BristolUK

Just an idea. There are plenty of threads about shopping costs compared to the UK. So how about a thread where people can post especially cheap items available in Canadian stores - usually from the flyers

Don't include items reduced for being near their best before dates or the xmas stock being sold off, just those items on offer for a full week.

Anyone still in the UK or there on a visit can post the best things they've seen.

I'll start with Sobeys...this week they have 3kg boxes of chicken breasts for $19.99 ($12 off their normal price) and Boneless Pot Roasts @ $2.49 lb.

Kittykerr

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/


its been done...

fledermaus

What's on offer in your neck of the woods won't be on offer in mine.

BristolUK

Not so sure about that...I occasionally go on the stores' sites and look at other province's flyers and I often see the same offers as we have.

It may also be that what's on offer here this week may be on offer in your neck of the woods next week and then again here a couple of weeks after that.



But the idea isn't to compare different parts of Canada, it's to give an indication of the best prices that some (many?) groceries are available for here, compared to the best prices for groceries in the UK.

Redflag deals doesn't do that.

Kittykerr

but what's the point of comparing the prices to UK ones.. you dont live there any more, and tesco isnt exactly your local shop.. so comparative prices mean nothing...

moondevil

But the threads are started for uk people moving over so that they can see what the price difference are
Can you not say Asda instead of the "t" word...i so miss it

BristolUK

The subject comes up frequently. That would suggest there is a point in comparing.

People in the UK considering the move to Canada want to know about differences between the two countries and that includes how prices compare.

I thought that was a major function of this forum; to give information.

nooka

Well my weekly shop from Coopers seems to be costing near enough $300. which is a bit worrying really. However we have cut out pretty much all takeaway food, so I think we are spending less than we did in the US anyway. Equivalent UK shopping was much less, I think, although prices have gone up in the nine months since we were there, and I am still restocking my store cupboard, having had to give away lots of nice things (great for my family and neighbours, but sad for me!). However the children ate tea at their childminder, and my husband and I didn't really eat proper meals after work so far fewer meals were being made than I do now. Not sure about any great deals in Kamloops this week (that I bought anyway).

LadyRayden

You should try that website. http://www.soscuisine.com It creates weekly menus for you and tells you prices in your area. Just pick your province and it will help you.

Per example, in the Quebec area for me, each week you can plan using this grid with flyer specials per ingredient. http://www.soscuisine.com/flyer_specials.php?sos_l=fr This way you know what's the cheapest deal or supermarket for you during the week.

moondevil

thats good - but they dont do alberta

BristolUK

Thanks for that link.

That's actually similar to what we do anyway. I usually get the best deals available at the two main stores here, with a short shop in both.
An earlier thread I started was about the cost of meals made at home. Our meals for four of us are regularly under $7.

As family size varies though, with this thread I was aiming for a straight comparison of the best deal in Canada with the best deal in the UK.

While there is general agreement that prices in the main are lower in Canada, people also observe that taking lower incomes into account, there's not a huge difference.

My personal experience of shopping for one in the UK compared to shopping for four in Canada on a similar funds is that groceries are hugely cheaper here if one takes advantage of the flyer specials. The kind of bargains I see here I never saw in the UK and I wonder if it's changed.

Auld Yin

While there is general agreement that prices in the main are lower in Canada

There is? My reading of the posts here is that our food prices are, grossly in some cases, higher than those in the UK.
I can't take a position as I haven't been there for five years.

LadyRayden

I think it is all relative to what you eat and how you plan your meals. At the moment, my fiance and I can easily feed us two for the week for between 40-50£ at Sainsbury, and eat very well. We are anxious to see if we'll make it over 100$ a week soon. I recall that most of what I used to buy in Canada two years ago was more expensive than here.

You need to eat the deals of the week (when it comes to meat) and in season veggies and fruits in Canada to compare your grocery prices to those in the UK. And prices change greatly depending where you live in the country as well.

nooka

I think it depends on how you are comparing. Do you look at purchasing power parity, or a straight exchange rate, or expect dollars to equal pounds for example?

I think that shopping is going to take a bigger chunk out of our monthly budget here than in the UK, and we had a bigger budget in the UK (with two high earners). Here I'm not yet totally sure how my new income will equate to my UK income. Current exchange rates put me about 10k down on the gross, but it's the net comparison that really matters, and I won't know that for a while.

Anyway, that's just to say that I think it is difficult to work out equivalencies, and then you have to take location into account too (I'm guessing BC is relatively expensive). I'm not sure it is reasonable to use flyers etc in any calculations, unless you used a similar approach in the UK. Personally I shopped at Waitrose when I could, Sainsburies otherwise, and Tescos when I was broke, and I picked up offers when they were on things that I wanted, or thought I might need. I haven't quite figured out the approach here, but we are visiting Costco today

R I C H

I partly agree Brian. I've not experience gross differences, but prices here seem fairly comparable, or slightly higher than I was used to paying in England, very rarely less.

Flyers offering bargains introduce the hassle of extra driving to a different grocery store (and the diligence to remember to drive to a shop for a paper with the flyers in to start with). I don't have the time and inclination to be bothered with adding 20 minutes to a round trip to save a few $ on whatever's on special that week.