Is it a chore or an adventure? Is it something you dread or does it take you to a happy place finding bargains, tasting samples and discovering new munchies you had no idea you craved?

Fun or not, shopping is a task just about every individual and family must do regularly, or depend on take-out for sustenance, which gets expensive and ultimately unpractical.

But how much it costs you to drag provisions back to the cave can be as important as what you drag back. It got us wondering if we sent three reporters out with the same shopping list, to the same four stores — but each going to the chains in South, Central and North Jersey — how would the prices and experience compare?

Here are the stores we picked: ShopRite, Wegmans, Aldi and Whole Foods.

The variety in those stores allowed us to compare bottom-dollar to trend-setting chic shopping experiences. Plus, those chains each had locations throughout the state, and all four stores could be found within the same region.

We handed the reporters $200 each and sent them out on the same day.

Bill Duhart spent his Tuesday bouncing around Camden County. Allison Pries hit up stores in Morris County, and Olivia Rizzo went shopping in Mercer County.

Here was our grocery list:

1/2 gallon of milk

5 ounces spring mix salad

dozen eggs

brown rice

pound of bacon

margarine

ground coffee

bran cereal

3 cans of tun

2 pounds boneless chicken

mozzarella cheese

whole grain bread

peanut butter

We didn’t use any discount cards from the stores and tried to keep the portions and types of items as consistent as possible.

And, best yet, we donated the food we bought to charities in each part of the state.

So, who has the best prices?

Here's what we found during our shopping challenge.

Don't Edit

Whole Foods - $75.48 average

Whole Foods was across the board the most expensive grocery store we visited. We went to the ones in Morristown, Princeton and Cherry Hill.

Cherry Hill racked up the highest bill at $80.47. The Princeton store had the lowest overall price at Whole Foods for groceries, $65.98.

In general Whole Foods also had the most consistent pricing across the board with the prices of milk, eggs, brown rice, bran cereal and bacon all matching in all three regions. So at least you can be comforted by the fact that Whole Foods is equally expensive no matter where you shop.

Spring mix, eggs, margarine, mozzarella, bread and peanut butter were the most expensive items we purchased there. The prices for these items were higher when compared to products at other stores and often cost a dollar and change more than what was available at other stores.

Don't Edit

The healthy options are almost always in your face at Whole Foods.

The experience

Olivia: I can probably count the number of times I've been inside a Whole Foods on one hand. In general they are outside of my budget and the store that is closest to me is a bit farther away than I'd like to go for a quick errand. I found the store relatively easy to navigate except for when it came to finding bread, which in the store I went to was in the prepared foods section. There were also some inconveniences like being unable to find two pounds of chicken breast in one container and the store only sold bacon in 8 oz. packages. But the cashier did manage to magically pack everything I bought into two brown paper bags and told me to "have a peaceful day," so I'd definitely go back for their customer service.

Allison: The Whole Foods I visited (Morristown) felt compact. I must've said "excuse me" 50 times while I was in there, trying to navigate around other shoppers and employees. And when I left I felt dizzy from seeing so many "non GMO" and "organic" labels on the shelves. They're e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. The pricing also gave me anxiety. I have more mouths to feed than it makes sense for me to spend $13.14 on 1.88 pounds of chicken.

But this was the one store where, literally, every time I turned around, there was an employee. I was asked numerous times if I needed help finding anything. The layout was shopper-friendly so I was able to locate what I needed without much of a struggle. (And, I was too shy to ask where they keep the tuna fish that's less than $3 per can).

Bill: You have to have a strategy when shopping at Whole Foods. Mine is to get certain items I know are sourced well and reasonably priced. For our shopping list that included eggs, rice and mozzarella cheese. I am familiar with the layout of the store which helped me navigate to find items. The chain typically has an adequate amount of staff which is knowledgeable and helpful. Usually check out is not a problem with a fast-moving express checkout line.

Don't Edit

Wegmans - $44.42 average

Wegmans, surprisingly, was pretty close to ShopRite's average prices.

And there was very little cost disparity between the Parsippany, Princeton and Cherry Hill Wegmans locations. (Although, the Cherry Hill store had the lowest grand total, $43.97).

Some of our best deals were bacon at $4.49, spring mix for $1.50 and peanut butter at $1.49.

