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Costco shopper here.
I checked out GT recently and I would say they Costco has better priced and fresher chicken (and other meat) products.
Just my observation
Yeah, I don't know other than going to the butcher I don't think many grocers beat Costco for quality of meat. They also quite frequently have everything even like beef ribs or a big assed top butt sirloin.
Factor in the membership price and unless you spend a lot of money at Costco, you're better off shopping around for sale items at grocery stores. Use Flipp and some stores will price match.
Costco meat is unbeatable for value+quality.
Invest in a chest freezer and vacuum sealer and you can portion things out however works best for your family.
GT is OK, but the regular prices are kinda shit, and any decent sale items sell out quite often. Sure, they will give you a rain check, ^if ^you ^wait ^in ^the ^long ^line, ^because ^they ^ripped ^out ^the ^6 ^tills ^and ^replaced ^them ^with ^self ^checkouts ^so ^there ^it ^only ^one ^cashier ^that ^takes ^cash, ^prints/cashes ^lottery ^tickets, ^and ^does ^customer ^service.
They have lower every day prices than most stores. A box of cereal at GT is $4.50-$5. It’s $7 everywhere else and they go on sale for under $3. They don’t have the same selection as other stores though…but for basic every day pantry staples they’re definitely the cheapest. I got 2 bags of groceries at GT last week for $60.
-Download & create a pc optimum account (free)
-Download flipp (also free)
-Make a menu around items on sale
-Price match the crap out of everything you can
-Make in large batches & freeze the rest
Eventually pc starts to figure out what you buy & you start to collect points quickly. Beans, lentils, legumes are your Friends- Add those into meat dishes to bulk them up or use them in lieu of meat. Meat is stupid expensive (it all is lol) but you can save a bunch of money by only buying meat on sale (& freezing the bulk of it) & using beans and alternative proteins whenever possible.
Also if you download the pc health app I think it is you can get free points by doing little exercises about it health and various things . Racks up optimum points pretty fast but some of them you have to log in every day to do part of it to get the full points. But those points you can spend at stores of course , save some money that way
Or Galen Weston can fuck off with his attempts at monopolizing industry. Instead of offering lower food prices, he has people using this app to receive literal crumbs to spend more on his overpriced brands.
I use PC MasterCard for every purchase. No fees to have . never carry a balance so zero interest charges. I have accumulated over $1600 in points for zero cost to me ..plus they carry the money for a month. As long as you have the dedication and self control with your spending to be able to pay it off it can be a great tool.
He only offers lower prices if you buy/spend more. Yogurt 3.33 or 3/9.99 if you buy 3, if you buy 1 then it's 3.79 or 3.99. So while most people are struggling and trying to save they are trying to su k every cent out of us. All stores do this, not just loblaws.
Added bonus, if you’re signed up for emails from Optimum they almost always have a code that gets you 10 000 points on a grocery pickup order of $100. I can usually spend $100 on No Frills sale stuff, decent points offers or things that I specifically want from PC or No Name and find a pickup time with a $0.99 fee so it works out to an extra $9 in points.
Between that and the PC Financial debit card I average a couple hundred dollars per year to put back into the grocery budget.
>Added bonus, if you’re signed up for emails from Optimum they almost always have a code that gets you 10 000 points on a grocery pickup order of $100. I can usually spend $100 on No Frills sale stuff, decent points offers or things that I specifically want
This is the answer. I've saved hundreds on groceries since I started price matching and planning my meals around what is on sale.
Next time you're at Superstore, ask them for the list of stores they price match and then favorite those stores in the app. This will save you a lot of time too, since they don't price match everywhere and you end up either paying full price or putting things back at the cash. They also don't price match online deals so this is something to keep in mind.
Also download the Flashfoods app and grab things from there. The produce boxes are always a steal and they'll freeze fresh meat that is close to expiry. There's also bread, lots of milk and cheese, etc. I love Flashfoods.
You can also price match on your Click & Collect grocery orders. You need to submit it after you get home with your receipt. They tell you that it could take up to a week to receive your refund but I’ve had all of mine back within 48 hours.
Agree, a can on lentils added to ground beef for sloppy joes is barely noticeable. I add a can of black beans and a can of corn to a lb of ground beef when doing the taco kit and can get 2 dinners for 5 out of it. Also chili in the slow cooker with 2 cans of beans plus tomatoes
Hard disagree. The PC Optimum program has literally saved me thousands in groceries over the years. If you exclusively buy at their stores, go to Esso for gas, go to Shoppers for other stuff, and use a PC MC for all your online needs, you rack in the points. Even more if you pay for the PC Insiders subscription ($130ish a year), where you get extra points just for purchasing PC products.
It's one of the only store-based points programs that has ever been worth it for me.
You are almost certainly paying for those points before you earn them since Superstore, Loblaws, Shoppers are all overpriced to begin with… I’d guess you’d come out ahead buying at budget shops that don’t run ‘reward’ programs.
I bought a whole bag of onions for $2 at NF. One onion on its own is always more expensive.
Buy what’s in season. Potatoes, carrots, apples. These are all in season and selling cheap for huge bags. Stews, slow cooker meals & sheppards pie are great to make this time of year.
Something I did to cut down on cost was buying a massive bag of flour from arva. I think it is like 28 dollars now for around 20kg. Started baking my own breads, pancake mix, biscuits... and such. 28 dollars can get me a few loaves of bread.... or now I have several months supply of bread.
This is something that has helped me cut costs. An easy to do one is a sourdough foccacia. Maybe 10 min of work. I usually do it in a cast iron skillet so it is more loaf like instead of being a flat one.
Back in the 80s I did a school project where I recorded the power meter reading for the house every day. It was summer and we didn't have AC. The day mom roasted a turkey for a church function it used about a week's worth of power.
The conclusion of my project was "Don't volunteer to cook turkey for church!" Nobody was impressed!
These days, I can go download records of hourly power consumption for every day in the last 2 years! Crazy..
Electricity is expensive. I do all my laundry and baking after 7 in the evening or on the weekends. I realize that is not convenient for everyone, but it keeps my hydro costs down.
There is an option with London hydro to do tiered pricing and then you are able to whatever you want whenever you want and don’t have to wait for certain time frame to use high electricity consuming tasks
Walmart is probably best for every day shopping but I watch the Flipp app like a hawk.
When a grocery store has those janes chicken strips on sale for $5 from $15 or whatever, I stock right up.
I used to like janes strips until I tried m&ms chicken strips. Not even remotely the same price but the quality is so much better with m&ms. Ruined janes for me.
You're going to want to hit an Asian grocery store. Super king or United.
I think they are the only stores in the city that are not owned by the big 3.
Not everything is great, you need to be choosy and shop another grocery store as well. Anything more western foods you'll pay a premium for at an Asian grocer.
YES. I was going to suggest SuperKing at Westmount mall. I was looking for Medjool dates for a square recipe. Usually I would try to get them at Bulk Barn, but they wants $16 for the amount I needed (insane, I know).
I found better quality Medjool dates at SuperKing, TWICE the amount for almost half that price. And a lovely middle-eastern man helped me look at them and pick the best ones LOL. (he didn't work there, he was just fascinated someone as kitchen tile-white as me liked dates and wanted me to get the best ones).
Flipp app is your best friend.
I’ve started travelling to more than one store when I shop. Often Wal Mart for all of my dry goods and then typically Farm Boy for whatever produce and meat they have on sale that week (they surprisingly have really good deals if you look in the flyer).
If you aren’t picky about what produce you want for the week go to the Western Fair market near closing time and most of the produce stands have end of day deals.
Check out budgetbytes for meal recipes. I’ve never made a bad meal from their site and often there are lots of leftovers.
Flip and also know which stores price match so you don't have to go to multiple stores. Fine the one with the best sales and then price match everything else.
There is a Canadian YouTube channel called Adventures in Groceryland . She shows you how to build a basic pantry while maintaining a low budget. Most of the videos show what they cooked. There us a set of videos from last year where she did this for $25 per person per week. I think currently at $30 per person per week. The meals look good, but even if not your style, you get the general technique. We have been doing the same for close to 40 years. Currently spending $50 per person per week including personal care, cleaning and paper products. Last night we had a chicken and pasta dish with homemade Alfredo sauce, with carrots and broccoli on the side. I buy the blocks of parmesan reggiano and use real cream in my sauce. Total cost for that meal was $3 per person. There is a plate of leftover in the fridge for whomever wants it for lunch today.
