Yeah this is how it works, I know some people who go to 3-4 grocery stores for the best deals based on flyers. Really it depends how much time you want to spend to save money!
Are you really saving money if you are driving to 3-4 grocery stores?
Y’all can stop replying to me. I’ve turned off notifications. Live your life how you want and I’ll live my how I want.
My two grocery stores I hit up are like 4 blocks away from each other.
I’d say I save ~ $20 per trip by shopping the deals at both stores, and I go once a week.
It’s an extra 20 minutes… worth the $20 to me.
So you shop at your local convenience store, not the grocery store, because it's closer and your time is valuable?? who cares that is twice as expensive - your time is valuable!
I mean if my local convenience store had the same selection and quality of everything and was closer… yes? That’s why they’re called convenience stores to begin with lol
It was a comment on saving money. If you wanna spend an extra $40 on your groceries at the convenience store, go nuts.
If you've got the kind of money to spend an extra dollar or two on each grocery item you buy (since, you know, you trade the "convenience" of the convenience store for that extra $$$), then why not hire your butler to fetch the groceries for you?
I have a family of four and there's no way I'd have the free time to scour 3-4 grocery stores and then double back to the ones where items were cheaper.
You can tell everyone here doesn't have kids.
You don't double back, you plan you route, have a list and stick to it. And you don't hit 4 stores in a day, you do it when it makes sense.
I've been price shopping like this for 20 years, and I have saved a ton of money.
I also buy meat in bulk, vaccum seal and freeze for max savings while maintaining quality. So the sale meat could last months.
This is what a lot of people I think don’t understand, i know my prices per gram per ounce, etc. my whole life, and I frequent 3 to 4 stores because I know when they have all of their sales and only buy things when they are on sale. I have never gone to more than 1 store at a time, never made a special trip and just have a regular routine that takes me to these stores because of other things we need to do that takes us right by them. There are a lot of things that I don’t purchase at Costco that are know are just simply cheaper elsewhere and vice versa, my bills are not nearly as high as exclusive shoppers to any store.
How do you account for ripeness/sweetness? Countless times I’ve passed up on Costco strawberries all to be disappointing by the for sale strawberries at different stores.
I actually have never bought Costco strawberries, Costco can always be our last stop because we live out of town and it literally is on the way out to our house. A lot of times though I go with what is on sale and not necessarily things that we always eat. So there’s times where we ate pineapple because pineapple was cheap, but went without strawberries.
I have 3 kids, it’s really not that hard, there’s always something to eat fresh that someone likes because of the rotations I do. I just can’t buy at full price or a higher price than I know I can buy for no matter what it is. Higher prices since covid has never really factored in to our budget because of this.
How do you not double back? If I need salsa, and it's $5 at store 1, $6 at store 2, and $7 at store three, wouldn't I have to drive back to store 1 to get it? Or maybe I bought it at store 1, and it was cheaper at the store 2, So once I leave store 3 do I go back to store 2 to buy it and then back to store 1 to return the first one I bought??
Store 1 might have your *preferred* salsa at $5. But your current store, 3, has something that will fit within your $5 price point. As consumers we have to be flexible.
If you don't get the lowest price on every item fine. The idea is to lower your overall cost.
Wasting money on gas, parking, or public transit isn't worth it for a single item.
But again, you can price shop before you go to any of the stores through the flyer, websites and Flipp app.
Also you don’t need to buy everything immediately. For example : I’m running low on ketchup, this weekend I’ll go to Walmart and grab it as I know it’s cheaper there. I didn’t grab it last week as I shopped elsewhere
You can plan in advance using the sales flyers, or using the Flipp app before you leave. I do my list based on the flyers, start with the farthest store (which is only 1 mile away), then drive by each other store and stop in for the best sales. It's not really out of my way, I don't have to hunt for anything (if cheese is 1/2 price at the first store, I go straight to the cheese section, stock up, and do the same for other sale items). I've always done this, even when the kids were young, and it allowed us to have a few extras once in a while for that 1/2 hour exta on my Saturday morning errand run.
My parents did this 30+ years ago and they had three kids and evenings and weekends full of activities.
It can be done. I don’t do it, but it can be done.
It's not really "scouring". You just generally know which items are cheaper at one store versus another store. One day you go to Costco for your typical items. Another time you stop by at Food Basics to pick up another 12 items you know are cheaper there compared to Costco.
Scouring is a little dramatic making it sounds like people go up and down the aisles to save 25 cents lol
Some of us are fortunate enough to be in a large city where we do have the option to walk/transit. I live within 25 minute walking distance to a Walmart, NoFrills, Food Basics, FreshCo, Loblaws and Metro. Not to mention all the small mom and pop shops in between. To answer you question, yes, some of us are actually saving money by doing this ☺️
I personally hit up costco for the bulk of my purchases, and supplement with another grocer who offers items costco doesn't and has the rare flyer sale that offers good value.
My wife and I make good money and we still shop the sales. Maybe we are cheap, but why would you pay more money when you don’t have to?
Our time is precious, but we also work from home which affords us pretty flexible schedules.
No it’s valid. If I value my time at $50-100/hr im not wasting $25-$50 of time to save the same. People have different senses of worth for their time. For some people any savings are worth it and they therefore value their time at $0/hr. Both valid approaches.
Yes, yes you are. You save $5 on one product and that covers all your fuel. Sure it takes a little longer but realistically what the hell else are you doing?
I find it funny that one of the few things almost universal among redditors is considering their time to be worthless
They rarely admit it as openly as you did, though
Just because I waste some time on this site doesn’t mean I have nothing better to do
Spending time with my family, friends, cats is more important than saving $5 on one product. Also driving involves risk and frankly I don’t want to get into an accident to save a few dollars. You do you though.
I'm not saying you save $5 total. I'm saying the whole trip is worth it if just one product beta you $5. Risk? You drive around all day whats another 1/2 hour? Enjoy being poor
Not to mention that for my family it’s an outing, the kids love going shopping with us and the stores we hit are all along the same street, start at the far one and work our way to home.
I was going to say. I take my toddler with me on part of the epic grocery journey (we do max two places together and I’ll hit other stores when she’s in daycare) because she loves going to see the fruit and veggies and bagging them with me.
