Sure, everyone knows that Fairway and the Park Slope Food Co-Op have grocery prices to die for, but neither are especially accessible from Carroll Gardens, and in this cold and icy weather, who wants to walk to Red Hook or the Slope? Driven by a compulsion to buy the cheapest groceries possible, we did some serious comparing between six of the neighborhood's most popular grocery options: Met Foods, Union Market, Trader Joe's, Park Natural & Organic Food, and FreshDirect.

At each shop, we recorded the price of twenty staples: yogurt (Fage 0%, 17.6 oz.), milk (Organic Valley 2%, 1/2 gallon), eggs (Country Hen, 1/2 dozen), olive oil (Filippo Berio, 16.9 oz.), salad mix (Earthbound Farms Mixed Baby Greens), cereal (Raisin Bran, 20 oz.), bananas (1 lb.), eggplant (1 lb.), prosciutto (domestic, 1 lb.), chicken breasts (1 lb.), oil-cured black olives (1 lb.), grated Pecorino Romano (1 lb.), peanut butter (Skippy Creamy, 16.3 oz.), rosemary, canned tomatoes (Muir Glen crushed with basil, 28 oz.), spaghetti (De Cecco, 1 lb.), ice cream (Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, pint), beer (Sam Adams Boston Lager six pack), hummus (Sabra original, 10 oz.) and sugar (Domino, 2 lb.). When the standard brand was unavailable, we used one of equal (or close to it) quality in the same size.

So whose groceries are cheapest? The results may surprise you.

Union Market
Total Cost: $122.43
Total Goods “Purchased”: 19 (no Raisin Bran)
Average Cost Per Item: $6.45
Most Egregiously Overpriced Item: Union Market had the highest price on an astonishing twelve of the twenty items in question, but the biggest rip off by far is the grated Pecorino Romano, which clocks in at $12.76 a pound (compared to $6.99 at Met Foods). Also: $4.99 a pound for eggplant? Really?
Best Bargain: Milk is surprisingly cheap at Union Market -- at $3.99, it was second only to Trader Joe’s.
Notes: Suspected you were getting screwed every time you shopped at Union Market? You were right. The prices here are ridiculous, though it’s worth noting that it is probably the neighborhood’s most pleasant shopping experience: the produce is beautifully displayed and there are always a million samples.

Park Natural
Total Cost: $79.39
Total Goods “Purchased”: 14 (no chicken breasts, olives, Pecorino Romano, ice cream, beer or sugar)
Average Cost Per Item: $5.52
Most Egregiously Overpriced Item: Bionaturae olive oil costs $13.99. For that price, you could get a giant (better) bottle at Fairway.
Best Bargain: $2.79 a pound isn’t awful for organic eggplant.
Notes: Despite not having several of our items, Park Natural managed to rack up a pretty high total. The lines are consistently out of control, the quality is not great, and everything is pricey. Pass.

FreshDirect
Total Cost: $92.61
Total Goods “Purchased”: 19 (no beer)
Average Cost Per Item: $4.87
Most Egregiously Overpriced Item: Why does hummus cost $3.69?
Best Bargain: Oil-cured olives, a true delicacy, are a mere $4.99 at FreshDirect.
Notes: Though FreshDirect still racked up quite a total, it’s worth noting that the online grocer offered the lowest prices on six items, generally undercutting its competitors by 10-50 cents. Obviously, FreshDirect’s greatest strength is convenience -- a perk that can’t really be underestimated in the winter.

Met Foods
Total Cost: $88.84
Total Goods “Purchased”: 20
Average Cost Per Item: $4.49
Most Egregiously Overpriced Item: At $4.99 for a half gallon, Met Foods’ milk is the neighborhood’s most expensive.
Best Bargain: $6.99 a pound is really a very good price for Pecorino Romano and, at $1.49 a pound, eggplants are a steal.
Notes: What Met Foods lacks in crazy bargains, it makes up for in consistency and selection. It’s the only store where we were able to find every item on our list, and prices were almost always the lowest or in the middle. Also notable: Met Foods has a much, much better beer selection than it needs to. Other than American Beer Distributing, it might be the neighborhood’s best bet for the sudsy stuff.

Trader Joe’s
Total Cost: $70.95
Total Goods “Purchased”: 18
Average Cost Per Item: $3.94
Most Egregiously Overpriced Item: At $2.79 for two pounds, sugar is a touch dear.
Best Bargain: Though Trader Joe’s had the lowest prices on nine of the twenty items, the best bargain has got to be their house-brand olive oil: just $4.99.
Notes: Trader Joe’s famously keeps prices down by packaging everything as generic, but quality is consistently very good. It’s a pleasant, friendly atmosphere (and a beautiful space), but customers on nights or weekends can expect to wait in lines upwards of twenty minutes. Despite the great deals, if time is money for you, you might do better at Met Foods.