Grocery shopping

[Pinga]

I remember with fondness @Seeler 's threads regarding how to meet a family of 4 on a budget. They were awesome.

I thought, in that same vein, we could discuss our shopping habits and savings?

It also goes along with a recent conversation with @Kimmio and the challenge of getting groceries leading to the empty pantry, and "what will I cook tonight"
@KayTheCurler suggested a couple of key ingredients to have in the cupboard, including some dried stuff (like you would have for camping)
Can't remember to be honest, so....

lets have a thread around grocery shopping

 

[Pinga]

When I retired and had more time on my hands, I started baking and cooking from scratch.
Then, I went back to work, and not so much.
When we moved though, I started watching our spend closer, and also had time to cook again.
I learned that I loved it,including having healthy food to eat that I knew the ingredients.
Now, I am working again, but, i like to fill the freezer and fridge with quick meals.

So.....what does that look like?

Well, a big turkey is much cheaper per pound than a small turkey. I buy a massive turkey, then make a bunch of turkey pot pies which are placed in the freezer.
Sometimes, there are bags of peppers (red, yellow & green) heavily discounted. I bring them home, and chop them up and put them in the freezer. They are great for adding to eggs or soups.
I watch for meat that is for sale 30 to 50% off at "best before date", shopping on Monday mornings usually, and take home and throw in freezer. If hamburger, I whip up meatballs and meatloaf and then put those in the freezer.
I buy TONS of butter when it is on deep sale and put in freezer, as it keeps well.
I turn my stale bread into bread crumbs. (yeah, i know, simple right, d'uh). I then spice them for home-made shake 'n bake.

I use Flipp, and add what i am low in as well as my staples that I am likely to need.
Flipp is a phone app that allows you to see what is on sale.

I do most of my staples shopping at Giant Tiger, as they ad-match, including matching the items that i find elsewhere via Flipp.
Giant Tiger's base prices tend to be lower or equal to other stores sale prices.
I had no clue that they had so many grocery items prior to my shopping there, @Mendalla

I don't shop at food basic for other than things that I have previously priced, as I find they use "fake" ads on their shelves.

I only buy specialty items at FarmBoy. I was shocked to see that something as simple as bag of cranberries was more than double the price at FarmBoy than it was at Giant Tiger.

Overall, I would say that our grocery bill is down by 50%, primarily due to the stores that I choose, and that I am making items, rather than buying them finished and making my own sauces and mixes.

What I would note re privilege
a) availability of pantry of reasonable size to store items purchased in bulk when on sale
b) availability of freezer to hold items made ahead
c) able to access urban centres via car so able to get out and get groceries
d) ability to buy in bulk is not hampered by budget / cash flow.
e) access to full kitchen to cook in, with working stove, etc and small appliances
f) able to physically & cognitively do this type of preparation (for example, my Dad couldn't have done any of the prep from scratch)

 

[KayTheCurler]

Good post Pinga. May I add to your list of privilege - ability to have sufficient cash available so you can buy lots when the price is right.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I have a fridge freezer that only holds so much. If I buy a lot of fresh food, it goes to waste trying to cook for one and use things up. It takes so long to get anything done that I really don’t need to have “gotta get home and cook before the ___ spoils.” on my mind at all and to be thinking about what needs using up everyday. I hate being tied to the kitchen, making a long involved meal, then washing all the dishes by hand...for just myself. Would rather make soup, or canned chili, and sandwiches and frozen pizzas (PC thin crust / Dr. Oetkers. Got one for $1.99 yesterday!) ...these days. I buy little salads for sides, from the deli section. It’s hard to multitask when you can’t move around quickly. Plus this kitchen is poorly arranged. Fridge is at the other side of the room from the stove and sink and counter. Too far away, for getting things out and putting them away. I need one hand for balance, the other to carry. When we had a typical apt style kitchen it was easier. Everything was right there. And we’d help each other. Sometimes it was fun. But by myself, cooking sucks these days.

 

[ChemGal]

These days it's all online - Walmart and Superstore plus we ordered online from Costco twice in the past year. We don't tend to do huge buys with deep discounts- I don't even see much for that. We (I mostly) pay attention to the usual stuff and when it's on sale. We don't typically forgo stuff if it's not on sale but we tend to buy mere if it is. I do look at my PC weekly points and was annoyed with Superstore when I couldn't shop based on those due to needing to put in my order way ahead. That was for a few months last spring and was bad for a little while in Jan. Next day still isn't happening with Superstore Walmart is good.

We always have a fairly well stocked freezer and pantry. Even when it's run low we could eat for quite some time from what we have on hand although it may be a little boring. I don't see the ned to consistently have fresh food. Fresh fruit has been fairly expensive this year so we've been using frozen more often. I do watch and buy some of what's priced well but there have been plenty of orders where fruit didn't make the list due to price.

We don't go to Giant Tiger closest one is out of the city. Normally we were doing the online orders plus in store. We used to do regular trips to Costco but those decreased as more shopping opened up by us. I've been thinking we should do an M&M order haven't bought anything there in over a year. When we were students we would buy things every few months. The one closest to us though we have only used twice. Walmart improving their grocery section has decreased our use of COOP Sobeys SaveOn quite a bit. COOP is the furthest and it's where we got bread we have used Walmart bread for a few years now.

