We all have to do it, but these days, it's not always the most pleasant experience — especially for the bank account.

Yes, we're talking about grocery shopping.

It seems like the cost of just about everything is more expensive than it used to be, especially when it comes to the total on your grocery receipt.

So, we wanted to find out — does it really matter where you shop for the basics?

We went to Walmart, Sobeys and Dominion in St. John's with a list of seven items. Here's what we found.

Comparing apples to apples

On our list were canola oil, apples, toothpaste, chicken breasts, white bread, tea and milk.

Overall, Walmart's bill was about $7 to $8 cheaper than Sobeys and Dominion.

These are the totals on our grocery bills: 

• Sobeys: $43.46
• Dominion: $42.48
• Walmart: $35.05

A three pound bag of McIntosh apples cost:

• Sobeys: $7.19
• Dominion: $7.50
• Walmart: $5.97

We even got a $1.80 discount on our Sobeys apples — they were originally $8.99.

What about toothpaste?

A 95 ml tube of Colgate Cavity Protection was:

• Sobeys: $2.29
• Dominion: $2.79
• Walmart: $1.39

How about tea?

A box with 72 bags of Tetley orange pekoe tea cost:

• Sobeys: $7.29
• Dominion: $6.99
• Walmart: $4.47

We didn't get this down to an exact science. For instance, between the three stores, there were small discrepancies in the size of canola oil as well as the weight of the chicken breasts.

We also didn't have any coupons and we weren't looking for anything on sale.

Inflation relief?

According to Statistics Canada, the inflation rate actually decelerated to 3.8 per cent in September, down from four per cent in August.

CBC News reported that, year over year, the cost of filling up a grocery bag has risen by 5.8 per cent, which is down from more than 11 per cent this time last year. Price increases for many items do seem to be slowing down, and even declining for things like bacon, grapes and bananas.

But we know that the cost of eating still isn't what it was years ago.

For example, according to Statistics Canada, the monthly average retail price of apples in Newfoundland and Labrador was $5.48 per kilogram in August 2019 and $7.48 in August 2023.

Three litres of canola oil was $10.09 in August 2019 and was $14.82 in August 2023.

These prices also change greatly depending on where you live in the province. According to the NL Food Pricing Project, which collected data about the cost of food between 2020 and 2021, Nunatsiavut had the highest average prices of food.

The project also found that the food retailer actually had less of an impact on food pricing than location.

No matter how you slice it, food costs a lot of dough.

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