Vancouver Area - Cross Border Grocery Shopping Deals

[gradin123]

I know a lot of people here are very price conscious and a lot of the best deals can be had south of the border. Cross border shopping is definitely something a lot of people in the Lower Mainland of BC do and therefore I thought it would be prudent to post deals for people in lower mainland for the grocery stores in the bellingham/blaine and ferndale areas of Washington state.

If anyone here is a cross border shopper in the Vancouver area please feel free to post any deals you run across.

***Flyers Updated March 30th****


Some basic tips to get started though. I have found that Fred Meyer has the overall lowest prices of all stores in the Bellingham area. The closest is located near the Bellingham airport. Also please note that there is a coupon exchange box near the entrance of Fred Meyer where people leave coupons they don't use and some good coupons can be found. Also on the Fred Meyer website you can load coupons from various US websites(like Coupons.com) right on to your Fred Meyer card prior to your visit. Also if you spend $100 within a certain time frame you can use your Fred Meyer card to save 10 cents a gallon at their gas bar which is very price competitive. Even if you don't spend $100 your Fred Meyer card is good for a 3 cents a gallon discount off their posted price.

Weekly Highlights

Fred Meyer deals valid until Saturday April 9th. http://fredmeyer.inserts2online.com/...pStoreID=00025

Not a strong week for sales at Fred Meyer

Highlights 1lb of Butter 2 for $4.00 ($2.00 each and you don't need to buy 2) with coupon found in flyer(please note Fred meyer flyers are readily available near the entrance of the stores).
They have 1 gallon of Milk (4 litres) not treated with RBST for $2.39. That is their regular price. For those of you who don't know RBST is a growth hormone given to some cows in the states to increase their Milk Production. In Canada this practice is illegal but in the States some milk is from cows treated with the growth hormone. I personally stay away from this type of Milk as there are reports indicating it may increase cancer rates in humans and just seems unnatural to me. The milk available at Fred Meyer is all from Cows NOT treated with RBST.

You can stack stack Flyer coupons with manufacturer coupons much like RCSS in Canada but you cannot stack manufacturer coupons at least at Fred Meyer.

Cost Cutter(Blaine/Ferndale) Deals Valid until Tuesday April 5th http://www.themarketsllc.com/WeeklyA....aspx?Store=23

***HOT*** Fresh Draper Valley Whole Fryers $0.79/lb

Best Foods(Hellmanns) Mayo $2.97 (30oz or 850 grams)

Lynden Farm French Fries $1 (32 oz or 907 grams)



Haagens Foods(Ferndale) Deals valid Until Tuesday April 5th

http://haggen.gsnrecipes.com/Shop/WeeklyAd.aspx

***HOT*** 12 packs of Coke/Diet Coke Cans $2.49 each when you Buy 3 - Please note that there is no enviromental fees for pop in the US like their is BC. Also no deposit is charged and their tax is 8% instead of 12%. (You didn't hear this from me but the cans can usually be returned in BC with no problems and not only will they be recycled but you'll get the deposit credit)

Malt -O- Meal Cereals(17.5 oz-21oz or 495 grams to 595 grams)
99 cents each. Also Printable Coupons for $1.00 off if you buy 2 can be found at http://www.malt-o-meal.com/special-o...ial-offers.php. Which effectively lowers the price to 49 cents each.

Kraft Cheese Singles (10.7-12OZ or 303 to 340 grams) $1.99 each.
Also a printable Coupon can be found at http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?...=KR&p=Ps5vdiGy
For $1 off which effectively lowers the price to 99 cents

Fresh Whole Fryer Chicken Draper Valley -$1.09/lb

Please note it says No Antibiotics or Homones. Vegetarian Fed


Ferndale is a good spot to stop because they also have a Dollar Tree store and a Walgreens in addition to Haagens and Cost Cutters.

These are only some of the highlights I found for my trip today but I am sure there are more deals to be found.


Alcohol - Technically you need to be in the States for 48 hours in order to declare any alcohol. Practically they are very lenient with small amounts. For instance I routinely bring back one bottle of wine OR a 6 pack of beer. I am rarely asked if I have alcohol but on the occasions where I have been I honestly say what I have and I have never run into a problem yet. One time the border agent told me I wasnt suppose to declare any but she let me go through. If you do decide to risk bringing some alcohol without being there 48 hours please know it is at your risk and you may be required to pay duties.

