Walmart's Best-Selling Grocery Item Isn't Prepackaged Or Found In A Freezer

Walmart has just about everything, from clothes and sporting equipment to cosmetics and kitchen towels. If your local store happens to be a Walmart Supercenter, there's a decent-sized grocery store in there, as well. While the grocery section at Walmart is vast, those who aren't in the know might be surprised that there's more to it than giant tubs of cheese balls and pints of ice cream. You might be even more surprised to learn that Walmart's best-selling grocery item isn't found in the chip aisle or the freezer section. Instead, it's the shining star of the produce department: bananas.

According to Walmart's corporate website, bananas frequently top the list of best-selling grocery items. In fact, Walmart reportedly sells 1.7 billion pounds of bananas — or 4.46 billion individual fruits — each year. That's enough for almost 1.5 billion loaves of our best brown butter banana bread.

Many of Walmart's bananas are grown in Costa Rica, where they are carefully cultivated, sorted, and packaged to get to the grocery store in great shape. And not only are the bananas delicious and healthy, they're crazy affordable. Bananas are priced at 50 cents per pound, or around 20 cents per banana. 

Walmart also emphasized the steps their banana growers take to support sustainability and lessen their environmental impact. Plastic used to protect bananas from insects is recycled, GPS guides aircraft and drones to precisely apply fungicides, and vegetation grown along drainage channels helps prevent water contamination.

Walmart consistently offers affordable groceries (and easy home delivery), and bananas aren't the only under-$1 item you should stock in your kitchen. If you're planning for breakfast, pair those bananas with single-serve Great Value granola cups to take the stress out of your morning. Need an afternoon pick-me-up? While a two liter bottle of Coca-Cola costs $2.97, Sam's Cola (Walmart's store-brand version) is just $1 for the same volume.

Looking ahead to dinner time, the Great Value Alfredo-Style Pasta and Sauce is just $1 for a package that serves two people. Stir in some sauteed spinach ($1.97 for a 10 ounce bag of Marketside Fresh Spinach) and you've got dinner for two for under $3.

According to the Walmart website, bananas aren't the only type of produce that shoppers love that cost less than $1. Cucumbers are 76 cents each, Roma tomatoes are about 29 cents each, and even an avocado is only 73 cents. Guacamole, anyone?