 

[Mendalla]

We don't go to Giant Tiger closest one is out of the city.

Yeah, there's only one in London that I know of and it's a bit far. We have a No Frills near us (like, we could walk in good weather) plus we have to do Chinese at least every other week. There's two Asian grocies about equidistant, one East of us and one Southwest of us.

While we do surf the No Frills flyer and occasionally check pricing against other stores near us, we don't necessarily go out of our way to chase specials, especially these days. We do avoid prepared stuff for the most part, buying fresh ingredients to cook ourselves. That probably saves some money and is certainly healthier. What prepared stuff we do buy often comes from Costco or the Chinese stores where it is cheaper per unit. There's a few things we need to go to particular stores for (a brand of herbal tea that No Frill's stopped carrying but the Chinese stores carry, some stuff we can only get at Walmart) so we have to plan those ones carefully.

Privilege notes pretty much all apply to us, including Kay's (which I kind of thought was covered by Pinga's (d) but perhaps I'm reading one of them wrong).

 

[ChemGal]

Yeah, there's only one in London that I know of and it's a bit far. We have a No Frills near us (like, we could walk in good weather) plus we have to do Chinese at least every other week. There's two Asian grocies about equidistant, one East of us and one Southwest of us.

While we do surf the No Frills flyer and occasionally check pricing against other stores near us, we don't necessarily go out of our way to chase specials, especially these days. We do avoid prepared stuff for the most part, buying fresh ingredients to cook ourselves. That probably saves some money and is certainly healthier. What prepared stuff we do buy often comes from Costco or the Chinese stores where it is cheaper per unit. There's a few things we need to go to particular stores for (a brand of herbal tea that No Frill's stopped carrying but the Chinese stores carry, some stuff we can only get at Walmart) so we have to plan those ones carefully.

Privilege notes pretty much all apply to us, including Kay's (which I kind of thought was covered by Pinga's (d) but perhaps I'm reading one of them wrong).

I don't think No Frills are much different price wise from Superstore. They tend to be in small communities instead of cities here. Ie. Airdrie and Leduc have No Frills Calgary and Edmonton have Superstore. There is one off of White Ave too - pedestrian area downtown kind of feel. I think the reason is the store footage is smaller. Not sure where the others are.

With something like brussel sprouts I would rather buy frozen than what's fresh in grocery stores.

 

[Mendalla]

I don't think No Frills are much different price wise from Superstore. They tend to be in small communities instead of cities here. Ie. Airdrie and Leduc have No Frills Calgary and Edmonton have Superstore. There is one off of White Ave too - pedestrian area downtown kind of feel. I think the reason is the store footage is smaller. Not sure where the others are.

With something like brussel sprouts I would rather buy frozen than what's fresh in grocery stores.

The two Superstores in London are kind of out of the way for us but, yeah, the prices seem comparable to a No Frills. Something like brussels sprouts are probably fine frozen but we buy a lot of exotic Asian vegetables and frozen generally isn't even an option.

 

[ChemGal]

The two Superstores in London are kind of out of the way for us but, yeah, the prices seem comparable to a No Frills. Something like brussels sprouts are probably fine frozen but we buy a lot of exotic Asian vegetables and frozen generally isn't even an option.

Yeah with frozen there is less selection. I had tried to put together an online order for T & T once and was shocked by the prices - I thought with COVID they were going to encourage the online option, but no. It wasn't a regular shopping spot for us but I would go occasionally usually if I was near it for other things. We had an H mart open close to it too (Korean IIRC) I haven't actually stepped in there yet. I would like to try out new veggies more although I do find many of the asian ones aren't great on their own but some may be due to my cooking. We have a few little ethnic marts by us but they aren't worth stepping in from what I've seen I don't understand how some stay in business and others didn't.

 

[Mendalla]

I had tried to put together an online order for T & T once

At least Edmonton has one. There were rumours of them coming to London years ago, around the time the founder sold out to the Westons, but it never happened. The Chinese groceries we have are actually pretty good at this point, but none of them are as big or have as good a hot food section as the T&Ts we've been to in the GTA. We do make a point of hitting a T&T whenever we are up visiting Mrs. M's cousin in Richmond Hill.

 

[Lastpointe]

Do you not go to that huge Asian food market in London? Don’t know the name but it’s in the east end I think. Near Adelaide. My sister in law shops there. If you don’t ‘ow it I can ask her

 

[Mendalla]

Do you not go to that huge Asian food market in London? Don’t know the name but it’s in the east end I think. Near Adelaide. My sister in law shops there. If you don’t ‘ow it I can ask her

That's United. It is one of the ones we go to. Still not on the same scale as a T&T but pretty good. The other one is Food Island at Oxford & Wonderland. There's a third in Westmount but that's a bit far for us.

