About a year ago, I started to crack down on our grocery shopping budget. It wasn’t that we were spending out of control or anything like that, but I remembered my mom being very price-savvy when I was a child, and I felt like I should probably develop the same skill. I’d go to the grocery store and I’d buy what we needed but I never had any idea if I was getting a good price. I didn’t really know when certain fruits and vegetables were in season, I’d just buy our favourite things all year long, and sometimes the grapes were 99 cents a pound and sometimes they were $3 a pound, and who knew what was good and what wasn’t?

So I took it upon myself to start comparing the weekly flyers, and visiting different grocery stores, to try to get a feel for price points for key items. I was shocked, shocked, to discover that our local grocery store — a Loblaws — was one of the most expensive chains in the city. When the Superstore opened, people flocked to shop there from miles around. At first I didn’t see the point — it was so big! Annoying in its bigness! — but now I understand that of the big chains, the Superstore has lower prices than most. It’s usually only beat out by the Food Basics, or sometimes the Price Chopper, both of which are really far away from us and don’t carry my beloved President’s Choice products.

So as an overall cost-saving move, I chose the Superstore as our primary grocery store of choice. And all was well.

Except for one little thing. There’s only one brand of bread that the Captain can eat (because all other brands are may contain for eggs), and that’s Dempsters. The Superstore doesn’t carry Dempsters brand bread. So in addition to hitting the Superstore every Sunday morning, we also had to go to either the WalMart (best price, but far and busy) or the Loeb (closer and quieter, but more expensive) for bread. Usually the Loeb wins out, actually, because they are also the only store to carry Lick’s brand veggie burgers and Guk sauce, which I could live on if you asked me very nicely and offered me chips on the side. The Loeb also has a kick-ass alternative foods section where we can get frozen waffles for the Captain that do not contain eggs, milk, or wheat. Can you believe such a product could possibly exist? And that it is tasty, crispy, and really and truly tastes just like a waffle? I tell you, we are living in grand times.

A few weeks ago we decided that we were unhappy with the quality and selection of produce at the Superstore, so we committed to going to the Farm Boy every Sunday to get our fruits and veggies. The Farm Boy also offers a fabulous selection of cheeses, the best tortilla chips ever (warning: do NOT check the label for fat content), and some not-bad pre-made sushi.

And now we’re having a problem with the Superstore for meat, too. Their weekend selection is terrible — they are usually out of basics, like chicken breasts and ground turkey, two minutes after opening on Saturday morning and they don’t seem to restock all weekend long. Plus, the Captain has lost interest in meat lately, and since it is his only source of protein, we’re desperate for exciting new meat selections. So I’ve decided to add the M&M to our grocery shopping day for a while, so we can try out some new products.

So that means that, on Sundays, we are going to the Superstore…and the Loeb…and the Farm Boy…and the M&M. It’s become an all-day grocery shopping marathon. Not to mention all the worth-its-weight-in-gold gas that we’re using. Thank goodness we use those reusable produce bags as a carbon offset.

Do other families do this? Do they store hop for food? Or do they just pull up to the Sobey’s at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday and fill ‘er up?

On one hand, I like the fact that we are trying to get the best possible food for our family. But it really does seem a little too hunter-gatherer for me. Is it too much to ask that one store actually provide a nice selection of all foods, at reasonable prices?

Apparently so.