The TO Grocery Store Low-down

For those who are new to the area and/or feel they are paying too much for groceries, here's the situation from a cheap person's point on view.

AVOID: Dominion, it is your worst enemy and only ok if you are settling in for a night of drinking and fogotten to buy chips or perhaps you are heading out to a party and said you would bring desert and everything is closed.

AVOID: Rabba, yes it is convenient, but believe you me, you pay for that convenience. The fried chicken items do smell tasty though...

OK: Loblaws, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstore. I'm lumping these all together, yes the stores look pretty and you can buy fresh baked muffins and sushi sets, but prices are a bit steep compared to the discount genre. I was a bit mystified when I came to Ontario because real canadian is THE cheap place to go in AB. Not the case in Ontario. I should have known when they didn't make me pay $0.05/plastic bag and there were actually people bagging my groceries.

Good (by good, I mean cheap): No Frills. Ian and I (well I) shop at Rennie and Liz's No Frills. We used to shop at Joe's downtown, but they were on a subway line and beside walmart. In case you are mathmatically challenged, this means ALOT of people. Rennie's is a nice big store, not crowded and yes, very cheap, especially with some of their sales. Same deal for Mississauga stores. Generally clean/decent and CHEAP! Yeah! Also good, they carry the PC line of food which Ian and I are fans of.

Good: Food Basics and Price Chopper. Same deal as no frills, although IMHO not as nice and they don't sell PC items like the No Frill's do.

Anyway, that's the grocery store situation. My top pick is one of the larger, non-crowded no frills, but if you like nice and still not too steep, then go to the real canadian superstores.