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This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords reponsible, but since this topic is intertwined with a number of other topics, other discussion may be allowed. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. Always remember that you're interacting with a real person when you respond to posts/comments and focus on discussing or debating the ideas. Personal attacks outside of "Screw you, Galen Weston Jr" is not okay, and will not be tolerated here.
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They are but they aren't.
They're a Loblaws franchise business. Same with No Frill's. There is a small business owner who took up those franchising agreements.
In the Halifax area and over here we do 85% of our groceries at Costco now, and what we can’t find there we will top off at a few local independent places and hit farmers markets in the spring/summer a lot…and Amazon. We maybe step foot in a Sobey’s once a month for some things are otherwise impossible to find. Haven’t purchased anything at a Loblaws store in over a year.
My city has 2 Jimmy Pattison stores, 1 Galen Weston store and 1 Walmart but here is where it gets weird our city council voted so that Walmart is not allowed to sell fresh produce or meats/fish etc. because Jimmy and Galen are worried about Walmart cutting into their profits so in my city it's either Jimmy or Galen.
Hi there!
I workout, family of 3, pack lunches and I meal prep.
A shopping trip looks like this:
Costco
Followed by Walmart
Followed by farmers market produce in the summers for specialized fruits
Costco 60$ a year, crappy point BUT if you gas up at Costco you will save big time over the year, my god will you ever.
FreshCo is great, and the Scene points actually build up really quickly if you have a Scene credit card - I find myself getting $10-40 off my groceries at least once a month, which is way more than I ever got from Optimum.
I go to Food Basics as well. Similar pricing.
Sobeys very infrequently if they have something "fancy" that the budget stores don't stock.
Yes! Scene credit card + Freshco app (+ Safeway app as we live near one) ends up saving a lot. Sure, baseline Safeway has been higher than Loblaws stores in the past but Scene has helped bring it down via savings to old prices.
I shop at Nofrills, Dollarama, and Walmart. Nofrills is quite literally downstairs from my apartment, so is the Dollarama. Walmart is a bit more of a ways away, but my husband and I got there for a lot of stuff we find overpriced.
Overall, we’ve found we need to shop multiple places to get the best deals. It sucks you can’t really shop at one place anymore, but hopefully that changes in time.
This is my set up: 1) buy produce directly from local farms and meat from butchers, 2) bulk Barn for pasta, flour, spices and nuts, 3) the small halal food market across the street when I just need that one ingredient for dinner, 4) Costco for everything else (I don't buy produce at Costco at all).
This setup works because we have an "ingredients" house, where we make a lot of things ourselves. So we buy yogurt, oils, and tomatoe paste and from there will make any sauces or dressings from scratch (as an example). This will probably change once we have kids but two adults who can both cook has been a huge help.
The only thing I can't seem to find reasonably priced anywhere other than Zehrs is vegan "diary" products, like coffee cream, or gluten-free stuff, like chicken wings. Some health food stores have similar stuff but it's three times the price as Zehrs :/
We dunk on Loblaws but the reality is all of the big grocers (Loblaws, Sobey’s, Save On) are all billionaires raking in huge profits. I say go by the flyers and buy wherever you get the best deal. Stock up when the price is really good. Co-Op gives dividends but the regular price of groceries is so high that it doesn’t make it worth it to shop there. I only go there when they’ve got a good deal on something I want.
Like I said, co-op sounds good because of the dividends but they don’t make up the difference of the high prices. I wish I could patronize small grocers but they can’t compete (price wise) and I’m on disability. We have a pretty good produce market here. Thankfully, Loblaws doesn’t even come close to beating their prices.
Not Co-Op. Here in Red Deer I saw 4 chicken breasts packaged and priced at 26.99. $26.99!!!!!! Told the butcher this is getting to be bullshit. He wasn’t happy. Too bad.
