Which is more expensive and which is healthier for you, fresh or frozen food?
CTV
As grocery prices soar amid inflation, experts have weighed in on the cost effectiveness of buying fresh or frozen foods, adding that buying frozen doesn’t necessarily mean food will lose any nutritional value.
As grocery prices soar amid inflation, experts have weighed in on the cost effectiveness of buying fresh or frozen foods, adding that buying frozen doesn’t necessarily mean food will lose any nutritional value.
While they agree that buying fresh food rather than the equivalent frozen version does not affect the healthiness of the food, they said shopping around between fresh and frozen sections for the cheapest price is your best bet on saving money.
CTVNews.ca scoured the websites of Canada’s three largest grocery store chains—Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro—comparing the costs of several food items. We looked at fresh foods as well as their equivalent frozen options and compared prices, using in-store brands such as President’s Choice, No Name, Compliments, Selection and Irresistibles where applicable. Loblaws prices were taken from Toronto (Dupont St. location), Sobeys prices were taken from its Voila delivery service website and Metro prices were taken from metro.ca’s My Online Groceries. All prices are per 100 grams and were recorded on March 7.
In most cases, fresh foods tended to cost more than frozen foods per 100 grams. At Loblaws, frozen green beans cost $1.10 per 100 grams compared to $1.76 per 100 grams for the fresh equivalent. At Sobeys, both fresh and frozen green beans cost $1.00 per 100 grams. And at Metro, frozen green beans cost $0.96 per 100 grams compared to $1.10 per 100 grams for fresh ones.
Frozen strawberries and blueberries cost the same at all three stores at $1.00 per 100 grams, however the price of fresh berries vary drastically. Fresh blueberries at Sobeys and Metro cost $2.35 per 100 grams, while Loblaws offers them at $1.47 per 100 grams. Fresh strawberries are cheapest at Sobeys and Metro at $1.32 per 100 grams, where at Loblaws they cost $1.76 per 100 grams.
The price of fresh sirloin steak and frozen sirloin burgers are comparable between the three stores, however shoppers can find the cheapest fresh steak option at Metro at $1.52 per 100 grams while the cheapest frozen burgers when comparing the three stores can be found at Loblaws for $2.10 per 100 grams.
