My family of 4 took the same grocery list to Publix and Lidl. We were shocked by the savings we found at the bigger chain.

• My family brought the same grocery list to Lidl and Publix to see which had better prices.
• The same or incredibly similar products were often at least 50 cents cheaper at Lidl.
• Overall, I found I could spend $40 less on groceries at Lidl than at Publix on this trip.

I'm always on the hunt for a bargain, especially with groceries for our family of four .

We often shop at a few places, but I've most recently been a huge fan of the discount Germain grocer Lidl because its prices usually seem lower than its mainstream competitors.

This week, I compared it to Publix — a smaller Florida-based chain popular throughout the Southeastern US that we also visit often. To do so, I took the same weekly grocery list to each store to see which offered my family more value.

Here's what the trips to my local Lidl and Publix in Raleigh, North Carolina, looked like — and which chain was the clear winner.

Herbs were almost a dollar cheaper at Lidl across the board.

Fresh herbs really do make a big difference in recipes, so I buy cilantro and parsley most weeks.

Parsley was $0.89 at Lidl but $1.69 at Publix. Cilantro was $0.57 a bundle at Lidl and $1.49 at Publix. I was surprised by the price difference since the offerings in each store seemed comparable in size and freshness.

If I bought one bundle of each every week (and prices stayed the same), I could potentially save about $90 a year by purchasing these herbs at Lidl instead of Publix.

Bell peppers were more affordable at Lidl, too.

I needed three bell peppers for recipes this week, so I grabbed a three-pack of them at Lidl for $3.79. When I took my list to Publix, the three-pack cost $5.99 — over $2 more.

I couldn't notice any difference in quality or pepper size and the packaging looked similar, too. Overall, I didn't see a reason to pay more money for seemingly the same peppers.

Green beans were also a much better deal at Lidl.

I don't mind paying for the added convenience of being able to steam my veggies in the bag in the microwave. Still, I was surprised by the price difference between these veggies at Publix and Lidl.

At Publix, I paid $3.79 for a 12-ounce steamable bag of green beans. At Lidl, the same size bag of steamable green beans was only $2.47.

Although Lidl's green beans seemed to have a special price cut, the "old price" was still over $1 less than what I saw at Publix.

I saved about $13 buying my proteins at Lidl instead of Publix.

This week, I needed about 9 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs and 2 pounds of lean ground beef.

Chicken thighs seemed to be on sale at Publix this week, but they still cost $1 less per pound at Lidl. The lean ground beef was about $2 less per pound at Lidl.

Overall, these meats would've cost me about $56 at Publix compared to $43 at Lidl. I didn't see any differences in quality since I chose the store-brand from each chain.

My favorite Fairlife chocolate milk had a pretty steep price difference between stores.

I buy the same Fairlife chocolate milk every week.

I like to add it to my coffee and I feel OK about my 3-year-old drinking it because it's lower in sugar and higher in protein than many other chocolate milks we've found.

At $4.48, the 52-ounce bottle was 61 cents cheaper at Lidl than Publix.

Whole milk was cheaper at Lidl, too.

I also grab a gallon of whole milk on my weekly visits to the grocery store. My younger kid loves to drink it and my oldest uses it in cereal — sometimes our family goes through two gallons a week.

On this trip, a gallon of whole milk at Publix was $3.45 but only $2.64 at Lidl.

Based on the prices I found on this trip, buying my whole and chocolate milk at Lidl instead of Publix each week could potentially save me about $75 a year.

Some spices were more than double the cost at Publix.

We were running low on a few seasonings this week, so I looked for paprika at both stores.

Publix definitely has a much broader spice selection than Lidl, but I haven't had a problem founding my basics at the latter.

The cheapest paprika I found at Publix cost over $2. It came in a larger container at 2 ounces compared to Lidl's 1.76 ounces.

Even so, Lidl had a better deal — its regular paprika works out to $0.49 an ounce compared to Publix's $1.20 an ounce.

Even store-brand seasonings I found at Publix couldn't beat Lidl's.

I was also running low on garlic powder, so I looked for it at both stores.

I liked that Publix had more variety and larger containers of garlic powder — but the costs per ounce were in Lidl's favor across the board.

Publix's 2.6-ounce jar came to $0.96 per ounce and its 3.2-ounce jar came to $1.20 per ounce. I was surprised the larger quantity cost more per ounce since buying in bulk usually saves people money — the only difference between the spices seemed to be the bigger one had parsley added to it.

On the other hand, Lidl's 2.47 ounce jar of garlic powder came to about $0.32 per ounce. It was labelled as having a price cut, but the original price still worked out to being cheaper than what I found at Publix.

I'd probably go to Publix if I was looking for speciality spices or seasonings like garam masala, but I don't see a reason to spend more on basics when I've never noticed a difference while using them.

I was shocked by the price differences across the board.

I saw similar savings throughout other aisles of Lidl as I shopped. From store-brand cashews to name-brand Baybel cheeses, my groceries were cheaper at Lidl across the board.

The only exception I found on my list was an 18-count carton of eggs that was $1.20 cheaper at Publix.

I knew Lidl had great deals, but this experiment opened my eyes to the potential for savings I could find at the German discount grocer.

On this trip, I saved over $40 shopping the same list at Lidl instead of Publix. If I could save like that every week, I have the potential to save over $2,000 annually on items that I feel are similar quality or exactly the same.

Of course, this is just a peek at my list and prices I came across on my most recent visit. Grocery prices and the sales available at each store change often.

The shop that's best for you can also vary by region and depend on what groceries you by. Plus, some shoppers factor company ethics and accessibility into their grocery purchases. If you have to drive 30 minutes to get to a Lidl and you have a Publix two minutes from your home, the savings might not pay off.

That said, I feel fortunate my local Lidl as accessible to me as a Publix. Unless the latter has major deals or price drops, I'll continue shopping at Lidl on a regular basis to save as much as I can.

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