Cheapest Groceries?

[Gibson]

So, I've developed this fear that every time I go to the grocery store to stock up, I'm throwing away money because there's somewhere else cheaper. I do also care about quality, I don't want to buy crap fruit and vegetables or meat.

I live in Lloydminster, and the choices are
Walmart Supercentre
Superstore
Co-op (not Calgary Co-op)
Safeway
Sobeys

I default to Superstore and out of principle I don't like shopping at Walmart...but mostly it's because everyone there is weird.

Anyone have any pointers?

[Lex350]

NOT SOBEY'S!

[Disoblige]

Wal-Mart for dry goods, like chips, pop, those kinds of things. Cheap and good selection.

For fresh goods, sometimes Safeway has great deals on baked goods, ice cream, fruit, etc, as long as you're a Safeway Club Card holder (a.k.a. your phone number lol).

I never shopped at Co-op because I always see better alternatives out there.

Superstore is decent because in terms of meat, frozen goods, fruits, bakery, etc.. They offer more than Safeway. But don't buy donuts at Superstore, they suck balls. Safeway FTW for bakery freshness i.e. Baguettes, cake, etc.


In conclusion:

Wal-Mart and Superstore FTW, Safeway FTW for Club Card deals.

[idioteque]

walmart supercenter

[dj_rice]

If there is a Costco nearby its worth it, cheap and in bulk

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by dj_rice
If there is a Costco nearby its worth it, cheap and in bulk

Okay I have a question, and maybe it will help others too.. So there is a membership fee for Costco, right? So technically for a single person shopping for himself it would be better to stay away from there since the cost would likely outweigh the savings?

Or do I just get someone to give me a Costco gift card?

[dandia89]

Originally posted by Disoblige

Okay I have a question, and maybe it will help others too.. So there is a membership fee for Costco, right? So technically for a single person shopping for himself it would be better to stay away from there since the cost would likely outweigh the savings?

Or do I just get someone to give me a Costco gift card?

isnt it like 50-55$/year?

[dj_rice]

Costco is $50/year membership, they do have a trial one day membership I think.

I've saved tons of money shopping there, for example, they have Alberto Beef Jerky, I believe the 500G bag for $8.99, that is fucking cheap and good jerky too. Go to Superstore, it would be $12.99 for a 200G bag or something like it.

Chips, $5-6 for a 900G bag or something huge. Toilet paper, $19.99 gets you either 24-36 rolls of high quality shit too, thats enough shitter paper to last you maybe half a year.

$50 a year is nothing if you think about the savings

[black13]

Honestly I don't get Costco.
You pay yearly membership, get very very limited selection of brands/products, have to buy large amounts so if your not living in a big family then SOL, and its always super busy and to top it off, their prices really aren't that significantly lower to make it worth the whole ordeal.

Superstore FTW

[msommers]

Costco meat is enough for the membership alone. That and I got a kick ass lawn chair from there. Thing turns into a backpack!

Global News did it's annual or quarterly check of what the same items cost. Superstore didn't change a whole lot and was the cheapest. Co-op I think was the most expensive, followed very closely by Safeway. Both of which went up from I think ~130 to 145.

I don't think Co-op and Safeway can compete price wise with Superstore, the product volume is so much higher I don't think they'd profit if they matched prices.

Still, the downtown Co-op is hard to beat with the meat and seafood market they have and the fresh produce and selection. Everything else, Superstore. Just sucks the one in the NE is dirty as fuck.

[idioteque]

Originally posted by msommers
Costco meat is enough for the membership alone. That and I got a kick ass lawn chair from there. Thing turns into a backpack!

Global News did it's annual or quarterly check of what the same items cost. Superstore didn't change a whole lot and was the cheapest. Co-op I think was the most expensive, followed very closely by Safeway. Both of which went up from I think ~130 to 145.

I don't think Co-op and Safeway can compete price wise with Superstore, the product volume is so much higher I don't think they'd profit if they matched prices.

Still, the downtown Co-op is hard to beat with the meat and seafood market they have and the fresh produce and selection. Everything else, Superstore. Just sucks the one in the NE is dirty as fuck.

This, and superstore has a great selection of things you can't find at Safeway and Co-op.

I shop mostly at Walm-apart, though, cause for some reason it seems cheaper to me than superstore. I don't know how true that is, though. Will have to wait for the next annual Golbal News report, I suppose.

CTV does it monthly, although I haven't seen them include Walmart Supercenter yet. Would be very interested in those results.

[DJ_NAV]

Wal-mart is best for packaged stuff.. canned foods, chips, nuts etc. Superstore is best for produce and bulk stuff in terms of price. But i think co-op is best for price in produce when considering the quality. Safeway is the worst. I have seen things sell for 3x the price sometimes. Sobeys is similar but they have their dollar days which can be good.

[D. Dub]

Sometimes quality is more important than a few $$.

[BigMass]

Safeway is good if you know how to take advantage of their club card pricing and airmiles bonuses

[spikerS]

just get the costco black card, executive member or some such, you pay a bit more initially, but they tell me, that i get 2% cash back at the end of the year, and at the very least, i get the cost of membership back or something similar so it rolls out into a free membership every year.

[nickyh]

I used to shop at Superstore a while back and got tired of bruised fruit, sad looking veggies, moldy bread, and expired dairy.
I do still go for the pantry run, anything canned or boxed is still much cheaper there, but selection is tough.

I shop mostly at Safeway, Co-Op - but I stick to products that are on sale. If it's not on sale this week, I wait - they tend to recylce the same sale prices every 3 weeks or so.
Also buy my meat at Costco. Freezer bags and a couple hours worth of prep and dividing means I shop for meat every 8 weeks or so.

[cdnsir]

^^

Yeah superstore's produce can gets pretty bad sometimes. But I blame that on bad customers, with the ones going to the Sunridge location being the absolute worst in the city.

[project240]

Originally posted by spikers
just get the costco black card, executive member or some such, you pay a bit more initially, but they tell me, that i get 2% cash back at the end of the year, and at the very least, i get the cost of membership back or something similar so it rolls out into a free membership every year.

You have to spend about $3800/year to "recover" the cost of the membership.

We have an executive membership and got back about $120 which tells you how much we spend there. We have a family of four, so buying in bulk makes much more sense. We go there about once every 3-4 weeks and stock up and hit superstore, etc in between for little things like milk/eggs as needed.

We find the prices to be better, but not everybody wants to buy larger quantities...

[project240]

Also, as someone else mentioned, the meat at costco is much better than anywhere else. (Safeway is fairly comparable, but priced 20-25% higher)

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Gibson
I live in Lloydminster, and everyone there is weird.