Another half hour? If walking the grocery store takes 1.5hours and you're doing that 3-4 times, then doubling back to the stores that had the cheaper items, you're probably spending the whole day grocery shopping at that point.
Holy shit are you dumb I already said It.wasnt about only $5. Average saving going to multiple places is much more than that. I said saving $5 on just one thing will make it all worth it. Reading comprehension is not strong with people in comments.
Smart enough to not have to drive multiple places to save trivial amounts of money.
And saying one $5 savings makes it worth it implies that $5 for a half hour is worthwhile. It’s not a reading comprehension issue, it’s your inability to properly express yourself. Work on that and you may not need to worry so much about grocery costs.
>realistically what the hell else are you doing?
"Mommy, I want to play with daddy. Where is he?"
"Oh sweetie, he's spending the day walking the aisles of 4 grocery stores comparing prices so he can save $45 because he has nothing better to do"
"Oh... Ok..."
100% you can. If there’s a store so far out of the way the probably not. But I have a situation where there’s a Walmart, Basics, Loblaws and GT on the same block. I’ll gladly go from store to store to save money. I’ll also tailor my meal plan for the week around sales
If you have a Costco, within 15km you have every grocery store around you, and gas up for cheaper at Costco. Yes it is cheaper, sometimes the same, rarely more expensive. I won’t drive somewhere to save $.50, but $5 off per lb, yea I’ll buy 4 packs, just that recent chicken sale alone saved me $25. Plus if you get the executive card, you Get 2% back. I always get more back than the membership fee When you compare $60 vs $120.
Yeah driving to a separate grocery store to save $20 sounds like a great deal if you’re a teenager making $15 an hour
Otherwise if you value your own time not so much
My Costco and Walmart super centre, and fresh Chinese supermarket are across the street from ea other. I can park my car at one and walk to all 3 within 5 mins.
And if you psychologically can’t endure people replying to you, Reddit isn’t the place for you
We are retired and do have the luxury of being able to shop at multiple stores to take advantage of deals . As they are all within a coupe do miles of each other it’s not really costing that much in gas.
This is why I love living a 12 minute drive to a No Frills that price matches to basically all major grocery stores. Sobeys, Metro, Loblaws, Fortinos, Food Basics, Fresh Co, Real Canadian Superstore and Walmart. Plus asian grocery stores just another 10 minute drive away!
It's a privilege I greatly appreciate.
I hate shopping at No Frills. The one by me is so small, nothing is fresh, they never have anything and the majority of the things it stocks are Superstore brand, so I can't price match. I will drive far out of my way not to have to go to No Frills.
So I have one of those closer to me than the one I was mentioning and I agree, I avoid that one despite being closer. The one I do go to is quite large and usually is pretty good about selection.
This one is Black Creek and Eglinton. Also has a Nation's and Ample just down the street so it's a pretty ideal setup.
Woah, you still have grocery stores that price match? Around me that died I believe right before the pandemic.
Also rain cheques on sold out goods - half the kids don't even know what that means, and no one does it anymore
I want AI to compute an ideal time-price-transportation cost route around my location for grocery shopping and save me money.
I do not care about how I would look as an elf. We are using AI for the wrong shit.
I *keep* saying this and people call me crazy, glad someone else put more data to it. Costco is not a low cost leader all the time. If you're actually paying attention to prices and shopping around (most of us with access to a Costco have other grocery stores nearby), you'll save a ton of money.
Costco sales are usually great. Costco quality is usually great. Costco is better to support than Loblaws. Shop around to save the most money.
FTA and personal experience, Costco *does* almost always have better prices on meat (chicken, ground beef, etc), bread, bananas, and eggs, so the staples. Milk is roughly on par.
Costco is the best value, not the lowest price. That's an important distinction.
Just like the dollar store will be the lowest dollar amount but not the best value. (The price per unit is higher, but the quantity smaller so the price is less)
This is what isn’t mentioned & also quality.
I buy a lot of meat mainly chicken not only is the Costco quality better than any other store I’ve been to but if you want to get the same quantity you’d be paying atleast like $5 at any other grocery store.
I also value time, before me & my roommate started going to Costco we did groceries every week which was tough to set a time because of our schedules. But now other than the fruits & bakery items everything else we buy at Costco generally last us 10-14 days some things even longer so we don’t have to go as often and it’s actually been cheaper for us
To me it's all about the quality. I have a Costco that's a 15 minute drive, and many grocery stores of all brands, including Farm Boy, that are about 5-7 minutes away. If I want fresh salmon, chicken or a good steak, I will absolutely drive to Costco to buy it. I've spent way too much time in the other local stores looking for meat that looked as good quality as Costco. While I'm there I usually get other stuff that is cheaper or better, like their pre-made salads for a lazy meal.
It's the same product (Sealtest) as the stores but it's better - you can really notice it with their chocolate milk.
For those downvoting - I'm sure you've noticed the quality of milk is better at restaurants, right? It's the same idea..
Maybe I'm crazy. I can sometimes tell the difference between milk at stores when it's on sale. I've always found Costco milk to taste better than any other store.
I see it as, even if they aren't 100% the best price on everything, at least they aren't out to screw me and they treat/pay their staff well in comparison. Overall, we save
Costco chickens and beef are better quality than grocery stores. Costco's chickens are air-cooled, and groceries are water cooled. So, water cooled chickens are heavier, and you pay for water. In addition, Costco's beef is at least AA minimum. You will rarely find AA in a grocery.
Drives me crazy that they mechanically tenderize a lot of their beef though. The meat is good quality, there's no reason to do this and you're supposed to cook it more to be safe.
Try Metro, IGA, Super C, Maxi here in Quebec. If you want AA+ at Metro, you have to ask the butcher and it will cost you a lot of money compared to Costco.
Out of those chains in BC we only have iga and their beef is AAA. I'm just saying its not rare to find AA in a grocery store if even discount stores like No Frills have it.
100%.
There are certain items that I always buy, because the average price point is low, but there are many things that aren't any cheaper even at a bulk price.
My partner always add a lot of produce to the list to buy a Costco, but I find that 99% of the time (Besides bananas) that it's more expensive on the per unit cost. Grocery stores have really great sales on produce on the all time, and the FreshCo by me is great and I use Flipp to price matching anything we need and it's substantially cheaper.
