Time to Use the Secret Beans

I made chili today. I want to share the recipe with you, but I also have a lot to talk about, and one of the most annoying things in my universe is finding a recipe on a blog and having to scroll for a zillion years past a bunch of babble and pictures of the same bowl from 400 different angles to get to the actual recipe, so I'm just gonna do my talking, here, and then I'm going to make a separate post for the chili recipe after.

This chili is one of my favourite easy, belly filling, freezer filling, budget friendly meals. A batch of this feeds us all, and still has enough left over to freeze 5 or more lunch size portions for later use.

On the way home, yesterday, after walking my oldest to school, I detoured into Sobeys with the rest of my crew for a little recon.

First, of course, we hit up the bakery for the free cookie to help ensure cooperation from the under 4s in my crowd (aka everyone else), and then I started scoping out the ingredients I would need for chili. I looked for the product the same or most similar to what I would pick at Superstore.

Some people, to my surprise, are not fans of Superstore. "Their produce is gross," they tell me. I've never really noticed that, but I paid extra attention while I was in Sobeys so I could see these superior vegetables.

I'll admit, the in store presentation is nicer, but the actual vegetables, themselves, looked pretty much the same (aside from the Sobeys items being considerably smaller). So no, I don't think the produce at Superstore is any more gross than it is anywhere else. And I'm one of those princess crybabies who won't eat an apple with a brown fleck on it, so my standards are reasonably high, here. (Side bar, please always wash your produce. While it's not gross per se, people kind of are, and lots of people are touching that food before it gets to your house).

The prices of the items I needed (onion, cilantro, garlic, mushrooms) were close, but Superstore was less for all.

Onion: $3.28/kg vs $3.26/kg ($1.31 vs $1.30)

Cilantro: $1.29/bunch vs $1.27/bunch

Garlic: $11/kg vs $9.88/kg ($1.10 vs $0.98)

Mushrooms: $8.80/kg vs $7.67/kg ($1.94 vs $1.69)

If you're not used to reading your produce prices in price/kg, start getting used to it. If you're price matching, the cashier needs this price (it's printed small on the flyers, and small on the shelf tags). It's also the way the prices ring in at the till, so if you're watching to make sure things are ringing in correctly, the price per pound is going to do you no good at all.

Next, I hit up the cans. To the best of my knowledge, Sobeys does not have Secret Beans, and that is a real shame, because their not-secret bean selection sucks.

I'm sorry, you want me to pay how much for this can of beans?

For my chili, I require three different cans of beans. We like chick peas, black beans, and pinto beans. There were no pinto beans. Luckily, I found the "everyday value" tag on a brand of beans called "Clic" for $0.99, but they only had 2 kinds: black beans and chick peas. For my third bean, I could get compliments kidney beans for $1.49 (what is this store brand price? Why is it more than a dollar?), but kidney beans are the worst bean, so for the extra $0.20, I'd opt for one of these Primo cans, on sale for still way more than anyone should pay for canned beans.

Also, FYI, the magic Unico beans are too expensive at Sobeys, too. But Superstore is still cheaper.

I also needed a can of beans in tomato sauce. The No Name brand of beans in sauce on the shelf at Superstore (I went there after Sobeys to actually buy my groceries) was shelf priced at $0.98, but it was in the Shop Easy Foods flyer for $0.79, so I was able to price match.

Where is Shop Easy Foods, you ask? No idea. But there must be one in Edmonton, because Superstore matches their prices for me allllllll the time.

Canned Bean 1: $0.99 vs $0.88

Canned Bean 2: $0.99 vs $0.88

Canned Bean 3: $1.66 vs $0.88

Beans in Sauce: $1.39 vs $0.79

Also, before we go any further, you have to know that I don't touch a paper flyer to do my price matching. If you don't have the flipp app, download it right now. I'll teach you how to use it, later. (Bonus price matching tipperoo: Superstore, Walmart, Save On and No Frills will price match. Sobeys and Safeway DO NOT match prices).

Ok. Now that you have your flipp app, let's go get some diced tomatoes. The Compliments brand of tomatoes is $1.69. At Superstore, the no name tomatoes were $1.18. Often, they are on sale for under a dollar, but not this week. Lucky for me, the Unico diced tomatoes were in the No Frills flyer for $1, so I matched that. And they were shelf priced at the magical Unico pricing of $1.98. Score!

Diced Tomatoes: $1.69 vs $1.00

Next, I needed barley. The recipe calls for a cup, and I also use it in my soups. I buy the small bag of barley instead of buying it from the bulk section. It's 2 cups of barley, and it's right in the bean aisle, so I've never bothered pricing out bulk barley. It's probably cheaper, but shhh. Even Gurus can improve, somewhere. This is actually shelf priced cheaper at Sobeys (it was on sale, but even the regular price) than Superstore. I think it's because of one of Superstore's stupid "blue menu" items that are "healthier" so they charge more. Whatever. Now that I know this, I'll probably price out the bulk option.

