raingirl August 7th, 2005, 07:14 PM Ok..I don't know how it is where you are, but we have regular large grovery stores, and they "cheap" versions of the same stores.
i.e. there is Fortinos/Loblaws, but their cheap version is No Frills (owned/run by same company..sells same PC brand products). There is also Sobeys and their cheap store, Price Chopper. Lastly there is A&P and their cheap store Food Basics.
I know I can get the same products at No Frills/Price Chopper/Food Basics as the big stores, but what I hate is that the produce/meats/bread are really bad quality at the cheap stores, and their stock is always low.
I really want to save money, but it sucks because their meat is always on the verge of expiry, their bread stale and almost moldy, and their veggies/fruits bruised and browning. Today they had chicken peices for $1 off, and I looked closely, and the best before date was 2 days ago! EWWWW. I went to buy some hot dog buns, but they were hard and expired tomorrow. 4L bottle of vinegar was $0.97 and Campbells Tomato and Mushrooms soups were $0.44 a can, so I wanted to get some, but they were sold out (sale only started yesterday!)
Does anyone else find this about their cheap stores? Great idea, but they always run out of sales items, and the products are inferior? They are also way busier here than the other stores, so you would figure stock would turn over faster?
Prin August 7th, 2005, 07:18 PM I do. I don't shop at IGA because they have so little meat and what they have looks weird. I pay more for fresher food. One day, I'll pay way more and get fresher, organic food, but that'll only be when I have a real salary... ;)
doggy lover August 7th, 2005, 07:21 PM I watch for sales, but yes I shop a food basic and sometimes I just bypass the meat it looks a little green around the gills sometimes. I love Dominion but it is way to pricie, with two teenagers eating me out of house and home.
Puppyluv August 7th, 2005, 07:33 PM I agree, I really only like the cheaper stores for packaged, non perishable foods. Right now I'm milking the markets though for the cheap fresh produce (One of my FAVE thigs about mtrl) :thumbs up
Luba August 7th, 2005, 07:50 PM Be careful with your meat esp red meat
Many stores presoak the meat in blood to give it the fresh red appearance even when it's close to being full of maggots LOL ;)
Prin August 7th, 2005, 07:55 PM Ewwwwww! There's hamburger that says "Fresh and Frozen parts"... What the hey does that mean?
Luba August 7th, 2005, 07:59 PM It means they've mixed up their 'odds and ends' to get rid of things and sell them! YUCK
raingirl August 7th, 2005, 08:06 PM EWwwww....that really doesn't want to make me buy ANY meat anymore!!
Luba August 7th, 2005, 09:17 PM Why I also eat organic :D
Prin August 7th, 2005, 09:20 PM It means they've mixed up their 'odds and ends' to get rid of things and sell them! YUCK
EWWWWW!! (this is like that episode of Friends where Monica gets peed on).
Writing4Fun August 7th, 2005, 09:22 PM Funny how the same stores are so different depending on region. I buy most of my meat from IGA. I swear, my IGA has the best meat I've ever seen. Even my mother, who is super-picky about her food, will rave about our meat. Mind you, they don't have much of anything else - not even Pampers! Our No-Frills isn't that bad. Sure, you have to get there on the first or second day of the sale, but they're pretty well-stocked, usually. And yes, I only buy non-perishables there. For everything in between, it's either Zehr's or Costco. Except for eggs - those I get from Farmer Bob. :D
raingirl August 7th, 2005, 09:24 PM We don't have IGA's in Brampton.
Prin August 7th, 2005, 09:25 PM They're owned by Loblaws now. Loblaws owns everything in Qc except Metro. :rolleyes: (I think)
StaceyB August 7th, 2005, 09:37 PM Never buy juicy meat, ham etc. I worked at a meat packing plant years ago. Do you know how many products are wiped down, re-packaged and sent back out to the stores. Lets just say you don't want to know. I have noticed these are the same ones that end up in the cheaper stores.
Prin August 7th, 2005, 09:41 PM Ewwwww!!!!!
Puppyluv August 7th, 2005, 09:49 PM They're owned by Loblaws now. Loblaws owns everything in Qc except Metro. :rolleyes: (I think)
yup.. except Metro owns Super C, Loeb, Marche Richelieu and Les 5 Saisons....
Ohhh I miss Safeway and Co-op
Prin August 7th, 2005, 09:52 PM Steinberg!!
CyberKitten August 7th, 2005, 11:22 PM I have refused to eat red meat ever since a cousin died of CJD. No way I even want to risk as a 1 in a million chance of dying from that - it is a horrible death!!! I try to eat only organic too - if possible. I like seafood and chicken - (tho I am sure there as antibiotics in chickens, sighhhhhhhhh!!)
