Went Grocery Shopping...

[peanut]

at Superstore today. It's the cheapest store in town. My cost was $144. Now before everyone gets all excited. That includes some stockpiling. Plus we eat very healthy. Plus, just so some of you can see what the going Canadian "deal" is on things, I've included a price list of what I purchased - and how much I bought...

$15.97 Regular Ground Beef (15 lbs.) It worked out to 98 cents a pound, which only happens a couple times a year. I'll simmer it and make beef crumbles for the freezer. It should last us till the next big sale in January.

$4.98 for 10 No Name Smokies - down $1 from last time I bought.

$14.98 Frozen Blueberries (1 kg.) - I normally have a huge box or two shipped from my sister's blueberry farm in PEI, but they didn't have a good crop last year and we didn't get as many, running out this winter. These should last us a couple of months, at least.

$4.56 2% milk - 2 2 litre containers. I can't lift the gallon containers anymore, so I'm stuck buying these. I suspect milk consumption will go down when DD#2 leaves home.

.97 for 2 nectarines - $2.82/kg. This is cheap. They were well over $3/kg. earlier. I walked by the peaches. They were the same price and as hard as the nectarines!

$5.29 for 1 litre of Chapman's sugar-free, lactose-free ice-cream. I can't have ice-cream otherwise. I'm off sugar. Also should be off dairy, but I'm thinking it's the lactose that is the problem.

$3.97 for a large pineapple. Down from $5.

$3.97 for 2 lbs. strawberries.

$3.48 for 775 g. No Name Bran Flakes. They were the cheapest Bran Flakes available. Most were smaller boxes for $1 - $1.50 more. This will last about 4 - 6 months. DH is the only one who eats them.

$2.64 for a dozen large eggs. I could have bought five dozen at $2.19 each dozen, but I want to try freezing them before buying that many. I just didn't feel comfortable with the amount of money that bulk purchase represented and my lack of experience in long term storage of eggs.

$11.98 for 1 kg. slivered almonds. The bulk section had them $1.99 for 100 gm. Needless to say, I bought pre-packaged. This is a good 2 - 3 months supply for us.

$11.98 for 1 kg. walnuts. They were $1.99 for 100 gm. in the bulk section too. I bought pre-packaged and this will last 2 - 3 months as well.

$12.49 for 650 gm. pine nuts. These were not available in bulk. But this is half a year's supply for us.


$3.49 for 2 kg. brown sugar. I buy this for DH and DD#2. I can't remember the last time I bought brown sugar. This will last awhile...for sure...maybe too long. I perhaps should have bought the smaller 1 kg. bag.

$23.78 for 2.5 kg. powdered milk. Yep. This will last us a whole year though. I'm no longer making yogurt.

$2.99 for 500 g. puffed rice. This will last us 4 months.

$2.34 for 3 English cucumbers. They were cheaper than field cucumbers. I'll be eating a lot of cucumber sandwiches this week. Might make some gazpacho too.

$1.18 for a small jar of sweet pickle relish. It will last the rest of the summer and fall.

$3.98 for a big tub of mustard. This will last the summer and into next year. I'll freeze part of it when I open it.

$1.91 for 2 tomatoes ($3.70/kg). These are the cheapest tomatoes I could find.

$3.29 for a large tub of simulated bacon bits. Now I am no longer allergic to soy, I can save money by buying the simulated ones.

$2.99 for 575g of No Name Toasted O's (their version of Cheerios). This is for DH and was easily .50 - $1 cheaper than smaller packages of the real thing.

$1.21 for 5 bananas ($1.46/kg.). This is the going rate for bananas in the city. I've checked.

Total cost = $143.94 Canadian dollars (roughly equivalent to American dollars at the moment)


Jean

[MomToTwoBoys]

That seems alot more than what I get at the Superstore near my house. I also stocked up on the ground beef and bought 25lbs worth for $25.35. I bought my blueberries from there when they were $5.88 per 2lbs and I have a 10lb stockpile in the freezer now. I always buy 1% or skim milk in the 2L containers and can get them for 2.14 per container. Lately, I've been buying milk from there in the 4L jugs and I spend about $3.48 for that. I <3 the english cucumbers and I saw they were selling mini-cucumbers (the size you'd get to make pickles) but 2.99 for 8 of them seemed pretty outrageous to me.

I spend about $220 per 2 weeks by going to Superstore. If I went to Safeway, that same amount would get me about 1.5 weeks worth. I got $224 dollars in groceries for the next two weeks and I managed to stockpile half that amount. That place is great when you want to buy in bulk with canned goods because they have the cardboard boxes right there.

