With grocery increase of up to 5% per year, shoppers are buying more staples, promos, and private label groceries, while dairy & bakery are the biggest packaged-food segments by sales.
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What’s in the Cart? Canada’s Top Grocery Buys
Bananas — cheap, kid-friendly and smoothie-ready. Also, tops the Instacart best selling grocery item.
Milk — dairy is one of Canada’s largest food categories.
Bread/Loaves — Being a Daily essential, baked goods are a top retail category by sales.
Eggs — Breakfast and baking workhorse, almost every household buys this grocery staple every week.
Potato chips — Trendy snack and Skip’s #1 grocery item nationally in 2024 and into 2025.
Soft drinks (“pop”) — Goes well with potato chips on delivery platforms.
Bottled water — Staple in bulk and single-serve formats for households.
Chicken breasts — A lean protein that’s a mainstay across cuisines.
Ground beef — Value protein for pasta sauces, tacos, and batch cooking.
Cheese (block/shredded) — A staple for lunchboxes, snacking, and cooking.
Yogurt — Breakfast staple.
Apples — Best selling fruit after bananas in Canada.
Salad greens/salad kits — Convenience produce that continues to grow.
Tomatoes — A fresh staple for sandwiches, salads or sauces.
Onions — Used across cuisines with a long shelf life.
Potatoes — Most shopped in colder months.
Coffee — With at-home brewing sticky post-pandemic is now a common loyalty-promo driver
Rice — Staple meal base across Canadian households.
Dry pasta — Has a great price-per-serving value and of course a long shelf life.
Buns, wraps and tortillas — Lunch and BBQ season essentials.
Top picks at delivery platforms are bananas and potato chips.