I Bought The Same Items at 6 Groceries Stores in Montreal To Figure Out Which One is The Cheapest

I took $40 to each of the stores to see where I would get the most for the money for foods that I would actually eat and might be easy to cook since I do not enjoy making anything more complex than pasta. Would I get anything for that money?

Actually, I got a lot.

In the end, Super C was the cheapest. However, I found was that the bigger stores are very lucky that they have house brands and sales, otherwise a small independent store would have been the clear winner.

I went to six different grocery stores in Montreal with reputations for having low prices: Segal, Marché Lalumière Bonanza, PA, Walmart, Maxi, and Super C. I had heard that Segal and Bonanza were known for cheaper produce prices so I was curious how they would do with convenience items as well as pantry staples.

In all, I got 12 items for my haul and bought the same items at each store. When I didn’t find an exact match, I bought close alternatives based on item type and product weight.

The price range for each item at the different stores

I didn't ignore vegetables all together. I went for canned corn and fresh mushrooms because they are easy to carry and to maintain. I just didn't want to waste any of my precious $40 on something that would die in my fridge.

Getting the same gram weight for pita or finding the same brand of milk was hard. I tried to stick to 900g of pasta in single bag, the most basic 4L of bag milk, the same brand of orange juice, the same style of pizza, and the least designer flavour soups.

Know before you go about taxes, consignment fees and store bags

I didn't bring any bags with me, so I needed two small bags from each store. It turns out, that since I cannot eat the bags, I was charged tax on them. That was the only tax I paid.

I also had to pay a $0.10 consignment fee for the glass bottles of my pasta sauce. There was no consistency in when or if the cost was applied. Some stores included it in the subtotal and others after. You get that money back when you return the bottles to a store. Besides, there was not battle for first place within a $.10 difference.

#1 Super C: $38.38 before tax not including store bag

Super C was having a good day. It has a lot of variety and its specials on key products helped it come in first place. However, if not for the rebates, Super C would be pretty average.

It was tied for lowest price on 4L of 1% milk, coming in at $7.60. They also tied for the lowest price for a 1L box of juice at $1.59.

What blew my mind was that it was the cheapest for frozen pizzas. Ristorante Speciale pizza, the same one I tried to buy at every store, was only $3.47. Its regular price is $5.99. Like I said, it was a good day for Super C. The 900g of pasta was also on sale at $1.77 instead of the regular $2.49.

#2 Segal: $38.98 before tax and before store bags

I actually started at Segal because I heard that they had the best prices. A small store on St-Laurent Boulevard, the place was packed with name brands and niche vegan and alternate products. 

Segal had the cheapest price for Oasis orange juice at $4.99 for 1.5L, the best price on regular hot dogs at $3.99. They also had the lowest price on 227g of white mushrooms at $1.69. I was awestruck by the cheapest vegetables I have seen in a while. It was really tempting to give in buy fresh.

It came in the highest for 4L of 1% milk at $7.99. Of course, I learned that all milk is not the same. I didn’t choose anything premium, just the lowest 4L bag I could find. 

Surprisingly for such a small store, Segal was competitively priced on everything., Segal did not charge me the $0.10 consignment for the Classico sauce bottle. All the others did, some before and some after the subtotal.

#3 Walmart: $39.40 befre tax and bags

I wanted it to be better. Walmart has a great selection and its own house brand. Even so, they were not the cheapest for groceries.

Walmart’s 900g bag of Great Value penne was $1.97, which was not the cheapest. It was less than $1.99 at the big stores, so maybe that is what they are aiming for.
Walmart had the lowest price for Classico pasta sauce at $2.97, and it was the same price for every flavour in the Classico range.

Walmart also had the cheapest price for Campbell’s soups. The price was $0.98 for both chicken noodle and for vegetable soup. Of course, it was also at the bottom shelf, so you had to get on your knees to look for it. Walmart tied for the lowest price on 4L of 1% milk at $7.60.

#4 Maxi: $41.14 before tax and bags

I thought that Maxi would have some of the cheapest grocery prices but the truth is that they were not the most expensive and also not the cheapest.

Maxi was tied for cheapest on two items: Green Giant niblets at $1.69 and a 1L box of juice for $1.59. The smallest bag of pita was 250g of the house brand and it was still the most expensive price for pita at $2. 

Did I earn any PC points to make the prices seem better? I earned $1 back in points for the No Name 900g of penne I bought. If you are into collecting loyalty points, you can look at this as $1 off the total cost or $1 to use at at another time.

#5 Marché Lalumière Bonanza: $41.19 before tax and bags

This is a large footprint store on Jean Talon Street in St. Leonard, and honestly, the parking situation was a nightmare. Once I got in the store, it was amazing. It had a bulk produce aisle and great selection of imported goods as well as the regular staples. 

I was kind of shocked that they didn’t have any frozen pizzas. Luckily I found frozen pizza pockets for approximately the same gram weight as the frozen pizza I got at Segal. 

Bonanza only takes cash or debit so I would have expected lower prices since it doesn’t have to pay any merchant fees for credit cards. Overall, the prices were OK.

Bonanza tied for the lowest price for a 4L bag of milk for $7.60. Bonanza also had the lowest price on 900g of penne  pasta at $1.59, the lowest price for Green Giant corn niblets $1.69, and a 200g bag of pita for $1.09.

Bonanza was competitively priced on most things. However, they came in the highest for Classico pasta sauce at $5.99, and tied for highest for Oasis orange juice for $5.99 and Campbell’s vegetable soup at $1.99.

#6 Supermarché PA: $47.04 before tax and bags

This was interesting. I had high hopes for PA because I heard that their prices were good but they came in the highest overall. The PA did not have 4L of 1% milk so I went with 2% for $8.65. They also did not have Chicken Noodle Soup so I went with Chicken and Rice for $3.49. 

PA was not the lowest on any item but it was still competitively priced for a lot of things, including pita, frozen pizza, pasta sauce, and mushrooms. Despite the milk and soup situation, they were still the highest for hot dogs at $6.79, 900g of penne pasta at $2.69, and $2.19 for a 1L box of juice.

Grocery shopping needs preparation

Overall, Super C was the lowest but it comes down to the specials that day. Checking out flyers ahead of time is part of the prep work you can do to get the lowest food bill. Maxi, Walmart, and Super C did not have the lowest prices for most of the foods. What they do have is more product choice, the cost-saving advantage of house brands, and occasionally a loyalty program that might get you extra savings in some way.

The best advice is still to bring your own bags, plan your groceries ahead of time, bring a list, and only choose the products with the lowest unit cost per ml or gram. That means always comparing similar products. And that $0.10 consignment fee? Make sure to get it back when you return your bottles.