BELLMAWR, N.J. — When Rachel Negro-Henderson started shopping at Aldi regularly during the pandemic — a change her family made when her husband lost his income as a crew coach — she'd sometimes have awkward run-ins with acquaintances.
"People would not want to talk about why they were here, like it was a mistake," the healthcare administrator said. "They just stumbled into a grocery store because they needed a tomato."
But after just a few years, those interactions have changed. Negro-Henderson, who lives in Audubon, N.J., with her husband and three kids, says she now sees people she knows there all the time.
"Everyone's like, 'Yeah, I'm saving money. I might as well come here. I'm getting the same product,'" Negro-Henderson said.
A slew of factors has been making it harder to put an affordable meal on the table. Food insecurity mushroomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and grocery prices have skyrocketed in recent years. Layer onto that inflation, the threat of tariffs and corporate cost-cutting schemes like shrinkflation and electronic shelf labels, which give retailers the ability to change prices based on demand.
"Consumers are just to a point where [they're saying], 'Give us a break,'" said grocery industry analyst Phil Lempert. "This is food. You don't screw around with our food."
Many of those facing economic pressures and frustrations have begun shopping at budget grocery stores and warehouse clubs in lieu of traditional supermarkets, their priorities shifting in pursuit of a good deal. Look to social media to see the change, where creators regularly post their favorite finds at Aldi or meals they've made entirely from ingredients bought at Costco.
In the process, Lempert said, discounters have invested in improving their food and beverage offerings, shaking off any lackluster reputations they may have had in the past and ushering in a new generation of cost-conscious consumers.
How discount grocers keep prices low — and sales high
According to Lempert, budget grocery stores tend to be smaller than the typical 40,000-square-foot supermarket, carry fewer items, have smaller staffs and operate with greater efficiency.
For example, he said, Aldi doesn't unpack boxes of canned goods but, rather, has employees tear off the tops of shipping boxes and place them directly on store shelves to save time.
"If you look at the stores themselves, they're bare-bones," he said. "You go into a Wegmans and you're seeing beautiful service departments and beautiful signage and stuff like that. You know, you're not seeing that" at discount stores.
European brands Aldi and Lidl have grown their presences in the U.S. in recent years, with Aldi in particular boasting massive growth. The German-owned company said in a statement that it brought in 17 million new U.S. customers last year alone and opened nearly 200 new stores. It plans to open another 180 stores across the country this year. (The discount chain Grocery Outlet, on the other hand, announced it would close 36 stores after its CEO and president said it "expanded too quickly.")
Warehouse clubs such as Costco and Sam's Club, a division of Walmart, are popular choices for large families and also offer groceries at modest prices using their vast buying power. You might've heard about Costco's $1.50 hot-dog-and-soda deal or its $4.99 rotisserie chicken. Costco reported net sales of $28.41 billion for the March "retail month," an 11.3% jump over roughly the same period last year, and Sam's Club said it's hoping to more than double its profits over the next eight to 10 years.
Some consumers may reasonably raise an eyebrow at claims of low prices. But recent data released by Consumer Reports comparing a basket of goods at dozens of grocers — and using Walmart as a baseline — found that prices at Aldi and Lidl were more than 8% lower than at Walmart. BJ's Wholesale Club was 21% cheaper than Walmart, while Costco boasted prices 21.4% lower. Only six retailers were cheaper than Walmart, with the other two being WinCo and H-E-B.
Shoppers are increasingly warming to store-brand items too. According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association, sales of store-brand items increased nearly three times faster than sales of national name brand products last year.
"You're not really sacrificing anything"
That's not to say there aren't drawbacks to budget grocery stores, which often stock fewer items than traditional supermarkets. Even though Rachel Negro-Henderson says she's the "biggest fan of Aldi," she can't always buy everything on her list there and chooses to purchase some items elsewhere, like a local deli or butcher.
"There's still things as a good New Jersey Italian that I will only buy from another store, lunch meat, stuff like that," Negro-Henderson said. But she added that she doesn't mind making the extra trips. "There's bigger sacrifices in this world than having to run to another store to grab a shallot."
She and her husband, Rich Henderson, said they were drawn in by Aldi's low prices, its GMO-free store-brand items and the company's sustainability ethos. "Then the more we shopped here, the more products we tried," Henderson said, "we realized quality-wise you're not really sacrificing anything. You're sacrificing name brands for the most part, but the quality is still great." (More than 90% of the products at Aldi are store brands, according to the company's website.)
What follows from budget grocery shopping is budget cooking, and social media offers videos of creators whipping up all manner of meals on the cheap.
One of them is Kiki Rough, who posts popular videos of herself cooking Depression-era, recession-era and wartime recipes on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Recent dishes include a "meatloaf" made using beans and a French Toast casserole without eggs.
Rough was inspired by her own personal experience with food insecurity, and wanted to share what she's learned about how to stretch your grocery budget and cook with whatever you've got in your kitchen. She said she's seen people from entry-level workers to corporate executives at her day job as the head of marketing at a tech firm struggle with food costs.
"I honestly think that the most practical tip is giving yourself a mindset shift, because I know a lot of people right now who have shame about where they are in their lives, their financial situations, down to the food that they have access to," Rough said. "You need to not be ashamed that we are in a difficult economy."
Lempert, the grocery industry analyst, said he expects frugal grocery practices to stick around, including a focus on lower prices. A survey released by market research firm AlixPartners in December found that a majority of respondents planned to spend as much or more on food in 2026, but also said they would seek out cheaper groceries and try to avoid impulse buying.
"People are using shopping lists more than ever before," Lempert said. "People are shopping more online, because they can compare prices easier. People are tired of getting ripped off on food prices."
Generation Z and millennial shoppers, he added, also tend to care less about a supermarket's "bells and whistles" than their parents and baby boomers.
"We're never going to go back to shopping the old way," Lempert said.
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