I try to buy from someone I know who has two butcher shops - he knows where he gets his meat and the stuff is good. But on occasion, I have to go to the grocery store and I usually go to Superstore (like Loblaws - we have Price Chopper here too and I go there is it a good sale but not meat or produce!!!) They have some cute cat toys for $1, lol
pags August 7th, 2005, 11:34 PM Hrm.. I'm not familiar with the stores you guys have up there... BUT of course we have our cheapo discount super stores around as well.. And I would NEVER buy meat from any of them. EW. We buy our canned goods/dry goods etc from the cheapest possible source... and then we buy our meat in bulk from a local butcher. It's not all that difficult for me though as I'm not a big fan of meat anyway... So it's usually a tiny portion of lean red meat - lots of chicken.. and then down to the pier for some fresh shrimp or mullet. :)
Luba August 7th, 2005, 11:47 PM I'm like you CK with the organics and I really shun away from red meat as well.
I'm so very sorry to hear about your cousin. If this is too personal or sensitive pls forgive my asking..can you tell me how he / she was diagnosed? Was it before or after demise?
There is antibiotics in all chickens that are not organic that is for certain.
Schwinn August 8th, 2005, 01:54 PM I'm lucky. I just open up my freezer, and there it is.
Prin August 8th, 2005, 02:01 PM Sometimes I feel so sad for your wife, Schwinn. You should apply for "Wife Swap" so you appreciate her more. :evil:
CyberKitten August 8th, 2005, 03:48 PM Luba, it was diagnosed while she was still alive. She lived in Montreal - had actually purchased one of those condos at Habitat (from 1967 Expo) and at 50, was a high energy bank exec. She'd never been ill really in her life previsously and was one of those larger than life people. It was so devistating to watch someone like that have such a horrible illness. It was CJDvar too - which has a shorter course than the naturally occuring CJD.
The thing that bothers me is that I had not given that whole issue of CJD and mad cow much thought until then - thought it occured mainly in Britain. BUT since her death, I have heard ppl whispering in various hospitals abut CJD patients. And even in Quebec, they did not list her death officially as CJDvar but CJD. Grrr!! The only reason the Sask hospital had to make it public was because they had used their colonoscopy equipment on a patient with CJD and then used it in other patients. Since CJD is caused by prions that cannot be killed, they should have thrown it away!!
Not long ago, an administrator of a nursing home in NS said "you will think I am crazy but I have a case of CJDvar in my institution". I assured her I thought she was just fine. And then of course the ex coroner in Toronto thinks many of the Alzheimer's diagnoses are in reality CJD and there is an epedemic of that so he may have a point. He notes there are no cases of Alzheimer's in India where they do not eat beef. It's a good point I think!!
chico2 August 8th, 2005, 04:06 PM I usually buy all my meat at Costco,plus detergent,paper-products etc...for produce I go to Longos,but often Price-Choppers where at least here in Oakville,their produce section is great!
Longos usually is at least 50cents/lb more expensive than price-choppers.
I also have a Denninger,where I get all the extra goodies,now when we are sans kids :D
For kitty stuff,birdseeds and other pet-related things I go to my absolute favourite store "Rens Pet Depot"a family owned store.
Roxy's_MA August 8th, 2005, 04:06 PM I CJD and Mad Cow the same thing? :confused: :o
Prin August 8th, 2005, 04:13 PM Not really. They're parallel diseases that cause similar effects, but no matter how hard they try, they can't make the Mad Cow prions (a type of protein that alters conformation and then goes around the body altering proteins), to change into the CJD prions. To me, they're just diseases that evolved similar mechanisms. There is ZERO proof that mad cow causes CJD.
melanie August 8th, 2005, 05:25 PM watch out for cheap mince, a big scam has been revealed here where the are adding sulfates to old off mince, it turns the meat red from green and looks fresh, big fines here if your caught, so all the butchers are being hassled at the moment...
in australia all the cheap brands are made by the name braind companies, ie spc baked beans make home brand baked beans, they jsut use a different label, a friend of mine worked for the homebrand bread company, they would rebag to good brands and it was very fresh bread, straight form the company...
i always buy homebrand if i can, esp tin tomatos and such for cooking, and we have the cheap brand guarantees here, if you dont like it they give hyou twice the money back, i find that quite reassuring and find homebrand to be a wonderful product (at the local IGA if you buy their brand laundry powder your actaully buying reboxed radiant powder, my fav and lots cheaper....
i lvoe homebrand :D
Luba August 8th, 2005, 05:37 PM CK I'm completely on your side about it, I do believe many neurological conditions including Alz' are wrongly diagnosed. Many coroners do not want to perform post mortems because there is no way to 'kill' CJD..you can't sterilize your lab, its' still there. Britain polluted it's waterways with corpses, well water became contaminated as did landfill and the air. You can't kill it with incineration, heat does not kill this disease. It's very resiliant.
