Halifax and Nova Scotia have some of our countries worst food prices, which makes eating and eating well in this province a struggle for many families. I am fortune enough to get by most weeks and longer at under 100$ or more by shopping of flyers and spending time doing my homework on what's on sale where.
The biggest budget tip would be to check your flyers, stick with whole foods, try and keep a stock of staples and check the discount produce rack. Through getting cheap frozen vegetables when they are on sale and buying produce stores are trying to clean then freezing it myself I get by.
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| As you can see this is a pretty decent haul that will last me over 1 week. Total cost: 59.28$ |
Everything pictured here came out to a total of 59.28$ including a few splurge purchases like Vegan Cheese (4.99$ it was 1$ off the usual 5.99$) and both Vegan Pepperoni( 4.49 which was reduced from 5$) and Vegan Ground Round, again reduced to 3.79$ where the more expensive purchase followed by the giant cereal bag which was 9.49$. I know cereal is crazy expensive.
Because I found baby bok choy on sale for 1.99$ each plus one bag was reduced by another 50% off , Daikon raddish for 1.38$ and Nappa Cabage for 1.75$ I figured I would load up on ingredients for noodle bowls and dumplings. As I have some dumpling wrappers in the freezer I added some hot peppers, thick rice noodles, cucumber, ginger, and green onions to the cart along with some soft tofu (1.99$ each) which is the best price I've seen on tofu in ages.
I was also able to score some broccoli, cauliflower, orange, bag of apples, and yellow peppers all on the reduce rack taking typically 5$ range veggies down to under 2$ each. I splurged on the cereal because it's one of the few foods A will eat and having a quick breakfast option for a week never hurts.
Because I had company over on the weekend I splurged on both Mock Meats to make a giant pot of spaghetti sauce, a tradition with my guest and the ingredients to make a vegan pepperoni pizza because it's cheaper then ordering out. I also got hotdog buns 50% off for A, as he has leftover hot dogs from his grocery run and I think I have some veggie dogs in the freezer. If not I'll have to try out the carrot dog recipe as I have 2 kl of carrots in the fridge.
The sales on vegetables and the 50% rack really paid off this trip because I was able to get fruit that wasn't bananas (apples 1.49$) and fresh vegetables including a selection of heartier greens that will do well in the freezer or cold room.
I also got mushrooms on special for 2.50$ and loaded up on self stable vegan milk as we'd been running out. I got more bananas, green ones as I had 3-4 from last shopping trip. I also got some vegan instant ramen that can be bulked up with the vegetables and tofu + broad rice noodles for hot pot.
This food will likely last me over a week and I'll show some bulk preps for freezing things before they go bad and hopefully have some further posts coming up on how I used everything pictured below plus a super fun haul form the Asian Grocery Store too.
This shop could have been done for a bit less without the splurge items, but considering how many luxury items I purchased and the volume of food gotten for under 60$ I think I did ok. This will easily last 2+ weeks combined with foods I have at home in my pantry and freezer.
In fact, I could have gotten away with just the fresh produce order as I do have some rice noodles and other pastas at home. But given our house guests I wanted to be a bit fancier. Making your own seitan mock meats or using the TVP I have stored up would give you an equally tasty meal with less $$ and just a bit of prep work. Same with making your own cheese.
It is also possible I could have further reduced this cost by getting some vegetables at Giant Tiger or No Thrills through shopping around, but for a one stop shop I am pretty happy with the totals.
Full breakdown of cost in the photos above! Hot Dog Buns and a Can of Campbells soup were for A as he won't eat homemade food and hadn't gone shopping in a while.
