Grocery shopping

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

Register Log in
At no frills, produce is 50% at bb date, meat is only 30%. But prices are cheaper, so it works about the same. Meat's fine for dinner/freezer that day; produce or baked must be used that day, really, in most of my experience.

Our local you-pick is pricey, so no. Foraging: ramps (wild garlic), nettles and garlic mustard for greens.
 
We had so much rhubarb in our freezer from 2022 we did not freeze any last year. I put one bag in our fridge to use now and through the rest along with about ten pounds of frozen tomatoes in the compost. We get some stuff from our garden, some from Farmers Markets, and some from the grocery stores, mostly Freshco now.
 
Is anyone participating in the loblaw's boycott? We have had enough issues with them where they dropped off of our regular shopping quite some time ago. Depending on what offers come in, we might actually buy some things this month. If things are discounted enough, I don't see picking up a handful of items as actually being against the boycott if they aren't making much of a profit. Will see.

I wish the nearby COOP (western chain of COOP stores) was already open. The closed the one we used quite a while ago. They at least took over a nearby gas station. Grocery store will at least open sometime this year. I don't really understand why they seem to focus more on smaller areas more than big cities. We have a very easy membership number but it had been so long I could only recall the trend and not the specifics. I had to dig through old cards. I had it stored in my phone, but that was a few phones ago!
 
My wife and I did a lot of shopping at COOP, when we lived in Manitoba. There was a COOP grocery market in the smallish town we lived in. For a small town store, they did seem to have a good selection.
 
We rarely shop at the local Co-Op. They tend to be more expensive than the two other grocery stores, and don't carry some of our regularly purchased items. It seems totally ludicrous that we can't buy Imperial Cheddar there but it is available at other nearby Co-Ops. Actually, we pass the other two on the way. It is only fair to acknowledge that the Co-Op pay their staff better and support the further education of the students who work there part time through High School. I am somewhat impressed by the knowledge that my paternal grandparents were involved in the early Co-Op formation in northern England. Today's Co-Ops are hardly recognizable as the same thing! They are too big and act like regular stores.
 
My inlaws had 649 as their Coop number. The Coop in Calgary tended to be a bit more expensive but usually had better meat. We probably did more shopping at Coop than Safeways, No Frills, or Superstore. To. survive, the Coop has to act a bit like the other stores.
 
Our shopping tends to be divided between a No Frills near our place and the nearest Chinese grocery, which is indie. The next nearest North American grocery is Loblaws and Farm Boy, then Sobeys and Freshco, then a Walmart Superstore. In my experience, the indies around here tend to be the ethnic grocery stores, mostly East and South Asian. And that will change with T&T coming in, since it is Asian and owned by Loblaws so is hardly "indie". Farm Boy is arguably indie but we've always found it to be rather premium and not really suited to our needs.
 
We got a variety of groceries at an independent Lebanese grocery, Shaganappi. Our daughter and son, even though they live fairly far from there, still go there for fruit, vegetables, and specialty items. It was our go to place for olives, goat feta, almonds, and some fruit and vegetables.
 
The other place we buy groceries is Costco but that's only for specific items that only they have like big bags of various nuts and some of their house branded stuff. My son likes them because apparently they have some good halal options.
 
Halal is less restrictive than Kosher apparently. Muslims can consume Kosher products but observant Jews do not eat Halal.

Jews can pray in a mosque if necessary. But not in a church. Sorry, I digress. This is a grocery shopping thread.
 
paradox3 said:
Halal is less restrictive than Kosher apparently.
Click to expand...
That's what I've heard as well. We mostly let the kids pick the place when we dine with them since they know this stuff far better than I ever will.
 
WhyCzar said:
Loblaw's boycott?
View attachment 9306
Click to expand...
Which is exactly the problem some people have with boycotting Loblaws. In some cases, Loblaws is the only option people have given how many brands they own. Not to mention Sobey's and Metro aren't exactly angels, either. The fact is that in 2024, not everyone has independent options for groceries anymore and sometimes when they do, they aren't any more affordable. Frankly, a competition bureau review of the grocery industry is probably going to do more and that requires putting pressure on the feds, not the stores.
 
If 10% of their regular customers take a pass for the month, maybe Galen will be less obnoxious about saying grocers have no responsibility for inflation. When we realized Freshco is usually cheaper than Independent, we started doing most of our grocery shopping there. Unfortunately, Independent is the only place in town where we can buy goat cheddar, mozzarella, and yoghurt.
 
Loblaws/Zehrs was always the most expensive grocery store in our area: it had #1 produce, infinite variety and paid staff well. Don't know if they still do. Farm boy came in and placed a higher price point.

Independent in our small town is also expensive and quality sucks. We go there when we need one item, such as milk, but pay dearly and sometimes it goes sour. Older refrigeration.

Food basics does false sales..
FreshCo has 2nd rate veggies and fruit.

If you have choices, you shop the bargains and know your prices.
 
Giant Tiger often has some good specials. We got two bags of navel oranges this week at $3.88. They were delicious. Freshco here has mostly good fruits and vegetables and cheaper than Independent. Get oat milk at Dollarama. Dollar Tree has best selection of dairy free cream wafers. Freshco has best selection of dairy free frozen desserts. Occasionally get stuff at Walmart. Get ingredients for granola and baking at Bulk Barn. Independent used to be best place for goat cheeses. I got our last goat cheddar at the health food store. They have several special products like dairy free butter chicken sauce.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top