Funny story about United: They took over and renovated a building that used to be a Brunswick bowling alley. I actually bowled there once before the alley closed so it was kind of weird the first time I went in to shop after the store opened. The other two Chinese stores I mentioned were Western grocery stores that got closed by their chains (one was a Price Chopper and one was an A&P/Metro).

 

[BetteTheRed]

I do almost all of my shopping at No Frills, because I've always shopped there, and because I work there. Their prices are almost identical to Superstore. We have one Superstore, 2 No Frills here. Ours is the smaller, and cleaner, store. The produce is very nice, their selection is good, for a small store.

I occasionally stop in Zehr's for a BBQ chicken, and a wider selection of English/Welsh cheeses. We have one large Asian grocery store, Centra (used to be an A&P), where I go for interesting produce, frozen seafood, and tea.

 

[ChemGal]

The T&T I use isn't one of the huge ones. It was put in when the Lobaws deal was done and many of the stores were already carrying many of the Asian items.
I have been to some of the large T&Ts but not a typical thing for me, just too far.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

We had T&T in Vancouver. Friends of mine - a girlfriend from high school and her husband who is French - used to live in a nice condo above it and they went to France about 3 summers in a row, for a month each time (then they moved back here and had kids). I stayed there and cat-sit for them. It was nice - to be there and to shop at T&T. The live crab and lobster tanks were creepy, but interesting. The bakery was great! I love the light cake with fresh fruit on it. And honey buns. And coconut buns.

There's another chain here called Fairway. I think it was founded by a Chinese Canadian family. They have lots of Asian products - as well as an isle for other international foods. They have a big selection of English candy and sweets (chocolate bars and cookies you don't normally see here). They also have a Chinese food cafeteria. There are several around town and I used to scoot by one on my way to work - I rode all the way downtown! I'd stop to buy a hot coffee in there. Really friendly staff. The woman working in the cafeteria saw that my basket was falling off a lot and she said she had a thin belt at home that would work perfectly to keep it on and wouldn't be too visible. I though she was just making conversation. Sure enough, a few days later, she'd brought it in to give me and said "Oh good you're here today! I brought this for you!" And she tied it on. She always wanted to help reach the cream and sugar for me or whatever. She made everybody wait while she helped me. What a sweetheart - I don't usually like a fuss made over me in public, but she's truly a sweetheart and so it was okay. I miss that place.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

I go to U-picks for my yearly supply of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. I pick up apples from farmers selling at the side of the road. I drive along streets where people sell their surplus in fruit and veggies at the end of their driveway. In the winter, I get the basic veggies and fruit at the farmers market. Every six weeks or so, I drive to the city to shop at Costco. Most times, I shop there for several people, since it’s 100 km away ( and combine it with other stores).Giant Tiger here has really poor quality fresh foods, so I prefer Sobeys or Superstore for that. My neighbour has a connection to a fisherman in Digby who comes our way every couple of weeks with haddock and scallops. Best stuff ever. Don’t want to buy from anywhere else once you had that fresh fish.

 

[ninj]

I've recently been buying fruit and veg through a weekly subsidized co op market. Not organic, but good quality and certainly cheaper. Avocados are .70 and lettuce $1.50, for example. It has made a difference in that I'm actually consuming more fresh.

 

[Carolla]

My mate is our shopper & chef. Back last March, when COVID restrictions began, I took over the shopping & went to more out-of-the-way small independent supermarket to avoid crowds - quite a bit more expensive, but good quality & worth it at the time. After a couple of months, my mate felt more comfortable & resumed doing some shopping, then all of it. Pre-COVID he would shop pretty much daily, with regular runs to COSTCO to fill the pantry & freezer. Now he does a 'big shop' about every 7-10 days, and smaller specialty trips in between. We also use an excellent butcher on the next block for 'special' meats - no better steak around! And he goes to All Seas ( wholesale & restaurant supplier with a small retail shop at the warehouse) for fresh fish, maybe once a month. We use mainly No Frills - the one nearest us is huge and has widely diverse products - lots of ethnic variety. But for certain things he goes to certain other places - I don't keep of track of the details of what comes from where most of the time. In summer we use a local farm stand. I do try to influence his choices to support buying local, rather than produce coming in from remote parts of the world.

 

[Carolla]

My Dad sent me cookbook he likes (he ordered two by mistake) - Cooking for One. It's from this website - 300+ Cooking for One Recipes | One Dish Kitchen It has a lot of pretty great looking recipes. I've tried a few & liked them. I get that it's a big challenge to cook when alone. I'm terrible about meals when left to my own devices for a while - which is fine for a couple of days, but not as a permanent thing.

 

[BetteTheRed]

My Dad sent me cookbook he likes (he ordered two by mistake) - Cooking for One. It's from this website - 300+ Cooking for One Recipes | One Dish Kitchen It has a lot of pretty great looking recipes. I've tried a few & liked them. I get that it's a big challenge to cook when alone. I'm terrible about meals when left to my own devices for a while - which is fine for a couple of days, but not as a permanent thing.

And that is where we run into trouble. When someone used to cooking for a lot of people, then at least more than one person, is alone, the diet really suffers.