Re: Groceries
 

The online store doesn't have fresh stuff, especially that which is stored in fridges and freezers.

Re: Groceries
 

The main supermarkets in Canada all sell a good variety of cheeses. As someone else pointed out there are also cheese specialty shops in the major centres. There are cheesmakers producing good quality cheddar cheeses.
But, compared to the UK cheese is expensive. You have to learn to live with it or wean yourself off it.

Re: Groceries
 

Hi thanks for the replies, looks like we will have to make cheese a luxury item in the shopping basket. A small price to pay for a new life in Canada. Thanks again.

Re: Groceries
 

Offset it with the cheaper beef, water melon and corn :thumbup:

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No Frills.

The clue is in the name.

It's part of Loblaws and the whole point is to be cheap (deep discount).

Save On is no different, except that it's owned by Jim Pattison and not the Weston family.

Re: Groceries
 

I assume they sell "No Name" but do they also sell PC brand/Blue Menu etc?

It sounds a bit like Kwik Save which was just about the most unpleasant place in the UK to shop some time ago.

Re: Groceries
 

I presume so. It's called Maxi here in QC. It sells PC stuff.

For everyday shopping (staples), there is little difference between a Loblaws and a Maxi, apart from a large difference in price.

For snazzier stuff, like marinated yak nipples, you go a flagship store.

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I agree with both you and J Smith. The No Frill stores are usually scruffy unpleasant places with the dirt polished into the floor yet there's one in Brighton that's light, clean, airy. It has a pharmacy and sells household stuff. Go figure how they can do it yet others can't.

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I remember Maxi in Longueuil. A bit scruffy and I never made an association with Loblaws which was definitely the posh supermarket there.

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Of the Sobeys stores here, there's quite a difference between the best and the others. The funny thing is the people behind the cake/bakery counter in the best are really unhelpful while those on cakery in the worst one are very good.

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You buy cake?!?!

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Just éclairs from Sobeys.
Jam Doughnuts from Superstore on the rare occasion they have them.

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I ran out of Lea & Perrins so bought another 568ml bottle for $6 at Wholesale Club. I think the last one lasted almost 2 years. There's no point buying the tiny bottles and beans aren't the same without a splash.

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Worcestershire sauce presumably?

I like this one.
http://pronki.com/images/products/bi...20%20Sauce.jpg
Just a few drops on a chicken breast in a small casserole dish prior to cooking. It even works in a microwave astonishingly well on the defrost setting.

Re: Groceries
 

They are all at it. Headline stores and deep-discounters. That's the model.

I suspect it's a reaction to Walmart now selling food.

Very disturbing news is that the Coupe Longeueil is coming back into fashion. That really is disturbing!

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I like the definition on Urban Dictionary.

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Urban Dictionary looks a bit iffy. There is only one accent in Quebec, for a start, and I've never met anyone called Jean-Guy.

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Now that you mention it, I had to correct "by" in Typically worn buy white trash :lol:

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Superstore this week. Chicken Legs (back attached) $1 lb.

That's too good to miss.

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At that price there may be a run on them!

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The last time I picked up some chicken that said it was a 100% Canadian. That's got to the Trump Effect.

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Forgot to mention...200g Snowdonia Cheese Truckles, $8.99 BOGOF, Sobeys.

I stuck with Black Bomber. Hoping to buy a few more Wednesday.

Very nice and without the saltiness of Balderson.

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We ran out of coffee at the weekend so I went to my local Couche Tard (aka Mac's), where a 325g tin of Maxwell House cost me well over $9.

In a regular supermarket you can get a 925g tin of it for under $7.

Couche Tard is the fourth-largest company in Canada in terms of sales revenue. Can't imagine why:rolleyes:

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thats like shopping at the corner Spar shop in UK thats why!

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GF picked up black and green the other day. She gets bonus points :rofl:

I was more surprised at it being BOGOF - you dont see that very often - its usually buy one get one half price.

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Yep, Couche Tard is living up to its name offering products late at night or when nobody else is open. 925 g for $7 is a good price for coffee but at the end of the day it is still Maxwell House. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

No Van Houtte for you as you're living in Quebec. ?

Our daughter is in university in Toronto and living in an apartment with 2 other girls. One girl is a francophone who has lived in Gatineau and Orleans.

Below the apartment building on the street nearby is a Mac's Milk. She was so attuned to calling it Couche Tard that, when we moved our daughter in, she was so happy that there was a 'Couche Tard' nearby for late night food. The other girl, from Oshawa, had no idea what Couche Tard was but the name for the store stuck with the girls.

