Shopping for cheap groceries in the Downtown Eastside

Many people in the Downtown Eastside live in SROs and have a limited amount of space for food storage, a small food budget, and sometimes have to contend with cockroaches or other vermin in residences. This means buying small amounts of food, and looking for the best deals, while still getting some decent quality and variety. This is my list of the best low cost grocery shopping spots in the Downtown Eastside.

Sunrise Market

Although Quest and the Community Store at the Washington Hotel have some bulk, they are limited in variety. I therefore moved a little further afield to Commercial Drive for a wider range of bulk ingredients. These stores are accessible by 10 minute busride or about a 40 minute walk.

First on the list is Sunrise Market at Powell and Gore. They have an inexpensive and huge variety of produce, a budget friendly meat counter and a wide range of Asian ingredients as well as other staples. They are located on the corner of Powell and Gore and are open from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm everyday.

Window at the Washington Hotel

The Community Store in the Washington Hotel is run by Vancouver Coastal Health and has been at its current location at 177 east Hastings (at Main) for about 8 years.
They are a very small store, but they stock the basics, have some packaged deli meats, a dairy cooler and a freezer. They repackage many cereals, flours, etc. into smaller packages to meet the needs of people living in SROs and are significantly less expensive that your standard retail store. A 2lb bag of rice was 1.35 and a fair sized bag of flour was 1.10. A 1 kg bag of oats was 1.80. Their stock changes, according to what their supplier has on special, so stock and prices are not static. They are open from 10:00- 4:00 pm from Monday to Friday.

You will need a referral from a worker in social or community services to get a membership card to shop at Quest Food Exchange. Quest is a large registered non profit operating 3 stores and other projects. I have attached a link if you would like to find out more.

fresh produce

The store at 346 East Hastings tries to cater to the demographic in the Dtes (A high ration of SRO dwellers, and single people) Some items, like flour and cereals are repackaged into smaller quantities. Their stock is always changing but they always have some basic staples as well as more exotic items. When I visited, they had vitamins and health supplements, frozen stocks, meats, vegetables, appetizers, entrees and deserts, produce, juices, teas, lots of canned, and dried goods, yogurts, crackers, and snack foods, and tons of other stuff. The food is roughly 1/3 of what it would cost you in a store and you can also volunteer there in exchange for food. I was asked not to put prices or brand names of the food in the store in this blog because the stock is always changing. I guarantee you won’t regret taking a trip down there.

Next on the list for deals is good old Army and Navy. Somewhat of a landmark in Vancouver, they are

Hastings entrance

located at 140 west Hastings. A&N is a fairly good place to shop for inexpensive coffee, teas, cereals, canned goods, and other staples like flour, oils or sugar. They also have a small area for dairy and frozen items and they often have specials.

Dollar Giant at 173 east Pender (at Main) has a rather surprising amount of food items for $1.00. A few people mentioned it to me as a place worth checking for small size containers of mustard, hot sauce, other condiments and small supplements. I am sure their stock is always changing, but when I dropped in they had among other things: orange pekoe tea -75 bags, tuna, salmon, chicken noodle soup, crackers, worcestershire, hot sauce, salt, pepper, baking soda, peaches, a variety of cookies, and coffee.

The next two stores are recommended for bulk foods. If you are in need of conversions, 1kg= 1,00 grams and 1 lb. = 454 grams. I have a small conversion chart in the One Pot cookbook section and will be posting a more comprehensive one soon along with what the recommended portion size is for beans, grains etc.

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Dollar Grocers is located at 2210 Commercial (and 7th Ave) They have a great variety of bulk foods and spices.
Their selection of flours, grains, cereals, dried beans and peas, and other items like soy vegetable proteins, nutritional yeasts and a ton of other stuff is impressive and reasonably priced. Here is a sample of some of the items and prices on bulk:

short grain brown rice .35/100gr
couscous .50/100gr
buckwheat groats .59/100gr
split peas .25/100gr
all purpose flour .30/100gr
pot barley .30/100 grams
garam masala 1.99/100gr
oregano 2.49/100 gr0
mung beans .40/100gr
oatbran .35/100gr
pot barley .30

They are open from 9:00am to 9:00 pm every day.

El Sureno Market is located at 1730 Commercial Drive (at 1st).

bags of spices and bulk bins

They carry a wide diversity of spices and a bulk foods as well as packaged and reasonably priced Mexican, East Indian and Asian foods.

Here are some samples of bulk foods and prices:
green lentils .99lb
yellow split peas .99lb

Ashraf will help you find what you are looking for

black beans 1.35 lb
chick peas 1.39 lb
garam masala 1.99 lb
paprika 5.99 lb
yellow split peas .99 lb
tumeric 1.49 lb
corriandre 3.99 lb

I have to mention Chinatown because it is so close to the DTES and because it’s worthwhile to take a stroll through in search of good deals and interesting dinner options. There are lots of fresh seafood, produce and other food outlets for the budget minded. Watch for future blog on this.

Pender Street, Chinatown

If you have any suggestions for other good places to shop let me know and I will pass it on.

Photos by John Ferguson