Thousands of Americans turn to Walmart’s in-house brand, Great Value, for affordably priced groceries, household supplies, and other everyday basics. For instance, even registered dieticians give Great Value spices their stamp of approval. But as much as some customers love hyping the brand up, not everyone is jazzed about certain Great Value-brand products, specifically when it comes to food.
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1. Peanut butter
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Walmart shoppers are boycotting Great Value peanut butter due to concern's over the product’s nutrition label and shelf life.
In a Reddit thread, a customer said the peanut butter jars at their Walmart are stamped with conflicting expiration dates, which is creating confusion amongst shoppers: “One supplier is using a 12 month shelf life and the other is using 18 months.” they shared on Reddit.
Another Redditor reported that their Great Value peanut butter is “much drier and has an off taste.”
Meanwhile, a customer accused Walmart of downgrading its ingredients after they noticed that “the green ‘great for you!’ label is gone” and “calories per serving went from 180 to 210.”
“Also the order of ingredients on the label has changed,” said a fourth. “I think they may be adding more cheap oils and less peanuts. I took a hard pass.”
Someone else commented that their Great Value peanut butter has a striking resemblance to tahini dressing. In an experiment of their own, they compared Trader Joe’s peanut butter to Great Value’s organic peanut butter and concluded that the two tasted vastly different.
“If you ever taste tahini by itself and try the Walmart peanut butter, tell me If you can taste the resemblance,” they wrote.
2. Pizza rolls
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If you think Walmart’s pizza rolls have a funky cardboard taste, you aren’t alone. “The GV pizza rolls taste like the box they come in,” complained one Redditor.
Someone else joked that the pizza rolls are “banned” in their household, while another said they smell like “burnt rubber.”
“It was nowhere what I wanted,” they wrote, adding that they “couldn’t even eat them” because of the stench.
Another comment reads, “The great value version of Bagel Bites are a letdown. The sauce is okay but the cheese feels cheap.”
An ex-Wallmart shopper revealed that they had now turned to Aldi to satisfy their pizza roll craving. “Dude I switched to Aldi's pizza snacks. Each roll is bigger than the gv and name brand, they taste better and the breading is crisper. Plus, it's 90 of them for like 6$,” they said.
3. Ice cream
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Customers have mixed reviews about Great Value-branded ice cream, specifically the ice cream sandwiches. Multiple people claim the sandwiches are “lacking in flavor and texture.”
“Their ice creams are just not up to snuff. I'd rather not have ice cream than have bad ice cream,” said a Walmart shopper.
“Ice Cream Sandwiches have NO taste and ice cream is a weird texture,” wrote another.
However, someone whose father manages a dairy plant that produces Great Value ice cream said it could be a regional issue. “Usually, one large ice cream plant produces per region for lots of different brands if there's a dairy association. In my region, blue bell and great value [are] typically the same recipe,” they explained.
But even still, the negative reviews span across all Great Value ice cream products. “The ice cream is not great honestly, like the chocolate covered ice cream pops,” said a Redittor.
4. Orange juice
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You might have noticed that Great Value no longer offers gallons of orange juice. That’s because the Walmart-operated brand recently slimmed down its containers from 128 fluid ounces (one gallon) to 89 fluid ounces.
However, that’s not what customers are most upset about. What really has Redditors irked is that the smaller containers cost a dollar more than the previously sold jugs.
“Walmart just shrunk their orange from 1 gallon to 89 oz while increasing the price from 6.46 cents before to 7.46 cents now, making almost an extra dollar off every unit sold,” said one person.
“Shrinkflation is here to stay another one bites the dust,” someone responded. Another asked, “Who is [going to ] buy $7 OJ?”
However, several jumped in to argue that the surge in juice prices could be due to the current orange shortage in the U.S. “The core problem with orange juice prices in the USA is that we are down 60% in citrus production in Florida in just one year. Between citrus greening disease, drought, and hurricanes, it's basically decimating Florida citrus,” wrote one person, citing this Wired article about the Florida orange crisis.
Meanwhile, one user predicted that “milk will be the next to fall.”
