5 Grocery Items You Need To Start Shopping For At Target

Target probably isn’t the first place you head when you need to restock your fridge, freezer, or pantry. But Target’s grocery section has come a long way in recent years — and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered there are real gems hiding in my local Target’s food aisles. You will be, too, if you’ve been overlooking this massive retailer’s grocery options.

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While Target may not be somewhere you want to head for the most affordable or highest-quality cuts of meat, it is a great grocery store for snacks, frozen food, and snapping up certain name-brand goodies at a stellar price. So, the next time you’re headed on a Target run, make sure to shop for these five items.

Favorite Day Baked Goods

Favorite Day is Target’s own private label, and just like Costco the store’s very own baked goods stand out above better-known name brands. Boxed of Favorite Day baked goods sit right next to prepackaged versions, but there’s a clear difference: While the Favorite Day cookies, croissants, and other treats may look prepackaged, they’re actually freshly baked.

Yep, that’s right: You can get fresh-baked goods from Target. And they’re actually fantastic.

I love picking up the soft frosted Favorite Day cookies, but the croissants (in both regular butter and petite chocolate varieties) are also perfectly flaky and just the right balance of moist but dry. Even better? The loaves of French bread, which make a stellar side for dinners. And while I’m not a big doughnut fan, my son raves about the glazed Favorite Day doughnuts, too.

Good & Gather Frozen Pizzas

Another one of Target’s private labels offers some seriously good grocery picks: Good & Gather. This is the “better for you” store brand, as the products typically avoid ingredients like artificial flavors, synthetic flavors, and artificial sweeteners. But the real reason I love Good & Gather is because the brand produces some standout frozen pizzas.

When you need a quick, low-effort meal, Target’s Good & Gather Frozen Pizzas are elite. Sure, they might not be as big as the DiGiorno or as well-known as the California Pizza Kitchen varieties that are also sold in Target’s frozen foods aisle. But Good & Gather offers unique flavor combinations that are particularly appealing to adults.

My personal favorite? The Good & Gather Signature Wood-Fired Spinach & Goat Cheese, which combines two of my go-to flatbread and pizza picks. Similarly, the Good & Gather Signature Wood-Fired Margherita Pizza is an excellent and comforting choice. And at $8 or less, these pizzas deliver on price, too.

Good & Gather Trail Mix or Nuts

Target is filled with snacks, and if you’re looking for one that’s super hunger-satiating, Good & Gather’s trail mix and nuts are great picks. If you opt for trail mix, there’s a ton of variety, including seasonal picks — but staples like the Good & Gather Antioxidant Trail Mix or Omega-3 Trail Mix are great choices. For more flavor, packs like the Tex Mex, Sweet Cajun, or Blueberry Nut Trail Mixes are also standouts.

Even the simple packs of mixed nuts or single-variety nuts offer a punch of flavor. Good & Gather’s Honey Roasted Cashews are a great example; you can also opt for unsalted, lightly salted, and regular ol’ salted varieties of everything from peanuts to cashews. Want them chocolate-covered? That’s an option, too.

Perhaps most importantly, Target’s own Good & Gather trail mixes and nut varieties are downright cheap. While a bag of nuts can cost upwards of $8 at your average grocery store, they’re under $6 at Target. 

Rao’s Made for Home Meals

Who doesn’t love Rao’s? I certainly do, which is why one of my favorite things to pick up at Target is every available variety of Rao’s Made for Home Meals. 

Sure, you can get Rao’s pasta sauces and other products at Target, and those are solid buys. (In fact, sometimes these are even cheaper at Target!) But Rao’s Made for Home Meals are tricky to find at a discount, and if you need a hearty but convenient meal, they make that possible. And when you pick them up at Target, you can pay a bit less.

For example, one of the best options is Rao’s Made for Home Frozen Meatballs & Sauce, my weeknight trick for getting exceptional meatballs on the table in minutes. These go for over $15 at my local Whole Foods, but they’re just $12 at my local Target. That’s a pretty significant price difference. Plus, Target tends to stock a good range of meal options, ensuring you’ve got plenty of variety to choose from for the week.

Goodles Mac and Cheese

I adore Goodles — it’s not just an excellent boxed macaroni and cheese that rivals the ol’ blue box, but it’s also jam-packed with nutritional goodies that make me feel better about eating an entire box for dinner. Plus, classic mac isn’t the only flavor; the adult-leaning twists like Dreamy Creamy Mild Cheddar, Twist My Parm, and Wild Wild Pesto make it even more appealing for the over-10-years-old set.

And when I need to restock my mac and cheese supply, I head to Target. Goodles isn’t crazy expensive, but it is noticeably pricier than the Kraft version. So, I always look for opportunities to pick up boxes for less. That’s possible at Target, where boxes are priced at about $3 versus $4 at Ralphs (or, even worse, over $5 at Whole Foods). 

Plus, Target tends to have a wide selection of varieties. You’ll not only find a lot of Goodles flavors on the shelves here, but also different versions, like the microwave-ready cups for a meal in minutes and even plain Goodles dried pasta.