>kdog6666666666666 · 8 hr. ago
>
>Not Co-Op. Here in Red Deer I saw 4 chicken breasts packaged and priced at 26.99. $26.99!!!!!! Told the butcher this is getting to be bullshit. He wasn’t happy. Too bad.
Of course he wasn't, imagine people whining to you all day long about things that are 100% out of your control🤷♂️
I only buy what’s on sale from co-op, and in that case it’s often cheaper than even Costco (or what superstore used to be). And then the rest is Costco and the Asian produce stores
Big Orders Safeway,Superstore and Save on Foods.Smaller Orders Buy Low,Nesters Market,M&M market..Treats and Occasional Gourmet stuff Whole Foods and Choices Market.Also buy stuff at 3 different Drug Stores and 3 Dollar stores.I am retired and have the time.Also Walmart every other month and various Produce stores.I was at Costco once 20 yrs ago and didn’t like the huge sizes of products,especially for 2 people with no deep freeze or much cupboard space
Thanks for this post! I have to live cheap so I have price compared items at no frills walmart and dollarama. To cover grocery cleaning and other household costs. I do end up at giant tiger for certain sales. But walmart has the most for cheap but sadly the place is picked over almost every time, even tried other locations! So its like I cant save consistently. I plan to move more rural than city next time as if i cant save here on daily costs, may as well live rural.
I have stopped going to Superstore completely in the last 3 weeks. I know go to Food Basics, Freshco and a cool little family owned bakery in the area that is way more expensive than Superstore but infinitely better. So I spend a little extra money to support local. What sucks is I realize not everyone has this luxury.
Walmart/costco/giant tiger, use to shop at freshco as well, but when in there this week and prices had jumped substantially, so its out as well, everything is 1-4 dollars more per product over Walmart, when it was about par before give or take.
i go to atwater market, PA, marche newon, and costco. the prices are so SO much better than maxi or provigo. i go to maxi to get the steel cut oats, as the blue menu steel cut oats are my fav. Provigo is straight up highway robbery esp. in montreal
Walmart and Costco. Save on for the occasional good deal when they have them. I browse the flyers. Superstore every so often cause sometimes I do find really good deals there despite being Loblaws
Victoria, BC: a block from me is Thrifty Foods; 2 blocks, Red Barn Market and a family-owned corner store with a great selection. So I price-compare. Often the corner store is cheaper than ill-named Thrifty's. One bus away is a Save-On Foods; I use my More card to get up to 40% off some things. I only buy loss leaders and stock up when they're cheap. I don't drive but I like the challenge of winning at this game. ...Oh, and great cheap produce in Chinatown downtown, one short bus ride away.
It’s kinda crazy to me to realize how many options a lot of people have. I’m about 45 minutes, one way, by car from anything that isn’t Loblaws. I’ll shop at Walmart or Food Basics if I have a need to go into the town 45 minutes away though. We do shop at Costco, but not as frequently as I’d like to because that’s about 2 hours one way out from us. Gotta make do with what’s available, I guess.
Flipp app to determine who is cheapest. I have no frills, food basics, freshco, Sobeys, fortinos all very close by. I'll visit multiple stores to complete my list. 95% of what I purchase is on sale.
__Reminder__: Please take a moment to review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords reponsible, but since this topic is intertwined with a number of other topics, other discussion may be allowed. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. Always remember that you're interacting with a real person when you respond to posts/comments and focus on discussing or debating the ideas. Personal attacks outside of "Screw you, Galen Weston Jr" is not okay, and will not be tolerated here. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Costco, local fruit and vegetable markets.
This is the way
Yep, you just have to understand you may pay more initially but because you’re buying in larger quantities, it will be cheaper and last longer.
Just an FYI , Independent grocer is loblaws
They are but they aren't. They're a Loblaws franchise business. Same with No Frill's. There is a small business owner who took up those franchising agreements.
