Best grocery store to save money

[Tman]

Hey I am looking to save money in groceries. Do any of you have a suggestion? I have started to shop around seeing that I could save money by buying produce at a produce store, cheese and sliced meats at a deli, and cereal and milk at a big box store. What is your experience. Has anyone tried London Drugs for groceries? I think their granola bars were really cheap. Thanks 

[GARB1962]

I notice in the grocery flyers the West always gets royally screwed with prices for meat and produce in comparison to the East.

[gblackma]

You should also look into dollar stores. Some of the items there, the regular price is competitive with the bigger store's sale prices. Ie floss for $2.50 per 100 yards.

[ecowen]

If you have a Fruiticana anywhere near you can get amazing deals on produce.  I live in Surrey so there are a lot of them around.

[vexter]

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@Tman wrote:

Hey I am looking to save money in groceries. Do any of you have a suggestion? I have started to shop around seeing that I could save money by buying produce at a produce store, cheese and sliced meats at a deli, and cereal and milk at a big box store. What is your experience. Has anyone tried London Drugs for groceries? I think their granola bars were really cheap. Thanks 

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The cheapest groceries are the ones you eat as opposed to the ones that you waste.  The cheapest groceries are also the basics, flours, sugar, quick oats etc.  There are lots of recipes in your library or on line to help you make meals quickly and easily out of basic products. When did you plan to eat those granola bars?  Breakfast?  My husband has mastered making porridge (quick oats,red river cereal and raisins) in the microwave. Takes about 5 minutes. Tastes better than instant and is cheaper too.  Keep track of what you spend at the grocery store and for take out. Learn to make good food at home. Its cheaper to buy good tea/coffee and make it at home that getting take out.  

[darlicious]

@zblackma  I miss shopping for groceries in Toronto. So much cheaper than Vancouver even for fish that comes from here! When comparing flyers  it's 25% cheaper in Toronto for the same items. The most glaring examples are fresh fruit, veggies, meat, fish, dairy and eggs.

[zblackma]

In Toronto Freshco: No Frills: R.C.S.S.: Walmart - These stores price match.

Basics and even Metro( Check their flyer especially when they have meat on sale - great quality)

[darlicious]

Uh oh @will13am  you don't want to be behind me in the grocery store line. I don't coupon as much anymore but I definitely price match and collect pc optimum points. If I lived in the US Id be one of those extreme couponers that pay $3.47 for a shopping cart full of stuff...but coupons in Canada mostly get you processed, packaged food so I don't bother too much except on over the counter meds, toiletries and cheese there's always lots of coupons for cheese, pickles, yogurt and cereal.

   Hands down no frills has some of the best sale and regular prices, markdowns, clearance, pc optimum points and price matching but save on foods also price matches and has much better produce that is satisaction guaranteed...returns are easy if you are not satisfied with almost any product, meat, fish, seafood. They have good sales on cheese, reduced holiday chocolate, toilet paper it's my go to place no sale needed always reasonable and look for managers sales.

  Safeway used to be really expensive but they got rid of their loyalty program and if you shop the sales and collect airmiles you can save....the best place to by beef all Canadian AAA top quality beef. Start stocking up now (get a vaccuum sealer) there beef prices are cheapest now thru mid may. Stock up on steaks (striploins, prime rib, t bones), roasts (prime rib, inside round, sirloin tip), ground beef and bone in chicken breasts (family pack) even at regular price. Whole roast chicken meal deal when on sale is good deal and the bakery for fresh Kaisers, hot dog buns and French bread. Lucerne ice cream, butter and sour cream on sale and this is one of the best places to get coupons to use at no frills or shoppers drug mart. SDM  gives points on coupons vs after so that makes a difference. Shop here with offers on 20x points days for sales, 2 for $4 pc juice, eggs, milk, butter, bananas, all toiletries, otc meds, sugar, peanut butter, detergent, dish soap and clearance hair products. And photofinishing if you pick it up on bonus points days. SDM,  save on foods and Safeway are great for raincheck as is superstore and buying big stuff there of pantry items, 50lb bags of onions and potatoes. The local asian veggie store is usually best for other produce too.

[Korth]

A glowy-high-vis-nuclear-yellow-green FreshCo opened up near me, as well. Some of the prices are really good, others not so much, but I agree that shopping there is a headache-inducing eyestrain.

There used to be a yellow-and-black "No Name" supermarket. Yellow and black, yellow and black, yellow walls and yellow packages with black shelves and black printing. Ugly taxi-cab yellow, harsh glossy black. Under yellow lights.

I was willing to drive a few extra miles to avoid shopping there. I hated going into that building. Everybody I knew hated going into that building. I think the same will be true with FreshCo.