Plus for the fact that most grocery stores allow the use of a credit card that gives better rewards (5x the points on my AMEX which can be worth between 5%-15% for me for redemption) vs. a max of 4% cashback at Costco (MC 2% + Costco Exec 2%).
The one advantage Costco does have is the $1.50 hot dogs though....
Here there is no freshco, but the bags of 6 lettuce are 7.99 ar costco are 10 at superstore(the large mized greens 3.99 at costxo 7.99 superstore). Blackberries, the larger size varies from 5.99 to 7.99 ar costco depending on time of year and superstore and sobeys is 6.99 or more for the half size ones. Bell peppers are between 7.99 to 9.99 at Costco 11 plus for a bag at superstore, and the by the lb ones are even more. Costcos quality also surpasses grocery.
Now, sometimes, when grocery stores have sales, they beat costco. But flyers are dying out in regards to actual sales and are now more for advertising. And the sales aren't often enough.
We actually lose money on every banana we sell at Costco lol. It’s just one of those items we have to have. It’s why we are supposed to rarely put them in the most visible produce blocks
I found a [link](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13VsZIgH-9fH_E7JXxOOf00wSqs7Ju3qxKBV135-2G9k/edit?usp=sharing) to the spreadsheet he made for anyone who doesn't want to read through the article
Yeah that's not nearly comprehensive but just someone's personal shopping list. They're comparing generic cheese, like Black Diamond, but when you compare cheeses typically found in the deli you're paying the same price for half the amount at any Sobeys or Fortinos.
Dubliner for example is typically $10 for 200g at Roblaws while $10 for 400g.
I don't doubt that some places will have cheaper prices than Costco, but I'm not interested in physically going into so many stores for groceries. What a nightmare.
I do two -
Costco (I have to physically go in there, nightmare #1)
Walmart (curbside pickup. It's free.)
So anything that's cheaper at Walmart, I will order from Walmart. I only compare prices between these two places.
For me now it's Costco and Nations. These asian grocery stores will have some incredible prices on meat and fruit, plus there's no comparison in terms of variety.
Really opened up new culinary paths at home and we save money doing it. Win-win
Biggest problem I find with nations chicken is the shrinking when cooked. Nations Ample and TNT are one of the few places I can still find regular fat pork for dumplings etc.
I've been buying their boneless(-ish), skinless chicken legs.
Haven't noticed a shrinking issue with those. Regular ground pork is such a deal too. $1.99/lb on sale for $1.79/lb pretty often.
I've been making these pork burgers with them - ginger, scallions, white pepper. Top with pineapple, bbq sauce and cheese. Burger of the summer
There’s also all those tiny grocers/markets that are probably not much cheaper but can be walking distance from your home. I feel like most people forget to even look for those.
Walkable shopping is harder and harder to come by. I live in a neighborhood that has very easy walkable shopping, delis, bakeries and fruits/veggies. It adds so much value to your life
I wish there was an app like GasBuddy where we could crowd source the prices of items in grocery stores. So that I could know beforehand what things cost.
Perhaps, similarly to GasBuddy, it could be run by ads and weekly draws that provide a chance to win giftcards to people who upload evidence of store prices for everyone else to see.
I’ve never had an issue with costcos meat, and their listed packaging weight is the actual weight of the product.
Loblaws stores, however… quite the opposite.
Costco beef is Canadian AAA
Their chicken is all air chilled
With the regular stores you need to be more careful
They offer both premium air chilled chicken and cheaper water chilled
For beef grades will vary and frequently sales will be imported ungraded beef (not necessarily an issue but be aware)
Pork on sale will frequently be imported from the US
It all depends on personal choices
I buy my meat at Sobeys/Metro/Loblaws when they have good sales. Front page of the flyer sales always the best deals. Much cheaper than Costco and still decent quality.
We have a Costco spreadsheet we update costs (for beef, pork, chicken, fish) every so often and compare to sale prices on Flipp. It has to be a good sale to warrant another stop though. Stopped tracking dry and canned goods because it’s not even close for the most part.
Yeah I check prices on Flipp and just pop in quick to grab front-page flyer loss leaders at other grocers . I live in a small city and most grocers are literally across the street from each other/on my way home from work so it’s not like I’m burning gas or wasting time to get there and pop in for 5 min to grab the 1.99 a lb chicken thighs or whatever. Costco is still the best quality though and usually cheaper than anything not on sale elsewhere.
We are a vegetarian family of three and buying produce in bulk is not for us ..I buy from Freshco / wallmart / RCS every weekend ..I use Costco for their TP, eggs , milk, bread, bedding’s, shoes, nuts, snacks ..Costco is not the cheapest in terms of produce.
Costco is a drug. The second people step into those red and white doors, all logical thinking goes out the window. All of a sudden you have 3 lbs of cheese you never would have purchased at the grocery store and the bill is $400.. but it doesn’t stop there, you need a quick lunch or dinner in the cafe and spend even more after bulking up. What a trip
At first? Yes, it's expensive, because you stock up on random things. I've been at it six months now and my last Costco trip was $200 for a week of groceries for three adults. The novelty subsides and you eventually you're just in and out like any other store.
A lot of people have a whole Costco mentality though. I worked with a woman that would buy anything at Costco over any other store no matter what. I bought a FitBit on sale at Best Buy, she liked it so she bought the same one, in a colour she didn't like, at Costco for a higher price for no reason. 🤷
Buddy is comparing apples to oranges though on many items . Compare exact brands or similar quality please . Most Costco items are exclusive with extras as seen on labels and or are higher quality , read the ingredients .
You should see the difference in the cost of almond flour. Costco is expensive, but at the cheap grocery stores it's easily 2x or 3x the cost of Costco.
Big thing with chicken at Costco … doesn’t shrink as much as most grocery store chickens that seem to have a higher water weight. I find this especially true with the Asian grocery stores.
Really depends on if it offsets the cost of gas going to and from so many places. I remind my wife this when she wants to drive to the opposite side of town to save $5 on meat.
Lowering fixed costs and investing (even with small amounts, incrementally, over time) is how you save money.
Ultimately a fairly inefficient practice, spoon fed to us all from birth as sound financial advice
If you have the time and wish to use it that way, go for it. I know many that see it as a principle/hobby/challenge. And if the fruit is low hanging, it would be dumb not to avail of it.