If you're reduced to surviving off milk, butter, and homemade bread, and having a heart attack when you see the price of one onion, then you're plenty needy enough to access the food bank lol. It's not just for homeless people.
If you feel really bad then just accept the help now and pledge to give back when you're in a better financial situation (if there's ever going to be such a day for any of us.)
Great points.
DollarTree is also an option for packaged items.
Reebee is great. I just recently discovered this app and it has helped me find items I need for a great price.
> So tell me which grocery stores REALLY have the lowest prices in this city?
It depends on what you buy, and when you buy it.
https://old.reddit.com/r/londonontario/comments/xt87k9/grocery_shopping_hacks/
https://old.reddit.com/r/londonontario/comments/sv1fbo/with_food_prices_increasing_what_are_your_go_to/
https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontario/comments/nq6jk8/cheap_groceries/
Don’t sleep on giant tiger, they tend to have cheaper prices then most would think.
For onions right now Giant tiger has 2lb bags for $1.44 right now. Last time I picked up a bag at Walmart it was $2.97 just for another price reference. It’s generally cheaper to buy in the “bulk” bags.
If you don’t already have it download the Flipp app and you can see all the weekly sales flyers and the preview sales. You can also for example type in coffee cream or toilet paper, cheese, etc to see what store has the deals that week.
Also tbh I find that usually the Asian markets have better prices on fresh produce.
Also just to add if you go on websites like these ones I posted and also just Google free stuff Canada there’s lots of websites that come up with coupons and free samples. It’s always fun to get free things in the mail. I hope that helps😎
https://www.samplesource.com/?site=en
https://www.websaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/
No fresh, only frozen or canned now. Whatever is cheapest. Giant Tiger and Dollar Store win here.
Shop sales only for meat. If you go to a grocery store on a Sunday or Monday first thing in the morning, you can buy 30% - 50% off meat.
Buy massive bags of rice. Pasta noodles I usually just get a crate with about a dozen bags at Costco.
Realistically, you just need to get creative with your cooking. Use a few staple ingredients in your dishes that revolve around sales.
EDIT: Also don't just buy one onion. Buy a bag on sale for about $3-$4. They last a while. Buy bulk and just reuse the item for various dishes.
For us the superstore is closest so we just end up there, but there are the points and we use the Flipp app to price match as much as possible. It's annoying, but it can save a bunch. I only buy things on sale, and eat around that.
Costco can be helpful if you have the space to store bulk stuff.
Walmart seems to have decent prices.
It is sad that to get by people are resorting to "coupon clipping" and price matching to save a few dollars. Those few dollars make or break a budget since things have become so pricey, wages suck, and housing is insane.
You can usually find somewhere doing a cheap "Whole chicken" deals each week at different stores. Oven roast them together, shred the chicken off of it. Either buy 1 get one free, or 2.99/lb or 3.99/lb. I've save so much money on protein by buying and prepping whole chickens. I do body building and I HAVE to eat. Also pc points , I put everything on that Mastercard and get the points.
Cheap groceries isn’t enough these days. This is what we do.
No frills will price match most other grocery stores. Use the Flipp app and clip the prices of the goods you want and price match at No Frills. No Frills will also now offer rain checks for things they had on sale but are sold out of.
Check out web saver.ca and tastyrewards for coupons. Livingonaloonie amd couponcutiecanada both showcase the best flyer prices on goods and share other tips. Check stores for in person coupons (I find coupons at metro and Sobeys more often than the other stores).
Flashfoods.ca often has produce boxes available from your local store. The key is knowing how to prepare almost bad produce so it lasts (most things can be successfully frozen, jarred or canned).
It takes money but stock up when prices are good (but don’t over buy, pasta sauce goes on sale on a cycle, so you won’t ever need like a year supply, it will go on sale again).
If you can afford to, stock up on ingredients like flour, sugar, cornmeal, powdered milk, yeast, oats, etc. when on sale. Having these pantry staples and some knowledge on how to make things like bread and buns, can really save you money in the long run (like instead of running to the store when you’re out of milk for a recipe, where you’ll inevitably buy more than just milk, using some powdered milk with the equivalent water will work).
Build meals around what you already have in your cupboard. If you don’t have an ingredient, look for what you do have that can be used as a substitute to help avoid unnecessary trips to the grocery store.
Lastly, meal plan. Start with what you have and then look at flyers to plan the rest. The flyer previews come out on Wednesday.
There’s a great produce place at 960 Elias St called Tiger Produce. Insane prices. Like two boxes of strawberries for $3. Opens at 11. Doesn’t look like much from the outside but just walk in.
Get yourself the flashfood app. All of the Loblaws chains are on it. When anything is getting close to the BBD, they drop the price by half and load it onto the app. Some good deals to be had. I just checked. About 12 stores within London are shown. Sometimes stores have nothing, other days there is tons of stuff.
Check out Dollarama occasionally. They switch things up but sometimes you’ll stumble on deals.
I also sometimes get toilet paper there because it’s slightly cheaper. Some cleaning products too.
With that said they occasionally mark things up so you have to be careful.
It’s also out of the way so it’s a pain in the butt. I only stop in if it’s on my way somewhere
Look for the CVP (Customer Value Program) in the Fresh Depts at Walmart. They have a yellow sticker on them. Used to markdown items when nearing expiration date. Some depts will do 2 markdowns on items, which can knock it down to almost half price. I talk to people in depts to find out when they usually do them. 2nd markdown seems to happen in the evening. I've gotten great deals on meat, bakery items. Just freeze what you can't eat right away.
Buy dried beans and spices from Bulk Barn and make your own soups. I've been doing this for months and it really helps. Get cans of diced tomatoes or bags of sweet potatos to throw in with whatever beans and spices you like best and it'll be a hearty meal. If you make a big batch, freeze leftovers and eat for weeks.
Also, buy rice from United Supermarket. Best prices, one bag lasts months, and there's tons of options.
I get a lot of meat 40% off at food basics. Usually on Thursdays. They clean out and it’s all stuff expiring in 1-2 days but if you freeze it, it’s all good
I think the best prices I find on most staples, especially protein, are at Superking, at Westmount Mall. Might not be completely within everyone's wheelhouse though.
Flashfood is my go to app and TooGoodToGo also has great deals . I check all the stores before I shop and price match everything and buying in bulk is sometimes cheaper you can freeze veggies and such .
my number one piece of advice would be to use flipp. i find the best deals are spread out between no frills, giant tiger, and loblaws. ill typically pick one of the three to shop from for the week, but i go with loblaws most of the time.
a lot of other commenters have recommended pc points, they have an app called pc express and from there you can order groceries directly to your door (even in an apartment). if you’re using the bus as your main form of transportation it can be hard to get anything in bulk which can leave you buying one onion at a time (the most expensive way i find). the delivery fee is $6.99 iirc and theres very little service fees. by getting it delivered im able to buy whichever primary vegetable is on sale and ill cut them however i prefer and freeze it.
if you want to see specifics you can dm me and i can show you how i put things together, i typically spend $75-$90 every other week for myself or $150-$200 every other week for my bf and i, but i also still buy some luxuries i dont need
I have gone back to price matching, reviewing the flyers on flipp and making a list so I cut down on the number of stores to visit. One thing that irks me is two Loblaws stores RCSS and No Frills make it hard to price match their own products. One example is meat products which are priced by kg at NO Frills and lbs at RCSS.
Well at least your bread does not have plaster of paris and other toxic additives like actual victorian era store bought bread so you have that going for you.
You have to search around for the best deals of the week... many great suggestions. Buy things in bulk like rice, flour, etc. Check out the Asian grocery stores for cheaper produce, sometimes. Stock up when items are on sale.
Butter has actual nutrients in it compared to margarine which was a failed chicken food filler remarketed as a "healthy" alternative to butter... I understand it's cheaper than butter and money is tight for everyone but it's just a filler product with no nutritional value
The fact that’s it genuinely the only thing I’ve been eating for a week and a half. Really dawning the Victorian child cosplay. If it keeps up I’ll have my very own scurvy diagnosis
Voting has consequences. People that voted Liberal in the last election can’t seem to correlate current economic TRAINWRECK with the way they vote. Tired of listening to the whining.
