A Loblaws flyer from 2015 really puts into perspective just how much grocery prices have changed over the years.
In a recent post on Reddit, user Meryk-Balthazar shared an archive of the supermarket’s Ontario flyers dating all the way back to 2012 on the site smartcanucks.ca.
The Redditor compared a flyer from September 18, 2015, to a flyer from the same week this year, and some of the price differences will make you wish you could travel back in time.
We compared some prices that stood out from 2015 and a flyer from 2014 to the one from this year.
Broccoli
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In 2024, broccoli crowns are $3.49 per pound compared to $1.99 per pound in 2015.
As Meryk-Balthazar mentions in their post, that’s a 75% increase from nine years ago. According to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, at the rate of inflation, this broccoli should cost around $2.53 this year, but Loblaws’ price beats it by $1.
Extra-lean ground beef
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This year, family-sized extra lean ground beef at Loblaws is $8.49 per pound, compared to $5.99 per pound for club-sized extra lean ground beef 10 years ago.
The family size is about 5 kilograms more than the club size, which may account for the higher price in 2024.
However, that price still outpaces the inflation rate, jumping by 40% instead of the 28% estimated by the BoC’s inflation calculator.
Onions and carrots
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In 2015, you could get two three-pound bags of carrots and onions at Loblaws for $4. Now, you can only get one bag for the same price.
Pastries
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Not all items’ prices have skyrocketed. The price of pastries like Danishes, turnovers, and strudels has only gone up by around $1.
Cheese
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Meryk-Balthazar noted these prices in their post, pointing out that the price of 400-gram Black Diamond cheese bars hasn’t changed when comparing a Loblaws flyer from 2015 to 2024.
Ultimately, it’s interesting to see which products have been hit by inflated prices and which ones have remained fairly untouched.
If you want to see more comparisons to the past, we also compared prices in a decade-old No Frills flyer to current prices.
There’s also a Canadian who tried repeating their 2020 Walmart grocery order in 2024, and the price difference was shocking.