Comments on: Cheapest Grocery Store Comparison

By: Steve Zussino

Steve Zussino — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:55:22 +0000

I have a website, http://www.groceryalerts.ca (shows new specials at grocery stores across Canada). It summarizes the latest flyers each week and post top deals from the major grocery stores . The entire website is free and we even have printable coupons organized by categories (Baby, Beauty, Health, Grocery) so they are easy to find.

We are solely a Canadian website and we only feature Canadian content – this is important to us.

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:36:54 +0000

I have a few selected items that I purchase in larger quantities, when i can. I do not drive to stores, but i do a l0t of walking, biking when the snow is gone. I have done extensive price checks on most of the grocery stores in Thunder Bay. Very important to check the flyers, as one can save 50 % sometimes, then again, one store will always have at least one item much cheaper than the rest. What I need to do is build a comparitive website, showing where the consumer can find the best price on each given day. Not on EVERYTHING, but on your food essentials. It pays to travel (cycle) a mile out of your way to save $5.00 on an item. I’m not just a cheapo, I am frugal and very money conscious. Someday, a site will exist where you type in your grocery article, and the best price in town will show its ‘special’. This will of course be dependant on the consumer watchdogs, and perhaps even the store personnel to improve their sales. I love to save money, rather than buying at a convenient location.

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:11:02 +0000

Hi Patti – I haven’t checked out Walmart – there isn’t one close to where I live.

By: Patti Straumann

Patti Straumann — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:04:47 +0000

I appreciate the research, that will really help me figure out where to go as our grocery bills are out of control. I was wondering though, if you had ever looked into the Walmart Supercentre stores. I have heard they are really cheap for groceries but I don’t know if it would compare to NoFrills. Have you ever checked out the prices there?

By: GrocerySavings

GrocerySavings — Tue, 27 May 2008 04:03:17 +0000

Great experiment and kudos to you for making an effort to save on groceries. Many people have mentioned Costco, I think Costco is a good place to shop only if you’re feeding a big family.
Buying in bulk will allow you pay less per unit but is it actually cheaper if you can’t use it all up? There have been times where I’ve had to waste food and in these cases I would have been better off buying a smaller portion at a higher
unit price.

With recent grocery price spikes, I think everybody is quite concerned about how much they spend on groceries. Even though most of us are concerned, I believe that we don’t make a solid effort in trying to save on money on groceries because it can take too much time and effort to find the best prices. How many people actually write down the prices of their groceries so that they can compare prices in the future?

The essential ingredients to saving money on groceries are knowledge and planning. Needless to say, a sufficient amount of effort is required for this. I’ve created a website, Grocerysavings.ca, in an effort to reduce the amount of manual labour and time associated to finding the cheapest grocery prices. The site will assist you in gathering knowledge and planning – you can find printable coupons, compare grocery flyer prices, quickly make a shopping list to take to the store, and use the price book to compare current prices to past prices.

Your experiment was essentially creating a price book, why not expand it to a much broader scale by using the power of the Internet to unite our knowledge of grocery prices. If we all combined our personal price books, we can create a global price book where each individual can contribute a little but reap the great benefits of viewing everybody’s prices. I’ve started an online grocery price book project, if you’re interested you can join me here http://grocerysavings.ca/onlinepricebook.asp

Someone mentioned that the cost of gas to go to multiple grocery stores may offset the savings
you save at the stores. This is a good point and you should also consider how much time this would take. Frugal grocery shopping is a personal preference, some may think it’s worthwhile to go to multiples stores in order
to maximize the savings while other’s may not. At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to shop, but shoppers should have the proper knowledge in order to make an informed decision that fits each individual’s need. If you plan ahead, you will know how much you can save and can also calculate how much gas it will cost you for a round trip to all the different stores. I’ve created a Google map listing the grocery stores in Ontario so you can map out
your grocery route and see how much gas it will cost you.

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:42:27 +0000

Thanks for the comment Gean.

Mike

By: Gean Oliveira

Gean Oliveira — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:30:44 +0000

I always shop at No Frills. Regarding the fresh vegetables/fruits really depends the day you go to buy them. I always go during the week and I always find them fresh. Regarding Costco, as I’m buying at No Frills I don’t find a lot of prices atractives at all.

Another thing that you need to consider at Costco is the membership fee. I’ve got mine last year with a promotion and paid only $25/year.

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:29:49 +0000

Good point Larry, planning is definitely an essential ingredient in order to save money on the grocery bill.

Mike

By: LizardLarry

LizardLarry — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:39:19 +0000

If you also want more opportunities to save more on a daily basis include looking at saving money on items you use on a daily basis like shampoo, soap, cleaners etc. Try switching to generic brands/no name brands and buy in bulk or stock up when the items are on sale. The last thing you want to do is get caught buying things on impulse at the grocery store…like I need that Pantene shampoo. You can blow your savings out the door. I would also consider planning your trips carefully there is no point wasting gas to chase something down at another store just to save 50cents when it would probably cost you more in gas.

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:04:10 +0000

Thanks for the comment Faisal. The quality of produce can certainly vary from store to store and the different seasons make a difference too.

The farmer’s market that I go to has very high quality food.

I think the great grocery store experiment is over as far as I’m concerned but if you want to do a quality test and let me know the results, I’d be happy to publish them!!

Mike