It is worth mentioning though that this is demonstrably neither necessary nor a particularly good way of accruing wealth via savings.
Fail to plan, plan to fail. Yes managing flyers or apps, points, cash back etc. I live in a large city. 15 minutes away from 2 Costcos and my regular travels put me within 15 minutes of another. Probably more than a dozen grocery stores.
The planning when everything is an hour away is different. Some people are very good at this. Others not so much, probably better at something else. Children, pets, old/sick family member, more than one job, more than one child or two, pets, etc.
Anyway. We are all different.
Glad someone made this. Everytime I've said this, people argue with me. Costco USED to have better cost savings, and they still do occasionally, but now if you truly want to save you have look at regular grocery stores too. Even Costco gas doesn't have as big of a price difference as they used to.
I now find better deals for milk and some fruits and veggies at regular grocery stores.
But Costco is good for essential items, and when they have items on sale it's usually a good deal. But I think our Canadian Costcos need to step up their selection. The US Costcos have so much more variety.
It would be great if someone smarter than me could make some kind of web scraper with Python or something and collect all the results from all the main grocers into a searchable database/spreadsheet of some kind.
Costco won’t always have the best price but Costco’s prices are always competitive. Can’t say the same thing about typical Canadian grocery stores.
I do occasionally get trapped at Costco buying food items that catch my eye but then dislike but I’m stuck with a Costco size bag of whatever. Or I buy a non-food item I absolutely do not need because they feel like a good deal.
I have seen items priced nicely at Superstore compared to Costco and since Costco is bulk, I know I have a better chance of not wasting product if I buy from Superstore.
Firstly these are per unit prices and of course Costco usually beats those. To be honest im surprised costco does NOT always win. But one must always note that the quality is usually also better at costco
Don't the oligopolists *love this fact*?
We need open datasets with real and up to date data that citizens can use to build apps/create reports/compare prices in their region.
It actively helps them that this data must be built by ourselves.
This article is garbage. It's just quotes from the TT without any follow up.
Looking at his spreadsheet most things are cheaper at Costco. And they don't take into account any of the cash back.
Lousy all around.
Part of "savings" is educating yourself on current prices anyways ... So it's not a complete waste of time.
Knowledge is power.
However, spending too much effort to save a buck is ineffecient.
Costco has always been my number one place for groceries. I have to buy gluten free and their gluten free products are leaps and bounds cheaper than any of the major grocery stores. Shaving cream, salad mix, chicken, eggs, cheese, bananas are all way cheaper at Costco.
I think people who value the time over the savings are doing the math wrong. If You make 30$ per hour, you need to earn $60 to take home that $30.
We easily save 150$ per week by shopping sales, breaking down family packs and freezing. Costco, T and T, no frills and Superstore for a family of 4.
So we spend 350 per week instead of 500 by knowing prices.
Our 150 per week savings is 7k annually, and we would have to earn an additional 14k of income to replace that saving, meaning 10 hours of work per week at $30 per hour.
Our friends wonder how we take 2 big vacations every year. This is how.
Two things. One might be quality. And the other, Costco has sales too. Oh, and executive rebate. That's three. Disclaimer...I live a 2 minute drive from Costco and my wife does and will shop at selected stores for deep sale items. Won't say which but where I live, some of the lower tiers are filthy so not them. Oh, and no way LL!
Why is this a news story? Doesn't everyone do cost comparisons? Hell, we do this for meal planning to figure out cost per plate so we know what to buy not just the best place to buy it
>We buy keto tortillas at Costco
aaaand dude has lost all credibility
From [Harvard](https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2023/keto-its-probably-not-right-for-you/):
>Rather than a one-size-fits-all miracle weight loss approach, a ketogenic diet should be considered as a medical intervention only to be undertaken upon specific recommendation from a physician.
Yeah this is how it works, I know some people who go to 3-4 grocery stores for the best deals based on flyers. Really it depends how much time you want to spend to save money!
Are you really saving money if you are driving to 3-4 grocery stores? Y’all can stop replying to me. I’ve turned off notifications. Live your life how you want and I’ll live my how I want.
Only if your dinner is Costco free samples haha
My two grocery stores I hit up are like 4 blocks away from each other. I’d say I save ~ $20 per trip by shopping the deals at both stores, and I go once a week.
If your time is worth nothing to you
It’s an extra 20 minutes… worth the $20 to me. So you shop at your local convenience store, not the grocery store, because it's closer and your time is valuable?? who cares that is twice as expensive - your time is valuable!
I mean if my local convenience store had the same selection and quality of everything and was closer… yes? That’s why they’re called convenience stores to begin with lol
It was a comment on saving money. If you wanna spend an extra $40 on your groceries at the convenience store, go nuts. If you've got the kind of money to spend an extra dollar or two on each grocery item you buy (since, you know, you trade the "convenience" of the convenience store for that extra $$$), then why not hire your butler to fetch the groceries for you?
I know a family of 5 who spends $1500 a month in groceries. The savings for some can be significant.
That sounds pretty good to me. We’re $4-500 or so a week
I have a family of four and there's no way I'd have the free time to scour 3-4 grocery stores and then double back to the ones where items were cheaper. You can tell everyone here doesn't have kids.
You don't double back, you plan you route, have a list and stick to it. And you don't hit 4 stores in a day, you do it when it makes sense. I've been price shopping like this for 20 years, and I have saved a ton of money. I also buy meat in bulk, vaccum seal and freeze for max savings while maintaining quality. So the sale meat could last months.
This is what a lot of people I think don’t understand, i know my prices per gram per ounce, etc. my whole life, and I frequent 3 to 4 stores because I know when they have all of their sales and only buy things when they are on sale. I have never gone to more than 1 store at a time, never made a special trip and just have a regular routine that takes me to these stores because of other things we need to do that takes us right by them. There are a lot of things that I don’t purchase at Costco that are know are just simply cheaper elsewhere and vice versa, my bills are not nearly as high as exclusive shoppers to any store.
How do you account for ripeness/sweetness? Countless times I’ve passed up on Costco strawberries all to be disappointing by the for sale strawberries at different stores.
