Grocery wars: We price compared the in-house brands at three supermarkets in Canada

If you’re looking for cheap grocery options, sometimes your best bet is buying a company’s in-house brand.

But which one of Canada’s popular in-house grocery banners offers the best deal?

We decided to do our own experiment and compared the prices of nine basic food items from the in-house brands of three popular grocery stores: Great Value (Walmart), No Name (Loblaw), and Compliments (Sobeys).

For this haul, we compared the regular prices for items only.

Here’s a breakdown of our haul.

Whole wheat bread

Great Value (Walmart): $1.97 for 675 grams/$0.29/100g

No Name (Loblaw): $1.97 for 520 grams/$0.38/100g

Compliments (Sobeys): $3.49 for 675 grams/$0.44/100g

Winner: Tie between Walmart and Loblaw.

A dozen large white eggs

Great Value (Walmart): $3.87

No Name (Loblaw): $3.93

Compliments (Sobeys): $4.09

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value brand.

Bacon

Note: The stores didn’t carry the same cuts of bacon.

Great Value (Walmart): $4.87 for a 375-gram package of thick sliced bacon/$1.30/100g

No Name (Loblaw): $5.99 for a 500-gram package of mild sugar-cured bacon/$1.20/100g

Compliments (Sobeys): $6.99 for a 375-gram package of naturally smoked bacon/$1.86/100g

Winner: Loblaw’s No Name brand.

Regular potato chips

Great Value (Walmart): $1.37 for a 200-gram bag/$0.69/100g

No Name (Loblaw): $1.49 for a 200-gram bag/$0.75/100g

Compliments (Sobeys): $3.49 for a 200-gram bag/$1.75/100g

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value brand.

Pasta sauce

Great Value (Walmart): $1.77 for a 680 ml can/$0.26/100g

No Name (Loblaw): There was no No Name pasta sauce listed on the website.

Compliments (Sobeys): $4.99 for a 650 ml jar/$0.77/100 ml

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value band.

Shredded cheddar cheese

Great Value (Walmart): $5.67 for a 320g bag/$1.77/100g 

No Name (Loblaw): $5.99 for a 320g bag/$1.87/100g 

Compliments (Sobeys): $8.29 for a 320g bag ($2.59/100g) of shredded cheddar pizza mozzarella as plain cheddar was not available.

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value band.

Croutons

Great Value (Walmart): $2.47 for a 142g bag/$1.74/100g

No Name (Loblaw): $2.79 for a 145g bag/$1.93/100g

Compliments (Sobeys): $3.19 for a 145g bag/$2.20/100g

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value brand.

Smooth peanut butter

Great Value (Walmart): $4.27 for a 1kg jar

No Name (Loblaw): $4.79 for a 1kg jar

Compliments (Sobeys): $5.29 for a 1kg jar

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value brand.

Black beans

Great Value (Walmart): $1.47 for a 540ml can

No Name (Loblaw): $1.49 for a 540ml can

Compliments (Sobeys): $1.69 for a 540 ml can

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value brand.

Mac and cheese

Great Value (Walmart): $0.97 for a 200g box/$0.49/100g

No Name (Loblaw): $0.99 for a 200g box/$0.50/100g

Compliments (Sobeys): There was no Compliments mac and cheese listed on the website.

Winner: Walmart’s Great Value brand.

For this grocery haul, Walmart’s Great Value brand came out as the clear winner for cheaper prices, while Sobeys’ Compliments brand was on the pricier side.

What other Canadian grocery comparisons would you like to see? Let us know by emailing us at [email protected].