Where do you buy your groceries?

I shop regularly at No Frills.

That reminds me of a good shopping tip:  watch your groceries as they're scanned, or check your bill immediately after paying.  If a product is advertised as (say) $1, or the price tag says $1, but it scans as more then stores that adhere to the Scanning Code of Practice will give it to you for free, with a maximum of two of the items (the rest you'll be charged as you should have been).  I've received a lot of free stuff this way.  Sometimes you have to ask whether they follow the SCoP, but most large chains do.

I shop at a number of places. Local butcher for meat, and another local place for fish, especially pickerel from northern Manitoba. Superstore because it's inexpensive for general groceries, Lucky Supermarket (Asian grocery) for special items and produce, the Co-op for certain items, like locally milled flour. Sometimes Sobey's, but not often. Farmer's market for most veg and eggs during the summer, and some meat products. We used to go to Costco when we were in SK, but the stores here are a trek and really hard to get in and out of. Occasional trips, though. We get bread from the bakery around the block from our office and often use the small, locally owned grocery across the street for smaller shops and occasional items.

In later spring (hey it is the 17th of May and very little local produce yet, dammit!) summer and autumn, I get a lot of produce and other items at Jean-Talon Market (duh). But one has to be careful as it isn't always the best bargain, and I've discovered some small "ethnic" groceries that also have fresh local produce cheaper in season. The small Greek supermarket chain PA has excellent deals (goat-milk cheddar around $6 lb $13 kg, a grain-fed Voltigeurs chicken for around $2.50 lb). Milano, the venerable Italian greengrocer and grocery has got more pricey after the last reno, but it still has better prices than IGA (Sobeys) and certainly Provigo (Loblaws) in the wintertime and their produce is very fresh and high quality. I am also lucky to have a Vietnamese superette close by.

Friends are opening a coop boulangerie (bread bakery) and yes, I will plug it: https://www.facebook.com/Anarchopetrin/ To be "dans le pétrin" is to be up shit's creek, in a fine kettle of fish etc. And anarchopétrin is a play on the famous Anarchopanda from the student movement in 2012. A pétrin means either a kneading trough or a kneading machine. There will also be book launchings and other events there. The bread is very good (mmm dark rye); I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.

I have also had many problems with Loblaws/Provigo/Maxi. I only buy loss leaders there, but it is essential to read your receipt right away - there are a lot of false promotions, and also promotions that sell out the first day of the sale, and a rain check is worthless as they never have exactly the same item with the same code.

In Europe, many if not most supermarkets require self-bagging and a coin in carts (normally retrievable).Not just the deep discounters like Aldi and Lidl. Costco is useless for me as one has to buy too much and it is difficult to access without a car. Now, what will I do with my chicken?

Hey, lagatta - had this in one of my favourite Toronto restaurants when I was out for Hot Docs:

https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/ping-gai-chicken/160159

What is with these out of product experiences? Not to mention discontinued products. This seems very common these days whether shopping at a Safefway/Sobey, Coop or local organic foods chain. I never noticed it before but in the last 2-3 years it has become common place. There was one product that used to be at Shoppers that I loved that I contacted the company to see where I could purchase it. Their contract had not been renewed and the had no other Canadian suppliers so I started ordering online - I get bi-annualy orders from Australia. But seriously, for other short shelf-life stuff, ordering from other countries source sites is ridiculous.

That chicken dish sounds delicious, but for the moment I'm keeping the bones in, and will use the meat afterwards. Thanks for the aromatic suggestions! I'm thinking of putting some whole cardamom seeds into the stock. 

We ate at a local Thai-Lao restaurant; tiny hole-in-the wall near Fabre métro (one stop east of Jean-Talon). It was good, as usual.

Eater Mtl: Meanwhile at La Presse, Marie-Claude Lortie goes solidly under the radar to unearth Lao and Thai BYOB spot Thaï Sep on the border of St-Michel and Rosemont. Bypassing a few less-spectacular menu options such as General Tao chicken, Lortie inhales more specialty options such as sai kok esan, a Lao pork sausage cooked with kaffir lime leaves, ginger, green onion, cilantro and lemongrass, and the “totally charming” nême kao, a rice-ball salad with crispy pork and peanuts: an “explosion of flavours”, enhanced by the crunchy texture. Lortie writes that she’d definitely return. [La Presse]  Their speciality is food from the Issan region; the border area between northern Thailand and Laos.

Yes, it is a perk to have byow restaurants, but obviously many are meh. This little place is very good.