One item we could not find at Wegmans was bran cereal without raisins, so we had to buy it with.

Don't Edit

Here's our cart from Wegmans. (Olivia Rizzo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The experience

Olivia: Overall I like the vibe of Wegmans, the color palette is more muted and it doesn't feel like I'm shopping against the harsh fluorescents of a typical grocery store. They also have the largest cheese section I've ever seen which was cool but also meant that it took me a couple minutes longer to find the mozzarella cheese I was looking for. The store I visited was large and the rows were doubled, which normally makes navigating a store more difficult but the signs above each aisle were more detailed than most and that made it easier to find everything on my list.

Allison: I didn't expect to like Wegmans as much as I did. Despite its size, I didn't find it to be overwhelming. The layout made sense, the lighting was soothing and there were just enough product options. I had a preconceived notion that Wegmans would be expensive, but it really wasn't. I would definitely shop here again, if it were closer to my house.

Bill: Wegmans has a robust array of its own quality products. Again, having a strategy helps. I was probably most familiar with the layout of this Wegmans at the Marketplace at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill. The aisles are fairly wide but some items on our shopping list required crossing the store to find them. One of the other challenges is if the item you are looking for is primarily on the end of an aisle. The aisles are well marked from ceiling signs which helps with ease of navigation for shoppers not familiar with layout. Check out is usually not a hassle, typically with multiple lanes open and self-checkout scanning bays.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

ShopRite - $42.68 average

Total: $37.45 in Cherry Hill , $44.19 in Hamilton and $46.41 in Cedar Knolls

Boneless chicken breast, on sale for $1.99 per pound in Cherry Hill, was the biggest difference in prices between the three locations — and compared to other chains where the price for meat was often much higher.

Other staple items were pretty consistent with other chains - $1.99 for a loaf of bread, which was the same price as Wegmans and $1.49 for eggs, which was only 10 cents different (sometimes more, sometimes less) than other chains. Coffee was also among the cheapest at any of the stores at $2.69 for 12 oz.

Don't Edit

Our haul at ShopRite. (Olivia Rizzo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The experience

Olivia: Not to be dramatic or anything but I'm pretty sure this is the most stressful experience I've had in a grocery store. I thought the store layout at ShopRite in Hamilton was very confusing. A lot of the prepared foods and regular aisles were intermixed and that made it difficult to navigate my cart. This store also had double aisles but they were not as well-labeled as the ones in Wegman's so it took me longer to find things on the inside aisle.

I also spent at least 10 to 15 minutes circling the store looking for margarine because it wasn’t in the same fridge as the butter.

Allison: I went to the ShopRite of Greater Morristown. It was my first time there. And it's gigantic. Almost 80,000 square feet. When I walked in I was inside what they call the "Village Food Garden." There's a cafe, a smokehouse, a sushi station, a juice bar and more. I almost turned around and walked out to make sure I had in fact entered the ShopRite because this felt like a mall.

Once I found the aisles, from there it was smooth sailing through a logical layout and plenty of options.

The aisles were also well labeled. Peanut butter and tuna fish were the most difficult items for me to find in every store. Not here.

During checkout the person in front of me was arguing about the way a coupon was applied to his order. He had the supervisor come over and then was demanding the manager. I thought my milk would spoil before I got out of there but the cashier was excellent. He personally carried my items (which were already loaded onto the belt) to a neighboring register and processed my order so I didn't have to wait for the coupon saga to play out.

Bill: ShopRite in Cherry Hill was a pleasant experience. The layout of the store with meats on the back wall and dairy connecting with it on a far wall was an exercise in convenience. The other thing that contributed to the experience was finding store associates in the departments in which I needed assistance. They also appeared to like their jobs, or at least not dread it. That helped.

The store also seemed like it was adequately staffed, which was a welcome difference from Aldi down the street, where I had to wait for an associate to finish stocking a shelf before opening a second checkout line (more on that in a few.)

Don't Edit

Aldi - $35.36 average

If you’re looking to get in-and-out of the food store quickly and are overwhelmed by options then Aldi is the place for you.

