As the price of groceries soar, many are looking for the best deal, and there are smartphone apps that can search store flyers to find the lowest price.

reebee allows users to browse digital flyers from more than 100 Canadian stores at once. If you like the deal, click on the image and save it to a personalized shopping list.

"I just did it this morning to see what Food Basic had," says Michelle Herley-Tremblay, who was able to find savings. "I got Kleenex, Coke Zero and my oat milk. I like the oat milk and it’s a good price this week it was $2.99 for a 1.75 L container.” 

More than half the price at some other stores.

The cost of consumables is soaring and the 12th edition of Canada's Food Price Report predicts the average Canadian family of four will pay an extra $966 for food in 2022, for a total annual grocery bill of $14,767.

"Everything is expensive so you have to save where you can, so I’m definitely on to the Flipp-board," says Ciarra White, adding that the app, which also browses flyers, can slash 10 per cent off her weekly grocery bill of $200.

"Just open the app it has a little search bar, type in what you’re looking for and it will show you all the best prices at all the stores. It saves me a bunch of time because you just click what you want and it saves to your clipboard and then you show the cashiers when you’re checking out."

Many stores participate in price matching and having all the deals and coupons in one place makes it much simpler. It is not only groceries.

"You can actually price match medications, household items, everything," says White, adding that she will browse on average 15 different store flyers per week.

Flipp is Canada’s most used e-flyer aggregating app. According to company CEO Michael Silverman, the average shopper saves about $45 per week using the platform.

"Searches on eggs, milk, butter have gone up through the roof," says Silverman. "Inflation is one part and then with the rise of grocery delivery and the inflated prices on those channels were a primary resource … our shoppers are almost desperately looking to save money against those items they need to buy regularly."

The apps are free and work on both iOS and Android smartphones. Users can search specific stores and receive notifications on selected items.

For those who don’t have mobile devices, many stores that offer price match will accept the weekly paper flyers.