We compared food prices at Loblaws to other stores — here's how much you can save
With soaring food prices, you’re probably looking for ways to save as much as you can on your weekly groceries.
But if Loblaws is your go-to supermarket, you might be having a hard time doing that.
In recent weeks, the grocery giant has been slammed for its exorbitant prices, including a pack of just five pieces of chicken breast for almost $40, and ending its prize freeze on all No Name products.
This week, Canadians’ outrage against the company was renewed after Loblaw Companies Limited president Galen Weston Jr. defended high food prices during a parliamentary hearing.
So much so that many decided to compare prices at Loblaws to other grocery stores within the Loblaw brand.
Loblaws is grinding on my last nerve, so I thought I’d do some comparison shopping online. Here’s an egregious example of price gouging. Two products exactly the same – left is Loblaw. Right is No Frills – literally one main street away from each other. @TheJagmeetSingh pic.twitter.com/LTmd12rqvg
— Tapestry – Trying to Make Sense of the Insanity (@Tapestry236) December 6, 2022
Why is nobody asking Galen Weston why Shoppers can charge $10 for a product which is $6 at Loblaws and $2 at No Frills?! #ndp #loblaws #canpoli
— gills (@llamaqueen24) March 8, 2023
So, we decided to do our own investigation, comparing prices to see how much more Loblaws’ products cost compared to other grocery stores. Here’s what we found.
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is a staple in many households (gotta have those PB&Js), so let’s compare the price of a jar in different stores.
We can see below that the most expensive jar of Kraft’s Only Peanuts All Natural Smooth peanut butter is at Loblaws ($8.99), and the cheapest can be found at fellow Loblaw-owned store, No Frills ($6.29).
That’s savings of almost $3, which can make a huge difference on your grocery bill.
Chicken breast
After all of the outrage, we had to compare the price of chicken breasts, of course. For this product, we compared different brands of four-pack chicken breasts from different stores.
As you can see below, Real Canadian Superstore (which is also owned by Loblaw) had the priciest chicken at $25. No Frills came second place, although they do sell a five-piece pack of chicken breasts for about $17.
Loblaws was surprisingly at the bottom of the list alongside IGA, with $16 and $11 packs of chicken. It must be noted, however, that the IGA chicken was on sale at the time of publishing.
That’s about a $9 to $13 difference from Real Canadian Superstore’s price.
Bread
Another staple in most pantries, we compared the price of good ol’ Wonder Bread across different stores.
Non-Loblaw-owned store Metro ended up taking the cake for the priciest loaf of Wonder Bread ($4.39) and No Frills is the cheapest ($2.99).
You can save just over $1 if you opt to shop at No Frills.
Strawberries
Rounding out this grocery trip with some fruits, we compared the price of a pound of strawberries across grocery stores.
Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore topped the list for priciest strawberries by the pound at $5.99. IGA was the cheapest with their strawberries on sale for $2.22.
That’s a difference of almost $4.
Findings
Overall, we can see with this small sample size of products that you can find big savings if you shop at stores other than Loblaws.
However, it also shows that high prices are not unique to Loblaws and its sister stores like No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore, or competitors like Metro.
That’s why Galen Weston Jr. wasn’t the only grocery chain CEO in the hot seat during Wednesday’s parliamentary hearing.
Unfortunately, we were unable to compare other discount supermarkets like FreshCo or Food Basics, as they don’t show prices online.
Either way, it still pays to do a quick search of prices to help you save every penny during times of food inflation.
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