Grocery shopping in Ontario: a skyrocketing price thread

Regional Dining Discussions Ontario
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Everything looks great!

Have you grown Bintje potatoes? They’re not a fingerling. They’re a Dutch yellow-fleshed potato. I really like them.

We have been getting a late Aug blight almost every year for the past decade, so I only grew 3 full sized tomato tomato plants this year, in containers, 4 small tomatoes- 1 yellow cherry, 1 yellow pear shaped, 1 red cherry tomato and 1 other grape tomato in the ground. I have 3 other plants that I planted late, and aren’t flowering yet so who knows if they’ll produce by the first killing frost.

I’ve only harvested 4 full-sized tomatoes and maybe a dozen small tomatoes so far this summer!

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I have not, but don’tget me started! I will try to limit my food gardening chat to the food garden thread!

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Imported American fancy plums at my indie grocery store in London, Remark Market.I haven’t seen these varietals grown in Ontario.

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Current price of local ON lamb at Remark.

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Fresh halibut cost $37.99/lb today. It had been costing $29-$32/lb the last time I purchased halibut.

$3.19 for Carnation evaporated milk at Shoppers .It currently costs $2.79 at Sobeys, Metro, No Frills and Loblaws.

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At least the “Flavor Grenade” are actually “pluots”.

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Good to know! We didn’t even have pluots imported to Canada until the last 5 years or so!

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I was impressed with how clean and tidy the Source bulk store on Roncesvalles is. They even sell maple syrup, balsamic, black lentils, sesame oil in bulk. They Aldo’s elk empty jars and bottles… Very nice shop. I bought some sesame seeds, poppy seeds and freekeh.

https://www.thesourcebulkfoods.ca/

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@THECHARLES , have you been to the Spanish Pig?

Lots of Conservas.

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British stuff at Sunnyside Provisions

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Alimentari stocks 4 types of Rancho Gordo beans

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:joy:

They also sell

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Just finished doing a little bit of grocery shopping at Vaughan’s ’ YUMMY MARKET '.
In the past, ( actually not too long ago, maybe about a year or so? ) I liked to splurge on a bit of ’ Wild Coho Salmon Caviar ’ ( Ikura ) once in a while. At $12.99 per 100gr, for an occasional lavish snack, they were borderline affordable/tolerable.
Today, out of curiosity, I dropped by the fish counter to take a browse…WOW!!! They are now selling for $26.99 per 100 gr!! Now, that’s inflation for you!!

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I’m impressed Cory Vitiello of Harbord Room, Flock , Megan Markle and Martina Sorbara fame, shops at the Source bulk food store on Roncy, Sunnyside Provisions on Roncy and Fiesta Farms on Christie, just like a Hungry Onion would do. :joy: https://torontolife.com/food/cory-vitiello-head-culinary-development-chase-hospitality/

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I’m sure he prettied up the place for the photoshoot, but that doesn’t look like a kitchen of someone who cooks at home a lot. :thinking: Just bending over to all those drawers would drive me crazy.

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If you were married to a Cancon rockstar who also happens to be the daughter of Greg Sorbara, I’m guessing you probably wouldn’t be cooking at home too much.:joy:

I’m intrigued by the bowl lifestyle.

I am amazed that they choose Sukhothai as their staple, over of the other Thai joints in town. :joy:

I want to see Harry and Meghan’s kitchen now.

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https://torontolife.com/food/inside-kitchen-diaries-david-schwatrz-sunnys-chinese/

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Apparently Longos is selling turkeys for $120.

Not really food related but, remember when McEwens was price gouging Torontonians for hand sanitizer?

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Those wouldn’t be regular turkeys.

Heritage turkeys also cost an arm and a leg.

The $119 Longo’s turkeys look already roasted and cooked. I’m sure Longo’s also is selling regular butterballs and other uncooked turkeys for less.

https://reddit.com/r/toronto/s/YlX5EyAzGM

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That said, expect turkey to cost more this season because the avian flu has wiped out domestic farmed turkeys and farmed chickens across North America. It isn’t just inflation and greedy grocer barons a t play.

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Restaurant related instead of Grocery related!

INTERESTING FACTOID

Came across this interesting factoid. I’ll put forward my findings and then let you determine if sometimes, doing some price comparison prior to dishing out our well-earned money in purchases is indeed a wise strategy,

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especially in cases where greedy restaurants would like to take advantage of consumers’ ignorance?

