Re: Groceries
 

Food in Canada tends to be high.

This last shop was at Super Store one the cheaper stores, I just did a mock shop on Save On for the same items (different brands but same type and size) and price there would have been 2.00 cheaper roughly, but Super Store is closer, we didn't get the cheese or the pork chops or kiwi fruit as the store was apparently out, if those were included, it would have been $146.

In So. California where my dad lives, the same items would cost $62 US$ which is $86 CAD$ approx.

Eating in Canada is expensive and lately the prices are going up pretty quickly, less sales as well.

I am tired of stomach issues so I really want to try this low fodmap diet, but I don't think its viable.

I've always said, get to pay premium prices but don't get premium wages in Canada.

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Js doesn't seem to be able to get the deals generally available here. A previous list for $65 would have cost me $45.

This list I reckon $70 for me (assuming it's frozen chicken breast) and then the Basmati. I buy a 4.5kg bag for $14 (other brands are available for less) so $84 if it's a big bag.

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I'm quite surprised that food prices in Australia, at least in my part of it, are lower or equivalent to those in Canada. I'm so used to hearing people here complain about the price of food, and about how Oz is one of the most expensive places in the world to live, that I guess some of that infiltrated my brain. Another good reason to roam far and wide on BE, you get the real story :thumbup:

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That certainly seems to be the case, in Vancouver at least. Bristol's hood seems to offer more opportunity to shop around and get the deals.

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Sssshhhhh...you'll wake those people who are convinced I spend my time making 17 trips over dozens of hours a week saving 5c here and 20c there, poor souls :rofl:

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Are there really people who do that?! Fork them and the horse they rode in on. Some people have nothing better to do than make up stories about others, you're very charitable in calling them poor souls, I call them sad bastards :nod:

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I exaggerate a little and, to be fair, not for some time, but yes.

Maybe they've got wiser now.

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Yes we don't seem to get the same deals they get back east, food has always been expensive in BC and a real shock when I first moved here and was spending over double the money and getting less groceries vs California, but I was making the same wage but in CAD$, so I was like wtf, I have to pay more for nearly everything, but I don't have anymore money, kind of messed up really in a way.

I think that is one reason I never adapted well to Canada, I took a huge quality of life hit moving here, and seeing what I could have had if I stayed in the US, makes even harder.

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I like this new shopping service in Western Australia. It's free and I like the way the eligibility criteria includes people who are anxious about going shopping right now. It's new so people can only order by phone at the moment, but they're getting online shopping up and running soon.

They shop from Woolworths and Coles, the two major supermarkets here, plus from Foodbank and the service's own store of essential items. They always have good specials! Also, if people need food but can't afford to pay for it they may be eligible for free essential food packages.

https://www.cahoots.org.au/cahootsconnects/

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That's a really helpful service. Wish we had that here in some way.
I can order groceries online but the delivery is between $12/$9 a go . I will admit to having become a bit concerned about shopping in the supermarkets because some folks just do not follow the rules and guidelines. Even our little village shop is a bit challenging . Also I am somewhat blind to one side so quite easy for me to unwittingly bump into someone if they come up too close & I am focussed on what I am doing in the shop . It happens. Lamp posts have been known to jump out at me.

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That is a good idea. We have delivery of groceries, but there is a fee + tip involved generally.

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There are some nice things in the new No Frills flyer West, and I see the Atlantic stores are getting some of the offers we had last week. It's hard to beat a good $2 sale!
No Frills Flyer | Coupons

Re: Groceries
 

If they have the sale items in stock...ha ha

It's too bad they don't offer curbside pick up.

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Out of stock flyer items has always been a problem at my No Frills too, but lately it hasn't been as bad. What I have to watch most is not letting produce go bad, but I think I'm getting a little better at that. I've been going into the stores to shop, just not as many and not as often. I've gotten used to (mostly) standing in line to get in, and standing in line for the cashier. The ritual of parking, putting on my mask, getting out of the van, hand sanitizer from my pocket, shopping then on the way out using sanitizer again before getting in the van to leave and removing the mask. What I get frustrated at is people who don't make room, but I'll have to learn to calm down. At least they can't see my expression under the mask! :lol:

Re: Groceries
 

Yikes!

Had a delivery from IGA today. They were advertising Rib Eye steaks, approx 300g size, $7 each. This was much less than usual but even @ $10.99 lb much more than I'd usually pay. But I know Rib Eye is very good for steak so I ordered four, allowing for the possibility that they might turn out to be 200g each and three then might not be enough.