The German-based chain with more than 1,800 stores across the U.S. bills itself as “no frills.” And it really is. They’re small – the average store size is 16,400 square feet vs. about 45,000 square feet for other food retailers. And they carry fewer than 2,000 items, vs. more than 30,000 in other supermarkets. More than 90 percent of the products Aldi sells are its exclusive brand, making a trip to Aldi budget-friendly.

And it was for us. Reporters spent the least amount of any other food store. The average bill here was $35.36, more than $7 cheaper than the second cheapest store, ShopRite.

The best deals we found at Aldi in Rockaway, Cherry Hill and Hamilton were fresh mozzarella for $4.78 per pound and three cans of tuna fish for $3.18-- which was close to the per-can-price at Whole Foods.

The limited selection did cause one hiccup. We had to buy instant brown rice instead of a bag of regular brown rice, like we found at the other stores.

Don't Edit

At Aldi, everything's found in boxes.

The experience

Olivia: This is the first time I've ever been in an Aldi and the store is basically a box. It's smaller than your average grocery store which means you can cover more ground, but the aisles don't have the hanging labels that most grocery stores have, which meant I had to double back a few times to find exactly what I was looking for.

I also had the most trouble reaching things at this store. I’m a short person, so how easily I’m able to reach things off the top shelves factors into my shopping experience.

Allison: Dear Aldi, It's not you, it's me.

I get what they're trying to do. And I see why people like this place. Bringing kids here would be a dream because you don't have to say no 300 times. There's just not that much stuff for them to want.

But there's not much stuff there for me to want, either. I like my name brands. They're trusted friends.

And between the lighting and the low shelving, I felt like I was grocery shopping in a dollar store.

Plus, there were other limitations. I pulled up to the Rockaway store at 8:57 a.m. on a Tuesday and they weren't open yet. (They open at 9 a.m.) That's weird to me. I know, I know. It keeps the costs down. But I'm a working mom. I need to get stuff done.

My other gripe, which is also a cost saving measure, is there was ONE person working at Aldi. I had to wait for him to finish checking other shoppers out so I could ask where the peanut butter was. (It's at the entrance, before you get to the produce. So. Weird.)

Bill: I don't frequently shop at Aldi, but my wife does. I find it dark and cramped, but somewhat quaint. The mystery brands of Friendly Farms cheese or Carlini olive oil are a bit disorienting at first. Also aisles are not well marked from the ceiling and foraging for food in bags I have to remember to bring along adds a degree of difficulty. But the bottom line is the bottom line. Just about anything on our grocery list is cheaper at Aldi. The quality of the products is also generally good.

Don't Edit

Part of our haul was donated to the Interfaith Food Pantry in North Jersey. (Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The donation

Now that our cars were loaded up with groceries, we had a few options. Head back to the office and make sandwiches for everyone? Nah.

Instead, we brought our purchases — about $600 in total — to some neighboring food pantries. This ended up being the highlight of our shopping experience.

Allison: I donated 92 pounds of food to the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morris Plains.

It was difficult to find a food pantry that would take perishables. But this pantry has a small shopping area through which clients maneuver grocery carts down aisles of shelves and refrigerated cases where they can pick perishable and non-perishable items based on their household size.

The Interfaith Food Pantry distributes 15,000 pounds of food to 325 families each week -- primarily senior citizens and low-income working families living in Morris County.

Olivia: I donated my grocery haul to the Mercer Street Friends food bank in Ewing. The Food Bank channels 2.7 million pounds of food and groceries to 80 different pantries in the county annually.

Their facility has walk-in freezers and refrigeration, loading docks, and two-tier racking system, which allows them to accept donations as small as a few cans to pallets of groceries from supermarket shelves.

Bill: For me, this was the most rewarding part of the Shopping Challenge. I donated all of my groceries to Cathedral Kitchen, which bills itself as the largest emergency food provider in Camden, serving more than 100,000 meals a year. Census statistics indicate 39 percent of Camden's population lives below the federal poverty level.

Cathedral Kitchen also has a culinary arts training program and the baking arts training program that enrolls about 60 students a year. Eighty-six percent of graduates find employment during the first three months following graduation.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't forget your quarter. It's part of the experience at Aldi. (Bill Duhart | For NJ.com)

Where do you shop? Which stores have the best deals? Tell us in the comments.

RELATED STORIES

Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@LivRizz.

Have a tip? Tell us.nj.com/tips.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com's newsletters.