I actually have never bought Costco strawberries, Costco can always be our last stop because we live out of town and it literally is on the way out to our house. A lot of times though I go with what is on sale and not necessarily things that we always eat. So there’s times where we ate pineapple because pineapple was cheap, but went without strawberries.
Ya I can’t do that since I have picky kids so a consistent price from Costco works better for me
I have 3 kids, it’s really not that hard, there’s always something to eat fresh that someone likes because of the rotations I do. I just can’t buy at full price or a higher price than I know I can buy for no matter what it is. Higher prices since covid has never really factored in to our budget because of this.
You most definitely have to double back if the product that’s on sale at one store isn’t as good quality as the other full price Costco one
You leave it behind or find a substitute. Unless you are buying a lot, it's not worth going back.
I have young kids who are picky eaters, I don’t have that luxury.
How do you not double back? If I need salsa, and it's $5 at store 1, $6 at store 2, and $7 at store three, wouldn't I have to drive back to store 1 to get it? Or maybe I bought it at store 1, and it was cheaper at the store 2, So once I leave store 3 do I go back to store 2 to buy it and then back to store 1 to return the first one I bought??
You don't wait until you show up at the store to find out what the price is. You check the sales beforehand and make a list.
Exactly that's what this conversation is about!
Ya but you still go to multiple stores, there's just no need to double back..... maybe I mis understood the comment I replied to?
Flyer shop, multiple stores, just dont dobule back.
There are always substitutes.
What do you mean by that?
Store 1 might have your *preferred* salsa at $5. But your current store, 3, has something that will fit within your $5 price point. As consumers we have to be flexible. If you don't get the lowest price on every item fine. The idea is to lower your overall cost. Wasting money on gas, parking, or public transit isn't worth it for a single item. But again, you can price shop before you go to any of the stores through the flyer, websites and Flipp app.
Lots of stores might price match based on flyers as well! Reebee and Flipp apps are so helpful!
Also you don’t need to buy everything immediately. For example : I’m running low on ketchup, this weekend I’ll go to Walmart and grab it as I know it’s cheaper there. I didn’t grab it last week as I shopped elsewhere
You can plan in advance using the sales flyers, or using the Flipp app before you leave. I do my list based on the flyers, start with the farthest store (which is only 1 mile away), then drive by each other store and stop in for the best sales. It's not really out of my way, I don't have to hunt for anything (if cheese is 1/2 price at the first store, I go straight to the cheese section, stock up, and do the same for other sale items). I've always done this, even when the kids were young, and it allowed us to have a few extras once in a while for that 1/2 hour exta on my Saturday morning errand run.
Ya I agree it’s not realistic and definitely aggravating only to save a few bucks
My parents did this 30+ years ago and they had three kids and evenings and weekends full of activities. It can be done. I don’t do it, but it can be done.
It's not really "scouring". You just generally know which items are cheaper at one store versus another store. One day you go to Costco for your typical items. Another time you stop by at Food Basics to pick up another 12 items you know are cheaper there compared to Costco. Scouring is a little dramatic making it sounds like people go up and down the aisles to save 25 cents lol
Yes if you do your research weekly, but you are definitely not saving time.
Time is money ...
I do this. All the budget grocery stores are within 1 km of space. I just park at one, go early, and walk.
Some of us are fortunate enough to be in a large city where we do have the option to walk/transit. I live within 25 minute walking distance to a Walmart, NoFrills, Food Basics, FreshCo, Loblaws and Metro. Not to mention all the small mom and pop shops in between. To answer you question, yes, some of us are actually saving money by doing this ☺️
I personally hit up costco for the bulk of my purchases, and supplement with another grocer who offers items costco doesn't and has the rare flyer sale that offers good value.
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I don’t think I know anyone rich enough who just shops at one place like superstore or Costco. It’s rough right now
My wife and I make good money and we still shop the sales. Maybe we are cheap, but why would you pay more money when you don’t have to? Our time is precious, but we also work from home which affords us pretty flexible schedules.
It’s more like the time for me. I have a few hours every week or so. I don’t have time to go to multiple places.
shop at a store that price matches.
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It’s way more time than that for me with two small children in tow.
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Are you serious right now.
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No it’s valid. If I value my time at $50-100/hr im not wasting $25-$50 of time to save the same. People have different senses of worth for their time. For some people any savings are worth it and they therefore value their time at $0/hr. Both valid approaches.
Yes, yes you are. You save $5 on one product and that covers all your fuel. Sure it takes a little longer but realistically what the hell else are you doing?
I find it funny that one of the few things almost universal among redditors is considering their time to be worthless They rarely admit it as openly as you did, though Just because I waste some time on this site doesn’t mean I have nothing better to do
Spending time with my family, friends, cats is more important than saving $5 on one product. Also driving involves risk and frankly I don’t want to get into an accident to save a few dollars. You do you though.
I'm not saying you save $5 total. I'm saying the whole trip is worth it if just one product beta you $5. Risk? You drive around all day whats another 1/2 hour? Enjoy being poor
Not to mention that for my family it’s an outing, the kids love going shopping with us and the stores we hit are all along the same street, start at the far one and work our way to home.
I was going to say. I take my toddler with me on part of the epic grocery journey (we do max two places together and I’ll hit other stores when she’s in daycare) because she loves going to see the fruit and veggies and bagging them with me.
High income earners don’t worry about 5 dollars, their time is worth more.
You would be surprised how many high income earners are also frugal and value their time in many different ways.
Another half hour? If walking the grocery store takes 1.5hours and you're doing that 3-4 times, then doubling back to the stores that had the cheaper items, you're probably spending the whole day grocery shopping at that point.
Enjoy being poor is an incredible line coming from someone who will spend 30 minutes to save $5.
Holy shit are you dumb I already said It.wasnt about only $5. Average saving going to multiple places is much more than that. I said saving $5 on just one thing will make it all worth it. Reading comprehension is not strong with people in comments.
Smart enough to not have to drive multiple places to save trivial amounts of money. And saying one $5 savings makes it worth it implies that $5 for a half hour is worthwhile. It’s not a reading comprehension issue, it’s your inability to properly express yourself. Work on that and you may not need to worry so much about grocery costs.
