Whole food, bought in bulk, brought to your door.
Potatoes, rice, oats, lentils, eggs, chicken, vegetables and fruit. No pop, no pizza, no packaged food, just ingredients. We think buying them wholesale and sorting them in one place can cost families less. Below is the cart we would start with, and what the same food costs in stores today.
Where this stands: we are asking wholesale produce suppliers and Ontario egg and chicken producers for real prices. Nothing is for sale yet. This page collects interest so we know who to start with. Two things we have confirmed so far: the Ontario Food Terminal is wholesale-only (a buyer needs proof of a food business), and it publishes no price list, buyers negotiate prices with each wholesaler. It also lists local Ontario growers who sell there directly, so produce can come straight from growers as well as from the wholesalers. The pilot price depends on quotes we don’t have yet.
Why it can cost less
Picked and packed at the source, delivered to your door.
A supermarket
Grower or wholesaler, then a chain warehouse, then trucks to each store, then shelves, staff, rent, lighting and packaging for every brand. You drive there and carry it home. Every step is in the price.
The pilot
Bought in bulk from wholesalers and Ontario growers and producers, packed once for your household in one place, and brought to your door on one delivery day. No store, no shelves, no brands.
We think cutting the store out of the middle can lower what families pay. We have not proven it yet: we only publish a pilot price once suppliers confirm real quotes, and delivery has its own cost that the price has to cover.
The starter carts
One week of whole food, for four kinds of household.
Families, couples, students or one person on their own: pick the household, then a day and a person to see their plate, portions and macros, then the week’s shopping list.
A week on the plate
Day
Who
2,684kcal a day
- Protein
- 109 g
- 16% of energy
- Fat
- 60 g
- 20% of energy
- Carbs
- 441 g
- 64% of energy
Protein goal for Dad
109 g of at least 56 g a day
The goal is Health Canada’s minimum for this person’s age and sex. Active people and anyone training need more: add eggs or chicken.
Breakfast
Banana oatmeal, with eggs on the side
- rolled oats95 g
- bananas1.5 bananas
- eggs2.5 eggs
Lunch
Lentil and rice bowl with cabbage and carrot slaw
- rice85 g
- dry lentils85 g
- cabbage150 g
- carrots40 g
- canola oil10 g
Dinner
Roast chicken with potatoes, onions and carrots, rice on the side
- whole chicken190 g
- potatoes555 g
- rice85 g
- onions100 g
- carrots40 g
- canola oil20 g
Snack
Apple
- apples1.5 apples
Example days: the same foods and amounts every day, moved between meals so the week does not repeat, and your cart stays the same. Raw or dry weights. A starting point: add spices, change the mix, or swap in what you like. Fresh-baked bread is not in the starter carts; it is an idea we would test with a local bakery in the pilot.
Family of four: one week
Two adults, a teen and a child · 4 people
| Food | Amount | In stores today |
|---|---|---|
| Potatoes | 15.25 kg | $20.10 |
| Rice | 4 kg | $9.50 |
| Rolled oats | 2.25 kg | $7.08 |
| Dry lentils | 2 kg | $5.63 |
| Eggs | 5 dozen | $19.18 |
| Whole chicken | 7.25 kg | $39.80 |
| Canola oil | 0.75 kg | $2.93 |
| Onions | 2.75 kg | $4.23 |
| Carrots | 2.5 kg | $5.50 |
| Cabbage | 4.25 kg | $9.27 |
| Apples | 7 kg | $22.96 |
| Bananas | 6.5 kg | $11.31 |
| The week, at today’s cheapest shelf prices | $157.48 | |
Shelf prices read October 20, 2026 at 14 stores in Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Milton: the cheapest fresh price for each food at each store, then the median across stores. Hen eggs only, in packs of 12 or more; whole chicken counts 65% of its weight as edible.
How it would work
Four steps. No shelves, no brands, no markup for packaging.
01
You pick a cart
A student, a single adult, a couple or a family: the same whole food, in the amounts your household eats.
02
We buy in bulk
Fruit and vegetables from wholesale produce suppliers; graded eggs and chicken from licensed Ontario producers. Each is asked for a real price.
03
We sort it in one place
Weighed, bagged and labelled for your household. No brands, no extra packaging.
04
It comes to your door
One delivery day a week, starting in Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville and Milton in the Greater Toronto Area.
Who we start with
Families first. Then students and people on their own.
A family buys the most food, so a few percent matters most to them, and the families we hear from are the ones hit hardest: almost 1 in 3 Canadian kids lives in a home that can’t count on enough food (Statistics Canada, 2024). Students and single adults come next, with smaller carts.
What the first version won’t do
- Sell anything yet. There is no store and no price list until suppliers confirm.
- Promise a saving. Our 20% is a target, labelled as one. Ontario’s egg and chicken boards control production and producer prices, so we expect smaller savings there than on fruit and vegetables.
- Replace your supermarket. It is a weekly pantry of staples, so you still shop for the rest.
- Carry packaged or processed food. That is the point.
Tell us what you’d order.
Name, email and postal code now. Next you can add your household size, and a mobile number if you want a text when we know the prices.
Sources: shelf prices from Lucilla’s own daily readings of store websites; energy needs from Health Canada’s dietary reference intakes; food insecurity from Statistics Canada, table 13-10-0835-01.