So I was expecting about $29 worth. If there was too much I could use some in separate steak sandwiches, stroganoff or whatever.

They are just over 400g instead and $40 worth! They've each got a large white inedible bit and I don't think it's worth keeping any of it back.

At least they're not full price. According to the receipt that would have been $100 :ohmy:

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I'm really liking the online shopping at IGA so much that I have switched from using Instacart twice a week to IGA for the first shop of the week and then Instacart (Walmart or Wholesale (not) club) for the other. Superstore barely gets a look in now.

There are three things to like about IGA. They have stuff the other supermarkets here don't have, there's no surcharge for 'heavy' items and best of all, the flyer prices are mostly available online.

So just as under normal circumstances I can shop in my usual supermarkets and save more than the cost of the taxi, I can shop online with IGA and save more than the putting together/delivery fee. My receipt today shows a saving just short of $40 and my cost was just under $90. That's 30% off and contrasts sharply with Instacart where not only are flyer prices rare, the normal prices are a little bit more than in-store.

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Bristol, you will never know how truly jealous I am of your IGA. The only problem is that since you told me about your one in Dieppe...I looked it up...and they send me the flyers...and now I get crosser and crosser :sneaky:

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I've been in a bit of a ribeye phase of late. Typical prices are £4.50-5.90 for a 225g piece.

Re: Groceries
 

err-indoors has got back on the, "don't consume seared animal flesh." That kind of sentiment is not a good look on her tbh, I'm all like, I'm going to celebrate that braised rabbit cacciatore.

I realize that I sound like a carnivorous and slightly even more deranged version of Jedward. :(

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I went into an IGA once here in Vancouver, walked around and then left, the prices were insanity, never went back. Nice looking store though.

I think they are mostly independently owned and operated? So probably varies a lot store to store.

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Grow your own vegetables. That's what I do.

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Where do you grow sufficient vegetables to live on when you live in a tiny apartment on a busy street? :p

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I can quite understand that. While I was lining up this week's order I noticed Rib Eye was $26 lb :ohmy: and their chicken legs 'offer' price is three times that of Superstore's offer price. :eek:

But generally most of their flyer prices compare favourably to everyone else's.

I find their flyer on Smart Canucks and make a note of some of the deals. Then check the website to see if those prices are available on an online order. They usually are, whereas with Instacart they usually aren't. Although IGA charges more for order assembly/delivery than Instacart does, it can work out cheaper overall.

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Hadn't yet decided where the second half of this week's grocery order was to come from but recently some of Walmart's flyer prices have been available via Instacart, which is unusual.
The flyer had bog paper - equal to 80 - for $15.97, down from $23.97 which is a very good offer. It was actually $14.97 on instacart. :confused:

A few other good deals were also available (hopefully the new normal) so I made quite a big order. It arrived an hour after ordering. :thumbup:

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I love reading this thread, it's a wonderful snapshot of everyday life/shopping/prices where the people who post live. Thanks all! :thumbsup:

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I still haven't figured out how Instacart makes its money..ha ha

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Do shoppers pay an additional amount to Instacart for the service? Or perhaps the grocery store itself pays the company a commission for each shop? I haven't got a clue really, just stabbing in the dark :lol:

Re: Groceries
 

Ask and you shall receive!

Instacart primarily makes money through a delivery fee, which comes to $5.99 on orders over $35 and $7.99 on orders under $35. The minimum order amount you can make through the service is $10. Delivery fees may also increase if you want the order delivered quicker or during busier times: for example, my test order totaling under $35 would've cost $9.99 to fulfill on a Thursday evening, meaning Instacart was adding $2 to the delivery fee.

Additionally, more frequent Instacart users may be enticed to sign up for Instacart Express, which offers free two-hour or scheduled deliveries on orders over $35. For one-hour deliveries, Instacart Express members pay the standard fee. Today, it costs $149 for a year subscription to Instacart Express.

In addition to its consumer-facing fees and subscriptions, Instacart also makes money through two other avenues.

For one, the company has revenue sharing models in place with all retailers on its platform. Though the scope of those models vary from vendor to vendor, Instacart doesn't share exactly how these models work.
The other avenue is promotions-based. Instacart works with brands of consumer packaged goods (CPGs) to offer customers special discounts in the Instacart Deals section of its online marketplace. It's kind of like having an ad platform, except you have real people actually in the moment of purchase, which means that CPGs can work with Instacart to pay for better visibility.


https://vator.tv/news/2016-08-02-how...tandard%20fee.