[peanut]

I just talked to a friend who shops Costco. She told me she thought I could have bought my nuts cheaper over there. She's going to take me in on her membership to see what, if anything, is cheaper there. It's been about a year since I've been in there.

We never had a sale of 2 lbs. blueberries for $5.88. Usually the only way I get blueberries that cheap is if I order them in from my sister, who sells them to me for cost and shipping.

Yeah, Safeway is really expensive here too. I can count on items being 50 cents to $1 more expensive, for the same brand name and size product.

We also have Sobey's (also expensive, but produce to die for!), Extra Foods (owned by Superstore), and the Co-op. The Co-op is expensive, but you do get shares in it that you can cash in at 65 years of age.

Jean

[frugalbabe]

Your list sounds a lot like how my family eats. I always say I could feed my family for pennies if I was willing to serve them garbage but I'm not, so like most people I try to tread the fine line of not breaking the bank and buying quality, nutritious food. I think you did well!

[peanut]

I forgot to mention... This is two weeks worth of food for us at least. I didn't buy much veggies and fruit because I still had some left from the last shopping trip 10 days ago.

Jean

[Libby]

Wow your Superstore deals are way better then they seem to be over here in Ontario. Great job!

[leezza]

Peanut,

looks like you did a great job.

leezza

[peanut]

Sorry, just remembered...we did get that 2 lbs. of blueberries for $5.88 sale, but by the time I got there all that was left was mouldy, squished ones. Very sad...

Jean

[Cricketlegs]

Buying bulk saves you money but it takes money to buy in bulk so your numbers may look high for the number of TYPES of food you bought--they are great for the sheer AMOUNT of food you got.

I think you did great.

I always about pass out at the checkout at Sams lol.

[MomToTwoBoys]

Sorry, just remembered...we did get that 2 lbs. of blueberries for $5.88 sale, but by the time I got there all that was left was mouldy, squished ones. Very sad...

Jean

Aww, that's too bad.

I tried my best to get blueberries that I knew were safe for the kids to eat because sometimes the produce at Superstore is a bit on the 'eh' side. I even went as far as opening the containers and smelling them, then poking around to see how they were. I bought them 4lbs at a time when I went over and I think I bought 12lbs worth. The kids love fresh blueberries, though, so I ended up freezing only 10lbs of that.

I adore Sobey's! They have some really awesome meat there. DH and I get our steaks from there but that's only when FIL and MIL are in town.

I was tempted to shop at the local fruit/vegetable shops that are owned by East Indians and Pakistani families but I haven't been in there before so I'd be a bit intimidated.

[peanut]

MomToTwoBoys: We've looked at shopping the fruit stands too. We have people come in from B.C. with fresh fruit and they sell it for a small fortune. We've always walked away sadly, thinking it was just too far outside our budget. But DH grew up in peach country, so this year I may have to stop in and buy a case of peaches from the Okanagan for him.

We don't eat steak. Can't afford it and can't cook it properly. If I'm going to wreck a cut of meat, I'd rather it be a cheaper one!

Jean

[peanut]

Well! Just went grocery shopping again! DH said blueberries were on sale a Safeway. I checked the flyer on-line, and the one for Superstore. The berries were slightly cheaper at Superstore. We had other things to buy, so it made sense to go to Superstore. Plums and pears were on sale too. DH likes to eat plums and I am really serious about canning and freezing pears. I ran out last year. I should have had about 20 lbs. canned. Today I just picked up one 6 lb. bag.

But the blueberries! Oh my! They were nice to look at. Not like the last blueberry sale I happened on. They were quite large domestic ones. I had my doubts about their taste. But we use them in muffins, smoothies and on cereal. I bought 8 lbs. for eating and freezing. We easily go through 20 lbs. a year.

We decide to stop at Safeway on the way home to check their blueberries. DH said they were smaller. They were. I bought another 8 lbs. - smaller equals more flavour to me. It was a wise move. I taste tested both kinds when we got home. The Superstore ones were blander. So I mixed them both up in a sink of water to rinse them.

I packaged them in 14 3 c. amounts. I had a litre for snacking the next few days. Plus DH had some on ice-cream and by the handful, and I had some with Rice Dream. We'll be doing fine for awhile...

DH still wants me to order some of my sister's wild blueberries. He claims we can never have too many blueberries! LOL

Price compare?

$4.88/2 lbs. at Superstore
$9.99/4 lbs. at Safeway
~ $3/lb. shipped from my sister

But quality and taste improves from Superstore to Safeway to my sister's wild blueberries.