Non-profit organizations and food cooperatives offer food deals, discounts

The weekly fruit and vegetable market set up on Mondays in Montreal’s Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood looks like any other small grocery store. Customers chat with volunteers as they fill their baskets with cauliflower, potatoes and leafy greens.

It’s at home where things are different. Here, prices operate on a three-level scale.

The pay-what-you-can market is an initiative of Share the Warmth, which also operates a food bank and provides other community services in the southwest of the city.

Kimber Fellows, the organisation’s director of philanthropic development and communications, says the market was developed to “fill a gap” identified after surveys of food bank users showed many wanted more fresh produce in their diets but had only a few dollars a week to spend on such items.

She says the rising cost of living has forced many to cut back on spending on fresh, healthy food because it’s not a fixed cost like rent or electricity.

“It is one of the only areas where they can try to save. So we see a lot of families who are forced to shop at the dollar store or buy things that are maybe high in carbs but low in nutrients,” she says.

“That’s why it’s so important that organizations like us can increase access to healthy food.”

It is not only low-income customers who visit the market.

Buyers have three options: to pay the lowest price, which is the cost the organization pays the food supplier; pay a slightly higher price to “share the heat”; or, for those who can afford to support the program, choose a “pay it forward” price.

In summer, the market operates outdoors with the appearance of a farmer’s market. In winter, it takes place in an airy, light-filled space on the second floor of a church. Sometimes there are recipe demonstrations and volunteers are on hand to help direct people to food banks or some of the organization’s other services.

Steven Wells fills his basket with green peppers, onions, cucumbers and carrots. The longtime customer says the atmosphere and food quality are on par with Montreal’s better-known, fancier Atwater and Jean-Talon markets.

“The only thing is the price is lower – prices we can afford.”

— By Morgan Lowrie in Montreal

A Toronto co-op is helping shoppers avoid grocery store giants

Tucked away on Karma Lane in Toronto’s Annex neighborhood, Karma Co-op is a haven for shoppers who want to spend their money in their community, not the few grocery stores that sell most of Canada’s food.

The co-op was launched, in part, out of a distrust of big grocery chains, says CEO Zachary Weingarten.

“Even in 1972, people were frustrated with the biggest supermarkets and the consolidation they were seeing in the industry, putting smaller stores out of business,” he says.

“Fifty-two years later, we still face many of the same issues.”

Many co-ops born during that time are no longer in business, says co-op president Sharon Mandair, but Karma has continued to some extent because it bought the building it’s in, a former bakery.

The co-op focuses on local, organic and ethically sourced produce, many of which are available in bulk so shoppers can reuse containers and buy only what they need.

And the more members there are, the better the prices Karma can offer.

Karma has about 550 active members and another 100 old members who come in less frequently, Mandair says. There are also about 100 guest customers per month.

Members pay less than guest shoppers and get an extra discount if they sign up for shifts at the co-op. Members who work two hours in one month receive a five percent discount the following month.

Some foods, such as organic produce, are competitively priced compared to supermarkets because of the co-op’s ties to farmers and producers, Weingarten says.

But he says shoppers tend to join the co-op because it aligns with their values. Karma has policies to ensure products meet certain conditions, including ethical, sustainable and nutritional considerations. And as a cooperative, it doesn’t have to hand over profits to shareholders.

Because the cooperative prioritizes local suppliers, “all the money goes back into the local economy.”

With supermarkets making record profits and food bank deals getting longer and longer, “there’s something not working right in our food system,” says Weingarten.

— By Rosa Saba of Toronto

In Vancouver, a non-profit organization offers a lottery for rescued food

The Food Stash Foundation opened its Rescued Food Market in Vancouver in 2021 with a pay-what-you-feel system. But chief executive Carla Pellegrini says it was too popular and the store had to turn into a lottery for customers.

“There are too many people to serve and not enough food or staff here to serve everyone as much as we would like,” says Pellegrini from the foundation’s warehouse that hosts the weekly market.

Every three months, the organizers randomly choose 160 people from the submitted applications. Those drawn pay a $2 weekly membership fee and receive an appointment to pick up their food each Thursday.

The organization also offers a home delivery program for people with disabilities or chronic health conditions.

The nonprofit aims to remove any stigma associated with not being able to afford the rising cost of food and provides another option for those who don’t want to use services like food banks, Pellegrini says.

“With the affordability crisis and (because) food prices are rampant, there’s a lot of demand for our work and for others in the space doing similar work,” she says.

“We’re all looking for creative ways to save a little money on our groceries. There are a lot of different ways we can do this to … waste less food and therefore waste less money.”

The market sources its food from grocery stores in the city, which would otherwise throw them away. It saves approximately 54,000 kilograms of food every month.

The food is still edible and safe to eat, Pellegrini says, but stores decide to pull it off the shelves for various reasons.

“What’s wrong with that?” she says over a box of frozen tortellini, before looking at her February 2024 best before date.

“But it’s frozen and it’s pasta. So you could eat this for the next year and it would be fine.”

Much of the food the foundation receives is fresh produce, and most would be thrown away by stores because it is “ugly” or requires removal of sections or pieces that spoil prematurely.

“It just takes a little more care that grocery stores don’t,” says Pellegrini.

“The case for environmental impact is a huge reason we exist, but of course it’s very important to provide dignified access to food.”

— By Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver

A street food market in St. John offers variety, low prices

It’s a gray day in St. John’s, NL, and the selection of produce offered in a small room on the Academy Canada campus exceeds most grocery stores in town.

It’s even cheaper. And that’s the point.

Sarah Crocker, with the non-profit organization Food First Newfoundland and Labrador, stands behind the tables offering bok choy, beets, jalapenos, Asian pears and long sweet peppers.

At $2 for each package or three for $5, Crocker says her Food on the Move pop-up market offers affordable ways for people to buy smaller, more manageable quantities of fresh produce.

She says it gives people living on their own a way to reduce waste and low-income earners an inexpensive alternative to big-name grocery stores. It also allows them an inexpensive way to try something new.

“I think it’s a bit of a misconception that low-income people should only eat staple foods,” says Crocker. “Even I’ve been really surprised at how much variety people are looking for and interested in.”

Through Food First NL, Crocker buys products from wholesalers such as Costco. She is also a farmer and sources her produce from other farmers when she can.

A dozen local market eggs are priced at $5.

Crocker takes the market around the city each week, from the student center at Memorial University to neighborhoods with high concentrations of public housing.

After selling at the Canada Academy, she will head to a community center in town to host after a senior bingo game.

“If you’re living on a low income, well-meaning people will say, ‘Maybe you could buy in bulk. Maybe you could find a sale,” she says.

“But when you think about how a household is going to do that if they don’t own their own vehicle and the public transport isn’t great and the big discount grocery stores are far from the city center – it’s absurd.”

— By Sarah Smellie in St. John’s

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 31, 2024.