Barley: $0.99 vs $1.78 (gross)

Ok. Off to the dairy cooler. I need cheese and sour cream. You guys. The price of cheese at Sobeys is ridiculous. Ridiculous. I thought it was a typo. At Superstore, I alternate between the No Name brand 700g cheese and the Armstrong 700g cheese. Sometimes, the Armstrong is in a flyer and I can price match it so it's cheaper than the No Name stuff. So, I looked for no name cheese at Sobeys. They had compliments cheese, but in a smaller block, and basically the same price as the 700g cheese at Superstore (I almost said "at home" because, seriously, I might as well live there, sometimes). So I looked at the 700g Armstrong cheese. $11.59. For those of you who don't know, this is a terrible price for cheese.

You wanna know how much that exact same cheese is at Superstore? It's $6.97. I mean, that's a sale price to match the Walmart flyer, but even when it's not on sale, I think it's $8.49. I don't know about you, but we go through a lot of cheese. Cheesy carbs are pretty much my kids' favourite lunch.

And guess what? They had a coupon on the shelf for $0.75 off! Did I take 10 of them? Yes I did. But, I didn't take them all...

Cheese: $11.59 vs $6.22

Sour Cream: $2.99 vs $2.68

Then, to the spices. Now, I already had all these spices, but a new person who finds this recipe may have to add some or all of them to their pantry before starting. Maybe this new person has yet to digest my advice about buying small amounts from the bulk section before committing to a full bottle. Maybe this illustration will help. For this recipe, you will need the following spices: smoked paprika, chili powder, and garlic powder. You actually also need cayenne pepper, but I forgot to price that out. Whoops. Can't win em all.

At Sobeys, you have 2 options for smoked paprika: The little Club House Bottle (116g) for $12.19 (9.48 at Superstore) or The McCormick bottle (46g) for $6.89 (5.19). It's enough to make you want to just use regular paprika, which will, in turn, make your chili boring.

At Superstore, there is an additional option: 80g of President's Choice Black Label (faaaancy) for $5.49! What?

It's not even yellow label!

Smoked Paprika: $6.89 vs $5.49

Chili Powder: $2.99 vs $2.00

Garlic Powder: $2.79 vs $2.38

I also use Vegeta (which is like... vegetable flavoured salt?) with 2 cups of water as a "broth" but I couldn't find it at Sobeys, so I priced out a carton of vegetable broth instead.

Vegetable broth: $1.99 vs $1.28

There we go, all done! Let's total it up!

Sobeys: $42.59

Superstore: $31.50

(That's a difference of $11.09, or, not even enough to buy a block of cheese)

If you have all your spices already, and this is a repeat meal, then

Sobeys: $27.93

Superstore: $20.35

(That's a difference of 7.58, or, enough to buy a block of cheese and have money for a checkout chocolate bar)

One of the other reasons I hear from people about why they don't like Superstore is that they don't like to bag their own groceries. First of all, stop using bags. Bags are evil. I use this tote from 31 Gifts:

ps, I am an Independent 31 consultant, so if you want one of these totes, I can totally hook you up

I can fit almost all my groceries into one, and it stands up in my cart so I never have to wrestle with bags or panic pack my cart at the end of a shopping trip. I just bloop everything back inside after it's scanned and, ta daaaa! I'm done. Easy.

If you'd like to order or look at these totes you can do so here: https://www.mythirtyone.ca/ca/en/2626664/product/3121

(this is an affiliate link. If you order from this, I will earn a commission. If you don't order, you may still read this blog, and I will not think any less of you).

Second of all, you might dislike bagging groceries, but if someone approached you at Superstore and said, "hey, for $11.09, I'll pack up those groceries for you!" what would you say? (I would say no, and it would not be in a polite tone of voice).

What is your priority with your grocery budget? Is having someone pack your groceries for you the most important thing? You could be overspending by over $10 on just one meal! We eat supper 7 days a week!

To reiterate, I'm not affiliated with or sponsored by Superstore in any way. (Call me). I just genuinely want you to save your money. If you can save $10 on one meal, maybe that translates to $70 in a week. That's $280 in a month. I wouldn't pay a monthly subscription of $280 to have someone bag my groceries.

AND BESIDES ALL THAT. Maybe you super hate going into the grocery store. Superstore has the click n collect program (which is, truthfully not my favourite, but that's a post for another day) where you can order your groceries for a fee of $3 or $5 depending on your pickup time. You could probably afford to pay that and switch grocery stores and still be saving money.

Think about it.

Chili Recipe in the morning. Thanks for following along.