Yes! This is my first year living off-campus and I really need someone to give us the address of cheap supermarkets (the asian supermarket mentioned, Food Basics, No Frills). And also what is the closest in terms of bussing? because I live near the school and don't have a car :(

Fortinos is so expensive! I did go there every now and then during the summer (I live really close to it), but I'm vegetarian so it wasn't that bad. I ended up bringing groceries from Mississauga most of the summer.

Asian Supermarkets:
1. B&T Supermarket (115 Park Street North)- corner of Cannon St and Park St North, downtown

To get there, take any bus downtown, get off at Main & Bay, walk left down Bay until you get to Cannon. Turn right at Cannon, and Park St should be the next street. The store will be on your right. It has blue banners with white words, should say "Ben Thanh" or something.

Pros: Cheap, has fresh veggies, fruits, seafood, preserved foods, Asian snacks, ingredients and much more! Plus you use these cute little baskets on wheels!
Cons: Crowded, funky smells. Not all cash registers take cards, so bring cash
Other: There is a Vietnamese restaurant right beside the store, so stop by for some pho and other yummy foods. There is also an Asian BBQ store and Asian cake store a block away. Just keep walking down Cannon past Park St, which will bring you to MacNab. The two stores have green banners with gold words.

2. Another B&T Food Center (103 Queen St N)- corner of Queen and York, downtown

To get there, take any bus downtown, get off at Queen St and walk left down Queen until you almost reach York. The store will be on your left. Food variety and pricing is fairly similar to the other B&T.
There's a little bubble tea / slushie / smoothie / coffee shop attached to the store.

Note: Queen St is one-way, so to get there by car, you'll have to turn left at Dundurn first, turn right at York, then turn left at Queen to get there.

There might be other Asian stores, but I've only been to these two.


Farmer's Market, in downtown Jackson Square:

1. Take any eastbound bus downtown. Stop at Bay, walk left down Bay, go right at York, and keep going down York until you find entrances into Jackson Square (I find the library entrance the easiest). After you enter the library, keep going straight until you enter the mall area. Turn left, go down the small flight of stairs and you should see glass doors leading to Farmers Market. Most of the foods and produce are downstairs. Make sure to scope out the entire place before buying stuff. Different vendors have different prices and degrees of freshness, so take some time to find the best.

Pros: Cheap foods (baked goods, fruits, veggies, meats), flowers and more! Here are some of the prices I've encountered - $0.50/small box of Mandarin oranges, $0.99/5 cucumbers, $2/angel cake. And.... no taxes!
Cons: Crowded.

To return to campus from any of the above stores, just take the westbound buses on King. 5C and 51 will take you through campus, while the others will stop on Main St in front of Mac.

If you have a car, then you can shop at all three places in one trip! Drive to B&T (Main, then right at Bay, then right at York, then left at Park St. There are plenty of parking spaces available). Do your shopping at B&T. Then keep the car there and walk to Jackson Square (back toward York St). Do your Farmer's Market shopping there, bring the groceries back to your car, then head to the Queen St Asian supermarket (it's on the way back to Mac).

Hope this solves some of your shopping needs!

I spent around $75 a month.

A good, cheap, easy way to get vegetables and fruits while at Mac is through the Good Food Box that's sold through Mac BreadBin for $12. You can find out order info and everything at their website: https://www.msumcmaster.ca/servicesa...alInfo/gfb.htm. My roommate and I would split the box, and there was still vegetables that we ended up freezing. You pretty much always end up with lettuce, potatoes, and onions, along with lots of other good stuff!

Originally Posted by AlienSummer

I spent around $75 a month.

A good, cheap, easy way to get vegetables and fruits while at Mac is through the Good Food Box that's sold through Mac BreadBin for $12. You can find out order info and everything at their website: https://www.msumcmaster.ca/servicesa...alInfo/gfb.htm. My roommate and I would split the box, and there was still vegetables that we ended up freezing. You pretty much always end up with lettuce, potatoes, and onions, along with lots of other good stuff!

Thank you! I had no idea something like this existed!

Originally Posted by Amaryll

Being in China for the summer (doing grocery shopping and cooking for myself + the boyfriend) has completely ruined me for grocery shopping here, I think. I could buy a pound of live shrimp for about a dollar, and it was the same for a lot of other live seafood. And I mean live to the point where they jump out of bowls of water. Vegetables were even cheaper, and same with cooked poultry. A small chicken, cooked and perfect for two people was $4. Frogs were also live, a pound for about $1.

Boo. :(

That sound so awesome!

Originally Posted by N.Cheng

THERE'S AN ASIAN SUPERMARKET??

Dude I've been just buying stuff in Toronto and bringing it over x.X where is this asian supermarket???

Theres a crapload of asian markets/supermarkets... what variety of asian are you looking for? haha

I shop for both me and my boyfriend and I find that in a frivolous month we end up spending about $300. So, that`s what? About $40 a person/week? Honestly, thats with buying a bunch of cookies, ice cream, and overpriced snack foods that we don't need but that I must have due to the fact that I am a chunkster. With an $80 per week budget ... going to go ahead and say you'll probably be JUST fine. I'm not a discount shopper or anything and I usually shop at the university plaza metro so its not like I'm very conscious of my shopping bill.

Originally Posted by AlienSummer

I spent around $75 a month.

REALLY? That is incredibly cheap. I can't even imagine that! Teach me your ways.