5/15/2011

My Pricebook: Edmonton Grocery Prices Comparison- May 15, 2011

It's been a busy past few weeks at work and on the markets but I did manage to finish this month's Edmonton grocery price comparison... and surprise surprise this month..for the first time since I started this monthly comparison in February, Superstore has claimed the title for the cheapest grocery cart this month. What was more surprising this month is our cart for both Costco and Superstore cost LESS than it did last month! Hurray!

Our grocery cart at Costco cost $256.28 this month compared to last month's $258.73; $2.45 cheaper than a month ago..doesn't seem like much but it is still 1% drop. Superstore's cart cost $248.85 as compared to last month's $263.12; a $14.29 differential or 5.5% drop!! WOW!!!

But before we get carried away with thinking food prices are finally dropping, we must take into account seasonal spring savings that occur every year of some products such as beef and pork. So, Superstore as well as other grocery chains are able to put on some great sales like they do every spring. Sobey's and Safeway's meat prices were comparable this month also with the great sales they had in the last few weeks. Keep in mind Superstore's prices may include items which have a limit of one or two ie. eggs (limit of one for that price of $2.24) and on the other side of the coin, at Costco one must buy 5 dozen eggs to get the price of $2.28 per dozen.

Seeing gasoline prices and oil prices soar in the last few weeks, one should be aware this will eventually affect food prices in the near future. And seeing, those items that did increase this month are those items that need to be boxed or packaged items such as crackers and juice boxes. Seasonal type items were the ones that decreased in price such as strawberries and steaks.

Keep in mind these prices are for the given date and include all current sales, coupons, and membership pricing programs. All items were priced at Sherwood Park near Baseline road locations and pricing may vary between chain-store locations. I've left last month's prices on the chart below for comparison. Items in green have increased in price from the previous month and items in red decreased in price.

Food Prices Comparison May 15, 2011