The Real Shopping Cart 15/8/24

this week's cart

Image description: close up of two freshly washed zucchinis in a bowl with a sweet potato and a green onion. another empty bowl in the background, beside a cutting board, a bottle of low-sodium Kikoman Soy Sauce, a red toaster and a knife holder, a pair of scissors in the holder.

Week’s highlight recipe: bacon and vegetable curry fritters with a spinach salad with apples and feta cheese. This cost us $10.61for two.

Refer to last week’s post for the background.

Stores being considered this week were Metro, Walmart, Voila and Adonis for delivery; Massine’s, Isabella Loblaws, Kowloon and Farm Boy, which are within walking distance; and Real Canadian Superstore and Food Basics, accessible to us by public transit.

If we could get the cheapest price at all the stores, the total amount would be $77.96.

By combining delivery from Walmart and a few strolls to local stores, he has obtained a price of $82.07 for this week’s shopping list, only five percent higher than the cheapest price if we could shop all the stores.

Before Charles’ lay-off, like many people, we typically shopped at only one store for all our groceries, using a delivery service. It used to be that the difference between stores was negligible, a few dollars here and there, but as the table below shows, the difference can be substantial.

By shopping at only one of these stores, you can pay from twenty-eight percent to a whopping forty-eight percent higher, or in our case, with the groceries that we need, an additional $37.32. This week Walmart can not be included in the table because the store was unable to supply all the groceries we were looking for. We ended up using it for delivery to get the next best price.

Thanks to friends who mentioned The Good Food Box, “Our mission is to make fruits and vegetables more accessible and affordable for Ottawa community members facing barriers to accessing fresh food. We believe that everyone has the right to fresh, healthy food and that food security is possible through local unity. We provide safe, reliable and convenient ways to access fresh and nutritious food, right in your community.”

Thanks to all who commented last week. Please feel free to comment with savings ideas. Even if they aren’t relevant to my situation, they might be relevant for someone who’s reading. Bear in mind that food is an individualized thing and we all have different dietary needs and economic challenges to deal with.

Thank you to those who have supported my efforts via a paid or free subscription or by buying me a coffee.