Grocery Shopping

We plan our menus every week.  I wrote about that here.

I thought I would tell you about our grocery shopping habits.  I love seeing what other people have in their carts and what they are buying.  I look to see if they're making better food choices than I am, or if they are just eating junk (and then I judge them, haha, kidding...not kidding).

On Saturday or Sunday mornings, I will put together our meal plan and then make a grocery list.  I used to leave my paper list at home all the time, so I downloaded a shopping list app and use it now. There are lots of apps out there but I use My Shopi.

I typically buy our dry goods, frozen foods, and dairy at Loblaws or No Frills. We used to shop at Sobeys and Metro in our old neighbourhood, but I prefer the President's Choice products.  We can walk to the No Frills, however if I'm buying a lot, or even just milk I will take the car (4 litres in the bags are heavy!). 

We buy our produce at Carload in Bloor West Village.  There are several fruit and vegetable stands in our neighbourhood but this is the best one.  They have really nice stuff and we can get everything from okra to fresh herbs to flowers.  Everything is always so fresh and well organized, nothing in the regular grocery stores can compare. 

There are also several bakeries on our street but we started going to Hot Oven Bakery and we are loyal customers.  Besides regular whole wheat or multigrain bread, we like to get cheese bagels, the chocolate orange bread, hamburger and sausage buns, and of course the odd tart or brownie.

We don't mind paying a little more for some things like our meat.  We go to the Bloor Meat Market for that.  It is more expensive than the grocery store, but like the produce, the quality cannot compare.  They have everything and they will also cut whatever you need.  

Other places we like to go are Anna's Bakery for pastries and pirogies, Max's Market for meat pies, Kingsway Deli for smoked meat and cheese, and Bread and Roses for cinnamon buns.  We usually get our coffee beans at Coffee Tree, and of course we love Bake Sale for cupcakes. 

We are so lucky that we live so close to these great stores.  It was a big factor in choosing our home and we make use of it whenever we can.  Although we try to do all of our shopping one go, it is easy for Dave to walk up the street during the day to get a few things throughout the week, a benefit of working from home.  We often see some of our neighbours while are out which is another great aspect of our location.