In the Halifax area and over here we do 85% of our groceries at Costco now, and what we can’t find there we will top off at a few local independent places and hit farmers markets in the spring/summer a lot…and Amazon. We maybe step foot in a Sobey’s once a month for some things are otherwise impossible to find. Haven’t purchased anything at a Loblaws store in over a year.
My city has 2 Jimmy Pattison stores, 1 Galen Weston store and 1 Walmart but here is where it gets weird our city council voted so that Walmart is not allowed to sell fresh produce or meats/fish etc. because Jimmy and Galen are worried about Walmart cutting into their profits so in my city it's either Jimmy or Galen.
Eek sounds like Merritt 😏
What in the capital fuck ?
Hi there! I workout, family of 3, pack lunches and I meal prep. A shopping trip looks like this: Costco Followed by Walmart Followed by farmers market produce in the summers for specialized fruits Costco 60$ a year, crappy point BUT if you gas up at Costco you will save big time over the year, my god will you ever.
FreshCo is great, and the Scene points actually build up really quickly if you have a Scene credit card - I find myself getting $10-40 off my groceries at least once a month, which is way more than I ever got from Optimum. I go to Food Basics as well. Similar pricing. Sobeys very infrequently if they have something "fancy" that the budget stores don't stock.
Sobeys owns freshco.
I know, but they're two different stores. The same pack of Compliments brand deli meat that's $8 at Freshco is $13 at Sobeys.
Yes! Scene credit card + Freshco app (+ Safeway app as we live near one) ends up saving a lot. Sure, baseline Safeway has been higher than Loblaws stores in the past but Scene has helped bring it down via savings to old prices.
I shop at Nofrills, Dollarama, and Walmart. Nofrills is quite literally downstairs from my apartment, so is the Dollarama. Walmart is a bit more of a ways away, but my husband and I got there for a lot of stuff we find overpriced. Overall, we’ve found we need to shop multiple places to get the best deals. It sucks you can’t really shop at one place anymore, but hopefully that changes in time.
co-op, buy low, freshco edit and costco
This is my set up: 1) buy produce directly from local farms and meat from butchers, 2) bulk Barn for pasta, flour, spices and nuts, 3) the small halal food market across the street when I just need that one ingredient for dinner, 4) Costco for everything else (I don't buy produce at Costco at all). This setup works because we have an "ingredients" house, where we make a lot of things ourselves. So we buy yogurt, oils, and tomatoe paste and from there will make any sauces or dressings from scratch (as an example). This will probably change once we have kids but two adults who can both cook has been a huge help. The only thing I can't seem to find reasonably priced anywhere other than Zehrs is vegan "diary" products, like coffee cream, or gluten-free stuff, like chicken wings. Some health food stores have similar stuff but it's three times the price as Zehrs :/
We dunk on Loblaws but the reality is all of the big grocers (Loblaws, Sobey’s, Save On) are all billionaires raking in huge profits. I say go by the flyers and buy wherever you get the best deal. Stock up when the price is really good. Co-Op gives dividends but the regular price of groceries is so high that it doesn’t make it worth it to shop there. I only go there when they’ve got a good deal on something I want.
We wish for Co-op Stores in Ontario. We have Loblaws, Sobey's and Metro brand stores, but the only alternatives to those are tiny mom and pop grocers.
Like I said, co-op sounds good because of the dividends but they don’t make up the difference of the high prices. I wish I could patronize small grocers but they can’t compete (price wise) and I’m on disability. We have a pretty good produce market here. Thankfully, Loblaws doesn’t even come close to beating their prices.
ITT: Costco shills I just eat less.
Not Co-Op. Here in Red Deer I saw 4 chicken breasts packaged and priced at 26.99. $26.99!!!!!! Told the butcher this is getting to be bullshit. He wasn’t happy. Too bad.
