5 Popular Walmart Meals You Can Make Yourself for Less Money
Written by
Daria Uhlig
Edited by
Jasmine Browley
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Walmart’s Marketside line of prepared meals and side dishes is a convenient option for busy households looking for an alternative to takeout. But you pay a price for that convenience. Although many of the dishes cost under $5 per serving, that’s more than you would spend to make the dishes yourself.
GOBankingRates looked at five popular Marketside meals, then priced ingredients on Walmart.com to see how much you can save by cooking your favorite Marketside meals at home.
Also see Walmart secrets you should know.
Linguine With Beef Meatballs and Marinara Sauce
- Marketside price: $4.92 per serving
- Homemade version: $2.47 per serving [recipes make about 8 servings for $19.75 total].
Marketside linguine with meatballs and marinara sauce is reasonably priced at $4.92 per serving, but you can make a better version for less money at home.
Using recipes from The Food Network and The Kitchn for reference, GOBankingRates found that you can make this recipe at home for just $2.47 per serving. Not only is the price much better, but you’re likely to enjoy the meatballs more without the addition of fillers like soy protein.
Southwest Chicken Bowl
- Marketside price: $4.92 serving
- Homemade version: $2.52 per serving [$15.84 total for six serving recipe]
The Marketside Southwest chicken bowl is a flavorful, highly rated meal made with boneless chicken breast, seasoned rice and toppings like fire-roasted corn, salsa and Mexican-style cheese blend. To keep things simple, GOBankingRates priced a homemade version using rotisserie chicken. Even with that convenience item, making these bowls at home saves you nearly 50%.
Chicken Bacon Ranch Bake
- Marketside price: $1.85 per serving
- Homemade version: $1.13 per serving
The Marketside chicken bacon ranch bake is a 32-ounce meal that provides about seven 1-cup portions. Using a recipe from Pillsbury, GOBankingRates priced out the ingredients at $15.83 total, which comes out to about $1.13 per cup.
Pillsbury’s recipe, like the Marketside version, uses prepared ingredients like rotisserie chicken, jarred alfredo sauce and ranch dressing. So not only can you save about 39% by making it at home, you lose little in the way of convenience with what’s essentially a “dump-and-bake” meal.
Sesame Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
- Marketside price: $1.24 per serving
- Homemade version: $2.17 per serving initially
Marketside’s sesame teriyaki chicken thighs is a main dish you can round out with steamed or stir-fried veggies and white or brown rice. It’s a good deal considering that it uses boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but you can do better at home.
GOBankingRates based the ingredient list for its homemade version on a Hello Fresh recipe that combines the chicken with red onion, chili pepper and garlic. The initial cost is higher than the Marketside version’s because it includes full-size packages of sesame seeds and teriyaki sauce. Using the leftovers for subsequent preparations reduces the cost to $1.06 per serving.
BBQ Seasoned Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Grillers
- Marketside version: $1.74 per serving
- Homemade version: $1.76 per serving initially
Marketside BBQ seasoned bacon-wrapped chicken grillers are mini kabob-like strips of chicken breast wrapped in hickory-smoked bacon and seasoned with BBQ seasoning. Unlike most other Marketside meals, they’re packaged raw, so making them yourself takes just a couple of minutes longer but can save you money.
A full-size container of BBQ seasoning costs about $2, and it gives you enough to make this dish many times over. That reduces the per-serving cost from $1.76 the first time you make it to $1.27 for subsequent preparations.
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