As the effects of the recession sink in, your dollars become even more valuable. “The Market Basket” will save you the time of remembering where to get the best bang for your buck. We start with a simple question: Morton or Westside?

Ah, the perennial question: convenience or Neil Diamond? Today, we take another look at a debate that may never end: which supermarket should you frequent? Instead of rehashing the obvious (Westside has the cheerful employees and iffy Flex, and Morton has the across-the-street-ness and no Flex). Well kids, why not take a page from Lit Hum and go back to the source text: how much stuff costs.

Desperate to get to the bottom of which supermarket sucks more/less, we picked six items you probably buy at one of the two stores: beer, cereal, coffee, instant soup, milk, and ice cream and compared prices. See the results after the jump.

 

 Morton Williams

 Westside Market

 Six-pack of Corona Extra

 $10.99

 $9.99

 Pint of Ben & Jerry’s

 $5.19

 $4.49

 Box of Special K

 $5.49

 $5.09

 Half-gallon of

Organic Valley 1% milk

 $5.39

 $4.99

 Cup Noodles

 69 cents

 89 cents

 Chock Full O’ Nuts Coffee

 $6.29

 $4.69

And there you have it: score 5-1 to Westside, winning on every count except, ironically, the cheapest item we compared: instant soup. So if you’re in a pinch like we all are, best to head to 110th, where the Jackson 5 will be waiting to welcome you home.

-ECS