Life in Vancouver: Grocery shopping and Indian products

Vancouver and it's nearby areas have quite a good amount of Indian population. This makes us Indians a good market and all big grocery stores have Indian products in their shelf. You can go to a Walmart or Real Canadian Superstore or Safeway, each of them will have basic Indian staples. I am staying near Coquitlam/Burnaby so Walmart is nearest to me and next is Real Canadian Superstore which has everything from Rice to Atta to Besan to Toor daal to Mustard oils and Haldiram products and many of Indian spices.

One thing I observed that same product will have different price at different shops. So check the price online and go to store which is nearer and having better price. I use an online grocery delivery app called Instakart which shows products and their cost in respective store. Also you can download Walmart and Real Canadian Superstore and Safeway apps. 

While generic vegetables like potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower, carrot, Cilantro, chilli, bell peppers, spinach and fruits like banana, apple orange etc you can get on any shop. Some specific Indian vegetables like Lauki, Bhindi, Baingan, Methi, Kaddu, Tinde and fruits like mango, guava etc you will find in Indian stores. 

Indian stores prices for vegetables are cheaper than Big shopping giants. But grocery product are cheaper in Shopping malls, may be they can buy in bulk. But still Indian stores have more variety of stuff like different kind of daal(lentils) spices, papads, achhar, pre mix stuff and sweets. 

In my local neighborhood, Fruticana and Sabzimandi have better collection and good rates. But if you can drive to Surrey, you can get more options and cheaper rates since there is a bigger Indian community living in Surrey and nearby.

Costco is also a good place to buy rice and vegetables. Check if something which you like and want to buy in volume, like Rice, Toiletries, Oil, ghee, butter, vegetables, washing detergent, dishwasher detergent, toilet cleaning products and tissues etc. No one can beat Costco pricing and quality, only catch is that you have to buy 6 months supply. Costco is a wholesale shop.

Look for some small Indian or Pakistani or Srilankan shop nearby for emergency shopping of Indian spices or stuff. They may be costly than Big Indian shops but comes handy when you don't wanna drive long. 

Also look for dollar tree or Dollarama, they have products in range of 1-2 CAD. They are not great quality products but still useful for school crafts, decorations, not so critical items.