Aldi Vs Sam's Club: Which Grocery Store Sells The Cheapest Steaks?

Not for nothing is Aldi dubbed the cheapest grocery store in America. When it comes to that versatile grilling favorite — steak — warehouse retailer Sam's Club is often mentioned as a great place to score your cookout necessities. We compared prices on several varieties of steak, however, and discovered that Aldi trumped Sam's Club just about every time when it came to per-pound costs.

Let's get to the meat (pun fully intended) of the story. We looked at a steakhouse favorite, a grass-fed ribeye. Aldi's steak goes for $13.99 per pound. Equivalent grass-fed ribeye at Sam's Club, however, was $14.98 per pound. That's a pretty striking difference, to be sure. Looking at a cheaper workhorse of a steak, we compared sirloin options at the two grocery stores. Aldi offers USDA Choice petite sirloin steaks for $9.99 per pound. Over at Sam's Club, Choice Angus beef top sirloin steaks are going for $11.98 per pound. 

If you are buying a lot of meat for a big family-and-friends get-together, Aldi is going to offer big savings over several packages. Finally, we did a 1-to-1 comparison of skirt steak, like we might use for Taco Tuesday barbacoa. Aldi's Black Angus skirt steak carries a price tag of $10.99/lb, while Sam's Club's USDA Choice Angus Skirt Steak is more expensive by quite a bit at $12.78 per pound.

There's no question that Aldi sells cheaper steaks than Sam's Club. There is a major caveat here, however — Sam's Club puts higher-quality steak options on the shelf, plus, Aldi's steaks come with mixed reviews, which may mean that you are only getting what you pay for. It's hard to say who has better meat between Sam's Club and competitor Costco, because both warehouses carry USDA Prime steaks, which are among the highest-graded available. A look at Aldi reveals no Prime options among its SKUs. 

On the other hand, Aldi's groceries are cheap, but are they high quality? That's a tricky question, especially when it comes to its meats, which have earned some online criticisms. "I've bought everything Aldi but not steaks," one Facebook user notes. "If you're used to home grown meat or Sam's club stick with those. The Aldi steaks are strangely textured and color and no flavor." A Reddit commenter agreed: "I will never buy Aldi meat. Its [sic] a weird color all the time." Elsewhere on the web, Aldi drew heat for not carrying any bone-in beef options and for generally having a paltry selection. At the end of the day, are you looking for a killer deal, or are you looking for a wide variety of higher-end beef? Your decision will dictate the store you should shop at.