I stopped consuming beef myself for the most part, though my dad always makes me things he knows I used to love.Sometimes I eat them sometimes I just can't. I would rather not but also don't want to hurt his feelings.
There are horrors going on in our food chain that people just aren't aware of.
Those of you in North America may have heard of a radio program called Coast To Coast, Started and hosted by Art Bell (now semi retired) and now full time hosted by George Noory.
It's an American program that opens up controversy on ALL things important.
Some of you may be interested in looking at the site, finding your local station and tuning in. For those of you who fear easily at night, shy away from it depending on the topic, it can be very shocking.
www.coasttocoastam.com
You can listen on line as well
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/info/wheretolisten.html
If interested read some of these articles:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/search_results.html?query=mad+cow
raingirl August 8th, 2005, 06:25 PM On a good note, I complained to head office for Food Basics about the expired meat being sold and they are going to launch an investigation into it.
Luba August 8th, 2005, 07:06 PM You should file a complaint with public health not just the company.
Now they're gonna go fix the problem before health dept checks it out!
Just a little fyi :D
doggy lover August 9th, 2005, 09:07 AM A friend of mine did that last week at a No Frills here, then waited for them to come. They came and checked the meat, temps of the fridge units, freezers and so on.
AliSam August 9th, 2005, 11:52 AM I shop mostly at Price Chopper with the occasional stop at Loblaws. We buy our meat mostly from the local butcher.
Prin August 9th, 2005, 12:38 PM Anybody in Montreal go to Adonis on Cote-Vertu just west of l'Acadie? They have the most incredible meat and it's less expensive than the grocery stores. :)
wAggie August 10th, 2005, 06:17 PM raingirl and Luba are absolutely right.
complaints, investigations, Public Health is the way to go. :thumbs up
I used to shop at the Price Chopper by my old place, but now that I've moved it's Food Basics... it's "alright," if there'd be another grocery store around my place as competitor, I would be there in a split-second.
I LOOOVe big grocery stores where the selection is so much greater. My old PC didn't even sell sourkraut :eek:
anyways, not only is the meat iffy at the cheaper grocery stores, but also the shrunken fruits :yuck:
twinmommy August 10th, 2005, 08:33 PM Never been to the Adonis off L'acadie, but Looooooove their shish t'aouk (sp?)
It wonderful on the bbq,ALL breast meat, and about the same price as regular boneless chicken breasts. :thumbs up
Puppyluv August 10th, 2005, 09:49 PM mmmmm shish taouk.... Droooooool
right... sorry....
susieqt August 10th, 2005, 10:31 PM I don't have any problems with buying meat; I just don't buy any, I am a vegeterian! :)
Prin August 10th, 2005, 10:38 PM Vegan or vegetarian?
Derek & Jeter August 10th, 2005, 11:38 PM I can not find good apples in any supermarket. They're all shiny, hard and tasteless. GMO maybe? So I go to small family owned corner stores. They pick them up downtown at the Farmers Market.
I stopped buying meat in big stores too,because it's probably factory farmed.
Organic is just a label - I don't believe them. But, I might go to this place if i decide to buy meat- www.freshfromthefarm.ca. The only meat that still tempts me is chicken. I saw one killed at a family farm in the 60's. It was very humane and almost instant - no time for it to be fearful etc. and they had lots of space outdoors and in.
Fresh from the farm was written about in the Toronto Star. I read that their chickens are so big that people thought the roasters were roosters. On Factories Farms, they kill the chickens at a very young age, since there's no demand for large ones, hence many, many are killed and and not humanely.
Anyone know more about this? There's also an Organic meat store on Bloor at Bathurst -I think, but it's twice as expensive as the one I'm referring to. FreshFTF have preserves and huge homemae fruit (apple :D I hope) pies too. This is from an ad for them in their newsletter.
Fresh From The Farm
Providing you with Top-quality, Farm-fresh, Hormone-free and Drug-free Meats and other products from Amish and Mennonite Farmers Since 1996.
Location: 350 Donlands, just south of O'Connor.
Schedule: Open EVERY Thursday & Friday 2 - 8, and Saturday 9 - 4.
*Fresh meat every second week.*Eggs, cheese, organic bread, frozen meat, fish, juices, and spreads always available.
Phone: 416-422-FARM (3276)
Website: www.freshfromthefarm.ca
Email: info@freshfromthefarm.ca
nymph August 12th, 2005, 09:29 PM Get a deep freezer and buy bulk meats from Costco.
For vegetables, I usually go to Market Fresh or Farm Boy, never at Loblaws or Loeb, not only the vegetables and fruits are more fresh, they are also a lot cheaper. However I believe those are local stores, but there should be smaller local grocery stores in GTA as well.
In the old days, if you go through each week's flyers, and shop around, you could save a lot on groceries, but since our gas is at $1/L, this is no longer an option.
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