The iconic and tasty Cantonese traditional dish - ‘ GrandFather, 5 Taste Components, Braised Duck ‘ is appearing in more and more Cantonese restaurant menus. Quality and taste profile, derived from near identical age-old recipes, can be found to be quite similar.

For half a duck, here are some examples of the price ranges restaurants are charging:

  • Wei’s Kitchen, Markham……$21.99
  • Chi-Star House, Richmond Hill…….$28.00
  • Kingsfield, Richmond Hill………$28.88
  • Star-Chiva Cuisine, Richmond Hill……… $33!!
    …and I can attest, their quantity, quality and taste are all pretty similar!!
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I’ve been finding it interesting to compare prices of Steak Frites, Butter Chicken, General Tso chicken, Bennies, etc around town lately! It can vary a lot!

Most steak frites around Little Italy , Dundas W, Roncesvalles and Ossington seem to be $40-$45.

Also, $15 bucks right now can get you very average sandwich or a excellent one. Both the posh places and the middle level places are charging $15 for a sandwich. The Croque Monsieur at Bicyclette Food, a little wine bar on Harbord, was a much better $15 sandwich than my Ranalli’s hot Italian Beef in Kensington Market.

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BTW, this is NOTHING when comparing the $4.99 Shoppers Drug Mart is charging for a tube of Pringles Chips, with the likes of Walmart and Freshcos, who are selling them for only $2.19 -$2.49!!.. that’s not price gouging, more like daylight robbery!!

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It really varies at Shoppers. We buy the 12 pack of mini Pringles, which varies from $5.99 at Walmart (I generally boycott Walmart, I went in only for the Pringles a month ago) to $6.49 - $7.29 at Metro, Sobeys, Superstore and Loblaws. Most recently $6.99 at Loblaws on Monday. :joy:

I bought my Dawn dish detergent at Shoppers today, $3 off each bottle.

I’m a huge fan of Rexall, especially right after Xmas! Big markdowns!

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I am learning quickly to keep my eye on the price of groceries these days. When I get my CSA during the summer months I love making Greek salads for lunch. The feta cheese I like is $5.49 at the Italian grocery store I go to. But the exact same brand and size is in the $8 range at Farm Boy and the $11 range at Loblaws. Same thing with the blue cheese and the goat cheese I buy - they are much cheaper at the Italian grocer than the chain places. The only thing I’m not too happy about is that the Italian grocer isn’t keeping the prices on their website up-to-date and Farm Boy isn’t listing the price of their groceries on their website anymore. I like to look up prices when I’m grocery shopping so I know where the best deals are.

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I shop at FarmBoy once or twice a week, and the prices for the same goods vary a lot week to week.

I have several staples I buy, and I have a mind for remembering prices everywhere.

Our LdnOnt FarmBoy has pineapples that alternate between $3.99 and $4.99, probably due to shipments. They were $3.99 yesterday. They’re usually $5.99 to $6.99 at Loblaws or Sobeys.

The mushrooms are often on sale.

Some cut of chicken, beef and pork is often on sale, often whole chickens will be reduced to $2.99/ lb.

The Quick Sale produce section at the Farm Boys in London on Fanshawe Park Rd (North London) and Beaverbrook (West London) often have near perfect produce for next to nothing. London is saturated with grocery stores.FarmBoy is perceived as posh, and the 2 stores I visit are often empty. No Frills is perceived as a bargain, even though its produce is highly mediocre. No Frills is always crowded. Costco is always crowded. I hate crowds so that was one more reason I became a FarmBoy FanGirl. I visit Sobeys at 9 pm on Friday nights when it’s nice and empty.

The Bakery section at FarmBoy also has a quick sale shelf, with items marked at additional 30 percent off.

I am sure the Farm Boy quick sale items would be more picked over in Toronto, and maybe also in Ottawa.

I think Farm Boy doesn’t publish all their deals because the deals fluctuate depending on how quickly they have to sell their goods.

I keep track of current prices and deals in my head. While I don’t tend to go to any one store for one advertised deal, I won’t buy some items when I remember seeing them cheaper elsewhere, and I stock up when I see something I like at a good price.

I like shopping at my favourite local Italian grocery store in Toronto, Fiesta Farms. The prices are the same as Farm Boy, Metro, Loblaws or Sobeys. The produce, imports and meats at Fiesta Farms are better! Also, better panettone selection.

I haven’t noticed cheese being cheaper at the Italian or Greek markets in Toronto. I splurge on the good feta at Serano Bakery in Toronto when I travel to East York!