Consumer Reports: What's Worth Buying at Wal-Mart

Think shopping at Wal-Mart is a bright idea?

Consumer Reports’ tests show it could be, if you’re in the market for LED lightbulbs.

LEDs are usually very expensive, but after 3,000 hours of testing, Consumer Reports found several from Wal-Mart that are cheap and really good, including the Great Value 60-watt equivalent, A19. Use it three hours per day, and it should last about 22 years. Not bad for $10. Several Great Value floodlights are also a good bargain.

Another good deal is Wild Oats organic food. Consumer Reports compared prices for pantry staples such as ketchup, beans, marinara sauce and creamy peanut butter. Wal-Mart’s prices for organics were cheaper than local supermarkets for everything Consumer Reports looked at—often 50 percent cheaper.

Consumer Reports regularly includes Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand in blind taste tests against big brands and found several winners, including ranch dressing, vanilla ice cream and mozzarella cheese.

Consumer Reports’ tests show several of Wal-Mart’s paper products are also good bargains. Great Value Facial Tissues with Lotion are ultra soft—as is the top-rated toilet paper: White Cloud, 3-ply ultra. And Wal-Mart paper towels are both strong and absorbent.

But testers in the laundry labs found that not every low price is a great value. The Great Value Natural Laundry detergent had downright dismal performance in the latest tests.

You also may want to skip the meat and produce aisles at Wal-Mart. Although it is America’s largest grocer, Wal-Mart earned low scores for meat and produce quality in Consumer Reports’ most recent supermarket survey.

NBC 5 reached out to Wal-Mart about Consumer Reports' findings and this was the company's response:

"We are thrilled to hear the great feedback from Consumer Reports on some of the products we offer like the Wild Oats brand, LED Light Bulbs and several of our Great Value grocery items.

We also want our customers to know that we’ve taken significant efforts to improve the quality of our meat and produce. For example, we’re working directly with farmers to improve the quality and freshness of our fruits and vegetables.  We are also conducting produce checks in our stores across the country. To back up these efforts, we offer our customers a satisfaction guarantee on meat and produce. We’ve seen our customers respond positively to these changes.

For more details on the measures we’re taking to ensure we’re offering our customers quality produce at affordable prices, CLICK HERE."

Complete Ratings and recommendations on all kinds of products, including appliances, cars & trucks, and electronic gear, are available on Consumer Reports’ website.