Re: Groceries
 

:goodpost:

Agree, some items even less than way back when.

Its just that you need the time & the patience as well as have the variety or selection along with price matching of available competitive stores, otherwise, if there is only one [two tops] supermarkets in town, then 'its whatever price that place wants to charge is what you pay'

Re: Groceries
 

Punnet of pears: 59p.

Re: Groceries
 

when I was over in the UK a month ago, I found meat to be expensive (double the price) compared to what we buy here, veggies were better, fresher & cheaper, with canned items ridiculously cheap.

Asda, Aldi or Lidl shops - branded canned rice pudding 15p, can of mushy peas 15p, store brand canned soups 15p, loaf of slice bread in the 40 -50p range, end of day pies, BBQ chicken better than 50% off

Re: Groceries
 

Good God you were back in the UK? You kept that quiet. What other impressions did you have?

Agree that meat is pricey here (especially compared to Bristol's last post). Typically pay 75p+ fir a canned soup or £1.50+ for a fresh soup (larger).

Re: Groceries
 

While I do have the advantage of competing supermarkets - Sobeys and Superstore I don't think it takes much time and patience at all.

I don't do price matching. I'll compare but I won't go to a store and demand they let me have their item for price someone else is charging. I don't do coupons either.

We do have Walmart but there is very little in their grocery department that's cheaper than elsewhere, just one or two things that are quickly cancelled out by other things being more. When I'm looking for the best price, Walmart just doesn't feature.

I have the advantage of a Shoppers DM less than 10 minutes walk away, routinely the cheapest source for choc, coffee, eggs, pop, butter, Maple Leaf bacon, milk, bog paper, toiletries if you're not into brand loyalty, cereal, cookies.

But other than that, wherever one of us has to be for whatever reason we have the option of adding a grocery shop either on the same site or going on another 10 minutes. A 5 minute check on the flyers will confirm whether it's worth it.

If I was working somewhere around the city it would be much the same thing, just done on the way home from work instead.

So, yes, two competing stores are necessary. Or rather two alternatives. I'm sure competition helps, but I'm not sure they really compete. There doesn't seem to be a price war for example. More that they take it in turns to charge more for these things and less for those.

Re: Groceries
 

Remember those are exceptions though. There do seem to be many more choices here than in Tesco or Sainsburys (sometimes I wonder if a UK cut has three Canadian names!) Most beef is a lot more, it's just that there is always some cut or steak much cheaper than it usually is and because of that it's hugely cheaper than alternatives.

That Prime Premium (don't ask what the UK equivalent is :lol:) is usually about $16 lb so when it's under $7 it's my duty to not leave it on the shelf. :rofl:

And when it's that price, I'm not going to buy Cross Rib boneless for $6.99.:confused: Another time I'll get it when it's half that.

I reckon we have about half a cow in our freezers. :blink:

Re: Groceries
 

Prices seems to go down as you go east......lol

Out this way there is a sizeable increase in prices overall and flyer offers being reduced.

I looked at turkey yesterday butterball a small one was 29 dollars.

Utility birds were 99 cents lb. I wasnt buying a turkey was just curious.

Chickens are insane now. 13 to 14 dollars for a small bird. Cheaper to buy a cooked in store one now....lol

Milk is up about 35 cents.

Biggest hit is produce and fruit. Price increases are insane.

We are not really grocery shopping much anymore. I just go to top up and get a few items that I can make meals with from what the food bank provides. If we get a can of kidney beans, ill get chilli mix and some veggies for a vegetarian chilli. Things like that. Or this last time it was a box of pasta, 6 cans of tuna so go and buy sauce for the pasta and bread for the tuna and so on.

Re: Groceries
 

I went to buy a turkey today, couldn't buy one last week when Walmarts / other stores had tons because my freezer isn't big enough to fit one in. Imagine my shock today when I went to Walmart to find they are completely sold out - and have been for a couple of days. The assistant I talked to said the same thing happened at Thanksgiving, when they ran out 6 days beforehand.

Grumble, grumble, now I am going to have to go to Fortino's or Metro and buy a frikkin more expensive one (I just resent having to pay more because half of it will probably never get eaten, sigh).

Not a happy bunny.

:(

Edited to add, I found this nifty website today - you can put the food item you want to buy in the search and it tells you how much each store has it on for. Very handy! By clicking on the 'store' dropdown, you can also see all the items they have. https://www.salewhale.ca/en/search/s...sults?q=turkey

Re: Groceries
 

We have a xmas tree shortage here. Stores sold out early.

Most have lots of turkey still as of Sunday night but lowest priced one I saw was 28 with moat in thr 40 to 80 range.

We are having lamb for xmas it was 7 dollars. Frozen imported from New Zealand.

Turkey is just a bit too $$ this year and no good sales.

Re: Groceries
 

Yes, they do sell out quickly. We bought two when they had them a couple of weeks ago. They're in our freezer alongside a Butterball one. :o
(and we're having something slightly different this year)

But you ought to be able to buy one of the butterball turkeys at Sobeys or the PC equivalent. $1.49 a lb is a very good price for those and they're on that salewhale link you posted.

At a push you could even get one of those easy carve ones (stuffed or unstuffed)...they are surprisingly good and seem to be on sale too.

Add a couple of thighs to help with the gravy?

Just tested it and it works here too. Accurate as well. Very good if you are looking for something specific. I wouldn't want to use it for general shopping though.

Hope you get your turkey.

Re: Groceries
 

Have been looking at the online operators and the likely hood of Instacart starting later this year.
They all appear to push the grocery pricing up around 28% because of delivery charges and additional product markups.
Would free delivery, faster or more convenient delivery and better pricing be well received in Canada?

Re: Groceries
 

Outside of densely populated areas, how would that be an affordable business model?

I pay as much as a 60% premium on some items to get groceries delivered by a multinational national company to my restaurant.

Re: Groceries
 

I have one local(ish) store who will deliver (Grocery Gateway, Longos) - they charge $11 for it and their prices are about on par with Metro/Fortino's so about right for the store.

I must admit when it's the depths of winter I do use them once in a while!

There's a few around the Vancouver area that deliver:

https://smartcityfoods.com/ (free delivery on orders over $50)
https://www.thriftyfoodsonline.com//Online/Default.aspx
https://www.spud.ca/

There's also a list of grocery stores throughout Canada that deliver:

Grocery Shopping Online in Canada

Walmart also sell non-perishable food items online, for free delivery.

:)

Re: Groceries
 

Good pricing would be well received, but it's a hard thing to do when so much of the food stuffs is imported, and your currency is in the toilet.

Several options already exist in the larger metro area's for grocery delivery, metro Vancouver has spud.ca for the higher end shoppers, and Save On does delivery in parts of Metro Vancouver as well.

Re: Groceries
 

There was an interesting interview with a guy at Guelph university. It was in French so I don't suppose it was aired on anglo TV.

He suggested that the average Canadian family would pay some $300 more for food this year. At the same time, he pointed out that the average family also throws away about $1500 of food in a year.

That's worth thinking about.