[funpig]

I just have a basic mastercard and only 1 airmile for every $20.  That is a very slow way to collect airmiles.   Best thing that happened to me was when my wife went back to school and started working.  I had to take over the grocery shopping for the family. On a Blue Friday, I have earned as much as 500 airmiles on about $100 of groceries.  Recently, I topped up my Thrifty's food card with $800 and received 800 airmiles.  I value airemiles at about 10 cents per airmile.  I earn about 6000 airmiles per year mostly from the grocery shopping. I usually earn enough to buy nice electonics, like cameras, phone, smartwatches.  Looking at 55"-65" flatscreen next.

The darn thing is that they closed our local Safeway.  If I want to earn airmiles, I have to drive a bit farther to a Thrifty's which is a bit more expensive.  Last week, a Fresh Co opened in  place of the old Safeway.  The grocery prices are way cheaper.  However the new store is so ugly (bright yellow everywhere) and there is no longer an on-site butcher or baker.  Everything appears to be packaged off-site and trucked in.

[yanzhiqiang]

I have been collecting Airmile for 10 more year and I checked my account and I only have $20, So I closed my account and cut the card!

[funpig]

i like shopping where I can collect airmiles, like Safeway and Thrifty's.  Not the cheapest, but I save on flyer specials and go airmile crazy if there is a Blue Friday.

[Springs]

I find that No Frills is by far the cheapest for groceries, followed by Walmart but they may not always have what you're looking for.  Save On is about 15% or so more expensive but sometimes the quality of the produce there is much better.  They also have some harder to find items.  I usually start at No Frills and then go to Save On to get whatever No Frills didn't have.

[KellyMarianne]

I was going to suggest the FlashFood app but someone already beat me to it.  I work for a grocery store in Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦 and we have a lot of 50% off items as well.

[Salmonlips]

On average we find real canadian superstore to work out best, but we're in their point ecosystem with the credit card, so loads of points back

[Korth]

Personal likes/dislikes aside, if the vendor advertises price-match then the vendor should honor price-match for all customers (even if they're ahead of you in line). Could alway shop at different time or place if it's too bothersome.

[will13am]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Tman wrote:

Hey I am looking to save money in groceries. Do any of you have a suggestion? I have started to shop around seeing that I could save money by buying produce at a produce store, cheese and sliced meats at a deli, and cereal and milk at a big box store. What is your experience. Has anyone tried London Drugs for groceries? I think their granola bars were really cheap. Thanks 

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One strategy is to shop somewhere that has a price matching policy. That way, you can get the the best price that you can find for a specific products without needing to visit each store individually for all those advertised prices.

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I gave you a bravo for the social game.  However, I despise price matching groceries and the people who clog up the checkout doing it.  The reason why I don't like price matching groceries is that the merchant that is having the sale will adjust inventory to accommodate the sale.  That results in better choice, fresher produce, win-win for the customer.  If people rebuff this effort and resort to the competition who prefer to let price matching policy bring in customers, then it sends the wrong signals to those who try to do promotions.  The worse is that they end up being stuck with inventory because of price matching.  I always buy from the sales source if I need the item.  As for the price matchers, does anybody like to be stuck behind one?  Brings back nightmares of the coupon days. 

[yanzhiqiang]

I like real canadian superstore, get points quickly! 

[3s_Plenty]

Obviously depends on where you are, but overall No frills prices are decent however walmart and price matching is a fantastic way to save. Get the flipp app to compare prices and price match, you can easily see local flyers and show your phone for price matching.

I do love the optimum card for no frills, Zehrs, superstore, shoppers etc.. i have managed to save hundreds with that program.

[Kim1971kim]

Superstore and save on foods if you get a savings card

[Ed404]

I'm not sure if this is available in your area, but Flash Foods is a great way to save money on things you intend to eat very soon after purchasing. Flash Foods is basically food that is more than 50% off with an expirey date less than a week if I remember correctly. Here's a link to check it out https://www.flashfood.com/en/locations/ontario 

[Tman]

Nice 

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Tman wrote:

Hey I am looking to save money in groceries. Do any of you have a suggestion? I have started to shop around seeing that I could save money by buying produce at a produce store, cheese and sliced meats at a deli, and cereal and milk at a big box store. What is your experience. Has anyone tried London Drugs for groceries? I think their granola bars were really cheap. Thanks 

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One strategy is to shop somewhere that has a price matching policy. That way, you can get the the best price that you can find for a specific products without needing to visit each store individually for all those advertised prices.

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Nice I never thought of that! I think I saw a sign at No Frills for that. 

[computergeek541]

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@Tman wrote:

Hey I am looking to save money in groceries. Do any of you have a suggestion? I have started to shop around seeing that I could save money by buying produce at a produce store, cheese and sliced meats at a deli, and cereal and milk at a big box store. What is your experience. Has anyone tried London Drugs for groceries? I think their granola bars were really cheap. Thanks 

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One strategy is to shop somewhere that has a price matching policy. That way, you can get the the best price that you can find for a specific products without needing to visit each store individually for all those advertised prices.