Looking for the most bang for your buck when it comes to grocery shopping in Canada?
With food prices on the rise throughout the country, I decided to take a look at two of my favourite retailers — Bulk Barn and Walmart — to see which one offered the best value for money on popular everyday items.
For the purpose of this experiment, I decided to pick out grocery staples available in both stores, and looked at the cheapest option available (sales excluded) to get the best comparison.
Here's how the prices of some popular items measure up:
Pasta
Pasta from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
I compared Great Value's spaghettini to Bulk Barn's spaghetti, which also happened to be its cheapest pasta.
- Walmart: $0.97 for 410 grams ($0.23/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $0.51 for 100 grams
Rice
Rice at Walmart and Bulk Barn.
As for rice, a 2-kilogram packet of Great Value long grain white rice is marginally cheaper than the white Basmati rice sold at Bulk Barn.
- Walmart: $6.47 for 2 kilograms ($0.32/100 g)
- Bulk Barn: $0.51 per 100 grams
All purpose flour
All purpose flour from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
Another pantry staple is flour. Here's how much a 2.5-kilogram packet of Walmart's Great Value all purpose flour costs compared to the all purpose flour sold at Bulk Barn.
- Walmart: $3.97 for 2.5 kilograms ($0.16/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $0.28 per 100 grams
Soup mix
Chicken soup mix from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
I compared a Great Value chicken noodle soup mix with a chicken soup mix found at Bulk Barn.
- Walmart: $2.47 per 338 grams ($0.73/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $0.87 per 100 grams
Popcorn
Popping corn from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
The Great Value popping corn at Walmart comes in just a bit cheaper than the jumbo popping corn at Bulk Barn.
- Walmart: $2.47 for 850 grams ($0.29/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $0.48 per 100 grams (regular price)
Deluxe mixed nuts
Mixed nuts from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
Walmart was selling wholesale packets of mixed nuts deluxe. I compared that to Bulk Barn's Deluxe Mixed Nuts.
- Walmart: $4 for 200 grams ($2/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $3.26 per 100 grams
Lentils
Lentils from Walmart and Bulk Barn in Canada.
Walmart had run out of red lentils when I visited but the price for their red and yellow lentils was the same. I compared that to Bulk Barn's red lentils:
- Walmart: $3.27 for 900 grams ($0.36/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $0.40 per 100 grams
Paprika
Paprika from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
Of course, it would be impossible not to compare spices between Walmart and Bulk Barn. For the purpose of this experiment, I decided to look the price of paprika.
- Walmart: $2.27 for 130 grams ($1.74/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $1.82 per 100 grams (regular price)
Milk chocolate chips
Milk chocolate chips from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
Walmart's Great Value milk chocolate chips and the milk chocolate chips available at Bulk Barn were pretty close in price!
- Walmart: $3.77 per 270 grams ($1.39/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $1.51 per 100 grams (regular price)
Peanut butter
Peanut butter from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
I compared Walmart's Great Value smooth peanut butter to Bulk Barn's smooth peanut butter.
- Walmart: $2.97 for 500 grams ($0.59/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $1.04 per 100 grams
Hot chocolate mix
The hot chocolate mixes from Walmart and Bulk Barn.
When looking at Walmart's Great Value hot chocolate mix and Bulk Barn's hot chocolate powder, one was significantly cheaper.
- Walmart: $3.97 for 500 grams ($0.79/100g)
- Bulk Barn: $1.27 per 100 grams
Conclusion
When comparing price per gram, Walmart beat out Bulk Barn in all of the product categories.
In the case of some products, such as the soup mix and lentils, the difference between the two was honestly pretty small.
However, in the case of pasta and peanut butter, the price per gram was almost double at Bulk Barn than it was at Walmart!
There were exceptions in only two departments — chocolate chips and paprika — where prices at Bulk Barn were cheaper than Walmart, but that's only because the items were on sale.
This means there is some truth when people say that the best things to buy from Bulk Barn are spices and baking accessories.
However, since we are comparing non-sale prices, Walmart still offers better value overall.
Hopefully this will give you a better idea of where to go to save money the next time you need to pick up groceries in Canada.
Happy shopping, y'all!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
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