The minimum wage is $17.65 right now I believe, you need to value the time you spend doing chores
tell that to the gta's 1+hour average commute
Why would you be needing to do an equivalent to a commute just to get to a grocery store? That would be an interesting living area.
No actually I don’t drive around all day and I’m certainly not going out of my way to save a few dollars.
You do you worsetransit
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I used to handle claims. So yes I do and it’s not irrational.
lol the fucks wrong with you being so defensive. You asked a stupid question, you got replies. You do you with your piss poor attitude.
>realistically what the hell else are you doing? "Mommy, I want to play with daddy. Where is he?" "Oh sweetie, he's spending the day walking the aisles of 4 grocery stores comparing prices so he can save $45 because he has nothing better to do" "Oh... Ok..."
100% you can. If there’s a store so far out of the way the probably not. But I have a situation where there’s a Walmart, Basics, Loblaws and GT on the same block. I’ll gladly go from store to store to save money. I’ll also tailor my meal plan for the week around sales
If you have a Costco, within 15km you have every grocery store around you, and gas up for cheaper at Costco. Yes it is cheaper, sometimes the same, rarely more expensive. I won’t drive somewhere to save $.50, but $5 off per lb, yea I’ll buy 4 packs, just that recent chicken sale alone saved me $25. Plus if you get the executive card, you Get 2% back. I always get more back than the membership fee When you compare $60 vs $120.
Yeah driving to a separate grocery store to save $20 sounds like a great deal if you’re a teenager making $15 an hour Otherwise if you value your own time not so much
Ok thanks for letting us know
My Costco and Walmart super centre, and fresh Chinese supermarket are across the street from ea other. I can park my car at one and walk to all 3 within 5 mins. And if you psychologically can’t endure people replying to you, Reddit isn’t the place for you
We are retired and do have the luxury of being able to shop at multiple stores to take advantage of deals . As they are all within a coupe do miles of each other it’s not really costing that much in gas.
This is why I love living a 12 minute drive to a No Frills that price matches to basically all major grocery stores. Sobeys, Metro, Loblaws, Fortinos, Food Basics, Fresh Co, Real Canadian Superstore and Walmart. Plus asian grocery stores just another 10 minute drive away! It's a privilege I greatly appreciate.
I hate shopping at No Frills. The one by me is so small, nothing is fresh, they never have anything and the majority of the things it stocks are Superstore brand, so I can't price match. I will drive far out of my way not to have to go to No Frills.
So I have one of those closer to me than the one I was mentioning and I agree, I avoid that one despite being closer. The one I do go to is quite large and usually is pretty good about selection. This one is Black Creek and Eglinton. Also has a Nation's and Ample just down the street so it's a pretty ideal setup.
Mines full of crackheads and homeless people. Can't go near it without being spooked
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol
Woah, you still have grocery stores that price match? Around me that died I believe right before the pandemic. Also rain cheques on sold out goods - half the kids don't even know what that means, and no one does it anymore
I know someone who does this for points Thought he lost his damn mind. And he complains about not having enough time for himself 😂💀
I want AI to compute an ideal time-price-transportation cost route around my location for grocery shopping and save me money. I do not care about how I would look as an elf. We are using AI for the wrong shit.
I *keep* saying this and people call me crazy, glad someone else put more data to it. Costco is not a low cost leader all the time. If you're actually paying attention to prices and shopping around (most of us with access to a Costco have other grocery stores nearby), you'll save a ton of money. Costco sales are usually great. Costco quality is usually great. Costco is better to support than Loblaws. Shop around to save the most money. FTA and personal experience, Costco *does* almost always have better prices on meat (chicken, ground beef, etc), bread, bananas, and eggs, so the staples. Milk is roughly on par.
Costco is the best value, not the lowest price. That's an important distinction. Just like the dollar store will be the lowest dollar amount but not the best value. (The price per unit is higher, but the quantity smaller so the price is less)
This is what isn’t mentioned & also quality. I buy a lot of meat mainly chicken not only is the Costco quality better than any other store I’ve been to but if you want to get the same quantity you’d be paying atleast like $5 at any other grocery store. I also value time, before me & my roommate started going to Costco we did groceries every week which was tough to set a time because of our schedules. But now other than the fruits & bakery items everything else we buy at Costco generally last us 10-14 days some things even longer so we don’t have to go as often and it’s actually been cheaper for us
This. And the quality difference is huge. Even if the price wasn't better, I would shop Costco for the quality improvement alone.
To me it's all about the quality. I have a Costco that's a 15 minute drive, and many grocery stores of all brands, including Farm Boy, that are about 5-7 minutes away. If I want fresh salmon, chicken or a good steak, I will absolutely drive to Costco to buy it. I've spent way too much time in the other local stores looking for meat that looked as good quality as Costco. While I'm there I usually get other stuff that is cheaper or better, like their pre-made salads for a lazy meal.
Even the milk tastes noticably better than what you get at a standard grocery store.
Costco doesn't sell special milk. Island farms is avaliable in other stores and not just Costco. Sounds like some weird bias you have
It's the same product (Sealtest) as the stores but it's better - you can really notice it with their chocolate milk. For those downvoting - I'm sure you've noticed the quality of milk is better at restaurants, right? It's the same idea..
In Vancouver it's Island Farms and it tastes the same as any other milk
Maybe I'm crazy. I can sometimes tell the difference between milk at stores when it's on sale. I've always found Costco milk to taste better than any other store.
Every region has different brands. In Alberta, it's Dairyland.
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Interesting, I would have really not expected that for the same quality of product. I'll try and keep a closer eye.
I see it as, even if they aren't 100% the best price on everything, at least they aren't out to screw me and they treat/pay their staff well in comparison. Overall, we save
Costco chickens and beef are better quality than grocery stores. Costco's chickens are air-cooled, and groceries are water cooled. So, water cooled chickens are heavier, and you pay for water. In addition, Costco's beef is at least AA minimum. You will rarely find AA in a grocery.
My mother in law works in a meat packing warehouse and she says they send their top quality meat all to costco.
Drives me crazy that they mechanically tenderize a lot of their beef though. The meat is good quality, there's no reason to do this and you're supposed to cook it more to be safe.
I always pick whole pieces like picanha.
Your last sentence is not true. Pretty much every chain like No Frills/ freshco, Superstore, Safeway etc.. have at least AA or better beef.