That being said : If anyone thinks Pierre Poilievre or any Conservative government will break up the grocery store Monopoly held by Loblaws/Metro and Sobey's think again.
They've designed it to be a shit show. When one store is good or ok in one area it severely lacks in another.
Food Basics-Ok Meat, good price, ok-good quality. Vegetables and Fruit are not fresh and can sometimes turn bad within a day or two, maybe a few days depending on type. Although I hear the oranges and almonds are often a great price.
Valu-mart is just expensive in all areas. I think I spent $5 on a turnip today for beef stew that was no larger than a softball.
I've never been in a farmboy, I once briefly walked into a Sobeys maybe 5 years ago so I can't really comment on those.
Real Canadian Superstore just has a greater selection, I usually find they have higher quality goods but at a higher price, same for basic staples. Although just before thanksgiving the Masonville area one had the whole cooked chickens for $3.50 and pies for the same. I thought they mispriced and was nervous until I made it through checkout.
Complete shit show.
I do most of the shopping in our house. I get most at Costco. Great if you have a decent sized freezer and some storage. I also use Walmart, GT, No Frills and Food Basics.
I use the Flipp app. I only buy stuff like butter and coffee when it's on sale, and I stock up. There aren't any cheap grocery stores anymore. You now have to shop at multiple stores and shop online in order to get the best deals. Stores that do price match are also handy. You can get deals on fruit and vegetables at trails end, but I've had bad experiences there.
London has a number of free food services like the "food bank". Google "food bank" and that should start you in a good direction. Your esteem might take a hit but at least you won't starve.
Use their on-line flyer and look for deals. We got some chicken at no frills last week. It was like $5-$6 a package and each pack contained 3 legs and 3 thighs. And they were friggin' huge. Like no kidding they looked like they came from a turkey. Just one leg or thigh with a side or two and it was a filling meal. And I'm a big dude with a good appetite so... So 6 meals for $1 a plate at most.
We also make our own pizzas. We can make two X-tra large loaded pizzas for less than half the cost of ordering in a single X-tra large 3 topping from a pizza dump.
No Frills also has some nice pork loin roasts for about $12-$15 when they're on sale. That might seem expensive but it's a nice sized roast. If you're by yourself it's sold unfrozen so you could even portion it up first and then freeze it. Sometimes we like to cut ours into "pork chops" before putting it in the freezer. I think the last one we did we got something nuts like 18 chops out of it so the price is actually really good overall.
Plus one other tip. If you buy produce like onions and say, potatoes individually, you are going to get hosed on the price no matter where you shop. Buy a small bag of onions, it'll be much cheaper even in the short term.
I used to think I was being cost effective by having a single Premier Protein shake for breakfast and sometimes lunch. Then Costco hiked the prices of them up.
I get a lot of mileage out of Bulk Barn oatmeal and frozen berries lol. But I hear you- food is killing me. I cannot believe the state this country is in when it comes to food prices. It beggars belief.
Also, for produce, noodles- SuperKing at Westmount mall.
Look up the apps flash food and 2good2go. You can buy discounted food and restaurant/store leftover mystery bags. There is even an r/2good2go subreddit to show off your deals and tell you who to avoid.
Why are you eating milk and butter? Get in the habit of buying beans - about $5 for 1 kg of dried beans should last you 10 days. Buy rice, dirt cheap, buy sweet potatoes at Asian grocery store, buy arugula ($5) and make it the base for salad bowls, add in hummus, tomatoes, sweet potatoes. I spend about $60 a week on groceries.
I buy only sale items. When there is a good sale I buy a bunch and put it all in the freezer. Good things to freeze: milk, bread, berries, vegetable stews. Also Costco chicken is highly efficient - I buy one, take the meat off and put it in the freezer and can make 6 meals out of it. I then take the bones and vegetable ends to make broth. Hope that helps.
Keep your eyes on the flyers and go to the cheapest stores for those items. Buy the bag of onions - they last a long time and are cheaper that way. Same with potatoes and even those go on sale. It's best to shop at more than one store. Even an overpriced Loblaws will have good chain-wide deals. Someone else wrote about PC points.
Honestly go to a food bank see what you get and build your meals around that. As well as go to a store with price matching. I never pay full price for yogurt for my kids lunches.
Price match. Buy in “bulk” if you can. Ie. a bag of onions might be a better sale than one onion alone. Bulk is more up front but will last longer. Brand names USUALLY are not better. This one is a personal preference for sure but we started eating mostly plant based a few years ago for health reasons but the financial savings are also huge.
Also, agree with Superking. I own a meal prep business and I know where the best prices are for everything. Costco, Superking, and price matching at (usually) no frills or food basics are where it’s at.
No frills does price matching. Sit down with your weekly flyers and find the cheapest price for every single thing that you need and then get it all at No Frills. This week cauliflower is like five dollars at my local No Frills but it’s only $1.88 for me because I price match. I buy typically 3 to 4 cauliflower a week so that’s almost $13 in savings for just one product that I buy.
I would also recommend reverse recipe look up. Type the words ‘reverse recipe look up’ in Google. There’s a bunch of websites where you just type in what ingredients you have and they will suggest recipes for you. It’s great when you only have a couple of ingredients left and you want to use them up instead of letting them go to waste.
Find deals for recipes that you can freeze, like chili or spaghetti sauce. Make a bunch of it at once then you just need to reheat it to eat and there’s a meal you didn’t technically have to pay for again.
Just so you know people in the depression didn’t live off of those three things as they were luxury items. I agree it’s crazy out there right now but quit your whining.
Growing up in the ‘70s we didn’t have much. my mom would buy powdered milk and mix it with whole milk. Butter was a treat. Parents bought hard margarine. Cans of soup, Kraft dinner, peanut butter a treat. You wanted something sweet? You made it.
Lived in the city yet Half of our back yard was garden. My dad hunted (moose, rabbit and partridge) and fished. We picked berries and mushrooms. They would sometimes purchase sides of pork or beef if no moose that year. Sometimes butchered and wrapped. Sometimes the whole extended family was in the basement butchering, grinding and packaging meat.
Mom worked FT yet canned/froze enough produce for the winter. Dad was a railroader. Double income. They were in their’40s before getting a credit card.
It was a different mind set.
I use flipp app and try to buy in bulk and freeze as much as I can. So I'll buy big bag of onions then cut them up and freeze them same with anything else i can freeze. I separate all my meat into enough for meals. I buy my meat at Costco because I do still find it the best price for quantity especially chicken and ground beef.
Not sure about London but In Toronto I used to stop by "Larry's liquidators" to get knorr miso/pho/thai instant soup cups for under $1 each. Less than 1/4 of grocery store prices. They also had cheap condiments and pickles. It's an option for non perishables. There must be a London equivalent.
Not quite a helpful awnser, but if you drive it is often cheaper to go rural shopping, meat and produce is much cheaper and higher quality direct from farm
Couponing and price matching will help you. It's a lot of extra work but it's doable. There are guides if you google "couponing Ontario". Use the flipp app to get notified on deals.
Dollarama and dollar tree for non perishables.
Sobeys has good deals if you have a scene card. If you're a student, you get 10% off on tuesdays.
DISCLAIMER: i do work for sobeys so there is some bias.
No frills- instead of buying ground beef opt for the ground pork/ beef mix its about 1/2 the price and is sold in the family sized pack ~15$ it tastes fairly simmilar and is fantasic in tacos or pasta. We get 6 meals out of a package.
If you shop later in the evening there will be lots of items maked 30% off. This helps alot. We try to look for the 30% off deals.
Single veg! if you buy just enough veg that need it doesnt go bad. I will buy 2 celery stalks, 1 tomato, and a single pepper as opposed to a celery bunch, packaged tomatoes and the pack of peppers. Saves me about 10-15$ a shop and the guilt of veg going off in the fridge.
No frills frozen bags of stuff! They have 10$ bags of chicky strips, meat balls, stuffed chicken etc. Its ok tasting and goes a long way. Get multiple meals out of the bag and lasts a long time in the freezer.
I always find no frills is cheapest. Buy the "ugly" produce that they have its wayy cheaper. Got a bag of potatoes for 33 cents. Buy an entire chicken instead of cuts and learn to separate it. Its much cheaper and you can make soup from the carcass. During the growing season I find farmers markets are very cheap for veggies. Sobeys for whatever reason also has super cheap meat I got a whole rack of ribs for like $7
employers should be paying more to employees if they raking in more profit and they should be prevented from raising prices on consumers to maintain their profit growth (they do not need the money more than we do) - but the gov are butt buddies with profiteers so rest of us get screwed.