[Lily's mommy]

Thanks for starting this thread...I sometimes cross the broder with my friend (who goes weekly) so this helps a lot! I'll let her know about this and hopefully we can add to these deals.

[nosobbq]

oh thanks for posting this!! great deals!1 how fun is that!! and with the dollar so good right now!! I LOVE walgreens!!

[opus]

Great thread ! thanks for starting this !
I have family who shop down there every week,
So this will be very helpful !

[tish]

Thanks for the post. I love Freddies too. I always grab their flyer and clip the coupons out of it as well as grab a few out of the collection box.

[love88]

I wish someone would do the "cross-border shopping in Niagara/ Buffalo" also!

[Blue Flower]

Thanks for the thread, I will consider other things but "NO" to American dairy product. I believe Canadian dairy product way much better since we have very strict rules here on chemicals they inject to grow the animals, and you can compare that their chicken at Costco is bigger than the chicken at our Costco because of the chemical...you can actually hear it in the news quite often, My friend used to buy dairy and meat product there but got sick and find out it is the dairy and the meat, they feel better when they go back using Canadian product...I don't mean to discourage anybody but maybe this information also useful for somebody else...Happy cross border shopping....

[gradin123]

Thanks for the thread, I will consider other things but "NO" to American dairy product. I believe Canadian dairy product way much better since we have very strict rules here on chemicals they inject to grow the animals, and you can compare that their chicken at Costco is bigger than the chicken at our Costco because of the chemical...you can actually hear it in the news quite often, My friend used to buy dairy and meat product there but got sick and find out it is the dairy and the meat, they feel better when they go back using Canadian product...I don't mean to discourage anybody but maybe this information also useful for somebody else...Happy cross border shopping....

I think you are right and wrong. Let me explain. In the states it seems there are different quality of dairy products available unlike in Canada(excluding organic). The higher quality dairy products like Tillamook or DairyGold for example are very comparable to the quality of dairy products in Canada. I find most of the dairy products at Fred Meyer or Haagens are of higher quality than say Cost Cutters or at the the stores right near the border. Even the higher quality dairy products are usually significantally cheaper in the US. The growth hormone in some Milk(Rbst) is something I definitely avoid but a lot of their milk and dairy products are of the same quality as is available in Canada. I have also noticed their chickens are much larger in the US but even their organic chicken is about the same price as regular chicken in Canada. For Instance I saw they had a Full Organic Chicken for $7.00 today at Fred Meyer. That is about the same price as regular chickens in the BC area.

Basically if you shop at Haagens,Safeway or Fred Meyer for dairy instead of Cost Cutters,Walgreens or Gas Stations near the border I think you'll find the quality of dairy is very comparable to that in Canada. Also Walmarts in the US have recently made all their milk from cows NOT treated with Rbst. I think the closest Walmart SuperCentre(with grocery store) is located in Tulalip. Their prices are pretty cheap but it is a long drive.

[blawblaw]

"coupon exchange box" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine if stores did that here?

[CSLT]

"coupon exchange box" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine if stores did that here?

I've seen them have one at the Salt Spring Island IGA before

[CSLT]

Thanks so much for this thread! Very helpful! I love going down to the states to shop!!

[middleclassmom]

really great idea. If I didn't live on the island I'd go down all the time to go couponing!!

[c0nfluence]

This is a fantastic idea, thanks so much for starting this thread!

[Blue Flower]

Good points, will keep that in mind...to be honest, never did shopping there, I only heard from good source and believe it, never done my study to investigate it too but I will added your opinion for sure in the future. Thanks...

I think you are right and wrong. Let me explain. In the states it seems there are different quality of dairy products available unlike in Canada(excluding organic). The higher quality dairy products like Tillamook or DairyGold for example are very comparable to the quality of dairy products in Canada. I find most of the dairy products at Fred Meyer or Haagens are of higher quality than say Cost Cutters or at the the stores right near the border. Even the higher quality dairy products are usually significantally cheaper in the US. The growth hormone in some Milk(Rbst) is something I definitely avoid but a lot of their milk and dairy products are of the same quality as is available in Canada. I have also noticed their chickens are much larger in the US but even their organic chicken is about the same price as regular chicken in Canada. For Instance I saw they had a Full Organic Chicken for $7.00 today at Fred Meyer. That is about the same price as regular chickens in the BC area.

[thriftymomofthree]

I'll be checking back here often. Thanks for starting this thread!