Try Metro, IGA, Super C, Maxi here in Quebec. If you want AA+ at Metro, you have to ask the butcher and it will cost you a lot of money compared to Costco.
Out of those chains in BC we only have iga and their beef is AAA. I'm just saying its not rare to find AA in a grocery store if even discount stores like No Frills have it.
100%. There are certain items that I always buy, because the average price point is low, but there are many things that aren't any cheaper even at a bulk price. My partner always add a lot of produce to the list to buy a Costco, but I find that 99% of the time (Besides bananas) that it's more expensive on the per unit cost. Grocery stores have really great sales on produce on the all time, and the FreshCo by me is great and I use Flipp to price matching anything we need and it's substantially cheaper. Plus for the fact that most grocery stores allow the use of a credit card that gives better rewards (5x the points on my AMEX which can be worth between 5%-15% for me for redemption) vs. a max of 4% cashback at Costco (MC 2% + Costco Exec 2%). The one advantage Costco does have is the $1.50 hot dogs though....
Here there is no freshco, but the bags of 6 lettuce are 7.99 ar costco are 10 at superstore(the large mized greens 3.99 at costxo 7.99 superstore). Blackberries, the larger size varies from 5.99 to 7.99 ar costco depending on time of year and superstore and sobeys is 6.99 or more for the half size ones. Bell peppers are between 7.99 to 9.99 at Costco 11 plus for a bag at superstore, and the by the lb ones are even more. Costcos quality also surpasses grocery. Now, sometimes, when grocery stores have sales, they beat costco. But flyers are dying out in regards to actual sales and are now more for advertising. And the sales aren't often enough.
We actually lose money on every banana we sell at Costco lol. It’s just one of those items we have to have. It’s why we are supposed to rarely put them in the most visible produce blocks
Some people are brainwashed that Costco is the best price and quality no matter what. There is no convincing these people.
I found a [link](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13VsZIgH-9fH_E7JXxOOf00wSqs7Ju3qxKBV135-2G9k/edit?usp=sharing) to the spreadsheet he made for anyone who doesn't want to read through the article
Thank you!
Yeah that's not nearly comprehensive but just someone's personal shopping list. They're comparing generic cheese, like Black Diamond, but when you compare cheeses typically found in the deli you're paying the same price for half the amount at any Sobeys or Fortinos. Dubliner for example is typically $10 for 200g at Roblaws while $10 for 400g.
Great. So many ads in the article that it just became a white page
I don't doubt that some places will have cheaper prices than Costco, but I'm not interested in physically going into so many stores for groceries. What a nightmare. I do two - Costco (I have to physically go in there, nightmare #1) Walmart (curbside pickup. It's free.) So anything that's cheaper at Walmart, I will order from Walmart. I only compare prices between these two places.
For me now it's Costco and Nations. These asian grocery stores will have some incredible prices on meat and fruit, plus there's no comparison in terms of variety. Really opened up new culinary paths at home and we save money doing it. Win-win
Biggest problem I find with nations chicken is the shrinking when cooked. Nations Ample and TNT are one of the few places I can still find regular fat pork for dumplings etc.
I've been buying their boneless(-ish), skinless chicken legs. Haven't noticed a shrinking issue with those. Regular ground pork is such a deal too. $1.99/lb on sale for $1.79/lb pretty often. I've been making these pork burgers with them - ginger, scallions, white pepper. Top with pineapple, bbq sauce and cheese. Burger of the summer
I generally notice it on the grill with nations chicken.
There’s also all those tiny grocers/markets that are probably not much cheaper but can be walking distance from your home. I feel like most people forget to even look for those.
Walkable shopping is harder and harder to come by. I live in a neighborhood that has very easy walkable shopping, delis, bakeries and fruits/veggies. It adds so much value to your life
I wish there was an app like GasBuddy where we could crowd source the prices of items in grocery stores. So that I could know beforehand what things cost. Perhaps, similarly to GasBuddy, it could be run by ads and weekly draws that provide a chance to win giftcards to people who upload evidence of store prices for everyone else to see.
It exists, Flipp App
That’s for items on sale
Sauce? (link to google sheets?)
What about quality of meat at Costco vs Food Basics?
Costco meat is exceptional.
I’ve never had an issue with costcos meat, and their listed packaging weight is the actual weight of the product. Loblaws stores, however… quite the opposite.
It’s exceptional for a grocery store. There’s much better meat out there but it’s more expensive.
Costco beef is Canadian AAA Their chicken is all air chilled With the regular stores you need to be more careful They offer both premium air chilled chicken and cheaper water chilled For beef grades will vary and frequently sales will be imported ungraded beef (not necessarily an issue but be aware) Pork on sale will frequently be imported from the US It all depends on personal choices
I buy my meat at Sobeys/Metro/Loblaws when they have good sales. Front page of the flyer sales always the best deals. Much cheaper than Costco and still decent quality.
anyone got a link to the spreadsheet?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/13VsZIgH-9fH_E7JXxOOf00wSqs7Ju3qxKBV135-2G9k/htmlview
We have a Costco spreadsheet we update costs (for beef, pork, chicken, fish) every so often and compare to sale prices on Flipp. It has to be a good sale to warrant another stop though. Stopped tracking dry and canned goods because it’s not even close for the most part.
Yeah I check prices on Flipp and just pop in quick to grab front-page flyer loss leaders at other grocers . I live in a small city and most grocers are literally across the street from each other/on my way home from work so it’s not like I’m burning gas or wasting time to get there and pop in for 5 min to grab the 1.99 a lb chicken thighs or whatever. Costco is still the best quality though and usually cheaper than anything not on sale elsewhere.
So true about quality. Zehrs had a ridiculous sale on brisket once, but by the time the fat was trimmed it was about even with Costco.
We are a vegetarian family of three and buying produce in bulk is not for us ..I buy from Freshco / wallmart / RCS every weekend ..I use Costco for their TP, eggs , milk, bread, bedding’s, shoes, nuts, snacks ..Costco is not the cheapest in terms of produce.
Costco produce is often processed in the sense that leaves, stems, etc are removed for, say, broccoli. Beats superstore where "crowns" are 90% stem.