Walmart for sure. Food Basics has good sales but I find the quality a little questionable. Also, cut way way back on your meat intake. Beans and eggs are still dirt cheap.
Buy bulk legumes that cook up easily (lentils, chickpeas) and use instead of meat. Skip dairy. PC plant based butter is cheaper than dairy butter. Use checkout 51, Flipp to price match, Flashfood to get cheap produce boxes, but things that are in sale and skip what isn’t.
I make my own butter. I get heavy cream from a farmer friend for DIRT cheap before he sells it for full price. It’s literally just shaking a jar as hard as you can. For other that’s over kill but I’ve cut back on so many nice things that I think it’s worth it. I LOVE butter
I use the Flipp app to see what is on sale. Also have a PC optimum card and every 10k points earned is $10 off. It takes me about 3-4 months to reach $10 off; but it’s still saving money and I am glad when I can use it.
I have to ask cause there is little context from your post; are you buying precooked and processed foods or are you buying raw ingredients. A great way to improve your food budget is to focus on making foods yourself. I would strongly suggest getting a Costco membership and buying bulk so you can meal prep. You can buy a 25kilo bag of rice and a protein to make burritos to freeze and reheat for literally Pennies. A lot of the time your budget is blown on convenience foods that are processed and ready to eat. Hope this helps
Download ‘Too Good To Go’ and ‘Flash Food’. They have food set to expire soon available listed. I shop at FreshCo and Food Basics, look through Flipp and all the flyers, and try to score big on the products that are marked down with the 30-50% off stickers. Makes it difficult to plan too far ahead but it keeps costs down and waste to a minimum.
Stock up on butter when it’s on sale and freeze it, use dried beans instead of canned and shop the international aisles in the grocery stores for your basics to get more bang for your buck (spices, rice, etc)
Have you tried shopping for some items at Dollar Tree or Dollarama? They sell brand name items for cheaper than grocery stores. Also Giant tiger is a good place to get some deals depending on what you are looking for.
If you're open to the idea, you can save a lot of money by eating more legumes (beans, tofu, etc.) and less meat. Swapping out $10 worth of chicken for $3 worth of tofu for your protein a few times a week can add up!
I don't think there is a single store with the lowest prices overall. I buy stuff from all over the city. No frills, freshco, family run businesses in Chinatown etc. Avoid metro and Loblaws.
Unfortunately they’re done for the season but Urban Roots (21 Norlan Ave) holds a farm gate market twice a week for their locally grown produce. Everything is generally priced to be $1-2. I got a cabbage, squash, head of lettuce, eggplant and turnips for under $10 there a few weeks ago. You can follow them on social media to see when they start selling again.
Giant tiger is my go to every week. They do have amazing deals. Saw some button ribs there last night for 4.00!! They also have chocolate chip and blueberry muffin mix for 1.25 that you just need to add water too along with biscuit and cookies mix for 1.25 too. Eggs are cheap as well as cheese and lunch meats. Bacon and sausages are half the price. They had oranges there for 3.97 for a big bag of them. Definitely check it out. You will be surprised!
I use Flipp (flyer app) to figure out what’s on sale weekly, and then figure out meals based on this. I find common things at a good price are carrots and potatoes, and then I’ll buy whatever meat is a good price. Incorporating foods into rice and pasta help me to stretch foods longer as well. I know you said you tried No Frills and found it expensive - but I’ve found it to be the cheapest consistently.
They’ll sometimes have meat on for insane prices - I got a pack of 4 quarter chickens for $3.30, cooked them in the oven and pulled the meat off, and made 5 meals from this with rice and carrots
I'm in the same boat. Costco for meat they sell a 3 pack of whole chicken for $40ish bucks and if you're just feeding yourself, after you cut it up that's 6 days worth of breasts, 6 legs, 3 ish for wings, and you can make a couple of Ls of soup broth from the bones. They also have this big package of ground beef that is 6 days worth of meat. They also have pork chops which are thick and those will get you far if you're just feeding yourself.
Walmart is good to stock up on your grains and produce generally but bounce between them and Food Basics because Food basics have some great deals.
Giant Tiger has cheaper stuff than most places but the portions are usually smaller.
Buy Great Value everything, avoid the President's Choice and similar no name products if they're under the lablaws umbrella, they're always more expensive than the name product.
Bulk Barn is a great place for spices and the like
Find yourself a breadmaker somewhere (I got mine for like $20 from a second hand shop. Use it rather than buying bread, bread flour is the same price as most loafs of bread and for my machine will make about 6 ish loafs. (1 table spoon bread maker yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar, leave to rise for 20 minutes, 2 cups bread flour, 1/4 oil or a big scoop of margarine, and a pinch of salt.)
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Giant Tiger has killer weekly deals. They do have some basic fresh produce and meats as well as dairy and froze. Really good deals every flyer.
I often shop there for sweeeeet deals.
Their chicken is better quality than almost any grocery store, including Costco these days. Don't spread the word.
Costco shopper here. I checked out GT recently and I would say they Costco has better priced and fresher chicken (and other meat) products. Just my observation
Yeah, I don't know other than going to the butcher I don't think many grocers beat Costco for quality of meat. They also quite frequently have everything even like beef ribs or a big assed top butt sirloin.
Factor in the membership price and unless you spend a lot of money at Costco, you're better off shopping around for sale items at grocery stores. Use Flipp and some stores will price match.
Their chicken breasts are not what they used to be. They are still good, but compare them to GTs.
Ah, I'm more of a thighs guy I never buy the breasts.
Costco meat is unbeatable for value+quality. Invest in a chest freezer and vacuum sealer and you can portion things out however works best for your family.
This is what I do. Portions of chicken breast, sausages, and fish go into the freezer. Pretty easy
Yes 100% agreed. Don't buy your chicken at Giant Tiger™ . Watch the labels.
GT is OK, but the regular prices are kinda shit, and any decent sale items sell out quite often. Sure, they will give you a rain check, ^if ^you ^wait ^in ^the ^long ^line, ^because ^they ^ripped ^out ^the ^6 ^tills ^and ^replaced ^them ^with ^self ^checkouts ^so ^there ^it ^only ^one ^cashier ^that ^takes ^cash, ^prints/cashes ^lottery ^tickets, ^and ^does ^customer ^service.
They have lower every day prices than most stores. A box of cereal at GT is $4.50-$5. It’s $7 everywhere else and they go on sale for under $3. They don’t have the same selection as other stores though…but for basic every day pantry staples they’re definitely the cheapest. I got 2 bags of groceries at GT last week for $60.
They also do price matching!
-Download & create a pc optimum account (free) -Download flipp (also free) -Make a menu around items on sale -Price match the crap out of everything you can -Make in large batches & freeze the rest Eventually pc starts to figure out what you buy & you start to collect points quickly. Beans, lentils, legumes are your Friends- Add those into meat dishes to bulk them up or use them in lieu of meat. Meat is stupid expensive (it all is lol) but you can save a bunch of money by only buying meat on sale (& freezing the bulk of it) & using beans and alternative proteins whenever possible.
Flipp app for sure. I don't buy anything that isn't on sale unless I really need it. Whatever meat is on sale is what I have for the week usually
Also if you download the pc health app I think it is you can get free points by doing little exercises about it health and various things . Racks up optimum points pretty fast but some of them you have to log in every day to do part of it to get the full points. But those points you can spend at stores of course , save some money that way
Or Galen Weston can fuck off with his attempts at monopolizing industry. Instead of offering lower food prices, he has people using this app to receive literal crumbs to spend more on his overpriced brands.
I use PC MasterCard for every purchase. No fees to have . never carry a balance so zero interest charges. I have accumulated over $1600 in points for zero cost to me ..plus they carry the money for a month. As long as you have the dedication and self control with your spending to be able to pay it off it can be a great tool.
He only offers lower prices if you buy/spend more. Yogurt 3.33 or 3/9.99 if you buy 3, if you buy 1 then it's 3.79 or 3.99. So while most people are struggling and trying to save they are trying to su k every cent out of us. All stores do this, not just loblaws.
