Where do you grocery shop?

[SeoulFire]

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

Walmart is better than you'd expect for produce.

We generally get produce at the farmer's market, but that can get expensive as well (thank god for the vendor's discount).

I was pleasantly surprised with Walmart and their grocery selection/price. From where I live there is a Walmart, Superstore, Safeway, Sobeys and Co-op all about the same distance.

Costco about once a month for bulk goods.

[Super-Rye]

Walmart has pretty cheap produce, Costco is great for bulk, Superstore is good for some bulk items too. Sobeys is expensive but they usually have some really good deals going on every weekend.

[goaliegirl]

I shop at No Frills in Okotoks, I think there is one in Calgary too but not sure where it is. We usually spend about $175/wk for a family of 5, which is very cheap considering I have 2 boys who eat a ton and a husband who works a labour intensive job and also eats a lot. The only downside there is outside of food there is little else, they don't have clothes, toys etc like Superstore and Walmart do.

[Sliver]

$175/week is cheap. I spend that every few days for a family of four and my kids are only 3 and 5. I can be pretty frugal, but in the grocery store I don't care at all for some reason...I just spend whatever they charge for me to get whatever I want.

[Regular_John]

Me and my wife do Co-op 90% of the time.
Safeway for quick run/ready made stuff as it's closer to our house.
Superstore about once every 3-4 months to stock up on bulk pop/drinks/cereal, but I can't stand the dirty stores, rude staff and cattle rush of the customers.

[squiggs96]

When I was poor and in university I would buy most items at SuperStore as they were cheaper, but I would still spend the extra money on produce, meat, seafood and dairy products at Safeway.

Now that I am out of university I buy almost everything at Safeway. I'd probably save $10-15 a week by splitting it up like I used to, but the closest SuperStore is another 20 minutes away and the Safeway is very close to my house. I'd rather save the time and hassel by only making one trip even if SuperStore was closer.

Sometimes I go to a butcher and/or to buy meat or duck if I'm in the mood. The quality is better but, once again, they are further than I'm usually willing to drive.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Tuesday was 10% off day (first Tuesday of the month).

Oh yeah, that day is the WORST time to ever go to Safeway. Though I think it's also double air miles if you are into that thing.

[hotchocolate]

Originally Posted by Yasa

Woah, you're a whole building?!

Costco is good for bulk (obviously) and meat. I've heard rumors that Okotoks is the best. I personally shop at Superstore because it's cheap and close to my place, however I don't usually buy beef there. Except short ribs. Safeway can be expensive, but I think people tend to believe they have good produce. I can't say either way.

If you like weird food and produce, I give Superstore another point.

Sorry I'm bodybuilding lol

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

safeway normally

drive down to Trader Joe's/Costco in the US once a month as well to stock up

Do you go to the original Costco? Kirkland Washington, isn't it?

[mykalberta]

I use a combo of Costco/Walmart SC with occasional Superstore but I just hate the lineups at Superstore.

Costco has great weekly deals and some of the things there are just damn tasty.
Walmart has surprisingly awesome produce and fruits compared to a place like Superstore and they are almost always competitively priced on dry goods.

The only thing I really like at superstore are these frozen cheesecake deserts covered in chocolate - so addicting.

I

[hotchocolate]

Thanks for your all your feedback.

Chemgear your link helps me a lot, thanks!!!

[Muta]

I've been to many places, and really there isn't a more expensive place than Calgary when it comes to food. Hell, I've found that dining meccas like New York, San Francisco and Vancouver are cheaper than Calgary.

That said, the dumpster out back behind Community Foods is pretty good. Real organic stuff.

[THE SCUD]

Safeway - decent prices if you watch out for the ubiquitous yellow tags for club card savings + air miles + above average produce.

I will hit 'the coop' on occasion to visit the butcher there - the one in the West is amazing and the meat I've gotten there is head and shoulders above Safeway.

I also do the odd Costsco run on occasion for bulk runs, but with just the wife and I, there's not much food wise I get in bulk.

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by fotze

Costco about once a month for bulk good and some other crap I don't need that cancels out the savings and then some.

I am convinced your Jesus. When you're not being funny you're dropping nuggets of golden truth like this.

[Ozy_Flame]

I'm going to throw in a vote of confidence for T&T Supermarket, as I am partial to Asian grocery stores. This one usually has everything I want, things I can't find anywhere else (especially seafood), and import Japanese products. Not to mention you can get a pretty decent lunch at their warm delicatessen or sushi (even though it's take-out).

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I'm going to throw in a vote of confidence for T&T Supermarket, as I am partial to Asian grocery stores. This one usually has everything I want, things I can't find anywhere else (especially seafood), and import Japanese products. Not to mention you can get a pretty decent lunch at their warm delicatessen or sushi (even though it's take-out).

As a gui-lo (or however it's spelt) I always avoid these places because

• I feel like all the asians would look at me wierd for shopping in 'their' store
• Rightly or wrongly, I get the impression these stores are very unclean, which turns me off of buying food there

I've wanted to check these stores out, but how wrong are my ignorant observations? Or is there some truth to it?

[Misterpants]

We used to shop at the Marda Loop Safeway. Man, that place was heaven. It was like a weird time machine to the fifties where everyone who worked there was super nice and pleasant. The friendliest and most helpful staff of any grocery store. In the world. No hyperbole.

It was a sad day when we moved and had to go to a different safeway. I won't shop at Superstore because it gives me instant Hulk mode. Having some mouth-breathing teenager stand there and look at me with dead eyes while I scramble to pack my groceries is infuriating. How are they possibly saving money by doing it this way? Plus with no roller blader to potentially wipeout in front of me there is no point in going.

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

As a gui-lo (or however it's spelt) I always avoid these places because

• I feel like all the asians would look at me wierd for shopping in 'their' store
• Rightly or wrongly, I get the impression these stores are very unclean, which turns me off of buying food there

I've wanted to check these stores out, but how wrong are my ignorant observations? Or is there some truth to it?

Let them look, who cares? If I was worried about people looking at me all the time, I'd never wear my fabulous tube tops. All places need to be held up to a health code. I'm assuming if it was that dirty, something would have been done about it.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

As a gui-lo (or however it's spelt) I always avoid these places because

• I feel like all the asians would look at me wierd for shopping in 'their' store
• Rightly or wrongly, I get the impression these stores are very unclean, which turns me off of buying food there

I've wanted to check these stores out, but how wrong are my ignorant observations? Or is there some truth to it?

I too feel the same. They are very filthy though, and have a funny smell. Plus they have been known to pass off horse meat as beef.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by hotchocolate

Thanks for your all your feedback.

Chemgear your link helps me a lot, thanks!!!

Glad the link helped. Though to be fair, this is link is better - it has all the historical summaries (as well as the new July numbers.)

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome


And who actually eats horse meat? Everybody knows the gweilo like cat and dog meat. Look at how much they love ginger "beef"!