We’ve already talked about buying in bulk – as well as the toilet paper racket that purposely confuse most (non-informed) customers. They never seem to want truly informed customers. Just dopes that follow along and believe what they’re told.
What about Paper Towels? Yet another ridiculous marketing and packaging quagmire to figure out.
But we believe we’ve finally honed in on the “bullseye” sweet-spot for the best overall value.
The Best Value in Paper Towels (in NJ at least) is…
Before we continue – let’s just do some mental organizing, and first identify what is at play here.
We’ve determined that there are two groups of paper towel categories. “Premium” and “Economy.”
- The premium Paper Towels consist of Bounty (which is still the gold standard, even though they’ve declined over the past two decades), Viva, White Cloud, and Brawny – and pretty much the many “house brands” which are also premium towels “white-labeled” with a different name.
- The economy Paper Towels are Bounty Basic, Viva Vantage, and the absolute worst of the bunch – Marcal. Economy paper towels are a waste of money. They’re useless and annoying in the way they rip off the roll. Single use. Done.
We feel the key is finding that “Best Value” mark in the sand. For us, that is finding the cheapest “almost Bounty” premium paper towel out there.
WINNER: ALDI BOULDER ULTRA
And the winner (for today) is ALDI Boulder Ultra paper towels. And like any buying method – they were cheapest when buying the biggest package (1.5 cents per square foot).
Coming in 2nd was Walmart’s house brand (I think around 1.8 cents per sq. ft.) and Wegman’s house brand (1.8 cents per sq. ft. regular price – 1.5 cents per sq. ft. with $2.00 coupon).
But read on below to learn about a sneaky trick at ALDI you need to be aware of…
ADLI Boulder Ultra varies over time and packaging
The 1.5 cents per square foot ALDI Boulder Ultra we awarded the “best value” to, wasn’t the “best” ALDI offers. Stay with me here…
You see, since ALDI “sources” their products from many different places – and “white labels” them with their own branding – THE PRODUCT CHANGES quite often. Even between sizes in the store at the same time!
Look at these two rolls. They’re both Boulder Ultra. The one on the left came from a limited time “12=20” package (I think 967 sq. ft. total), and the one on the right came from a current “15=25” (1013 sq. ft. total) package.
They’re different towels. The one on the left was as good, if not BETTER than Bounty. Beyond a doubt. The one on the right was “okay,” not as good as Bounty – but premium enough for the price.
It’s crazy that you need to carefully examine the Boulder “Ultra” towels each and every time you pick some up.
Footnotes: Clubs, Coupons, Sales, and Sizes
- Note that we have not checked out places like BJ’s or Costco yet – so we don’t know if a better value can be had there. Which would be a game-changer (but we have our doubts).
- Also worth mentioning is top products like Bounty can often be had even lower if coupons combined are with sales. The focus of this article was “regular price.” Your mileage may vary over the course of the year – and you should always take advantage of limited time savings opportunities if you can.
- Lastly – you will always get more for your money if you pick FULL SIZE sheets. The convenience of “select a size” usually means you’re getting 10% LESS product for the same money. How hard is it to rip paper?
Is it worth it to pay almost DOUBLE per square foot for the “luxury” of Bounty? Or are the other “premium” brands sufficient enough for your needs?