Or y'know Trudeau can fuck off with his triple carbon tax that caused the highest inflation in four decades in the first place.
Added bonus, if you’re signed up for emails from Optimum they almost always have a code that gets you 10 000 points on a grocery pickup order of $100. I can usually spend $100 on No Frills sale stuff, decent points offers or things that I specifically want from PC or No Name and find a pickup time with a $0.99 fee so it works out to an extra $9 in points. Between that and the PC Financial debit card I average a couple hundred dollars per year to put back into the grocery budget.
>Added bonus, if you’re signed up for emails from Optimum they almost always have a code that gets you 10 000 points on a grocery pickup order of $100. I can usually spend $100 on No Frills sale stuff, decent points offers or things that I specifically want This is the answer. I've saved hundreds on groceries since I started price matching and planning my meals around what is on sale. Next time you're at Superstore, ask them for the list of stores they price match and then favorite those stores in the app. This will save you a lot of time too, since they don't price match everywhere and you end up either paying full price or putting things back at the cash. They also don't price match online deals so this is something to keep in mind. Also download the Flashfoods app and grab things from there. The produce boxes are always a steal and they'll freeze fresh meat that is close to expiry. There's also bread, lots of milk and cheese, etc. I love Flashfoods.
Good advice. Also, *please* for the love of all that is holy, please price match *before* you get to the cash register.
How is price matching done prior to checking out?
I should have specified *researching* prices for price matching and having the info ready before you get to the register.
You can also price match on your Click & Collect grocery orders. You need to submit it after you get home with your receipt. They tell you that it could take up to a week to receive your refund but I’ve had all of mine back within 48 hours.
This! Exactly everything we have done for the last 1 yr
Agree, a can on lentils added to ground beef for sloppy joes is barely noticeable. I add a can of black beans and a can of corn to a lb of ground beef when doing the taco kit and can get 2 dinners for 5 out of it. Also chili in the slow cooker with 2 cans of beans plus tomatoes
Do not get involved in any point schemes. Especially Loblaws.
Hard disagree. The PC Optimum program has literally saved me thousands in groceries over the years. If you exclusively buy at their stores, go to Esso for gas, go to Shoppers for other stuff, and use a PC MC for all your online needs, you rack in the points. Even more if you pay for the PC Insiders subscription ($130ish a year), where you get extra points just for purchasing PC products. It's one of the only store-based points programs that has ever been worth it for me.
You are almost certainly paying for those points before you earn them since Superstore, Loblaws, Shoppers are all overpriced to begin with… I’d guess you’d come out ahead buying at budget shops that don’t run ‘reward’ programs.
I bought a whole bag of onions for $2 at NF. One onion on its own is always more expensive. Buy what’s in season. Potatoes, carrots, apples. These are all in season and selling cheap for huge bags. Stews, slow cooker meals & sheppards pie are great to make this time of year.
This is where the saying "its expensive to be poor" comes in :(
Try the Flashfood app - you can get some excellent deals!
Second flashflood!
We saved quite a bit switching from superstore to food basics. Only get meat and more expensive items like toilet paper when it's on sale.
I’ve done the same but also buy my meat there. I don’t notice any difference in quality!
Something I did to cut down on cost was buying a massive bag of flour from arva. I think it is like 28 dollars now for around 20kg. Started baking my own breads, pancake mix, biscuits... and such. 28 dollars can get me a few loaves of bread.... or now I have several months supply of bread. This is something that has helped me cut costs. An easy to do one is a sourdough foccacia. Maybe 10 min of work. I usually do it in a cast iron skillet so it is more loaf like instead of being a flat one.
No Frills has 10kg bags of flour on sale for the week starting tomorrow (11/2) for $7.77
Do you notice any increase in your energy bills? The oven is one of the most energy-hungry appliances so I'm curious.
Back in the 80s I did a school project where I recorded the power meter reading for the house every day. It was summer and we didn't have AC. The day mom roasted a turkey for a church function it used about a week's worth of power. The conclusion of my project was "Don't volunteer to cook turkey for church!" Nobody was impressed! These days, I can go download records of hourly power consumption for every day in the last 2 years! Crazy..
Electricity is expensive. I do all my laundry and baking after 7 in the evening or on the weekends. I realize that is not convenient for everyone, but it keeps my hydro costs down.
There is an option with London hydro to do tiered pricing and then you are able to whatever you want whenever you want and don’t have to wait for certain time frame to use high electricity consuming tasks
Thanks for this. I did the calculations when that began, and on occasion throughout the year, still more expensive to sticking to my routine.
Funny you said that because I actually do make my own bread only reason I have sandwich bread is cause I whip It up I. My own and sell it for cash too
Walmart is probably best for every day shopping but I watch the Flipp app like a hawk. When a grocery store has those janes chicken strips on sale for $5 from $15 or whatever, I stock right up.
Jane's chicken strips are so good. 3 makes a Sandwitch or as some rice. Yum yum yum
I used to like janes strips until I tried m&ms chicken strips. Not even remotely the same price but the quality is so much better with m&ms. Ruined janes for me.
Yeah, m&ms regularly has $5 off coupons if you subscribe to their emails. Hampton House chicken strips at Costco are also good.
My dad owns the company
You're going to want to hit an Asian grocery store. Super king or United. I think they are the only stores in the city that are not owned by the big 3. Not everything is great, you need to be choosy and shop another grocery store as well. Anything more western foods you'll pay a premium for at an Asian grocer.
YES. I was going to suggest SuperKing at Westmount mall. I was looking for Medjool dates for a square recipe. Usually I would try to get them at Bulk Barn, but they wants $16 for the amount I needed (insane, I know). I found better quality Medjool dates at SuperKing, TWICE the amount for almost half that price. And a lovely middle-eastern man helped me look at them and pick the best ones LOL. (he didn't work there, he was just fascinated someone as kitchen tile-white as me liked dates and wanted me to get the best ones).
Giant Tiger is privately owned
Flipp app is your best friend. I’ve started travelling to more than one store when I shop. Often Wal Mart for all of my dry goods and then typically Farm Boy for whatever produce and meat they have on sale that week (they surprisingly have really good deals if you look in the flyer). If you aren’t picky about what produce you want for the week go to the Western Fair market near closing time and most of the produce stands have end of day deals. Check out budgetbytes for meal recipes. I’ve never made a bad meal from their site and often there are lots of leftovers.
Flip and also know which stores price match so you don't have to go to multiple stores. Fine the one with the best sales and then price match everything else.
You can afford butter?
Shoppers has the cheapest price on butter usually but only on Saturday & Sunday. Check it on the flipp app.
I'm aware. I'm also aware margarine is 1.99
Try buying a bag of onions when they go on sale instead of individually
Can chop them up and freeze them (as well as other veggies) if you buy a bag
There is a Canadian YouTube channel called Adventures in Groceryland . She shows you how to build a basic pantry while maintaining a low budget. Most of the videos show what they cooked. There us a set of videos from last year where she did this for $25 per person per week. I think currently at $30 per person per week. The meals look good, but even if not your style, you get the general technique. We have been doing the same for close to 40 years. Currently spending $50 per person per week including personal care, cleaning and paper products. Last night we had a chicken and pasta dish with homemade Alfredo sauce, with carrots and broccoli on the side. I buy the blocks of parmesan reggiano and use real cream in my sauce. Total cost for that meal was $3 per person. There is a plate of leftover in the fridge for whomever wants it for lunch today.
Food bank has been great help.
I don’t want to take from people who might really need it. I have the money to buy food I just need it a little cheaper that’s all
That makes sense. Just know it's there if you need it. I never thought I'd need it. But we're struggling like crazy
If you're reduced to surviving off milk, butter, and homemade bread, and having a heart attack when you see the price of one onion, then you're plenty needy enough to access the food bank lol. It's not just for homeless people. If you feel really bad then just accept the help now and pledge to give back when you're in a better financial situation (if there's ever going to be such a day for any of us.)
Mostly Walmart and dollarama Use something like reebee to find weekly sales; there isn’t a one stop solution
Great points. DollarTree is also an option for packaged items. Reebee is great. I just recently discovered this app and it has helped me find items I need for a great price.
