scrubbedexpat091

Grocery shopping last night, and I have noticed they are having trouble selling meat these day's, I have never seen as many $2 and $4 off stickers as I have in the last month. But when ground beef is 5 something per pound, I don't blame people.

I did pick up some chicken $2 off, I only buy meat now when it's discounted.

Eating healthier these days, and gotten better at bringing down our cost, reduced portions mostly so we don't have to buy as much.

$135 today, prices have been noticeably higher on almost everything, salad mix that was 3.99 6 months ago, is now 5.99, cheese seems about the same, mostly meat and produce with the prices that rise every week,

Plain yogurt
2 bags carrots
Pack of spinach small
Bananas (these never seem to go up in price, most price stable food out there.)
1 can sardines (for the dog, helps her skin and coat from getting dry.)
Box of whole wheat pasta
chicken breast fillets
Cooked shrimp
English muffins 2 packs
Frozen mixed berries 2 packs
Frozen mixed veggies 3 packs
Frozen corn 1 pack
Grape Tomatoes 2 packs
Kale 1 bunch
Cream cheese
Salad dressing x 2
bread 2 loaves
Cooked turkey strips
Zucchini 2
Black beans 2 cans
Salad mix
Pink salmon 1 can
Brown rice 1 bag
Can of tomatoes 2
Cucumber 1
bell peppers 2
Shredded cheese

Doesn't look like meals but I can turn the above into edible dinners... (we eat eggs and oatmeal for lunch, and breakfast and cereal, but didn't need any this week.)

Eating this way is double the price of frozen crap, but does make one feel better.

magnumpi

We eat a lot of chicken, but the price can vary wildly. One store may have 3-4,breasts for 8$ and another store may have it on at 15$ for the same. We have almost every name supermarket in Ajax so it's easy enough to nip round the stores and get the best price then buy a few trays full to freeze.

Atlantic Xpat

Despite having Canada's largest factory chicken farm in the province (a fact of which the provincial government were so proud they ran adverts about it on tv a few years back), chicken is expensive here. A family pack of skinless and boneless breasts normally runs around $13-15. Every 3 weeks or so one or other of the two grocery chains has them on sale for 30-50% off. We buy in bulk and freeze.

Beef seems to be getting more expensive and lamb is so eye-wateringly costly we never eat it. Pork always seems cheaper. Given that everything here is imported from the mainland that puzzles me.

not2old

Agree, that food shopping is getting more & more expensive by the week [especially beef product] & depending on where you live, the competition around - it can be real difficult to do it on a cost savings basis.

How long will the items in that $135 grocery bill last for - or is that the one month grocery tab?

Smaller grocery stores sometimes have better deals on fresh produce, even on the mark downs.

I do the grocery shopping & always hit the mark down, discount, best by date section first, as well as 'price match' which in my part of the country we have a large selection of stores to choose from that do this.

Good luck with the Grocery bills JS

SchnookoLoly

I still find the best way to buy meat is to buy large quantities from Costco, cut it into portions and wrap it up, and chuck it in the freezer. It makes for a big purchase up front but the per-portion cost is quite cheap. (A whole beef tenderloin, for example, costs about $100, but makes about 12-13 portions. I also did a comparison of salmon a few weeks ago; most grocery stores sell salmon for about $28/kg, Costco has it for $22/kg.)

MegSnow

My food bills are astronomical at the minute as I've only just moved here and am building up the pantry. I have to say I don't find food shopping more expensive than England which probably says more about the UK than here. We can afford to eat steak each week (we're in Alberta which helps!), we buy in bulk at Costco and this makes the meat cheaper. Cheese is horrendously expensive especially considering its plastic, the cheese monster that is DS refuses to eat it so we treat him to the proper stuff we find in Costco. Dried herbs and spices are expensive so we took a trip to an Indian grocery store and stocked up. Fruit and veg are in better condition than the UK. Obviously it's not as cheap as Lidl or Aldi but I don't mind paying a few cents more than Tesco for better quality. All in all not as expensive as I thought it was going to be but we did move from Portsmouth which seems to think it's London with the cost of things. I think if you come from Wales, Scotland or the north of England you will find it expensive here. I think the challenge for me now is to menu plan and stick to a budget!

HGerchikov

The Costco approach of buying in bulk and it lasts longer works great until you have teenage boys in the house. Once that happens it doesn't matter how much you buy, its gone in a week.

SchnookoLoly

Completely with you on the cheese from Costco. I hate the rubber bricks from brands like Cracker Barrel and Black Diamond... if I'm going to bother with the calories from cheese, I'm going to get the decent stuff, and at least Costco's prices make it marginally - marginally - less painful.

Spices, I've recently found actually that if you can find a grocery store with a good bulk section, then spices from the bulk section are way cheaper than what you find on the shelves. I picked up a load of smallish jars from Ikea and just picked up the spices I needed in bulk - certainly way cheaper that way. We have been doing the stock-up recently as well having just moved into a new house 5 months ago (I'm still working on stock, just buying spices as I require them!) and I'm finding the bulk option is working quite well.

These are the jars I picked up: DROPPAR Spice jar - IKEA Got 12 to start, they fit nicely in the cupboard, and they stack, which I also appreciate. I just used a bit of Magic Tape to put a label on the bottom so I know what's in what.

Haha, true, but even if it disappears more quickly, it's still cheaper to get it from Costco in larger quantities! It helps that I work about 6 minutes away from a Costco, so popping in once a week is actually doable! (Hmm, need to go next week, actually...)

Shard

Good move.

Might not be double if by eating nutritious food you end up eating less.

Atlantic Xpat

Oh you lah-de-dah mainlanders and your "IKEA". Out here on the edge of the continent if it 'aint in Crappy Tire, you 'aint having it.

SchnookoLoly

Hehe! Apologies if I've touched a nerve!

BristolUK

I've seen those things in the Co-op. They frightened me.
You mean individual portions rather than a portion for a family meal? As in 12 portions make 3 dinners for a family of four, so $33 worth of meat per meal?


Latest Superstore flyer has Salmon Fillets $15.41/kg. Says normally $23/kg but those "normally" comments usually inflate the true normal price.

I remember that from when multi-packs of steak were first available. I'd have it at least every other night.

Not keen on BD but absolutely nothing wrong with Extra Old Cracker Barrel or the PC version of extra old. They're even the proper colour.

HGerchikov

Not wanting to rub it in in any way, but we have two within a 20 mins drive.

SchnookoLoly

Well, if you're talking about beef tenderloin (fillet of beef) then yeah, tis' the priciest cut... so probably not far off that price, really. We don't have it often, but when I'm going to barbecue a steak, I like having the really good stuff. Other cuts, while cheaper, just aren't as satisfying. Just my personal opinion.

I suppose number of portions also depends on how thick you cut your beef... I Tend to cut it quite thick so that it stays more rare in the middle when barbecued! I think the last one I bought made 14 portions at about 1.5-2inches thick each... the whole tenderloin was probably about 20 inches long or so.

Tirytory

Omg I gave my husband a shopping list last night and sent him out to do a "shop"... I don't know how he managed it, but he spent double what I usually spend and I think that's expensive. I was horrified when he came home, he was defensive.

He probably thinks job done, she'll never ask me again