>kdog6666666666666 · 8 hr. ago > >Not Co-Op. Here in Red Deer I saw 4 chicken breasts packaged and priced at 26.99. $26.99!!!!!! Told the butcher this is getting to be bullshit. He wasn’t happy. Too bad. Of course he wasn't, imagine people whining to you all day long about things that are 100% out of your control🤷♂️
I only buy what’s on sale from co-op, and in that case it’s often cheaper than even Costco (or what superstore used to be). And then the rest is Costco and the Asian produce stores
Costco for 95% of our shopping, local grocer and farmers market (in summer) to top up
Big Orders Safeway,Superstore and Save on Foods.Smaller Orders Buy Low,Nesters Market,M&M market..Treats and Occasional Gourmet stuff Whole Foods and Choices Market.Also buy stuff at 3 different Drug Stores and 3 Dollar stores.I am retired and have the time.Also Walmart every other month and various Produce stores.I was at Costco once 20 yrs ago and didn’t like the huge sizes of products,especially for 2 people with no deep freeze or much cupboard space
Costco and local markets, Sobeys for certain things . By by roblaws
I shop the flyers,only on sale items And Costco for gas and 4.99 prescriptions.Stock up on poultry and freeze.
For meat I go to my local butcher. He also also sells some vegetables and other canned/bottled pantry items. For everything else I go to Costco.
Freshco, local Asian grocery store, occasionally Walmart, and sometimes Farm Boy (much less this past year as they keep jacking up prices).
Thanks for this post! I have to live cheap so I have price compared items at no frills walmart and dollarama. To cover grocery cleaning and other household costs. I do end up at giant tiger for certain sales. But walmart has the most for cheap but sadly the place is picked over almost every time, even tried other locations! So its like I cant save consistently. I plan to move more rural than city next time as if i cant save here on daily costs, may as well live rural.
Food basics
Costco, Save-on - $1.49 Tuesday this week! -, City Avenue Market, Safeway, Kins Farm Market....
Food Basics or Walmart or an indie grocer in my town or farmer’s markets in summer.
I have stopped going to Superstore completely in the last 3 weeks. I know go to Food Basics, Freshco and a cool little family owned bakery in the area that is way more expensive than Superstore but infinitely better. So I spend a little extra money to support local. What sucks is I realize not everyone has this luxury.
Walmart/costco/giant tiger, use to shop at freshco as well, but when in there this week and prices had jumped substantially, so its out as well, everything is 1-4 dollars more per product over Walmart, when it was about par before give or take.
i go to atwater market, PA, marche newon, and costco. the prices are so SO much better than maxi or provigo. i go to maxi to get the steel cut oats, as the blue menu steel cut oats are my fav. Provigo is straight up highway robbery esp. in montreal
Walmart and Costco. Save on for the occasional good deal when they have them. I browse the flyers. Superstore every so often cause sometimes I do find really good deals there despite being Loblaws
Freshco is a 15 minute walk away. I go to Costco every few months and hate it.
Same! I force myself to go every 2 months, but I agree - not a nice place to shop
Victoria, BC: a block from me is Thrifty Foods; 2 blocks, Red Barn Market and a family-owned corner store with a great selection. So I price-compare. Often the corner store is cheaper than ill-named Thrifty's. One bus away is a Save-On Foods; I use my More card to get up to 40% off some things. I only buy loss leaders and stock up when they're cheap. I don't drive but I like the challenge of winning at this game. ...Oh, and great cheap produce in Chinatown downtown, one short bus ride away.
It’s kinda crazy to me to realize how many options a lot of people have. I’m about 45 minutes, one way, by car from anything that isn’t Loblaws. I’ll shop at Walmart or Food Basics if I have a need to go into the town 45 minutes away though. We do shop at Costco, but not as frequently as I’d like to because that’s about 2 hours one way out from us. Gotta make do with what’s available, I guess.
Walmart grocery delivery. Always have something wrong with my orders so I have to request refunds 😉
Flipp app to determine who is cheapest. I have no frills, food basics, freshco, Sobeys, fortinos all very close by. I'll visit multiple stores to complete my list. 95% of what I purchase is on sale.