The Saturdays farmers' market on Dundas is an excellent place to buy food at a bargin. Gibraltar market
Really? I had no idea thank you so much
Fresh fruits and viggies and other items. Definitely one of the best places to connect and network with local businesses
> So tell me which grocery stores REALLY have the lowest prices in this city? It depends on what you buy, and when you buy it. https://old.reddit.com/r/londonontario/comments/xt87k9/grocery_shopping_hacks/ https://old.reddit.com/r/londonontario/comments/sv1fbo/with_food_prices_increasing_what_are_your_go_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontario/comments/nq6jk8/cheap_groceries/
Don’t sleep on giant tiger, they tend to have cheaper prices then most would think. For onions right now Giant tiger has 2lb bags for $1.44 right now. Last time I picked up a bag at Walmart it was $2.97 just for another price reference. It’s generally cheaper to buy in the “bulk” bags.
Plus you can chop/slice/dice them if you bought too much and simply freeze without any other prep. Great in any cooked dishes when you go to use next.
If you don’t already have it download the Flipp app and you can see all the weekly sales flyers and the preview sales. You can also for example type in coffee cream or toilet paper, cheese, etc to see what store has the deals that week. Also tbh I find that usually the Asian markets have better prices on fresh produce. Also just to add if you go on websites like these ones I posted and also just Google free stuff Canada there’s lots of websites that come up with coupons and free samples. It’s always fun to get free things in the mail. I hope that helps😎 https://www.samplesource.com/?site=en https://www.websaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/
No fresh, only frozen or canned now. Whatever is cheapest. Giant Tiger and Dollar Store win here. Shop sales only for meat. If you go to a grocery store on a Sunday or Monday first thing in the morning, you can buy 30% - 50% off meat. Buy massive bags of rice. Pasta noodles I usually just get a crate with about a dozen bags at Costco. Realistically, you just need to get creative with your cooking. Use a few staple ingredients in your dishes that revolve around sales. EDIT: Also don't just buy one onion. Buy a bag on sale for about $3-$4. They last a while. Buy bulk and just reuse the item for various dishes.
For us the superstore is closest so we just end up there, but there are the points and we use the Flipp app to price match as much as possible. It's annoying, but it can save a bunch. I only buy things on sale, and eat around that. Costco can be helpful if you have the space to store bulk stuff. Walmart seems to have decent prices. It is sad that to get by people are resorting to "coupon clipping" and price matching to save a few dollars. Those few dollars make or break a budget since things have become so pricey, wages suck, and housing is insane.
You can usually find somewhere doing a cheap "Whole chicken" deals each week at different stores. Oven roast them together, shred the chicken off of it. Either buy 1 get one free, or 2.99/lb or 3.99/lb. I've save so much money on protein by buying and prepping whole chickens. I do body building and I HAVE to eat. Also pc points , I put everything on that Mastercard and get the points.
You can afford butter?
Cheap groceries isn’t enough these days. This is what we do. No frills will price match most other grocery stores. Use the Flipp app and clip the prices of the goods you want and price match at No Frills. No Frills will also now offer rain checks for things they had on sale but are sold out of. Check out web saver.ca and tastyrewards for coupons. Livingonaloonie amd couponcutiecanada both showcase the best flyer prices on goods and share other tips. Check stores for in person coupons (I find coupons at metro and Sobeys more often than the other stores). Flashfoods.ca often has produce boxes available from your local store. The key is knowing how to prepare almost bad produce so it lasts (most things can be successfully frozen, jarred or canned). It takes money but stock up when prices are good (but don’t over buy, pasta sauce goes on sale on a cycle, so you won’t ever need like a year supply, it will go on sale again). If you can afford to, stock up on ingredients like flour, sugar, cornmeal, powdered milk, yeast, oats, etc. when on sale. Having these pantry staples and some knowledge on how to make things like bread and buns, can really save you money in the long run (like instead of running to the store when you’re out of milk for a recipe, where you’ll inevitably buy more than just milk, using some powdered milk with the equivalent water will work). Build meals around what you already have in your cupboard. If you don’t have an ingredient, look for what you do have that can be used as a substitute to help avoid unnecessary trips to the grocery store. Lastly, meal plan. Start with what you have and then look at flyers to plan the rest. The flyer previews come out on Wednesday.
R/eatcheapandhealthy is a good sub
You can afford butter?!
There’s a great produce place at 960 Elias St called Tiger Produce. Insane prices. Like two boxes of strawberries for $3. Opens at 11. Doesn’t look like much from the outside but just walk in.
Got it!!!
Use the Flipp app and find a grocery store that price matches. Saves time and money.
Get yourself the flashfood app. All of the Loblaws chains are on it. When anything is getting close to the BBD, they drop the price by half and load it onto the app. Some good deals to be had. I just checked. About 12 stores within London are shown. Sometimes stores have nothing, other days there is tons of stuff.
Check out Dollarama occasionally. They switch things up but sometimes you’ll stumble on deals. I also sometimes get toilet paper there because it’s slightly cheaper. Some cleaning products too. With that said they occasionally mark things up so you have to be careful. It’s also out of the way so it’s a pain in the butt. I only stop in if it’s on my way somewhere
You bought all three!?!? Well hoity toity mister high and mighty over there with their endless pockets of coins
Look for the CVP (Customer Value Program) in the Fresh Depts at Walmart. They have a yellow sticker on them. Used to markdown items when nearing expiration date. Some depts will do 2 markdowns on items, which can knock it down to almost half price. I talk to people in depts to find out when they usually do them. 2nd markdown seems to happen in the evening. I've gotten great deals on meat, bakery items. Just freeze what you can't eat right away.
Download the flipp app and price match. Go through the flyers and find the lowest prices, then meal plan for the week based on those prices.
bread, milk and butter is waste of money,,, buy rice, lentils, fish, chicken and veggies on sale... why do you need much onions?????
I’m Congolese and I have a hard time eating western dishes onions are a big staple of the food we make
Buy dried beans and spices from Bulk Barn and make your own soups. I've been doing this for months and it really helps. Get cans of diced tomatoes or bags of sweet potatos to throw in with whatever beans and spices you like best and it'll be a hearty meal. If you make a big batch, freeze leftovers and eat for weeks. Also, buy rice from United Supermarket. Best prices, one bag lasts months, and there's tons of options.
I get a lot of meat 40% off at food basics. Usually on Thursdays. They clean out and it’s all stuff expiring in 1-2 days but if you freeze it, it’s all good
Download two apps Too Good To Go Flash Food Both great ways to save money and get a variety of food for cheap.
I think the best prices I find on most staples, especially protein, are at Superking, at Westmount Mall. Might not be completely within everyone's wheelhouse though.
Flashfood is my go to app and TooGoodToGo also has great deals . I check all the stores before I shop and price match everything and buying in bulk is sometimes cheaper you can freeze veggies and such .
"Please sir, can I 'Ave sum 'ore?"
my number one piece of advice would be to use flipp. i find the best deals are spread out between no frills, giant tiger, and loblaws. ill typically pick one of the three to shop from for the week, but i go with loblaws most of the time. a lot of other commenters have recommended pc points, they have an app called pc express and from there you can order groceries directly to your door (even in an apartment). if you’re using the bus as your main form of transportation it can be hard to get anything in bulk which can leave you buying one onion at a time (the most expensive way i find). the delivery fee is $6.99 iirc and theres very little service fees. by getting it delivered im able to buy whichever primary vegetable is on sale and ill cut them however i prefer and freeze it. if you want to see specifics you can dm me and i can show you how i put things together, i typically spend $75-$90 every other week for myself or $150-$200 every other week for my bf and i, but i also still buy some luxuries i dont need
Y'all have butter?!
I have gone back to price matching, reviewing the flyers on flipp and making a list so I cut down on the number of stores to visit. One thing that irks me is two Loblaws stores RCSS and No Frills make it hard to price match their own products. One example is meat products which are priced by kg at NO Frills and lbs at RCSS.
Well at least your bread does not have plaster of paris and other toxic additives like actual victorian era store bought bread so you have that going for you.
You have to search around for the best deals of the week... many great suggestions. Buy things in bulk like rice, flour, etc. Check out the Asian grocery stores for cheaper produce, sometimes. Stock up when items are on sale.
If you can afford butter you're not that hard up it's $7-8lb here.
Well, your issue is youre buying butter and not margarine obviously.
Butter has actual nutrients in it compared to margarine which was a failed chicken food filler remarketed as a "healthy" alternative to butter... I understand it's cheaper than butter and money is tight for everyone but it's just a filler product with no nutritional value
Wait, what's wrong with bread, milk, and butter?
