I’ve heard from many people that certain grocery stores are much cheaper than other ones. Loblaws in particular is usually named as one of the more expensive ones whereas No Frills is considered one of the cheapest. I’ve always been doubtful that there is a huge difference between stores but since I’ve never compared prices before I didn’t really know. Our average grocery bill for this year is $591 per month so it’s worth seeing if we can save a bit. We shop exclusively at Loblaws because it’s the most convenient store from my house although there is a Price Choppers which is almost as convenient. Food Basics and No Frills are not too far but much less convenient.
Which grocery store is the cheapest?
After reading about various other bloggers reducing their food bill, I decided to carry out some research of my own. I planned to do a price comparison of the four nearby grocery stores using a basket of goods made of up items which our family buys regularly. What I want to see is if there really is a big difference between Loblaws and the other stores and also to see where the best prices are for various items since the cheapest goods probably won’t all be at the same store.
Cheapest grocery store experiment
To perform the experiment I found an old notebook which I could use to write down the data and then set off to the various grocery stores with wife & son in tow. First stop was Price Choppers – since I didn’t have a list of items yet I wandered around and just wrote down items and prices of goods that I know we buy frequently since I figured they should make up a significant part of the food bill. I only wanted to make a sample list, it would be too much work to compare every item we buy over the course of several months. I ended up with a list of 24 items including all the normal staples. Next stop was Loblaws, followed by Food Basics and then No Frills.
You’ll notice in the spreadsheet below that I’ve used a multiplier on all the items to try to estimate how many of that particular item we use in a month. This was done to try to create a proportional basket of goods, based on market capitalization if you will.
Cheapest groceries result
The results were quite interesting. Loblaws was indeed the most expensive but not by a whole lot. Food Basics was 5% cheaper than Loblaws and Price Choppers was 10% cheaper than Loblaws, No Frills was the cheapest at 16% less. Some of the items had huge discrepancies in price while other items were priced similarly at all the stores.
The other basket of goods I created was to add up all the cheapest prices for each item. This basket which would require a lot more effort since it would involve shopping at all four stores, priced in at 20% cheaper than Loblaws which is a significant savings.
Now that we’ve seen the results from this experiment we will definitely make the effort to buy items where they are the cheapest. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to save the full 20% saving that we could achieve by only buying the cheapest item at all four stores, but I’m hoping that we can save somewhere between 5-10% off our bill without having to go through a lot of extra effort. The spreadsheet with all the data is linked below.
Other ways to save money on groceries are:
- Cut down on wastage. This is hard to do but by keeping the fridge clean and looking around in it once in a while you should be able to keep wastage to a minimum.
- Buy cheese blocks instead of slices. I love cheese slices but I compared the prices of some recent purchases and it was $1.29 per 100g of block cheese vs $2.09/100g of sliced – 62% more! I think if we can buy a block then slice it up and store in tupperware in the fridge it will still be pretty convenient to use.
- Watch the packaging – those squeeze bottles of ketchup, mustard and mayo are apparently more expensive than the regular containers.
If you have any other suggestions for me then I’d love to hear them!
Shopping Experiment Spreadsheet
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I’ve always found Price Chopper to be significantly less than Zehrs/A&P/Sobeys.
My tip though it to buy some items at Costco, where you will find prices on many items that can not be touched by any traditional grocery store. Some items you must buy in bulk, however other items like Milk, cream, and bread are just plain less expensive.
Costco is awesome for so many reasons, but what first attracts one to the store is the food prices.
Thanks MG. I’ve thought about looking into Costco at some point but shopping there would involve a big lifestyle change since there isn’t a Costco anywhere near where we live and there is a Loblaws less than 5 minutes walk away.
Mike
A little off topic – but the most obvious money saving tip I have come across lately is regarding Listerine. If you like to use Listerine, which is suppose to be very good for your gums and oral health, buy the store brand instead. If you look at the active ingredients they are identical, whereas Listerine is about $5.50 and the store brand will be about $2.25.
Good post. You’ve done painstaking research
I shop for produce at a local store and find the prices to be cheaper than your list. But then, I have to drop into another store to pick up other groceries.
I’ll second MG’s opinion on Costco. On some items, the prices just cannot be beat, esp. with the weekly coupons.
I disagree with MG’s opinion on mouthwash. I’ve tried store brands twice on mouthwash and both times I used it once and threw the bottle away. I prefer Scope purchased at Costco!
It was actually a fun experience although by the fourth store, the novelty had worn off.
I’ll have to try to sneak into Costco and maybe continue the experiment there.
Mike
Great post, thanks for the link! I think that a combination of adjusting where you buy and what you eat (prepared foods can be quite pricey, store brands can be a real savings, etc) you really can significantly cut down on the price of food.
Not to be a stickler, but Listerine is actually different from ‘Scope’ type mouth wash. Listerine is an antimicrobial mouthwash, as opposed to Scope which is more of a breath freshner and does not have the dental endorsements regarding preventing gingivitis etc. (I’m not a dentist)
Do consider Costco, Mike. They offer excellent quality at fair prices. Their own Kirkland brand is terrific (not sure if they make mouthwash). Items like cheese are well-priced as is maple syrup ($10 for 1L). Also, they have free samples if you go at the right times (fund for kids). There are organic products too.
That’s just the food. They do sell other products too
You may find Costco plus another store will satisfy most of your grocery needs. For fresh produce, ethnic markets are an excellent choice. My wife came home with 4 bags of loot plus a bag of potatoes. The price? $15.
Hi Riscario – I will check out Costco – maybe I’ll head over there around dinner time
Mike
I think that there are some other variables that need to be considered. Certain items on your list, including peppers and tomatoes, come from a variety of sources. At the risk of sounding snobbish, I don’t like buying things like fruit and vegetables at Food Basics or No Frills. I’ve found fresher fruits at the Loblaws-style stores (including Superstore). Even a farmer’s market is a great choice in summer.
Now, a study that priced in the relative quality of such groceries purchased from different locations would be very interesting indeed!
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
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.
Good point Larry, planning is definitely an essential ingredient in order to save money on the grocery bill.
Mike
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.
Thanks for the comment Gean.
Mike
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.
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?
Hi Patti – I haven’t checked out Walmart – there isn’t one close to where I live.
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.
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.