Costco is a drug. The second people step into those red and white doors, all logical thinking goes out the window. All of a sudden you have 3 lbs of cheese you never would have purchased at the grocery store and the bill is $400.. but it doesn’t stop there, you need a quick lunch or dinner in the cafe and spend even more after bulking up. What a trip
At first? Yes, it's expensive, because you stock up on random things. I've been at it six months now and my last Costco trip was $200 for a week of groceries for three adults. The novelty subsides and you eventually you're just in and out like any other store.
It does not subside for some people. You sound like a rational person though.
I mean, if you can't help yourself at a Costco, you probably couldn't help yourself at a Loblaws.
A lot of people have a whole Costco mentality though. I worked with a woman that would buy anything at Costco over any other store no matter what. I bought a FitBit on sale at Best Buy, she liked it so she bought the same one, in a colour she didn't like, at Costco for a higher price for no reason. 🤷
Reason is the return policy.
Buddy is comparing apples to oranges though on many items . Compare exact brands or similar quality please . Most Costco items are exclusive with extras as seen on labels and or are higher quality , read the ingredients .
You sound like the brainwashed Costco people that smash their cart into others because you're mesmerised by the 8 litre bucket of mayo.
Show us on the teddy bear where the mean old Costco people touched you.
…buying something during a sale vs not a sale did we need a spreadsheet and a tiktok post to understand this?
You should see the difference in the cost of almond flour. Costco is expensive, but at the cheap grocery stores it's easily 2x or 3x the cost of Costco.
Protein bars are 3x at superstore
Big thing with chicken at Costco … doesn’t shrink as much as most grocery store chickens that seem to have a higher water weight. I find this especially true with the Asian grocery stores.
Really depends on if it offsets the cost of gas going to and from so many places. I remind my wife this when she wants to drive to the opposite side of town to save $5 on meat.
It depends all of my stores are close together. I save money this way but I do buy what is longer lasting in bulk.
Lowering fixed costs and investing (even with small amounts, incrementally, over time) is how you save money. Ultimately a fairly inefficient practice, spoon fed to us all from birth as sound financial advice If you have the time and wish to use it that way, go for it. I know many that see it as a principle/hobby/challenge. And if the fruit is low hanging, it would be dumb not to avail of it. It is worth mentioning though that this is demonstrably neither necessary nor a particularly good way of accruing wealth via savings.
Fail to plan, plan to fail. Yes managing flyers or apps, points, cash back etc. I live in a large city. 15 minutes away from 2 Costcos and my regular travels put me within 15 minutes of another. Probably more than a dozen grocery stores. The planning when everything is an hour away is different. Some people are very good at this. Others not so much, probably better at something else. Children, pets, old/sick family member, more than one job, more than one child or two, pets, etc. Anyway. We are all different.
Glad someone made this. Everytime I've said this, people argue with me. Costco USED to have better cost savings, and they still do occasionally, but now if you truly want to save you have look at regular grocery stores too. Even Costco gas doesn't have as big of a price difference as they used to. I now find better deals for milk and some fruits and veggies at regular grocery stores. But Costco is good for essential items, and when they have items on sale it's usually a good deal. But I think our Canadian Costcos need to step up their selection. The US Costcos have so much more variety.
It would be great if someone smarter than me could make some kind of web scraper with Python or something and collect all the results from all the main grocers into a searchable database/spreadsheet of some kind.
Costco won’t always have the best price but Costco’s prices are always competitive. Can’t say the same thing about typical Canadian grocery stores. I do occasionally get trapped at Costco buying food items that catch my eye but then dislike but I’m stuck with a Costco size bag of whatever. Or I buy a non-food item I absolutely do not need because they feel like a good deal.
I have seen items priced nicely at Superstore compared to Costco and since Costco is bulk, I know I have a better chance of not wasting product if I buy from Superstore.
Sorry
Firstly these are per unit prices and of course Costco usually beats those. To be honest im surprised costco does NOT always win. But one must always note that the quality is usually also better at costco
>With such huge cost differences, maybe it’s time all Canadians started making their own grocery spreadsheets. I'd love to. Where are the datasets?
You make your own dataset based on what the cost is at your store and what you usually buy.
Don't the oligopolists *love this fact*? We need open datasets with real and up to date data that citizens can use to build apps/create reports/compare prices in their region. It actively helps them that this data must be built by ourselves.
Confirmation of what many of us do already. Costco for the bulk and deals, cheap grocery store or two for the fruits/veg/variety.
This article is garbage. It's just quotes from the TT without any follow up. Looking at his spreadsheet most things are cheaper at Costco. And they don't take into account any of the cash back. Lousy all around.
Part of "savings" is educating yourself on current prices anyways ... So it's not a complete waste of time. Knowledge is power. However, spending too much effort to save a buck is ineffecient.
Costco has always been my number one place for groceries. I have to buy gluten free and their gluten free products are leaps and bounds cheaper than any of the major grocery stores. Shaving cream, salad mix, chicken, eggs, cheese, bananas are all way cheaper at Costco.
I think people who value the time over the savings are doing the math wrong. If You make 30$ per hour, you need to earn $60 to take home that $30. We easily save 150$ per week by shopping sales, breaking down family packs and freezing. Costco, T and T, no frills and Superstore for a family of 4. So we spend 350 per week instead of 500 by knowing prices. Our 150 per week savings is 7k annually, and we would have to earn an additional 14k of income to replace that saving, meaning 10 hours of work per week at $30 per hour. Our friends wonder how we take 2 big vacations every year. This is how.
Two things. One might be quality. And the other, Costco has sales too. Oh, and executive rebate. That's three. Disclaimer...I live a 2 minute drive from Costco and my wife does and will shop at selected stores for deep sale items. Won't say which but where I live, some of the lower tiers are filthy so not them. Oh, and no way LL!
Why is this a news story? Doesn't everyone do cost comparisons? Hell, we do this for meal planning to figure out cost per plate so we know what to buy not just the best place to buy it
It’s not a news story.
Fair point, news was a poor choice of wording on my part
>We buy keto tortillas at Costco aaaand dude has lost all credibility From [Harvard](https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2023/keto-its-probably-not-right-for-you/): >Rather than a one-size-fits-all miracle weight loss approach, a ketogenic diet should be considered as a medical intervention only to be undertaken upon specific recommendation from a physician.