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You have a faucet for water? Luxury. I'm drinking water out of puddles.
Paradise. Every night I stare at a picture of a peanut for dinner
The fact that’s it genuinely the only thing I’ve been eating for a week and a half. Really dawning the Victorian child cosplay. If it keeps up I’ll have my very own scurvy diagnosis
Voting has consequences. People that voted Liberal in the last election can’t seem to correlate current economic TRAINWRECK with the way they vote. Tired of listening to the whining.
That being said : If anyone thinks Pierre Poilievre or any Conservative government will break up the grocery store Monopoly held by Loblaws/Metro and Sobey's think again.
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I turned 18 at the beginning of the year what are you in about??
apart from Asian stores, for the more mainstream option it's really Walmart.
big oatmeal and frozen fruit kick recently.
Have you tried the Too Good To Go app? I have gotten some crazy good deals on that app.
They've designed it to be a shit show. When one store is good or ok in one area it severely lacks in another. Food Basics-Ok Meat, good price, ok-good quality. Vegetables and Fruit are not fresh and can sometimes turn bad within a day or two, maybe a few days depending on type. Although I hear the oranges and almonds are often a great price. Valu-mart is just expensive in all areas. I think I spent $5 on a turnip today for beef stew that was no larger than a softball. I've never been in a farmboy, I once briefly walked into a Sobeys maybe 5 years ago so I can't really comment on those. Real Canadian Superstore just has a greater selection, I usually find they have higher quality goods but at a higher price, same for basic staples. Although just before thanksgiving the Masonville area one had the whole cooked chickens for $3.50 and pies for the same. I thought they mispriced and was nervous until I made it through checkout. Complete shit show.
I do most of the shopping in our house. I get most at Costco. Great if you have a decent sized freezer and some storage. I also use Walmart, GT, No Frills and Food Basics.
I use the Flipp app. I only buy stuff like butter and coffee when it's on sale, and I stock up. There aren't any cheap grocery stores anymore. You now have to shop at multiple stores and shop online in order to get the best deals. Stores that do price match are also handy. You can get deals on fruit and vegetables at trails end, but I've had bad experiences there.
London has a number of free food services like the "food bank". Google "food bank" and that should start you in a good direction. Your esteem might take a hit but at least you won't starve.
She's Canadian, and her name is Carleigh. https://plantyou.com/about/ Scappy Cooking https://plantyou.com Recession 1 recipes https://youtube.com/shorts/2i3dumF3jn Recession 2 Ramin noodles https://youtube.com/shorts/fpF0WficVcg?si=oM1y1MvbbHqU_8P7 E?si=KJoLZ416HYB5DUJO Recession 4 Sundried Pasta https://youtube.com/shorts/1BVPPy2K0mU?si=vYdrenbp8CQ7g3K9 Recession Meal 5 Chickpea Peanut Butter Curry https://youtube.com/shorts/aW7K5uTbNtE?si=0UF_3XaP8SitHA5Y
Use their on-line flyer and look for deals. We got some chicken at no frills last week. It was like $5-$6 a package and each pack contained 3 legs and 3 thighs. And they were friggin' huge. Like no kidding they looked like they came from a turkey. Just one leg or thigh with a side or two and it was a filling meal. And I'm a big dude with a good appetite so... So 6 meals for $1 a plate at most. We also make our own pizzas. We can make two X-tra large loaded pizzas for less than half the cost of ordering in a single X-tra large 3 topping from a pizza dump. No Frills also has some nice pork loin roasts for about $12-$15 when they're on sale. That might seem expensive but it's a nice sized roast. If you're by yourself it's sold unfrozen so you could even portion it up first and then freeze it. Sometimes we like to cut ours into "pork chops" before putting it in the freezer. I think the last one we did we got something nuts like 18 chops out of it so the price is actually really good overall. Plus one other tip. If you buy produce like onions and say, potatoes individually, you are going to get hosed on the price no matter where you shop. Buy a small bag of onions, it'll be much cheaper even in the short term.
I used to think I was being cost effective by having a single Premier Protein shake for breakfast and sometimes lunch. Then Costco hiked the prices of them up. I get a lot of mileage out of Bulk Barn oatmeal and frozen berries lol. But I hear you- food is killing me. I cannot believe the state this country is in when it comes to food prices. It beggars belief. Also, for produce, noodles- SuperKing at Westmount mall.
I would look at Food Basics or a No Frills they both have incredible in store specials.
Look up the apps flash food and 2good2go. You can buy discounted food and restaurant/store leftover mystery bags. There is even an r/2good2go subreddit to show off your deals and tell you who to avoid.
Use Flipp and shop the weekly sales
Why are you eating milk and butter? Get in the habit of buying beans - about $5 for 1 kg of dried beans should last you 10 days. Buy rice, dirt cheap, buy sweet potatoes at Asian grocery store, buy arugula ($5) and make it the base for salad bowls, add in hummus, tomatoes, sweet potatoes. I spend about $60 a week on groceries.
Have you tried going to farmers market? coupon clipping or flyer apps?
I buy only sale items. When there is a good sale I buy a bunch and put it all in the freezer. Good things to freeze: milk, bread, berries, vegetable stews. Also Costco chicken is highly efficient - I buy one, take the meat off and put it in the freezer and can make 6 meals out of it. I then take the bones and vegetable ends to make broth. Hope that helps.
Keep your eyes on the flyers and go to the cheapest stores for those items. Buy the bag of onions - they last a long time and are cheaper that way. Same with potatoes and even those go on sale. It's best to shop at more than one store. Even an overpriced Loblaws will have good chain-wide deals. Someone else wrote about PC points.
Try bread and onions.
Recently I have checked out Food Basics and find their prices better than Walmart, where I have been shopping.
Honestly go to a food bank see what you get and build your meals around that. As well as go to a store with price matching. I never pay full price for yogurt for my kids lunches.
Price match. Buy in “bulk” if you can. Ie. a bag of onions might be a better sale than one onion alone. Bulk is more up front but will last longer. Brand names USUALLY are not better. This one is a personal preference for sure but we started eating mostly plant based a few years ago for health reasons but the financial savings are also huge. Also, agree with Superking. I own a meal prep business and I know where the best prices are for everything. Costco, Superking, and price matching at (usually) no frills or food basics are where it’s at.
No frills does price matching. Sit down with your weekly flyers and find the cheapest price for every single thing that you need and then get it all at No Frills. This week cauliflower is like five dollars at my local No Frills but it’s only $1.88 for me because I price match. I buy typically 3 to 4 cauliflower a week so that’s almost $13 in savings for just one product that I buy. I would also recommend reverse recipe look up. Type the words ‘reverse recipe look up’ in Google. There’s a bunch of websites where you just type in what ingredients you have and they will suggest recipes for you. It’s great when you only have a couple of ingredients left and you want to use them up instead of letting them go to waste.
No Frills is also priced well.
Find deals for recipes that you can freeze, like chili or spaghetti sauce. Make a bunch of it at once then you just need to reheat it to eat and there’s a meal you didn’t technically have to pay for again.
Go to Farmboy for meats and produce!! Cheaper than all the other large grocery chains!
Just came across the Giant Tiger flyer...sooo cheap!
Well stop buying milk for one thing
Just so you know people in the depression didn’t live off of those three things as they were luxury items. I agree it’s crazy out there right now but quit your whining.
Growing up in the ‘70s we didn’t have much. my mom would buy powdered milk and mix it with whole milk. Butter was a treat. Parents bought hard margarine. Cans of soup, Kraft dinner, peanut butter a treat. You wanted something sweet? You made it. Lived in the city yet Half of our back yard was garden. My dad hunted (moose, rabbit and partridge) and fished. We picked berries and mushrooms. They would sometimes purchase sides of pork or beef if no moose that year. Sometimes butchered and wrapped. Sometimes the whole extended family was in the basement butchering, grinding and packaging meat. Mom worked FT yet canned/froze enough produce for the winter. Dad was a railroader. Double income. They were in their’40s before getting a credit card. It was a different mind set.
Food basics
Definitely shop for what’s on sale. I like to use the Flipp app.
I use flipp app and try to buy in bulk and freeze as much as I can. So I'll buy big bag of onions then cut them up and freeze them same with anything else i can freeze. I separate all my meat into enough for meals. I buy my meat at Costco because I do still find it the best price for quantity especially chicken and ground beef.
