This Is The Worst Day Of The Week To Grocery Shop At Walmart

You've gone to pour some milk into your bowl of cereal just to realize there's just a drop left, or attempted to squeeze some ketchup onto your burger only to be met with an empty squelch. There's no denying it now: You need to re-up on groceries. But before you run out to your local Walmart Supercenter, you might want to stop and check the calendar. Sure, we all know that the worst time to go grocery shopping is when you're hungry. But there's also a worst day of the week to hit those Walmart aisles — and it's undeniably Saturday.

According to a 2024 report by Drive Research, Saturdays are the most popular time to go grocery shopping, particularly between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. One need only check Google's Popular Times widget, which tracks daily and hourly foot traffic at a given location, to see that proven true at many Walmart outposts across the United States, from New Jersey to Idaho.

It makes sense that most folks save their big shopping day for when they're off work and the kids are home from school. Of course, for those very same reasons, it may be the only day when you have adequate time to buy groceries a particular week. If so, you might want to reconsider heading to Walmart on a Saturday afternoon, especially if you're hoping to avoid crowded aisles, long lines, and the overall headache that comes with trying to concentrate on your grocery list while navigating a chaotic store at peak weekend hours.

If you want to breeze in and out of your local Walmart with a cart full of food and your sanity intact, the best day to shop is a Tuesday. Per the report from Drive Research, that tends to be the quietest day of the week for grocery stores, so you can expect emptier aisles and quicker checkout lines. And while Tuesday evening after 8 p.m. is the least popular time to go shopping (making it the best slot for those seeking some peace while they browse), hitting Walmart in the morning is actually going to be your best bet — particularly if you want to get your hands on the newest and freshest items at a discount.

Much of the retailer's restocks occur overnight or in the early morning, so shopping as close to opening is going to give you access to the freshest possible perishables. Though Wednesdays are considered the best time to nab savings, you may also find impressive markdowns on items the store is trying to clear out earlier in the week, from the meat department to the bakery section.

In addition to planning your shopping trip to avoid Saturdays if possible, you should consider some of the other biggest shopping mistakes people make at Walmart. These include not giving the Great Value private label a try and failing to take advantage of the company's price match policy.