumes that make up the bulk of my caloric needs, and their selection of organic produce is very lacking.

While I'm happy people have affordable, convenient, and socially distanced access to food, most of what is in the Walmart grocery section are things I wouldn't personally consider food.

Whole foods can't be faked. An apple is an apple. A whole chicken is a whole chicken. There are different farming techniques, pesticides etc but the less processing there is, the less opportunity for quality slippage as well. And it's up to the consumer to fill their cart with highly-processed or minimally-processed items. And like any other grocer, Walmart offers the same spectrum of options.
As I recall, Walmart fills their meat with water, increasing the weight and decreasing their costs.

Found it. "Wal-Mart, for example, says a majority of its fresh offerings are enhanced with a 6 to 12 percent solution of water, salt, sodium phosphate and natural flavorings."

That's very common, not unique to WalMart.
Salt water is definitely cheaper than meat...
I would think that most of the processed food overlaps a lot with other grocery stores, although it's possible that their suppliers provide lower quality stuff just for them.

I know someone whose go-to for organic stuff is Wal-Mart, because she lives in a somewhat rural area without a lot of options, and Wal-Mart is actually the best.

Assuming you're willing to pony-up the money, Walmart offers a wide variety of USDA Certified Organic goodies. From meats to beets. And I personally take great comfort in knowing that only carbon-based compounds appear in my comestibles...