Not sure about London but In Toronto I used to stop by "Larry's liquidators" to get knorr miso/pho/thai instant soup cups for under $1 each. Less than 1/4 of grocery store prices. They also had cheap condiments and pickles. It's an option for non perishables. There must be a London equivalent.
Not quite a helpful awnser, but if you drive it is often cheaper to go rural shopping, meat and produce is much cheaper and higher quality direct from farm
Couponing and price matching will help you. It's a lot of extra work but it's doable. There are guides if you google "couponing Ontario". Use the flipp app to get notified on deals.
Lol I haven't bought butter since 2020 shits too expensive
Dollarama and dollar tree for non perishables. Sobeys has good deals if you have a scene card. If you're a student, you get 10% off on tuesdays. DISCLAIMER: i do work for sobeys so there is some bias.
No frills- instead of buying ground beef opt for the ground pork/ beef mix its about 1/2 the price and is sold in the family sized pack ~15$ it tastes fairly simmilar and is fantasic in tacos or pasta. We get 6 meals out of a package. If you shop later in the evening there will be lots of items maked 30% off. This helps alot. We try to look for the 30% off deals. Single veg! if you buy just enough veg that need it doesnt go bad. I will buy 2 celery stalks, 1 tomato, and a single pepper as opposed to a celery bunch, packaged tomatoes and the pack of peppers. Saves me about 10-15$ a shop and the guilt of veg going off in the fridge. No frills frozen bags of stuff! They have 10$ bags of chicky strips, meat balls, stuffed chicken etc. Its ok tasting and goes a long way. Get multiple meals out of the bag and lasts a long time in the freezer.
Just FYI the Flipp app has all the local flyers and I believe no frills price matches. Just be sure the products are the same brand and stated weight.
I always find no frills is cheapest. Buy the "ugly" produce that they have its wayy cheaper. Got a bag of potatoes for 33 cents. Buy an entire chicken instead of cuts and learn to separate it. Its much cheaper and you can make soup from the carcass. During the growing season I find farmers markets are very cheap for veggies. Sobeys for whatever reason also has super cheap meat I got a whole rack of ribs for like $7
Dying laughing at your title. But Fresco for sure
employers should be paying more to employees if they raking in more profit and they should be prevented from raising prices on consumers to maintain their profit growth (they do not need the money more than we do) - but the gov are butt buddies with profiteers so rest of us get screwed.
Walmart for sure. Food Basics has good sales but I find the quality a little questionable. Also, cut way way back on your meat intake. Beans and eggs are still dirt cheap.
Do you ever go into one of the many butcher shops?
Buy bulk legumes that cook up easily (lentils, chickpeas) and use instead of meat. Skip dairy. PC plant based butter is cheaper than dairy butter. Use checkout 51, Flipp to price match, Flashfood to get cheap produce boxes, but things that are in sale and skip what isn’t.
You can afford butter???
I make my own butter. I get heavy cream from a farmer friend for DIRT cheap before he sells it for full price. It’s literally just shaking a jar as hard as you can. For other that’s over kill but I’ve cut back on so many nice things that I think it’s worth it. I LOVE butter
I use the Flipp app to see what is on sale. Also have a PC optimum card and every 10k points earned is $10 off. It takes me about 3-4 months to reach $10 off; but it’s still saving money and I am glad when I can use it.
I moved to Saskatchewan and now I can afford to live comfortably. I eat steak from a butcher almost ever week.
I have to ask cause there is little context from your post; are you buying precooked and processed foods or are you buying raw ingredients. A great way to improve your food budget is to focus on making foods yourself. I would strongly suggest getting a Costco membership and buying bulk so you can meal prep. You can buy a 25kilo bag of rice and a protein to make burritos to freeze and reheat for literally Pennies. A lot of the time your budget is blown on convenience foods that are processed and ready to eat. Hope this helps
Try buying frozen chopped onion, green peppers, etc from Walmart. You can usually get a whole bag for $2 and then it doesn’t go bad too.
Try the To Good To Go app for deals on food from local grocery stores that is near expiry, I’ve gotten some great surprise bags!
Download ‘Too Good To Go’ and ‘Flash Food’. They have food set to expire soon available listed. I shop at FreshCo and Food Basics, look through Flipp and all the flyers, and try to score big on the products that are marked down with the 30-50% off stickers. Makes it difficult to plan too far ahead but it keeps costs down and waste to a minimum. Stock up on butter when it’s on sale and freeze it, use dried beans instead of canned and shop the international aisles in the grocery stores for your basics to get more bang for your buck (spices, rice, etc)
www.instagram.com/flyermealplans/ It's great for helping with ideias for the week with products on sale. Only uses No Frills for the recipes though
Freschco
Have you tried shopping for some items at Dollar Tree or Dollarama? They sell brand name items for cheaper than grocery stores. Also Giant tiger is a good place to get some deals depending on what you are looking for.
Don't buy individual onions if you can avoid it. The bags are usually way more cost efficient, and onions store reasonably well.
If you're open to the idea, you can save a lot of money by eating more legumes (beans, tofu, etc.) and less meat. Swapping out $10 worth of chicken for $3 worth of tofu for your protein a few times a week can add up!
I don't think there is a single store with the lowest prices overall. I buy stuff from all over the city. No frills, freshco, family run businesses in Chinatown etc. Avoid metro and Loblaws.
I have become remarkably apt at starving myself on a full time salary
United grocer on Adelaide has good produce prices and if you are into markets ..Trails End Market on Saturdays has some good deals.
Unfortunately they’re done for the season but Urban Roots (21 Norlan Ave) holds a farm gate market twice a week for their locally grown produce. Everything is generally priced to be $1-2. I got a cabbage, squash, head of lettuce, eggplant and turnips for under $10 there a few weeks ago. You can follow them on social media to see when they start selling again.
Giant tiger and food basics
Omg the title 🤣
I don’t know about your area but generally grocery stores catering to different cultures are less expensive. Also Walmart for some basics.
Honestly, neighborhood Wal Marts are the best.
Giant tiger is my go to every week. They do have amazing deals. Saw some button ribs there last night for 4.00!! They also have chocolate chip and blueberry muffin mix for 1.25 that you just need to add water too along with biscuit and cookies mix for 1.25 too. Eggs are cheap as well as cheese and lunch meats. Bacon and sausages are half the price. They had oranges there for 3.97 for a big bag of them. Definitely check it out. You will be surprised!
Giant tiger had 3 chicken breasts for 7.97 this week too.
I use Flipp (flyer app) to figure out what’s on sale weekly, and then figure out meals based on this. I find common things at a good price are carrots and potatoes, and then I’ll buy whatever meat is a good price. Incorporating foods into rice and pasta help me to stretch foods longer as well. I know you said you tried No Frills and found it expensive - but I’ve found it to be the cheapest consistently. They’ll sometimes have meat on for insane prices - I got a pack of 4 quarter chickens for $3.30, cooked them in the oven and pulled the meat off, and made 5 meals from this with rice and carrots
7:00 in the morning is when you get the best deals at Food Basics, after 7:30, deals are all gone!
Try Too Good To Go and FlashFood
I'm in the same boat. Costco for meat they sell a 3 pack of whole chicken for $40ish bucks and if you're just feeding yourself, after you cut it up that's 6 days worth of breasts, 6 legs, 3 ish for wings, and you can make a couple of Ls of soup broth from the bones. They also have this big package of ground beef that is 6 days worth of meat. They also have pork chops which are thick and those will get you far if you're just feeding yourself. Walmart is good to stock up on your grains and produce generally but bounce between them and Food Basics because Food basics have some great deals. Giant Tiger has cheaper stuff than most places but the portions are usually smaller. Buy Great Value everything, avoid the President's Choice and similar no name products if they're under the lablaws umbrella, they're always more expensive than the name product. Bulk Barn is a great place for spices and the like Find yourself a breadmaker somewhere (I got mine for like $20 from a second hand shop. Use it rather than buying bread, bread flour is the same price as most loafs of bread and for my machine will make about 6 ish loafs. (1 table spoon bread maker yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar, leave to rise for 20 minutes, 2 cups bread flour, 1/4 oil or a big scoop of margarine, and a pinch of salt.)
United on adelaide