There are several grocery stores in Cornwall and, like everyone else, we have our favorite. The one we got to most frequently is Food Basics, because it’s a lot less expensive than the other stores. There are two FBs in town - one on Brookdale and one on Second - so there’s always an alternative in case we fancy a change.
But we do find that the Independent store on 9th has a nice, big freezer section, providing a much better selection of meal ideas. And I must admit that we do often look for new and interesting meals because we tend to buy the same things every week to make the same 7 meals.
So, the pros and cons of each store? Like I said, FB is cheap, it’s big and there are two of them. We know the layout of the store and we know where to find everything. The staff have always been friendly and we only occasionally find an error on the receipt.
The Independent store is even bigger. Big freezer section, huge fruit and veg section, cooked chicken, a KFC-style meal area, a deli counter, pharmacy, a bank machine, a photo developer, a post office and more. As I typed that last sentence, it struck me that the Independent really is an “everything” store. But you pay for those services.
Anyway, the point of this post really was to highlight the differences between the two stores’ own brands. For FB, it’s Master’s Choice and for the Independent, it’s President’s Choice. These brands are always cheaper than the big name brands so that is normally the ones we go for.
For quality and taste and quantity, I would chose FB’s Master’s Choice every time.
For example, for breakfast every morning, I like a bowl of Frosties. Or Frosted Flakes, if you’re going for the real thing. Master’s Choice does a big, family-sized box. They cleverly split the cereal between two bags within the same box, which helps to preserve the freshness. The cereal tastes just like the real thing and I can honestly say that I couldn’t tell the difference.
The Independent’s President’s Choice version of the same cereal offers the same prize box but in only one bag. And it tastes real weird. I don’t like it at all. My stepdaughter likes Frosties too and she turned her nose up at it.
The same would apply to the Bran cereal that Hubby likes. FB’s brand are great, he says, but the President’s Choice ones he’d rather go without.
So we tend to head to Food Basic on a weekly basis and to the Independent when we fancy getting a few frozen meals to fill the freezer.








For our shopping spree, we chose the
Anyway, this post came about because I recently heard a
Anyway, at around 1pm today, we parked outside the McDonald’s on Brookedale in Cornwall and went inside. We ordered our usual, a few cheeseburgers and some fries and one drink (hubby and I share a drink).