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Two day special at Superstore this Thursday and Saturday.

Prime Rib Premium roast $4.77 lb. Two-thirds off.

AA but still very good.


Also, for the whole week, short cut leg of lamb - $5.99 lb.

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The $7 coffee was from Maxi (aka Loblaws). MH was all that was available at the depanneur.

Of course we have Van Houtte. It's a Quebec company (although now US-owned). Given the choice, it's the only coffee we buy (French Blend or Colombian).

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Walmart has same price all week, except it says AAA.

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PC large coffee tins, including the Gourmet Dark Roast. $6.99 at Shoppers.

Bargain.

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I stocked up on Maxwell House @$6/can when No Frills had it cheap. In my bodum I use a spoon of that and a spoon of fresh ground West Coast Roast.
The groceries for making kimchi today:
If Jings was here I'd give him a jar.

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Ive seen it stated that grocery stores love men to do the shopping because they do spend more.

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Those ingredients made 5 jars; I took 7 empties thinking I might get 6 but 5 packed tight is still a lot of kimchi. :lol:

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My filter coffee of choice - PC Gourmet Dark Roast 875g - is in the Superstore flyer this week for $11.99.

Bugger that. I know when it's not on any sort of offer that I've seen it @ $15.99 but last week I bought a tin in Shoppers (owned by Loblaws) for $6.99. The previous tin only cost me that much, also from Shoppers and probably the next one will too as they have it for this price (sometimes $7.99) about once every 6 weeks.

I can't believe I pay less for this coffee than 12 years ago.

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I am boycotting No Frills and any store brand owned by Loblaws, horrible shopping experiences in their stores and the prices have gone up and the savings simply isn't there anymore and unless you love PC brand or No name they are selling less and less regular brands, and their bread selection is poor, as is their meat and cheese selection, lots of junk food though.

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I've never seen a No Frills but others who have mentioned it seem favourable.

I think if there's one thing that shows differences between provinces and even between cities in the same provinces, it's grocery stores - even the same bloody company.

Superstore/Loblaws remains the cheaper option here. From my time in Longueuil, Quebec it was the posh choice :nod: compared to Super-C, Metro and Maxi.

We spend more on shopping than we used to but that's mostly because we have more money now and buy better quality stuff and treat ourselves more.
Coffee, mushrooms, pepsi and other soft drinks, cereal, butter, ice cream, wine, numerous frozen foods, water melon, strawberries, some veggies, bacon....all these things we're paying the same or less than we paid 12 years ago. And I do mean the same price or lower rather than a "real terms" comparison.

It's like that tin of coffee - normal price back then was $12 (on offer between $8 and $10) and normal price now is $16 but the offer price anything between $7 and $12.

Of course there's a bunch of things that have gone up quite a bit. Fortunately, though, some of those that have gone up quite a fair bit also seem to be on offer much more and that helps make up for it a bit.

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The Loblaws stores are still the cheapest here, and quality is usually very good. Some are cheaper than others; for example 1L of Half and Half is $2 at Wholesale Club but $3 or $4 at No Frills or Independent. The sale prices on produce and meat at No Frills are better than the regular prices at Wholesale Club (Independent is higher for everything unless a big sale is on), but businesses buy at Wholesale Club because they can get case lots, whole beef and pork loins to cut up themselves, etc.

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Loblaws / Fortinos are the most expensive stores in my area.

Walmart Superstore, Food Basics and Freshco are about on a par with each other, Metro somewhere between the most expensive and the less expensive..

Cheapest of all are No Frills but I won't even go in there - the quality of the food, the choices etc., are just awful - tiny narrow isles, veg appear older and soft, freezers full of crapola.. nasty store.

We also have a couple of other stores in the area, Longos (who deliver, "grocery gateway") and Starky's - but they are both somewhat out of the way for me to get to. There is also "Nations Fresh Food" which I only discovered last year, have yet to do a shop there.

:)

I hate grocery shopping almost as much as I loath clothes shopping!

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I stand corrected then. :lol:

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We have a No Frills just down the road (400 metres door to door), so it's the place we drop in if we absolutely NEED something (well, strictly Safeway is, which is a block closer in the other direction, but costs twice as much). But there's no reason to do a big shop there since it's just a limited subset of what Superstore has, at higher prices and worse quality. It's like a Tesco or Sainsbury's local store, but not so good.

In BC I'll happily use Superstore or SaveOn. Tried Walmart, was unimpressed with range and prices (was one of many discussions about life comparisons with my partner; I was expecting ASDA, he pointed out Walmart were always a 'General goods' store that then tacked food onto it), and shocked by the 'service'.