Every week, Canadian grocery chains put a new set of items on special. Knowing where to look, and which deals are actually good, can take a real chunk off your bill.
When do grocery flyers change?
Most Canadian chains run weekly flyers, usually Thursday to Wednesday. Some start on Friday or Saturday. New flyers are often posted online a day early, so Wednesday evening or Thursday morning is the best time to check this week's specials.
Shopping early in the flyer week also means sale items are more likely to be in stock.
Where to see current specials
- ShoppedOut's Flyers page lists current deals from stores near your postal code, chain by chain.
- Trending deals shows the biggest price drops this week in your province.
- Store apps and websites post their own flyers, though you have to check each one separately.
How to tell a real deal from a fake one
Not everything in a flyer is a bargain. A few checks help:
- Look at the unit price. Compare price per 100 g or per pound, not per package. A "sale" on a smaller package can cost more per gram.
- Watch the "was" price. Big percentage-off claims only matter if the regular price is honest. If an item is "on sale" every other week, the sale price is its real price.
- Check multi-buy deals. "2 for $6" often means $3 each, even if you buy one. Read the fine print.
- Front-page items are the real draws. Meat, milk, eggs and produce on the front and back pages are often priced lowest to bring you in.
- Know the sale cycle. Most items come back on sale within two to three weeks, so you rarely need to panic-buy.
Turn this week's sales into dinners
The biggest savings come from planning meals around what's on sale, instead of writing a list first and hoping it's on special.
- Pick two or three sale proteins (chicken thighs, ground beef, pork chops, salmon).
- Add cheap sale produce and pantry staples.
- Build four or five dinners from those, and use leftovers for lunches.
ShoppedOut does this for you: enter your postal code and it suggests a week of dinners built from current flyer specials near you, shows which store saves the most, and builds the shopping list.
The bottom line
The best grocery sales this week are on the front pages of your local flyers, starting most Thursdays. Compare unit prices, ignore fake discounts, and plan dinners around the specials to save the most.