Re: Groceries
 

Probably all those smaller things that they charge $4.99 for when in store it's $2.99 :nod:

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They do charge a small fee to the customer, but when they are paying us (when we were doing it as drivers) $20-$30 (excluding customer tips) to shop and deliver and the customer is paying like $3.99 or something there is still a large gap.

But they gone back to giving batches based on # of reviews, we only had 8 reviews since we had just started, but now that they went back to their prioritized method, there are no batches at all today, but each day there were fewer and fewer, was a good way to make some cash while it lasted, got us some food those weeks.

The app in general seems to have lost popularity now that things are mostly back to normal and going grocery shopping themselves again.

Usually by now there would have been some batches under the COVID policy and today was the first day going back to their old way, and no batches available at all yet, so ha ha was good while it lasted.

I also imagine as Bristol said they likely mark up some items, surely the store pays something, and I wouldn't be surprised if companies pay a fee to have their products more prominently displayed or recommended.

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These figures do vary a bit place to place. Express membership is $10 monthly here or $100 annually. I'm rounding.

It's almost hidden but there is also a % fee according to your spend. It's 5% on top of the fee per shop. But if you take the Express membership option, it's only 2% and you don't pay that fixed fee.

So membership will save you 3% of your spend. It's not hard to see that if you spend $400, instead of service fees of $20 you only pay $8. So that saving of $12 is already less than the $10 membership before you consider the fact that now you don't pay the fixed fee as well. Use it regularly and Express is by far the most economical way to do it**. And it means you can give the poor sod shopping for you a bigger tip.

**It's just a shame about the higher prices than one would pay in person.

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On one of my first instacart shops I had about half a dozen things listed asking the shopper to only get them if they were the flyer prices. Stuff like Pepsi for 99c a bottle and coffee pods @ $9 for a box of 30 but her app insisted $2 for the pepsi and $15 for the coffee.

Since I would normally buy at least 12 bottles and a couple of boxes of coffee, that's a hell of a mark up if I went for the usual amount.

Re: Groceries
 

I have a community garden plot which is like an allotment but with no shed, cider or TMS. So apart from the produce a bit rubbish. :(

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Good one Oink. We have that here and some of MrBEVS rellies in inner city Wolvo have a shared allotment.

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Whoever is handling the produce at Giant Tiger has been bunching 4 avocados per bag and pricing it at $1.50 because they think they are too old, but they're perfect, maybe for the next 3 or 4 days. I had to throw a couple out last time because I wasn't fast enough, but I can only eat so much avocado. I had guacamole the last 2 days, and now I have another 4 avocados. They're good in a ham or chicken sandwich with tomato and onion (Mexican food carts are great!) so I'll maybe get some buns and some more ham, but what are some other things to make with them?

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Avocado on toast ! Avocado bacon sandwich. Salad with avocado (and bacon). Japanese avocado rolls (sushi). Or add to a super green (spinach) smoothie.

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Go retro :D Make a 'seafood / avocado dressing with mayo, tomato ketchup, worcestershire sauce, a squeeze of lemon and a grating of black pepper - maybe a little horsradish - or a dash of peri peri or similar - and fill the well in the avo's with it - then place some shrimp in the well on top and have a shrimp and avo starter :D (works with any seafood)

You might like some of these too.40 things to do with Avo's. https://www.foodnetwork.ca/everyday-...th-frico-chips

I used to love tuna tartar, avocado, tuna, sesame oil / seeds, wasabe :D

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When we were doing instacart nearly every person ordered at least one avocado it seemed. ha ha

I've never been a fan. San Diego region has a fair amount of farms that grow them, in cold winters they have to put smoke stacks in the groves to keep frost from forming.

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Not suggesting you could grow enough to live on but I do wonder if anyone has tried one of the indoor uv systems? I am sometimes ( in feb/mar?) tempted.

re avocados I am sufficiently far from being a millennial to be able to enjoy avocado toast without worrying about my house deposit.

gen z daughter and her friend enjoy them cut in half with salt, pepper, and a spoon.

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You've never been a fan of avocados ?!?! I didn't try them until maybe my 20s (always refused to) but once I did I really got in to them.