Ever wonder why your grocery bill somehow always creeps higher than the total in your head? Markups are baked into nearly everything on the shelf, but some categories get hit a whole lot harder than others. Knowing where the biggest markups hide is one of the easiest ways to shop smarter without changing a single habit — just where you spend.
We’ve already shared 9 grocery store secrets employees know that you probably don’t, but pricing is a whole different rabbit hole worth its own deep dive.
The Categories With the Biggest Markups
- Bottled water: markups can run into the thousands of percent — it costs pennies to produce and sells for $1-$2
- Ice cream: roughly a 101% markup on packaged pints and tubs
- Candy and packaged sweets: around 100% on candy, 71% on cookies and packaged desserts
- Frozen food: averages a 56% markup across the frozen aisle
- Dairy: butter and cheese run 50-100%, while milk stays closer to 43%
- Premade meals: rotisserie chicken and prepared sandwiches average a 44-78% markup
Warehouse-style stores like Costco keep markups noticeably lower across the board — which is a big part of why bulk shopping actually pays off.
How to Actually Use This Info
You don’t need to boycott ice cream forever, but a few small swaps make a real dent in your bill. Buy name-brand ice cream and candy only when they’re on a genuine sale (check that the original price is still displayed — some “sale” tags never touch the real price). Stock your freezer and dairy staples on your Aldi or Costco runs instead of a last-minute convenience stop, and save your splurge purchases for items with lower average markups, like fresh produce from a farmers market.
For more ways to stretch every dollar, check our guide on the sneaky tricks grocery stores use to make you spend more and our breakdown of the secret clearance sticker code worth memorizing before your next trip.
The Bottom Line
Markups aren’t going anywhere, but a little awareness goes a long way. Shop the categories with lower markups more freely, save the high-markup splurges for real sales, and let your Aldi, Costco, and Trader Joe’s runs do the heavy lifting on the items that get marked up the hardest everywhere else.
