While I have some free time, I want to tell you about quarantine in Canada, specifically in Toronto. Before we went to Canada, we read this article about the 14-day mandatory quarantine for everyone entering Canada. As requested, we prepared a quarantine plan to share with the officer, but we didn’t actually talk much about the quarantine itself because of our unusual case. The officer just told us to go to our temporary place and be back at the airport when the quarantine was over. I was actually mentally prepared for the quarantine; what I wasn’t prepared for was our situation. But I won’t talk about that today.

We got an Uber and went directly to our place in downtown Toronto. D.’s company had rented an apartment for us there in a tall condo building. We knew nothing about the place; we just hoped it would have a balcony so we could “walk around and get some air.” It turned out to be a nice furnished apartment with cooking supplies and everything a person needs to stay at home. It also had a balcony with a view of a small park.

When we arrived, the receptionist told us about the quarantine and added us to the “quarantine list,” which allowed them to leave deliveries at our door. Usually, they would ask residents to pick up their deliveries at reception (because of COVID). Quarantine means that you’re not supposed to leave your apartment, even to take out the trash. We would call the company that owned our suite in advance to ask them to take out our trash, put the bag right outside our door, and someone would pick it up. Every morning we checked in via the ArriveCan app, which you have to install before going to Canada; otherwise, they won’t let you on board. If you forget to check in, you’ll get a reminder about it. On the 15th day, our profiles were reset, and we could finally go outside.

And now I’ll share details about some delivery services that we used to survive the quarantine. There are many delivery services here, but it’s not easy to quickly get your head around all of them with a full picture of prices and fees. TL;DR The cheapest way is to order a lot of items directly from the grocery store. But because of our situation, we weren’t sure how much we should order, because we didn’t know whether we were staying in Canada. So we tried different options.

Grocery Delivery

Uber Eats

The morning after we arrived, we were too hungry to shop around for new apps — we had to order something quickly. We were already familiar with Uber Eats. Grocery delivery in Uber Eats is actually powered by Cornershop (more on that below) and arrives within 1–2 hours. In the end, Uber Eats turned out to be the most expensive grocery delivery because we paid both the Uber Eats fee and the Cornershop fee.

Here’s a summary of our first order:

  • Walmart (grocery itself) CA $132.03
  • Cornershop service CA $13.20
  • Delivery CA $6.90
  • Estimated taxes CA $4.47:
    • Product taxes CA $1.85
    • Service fee taxes CA $1.72
    • Delivery fee taxes CA $0.90
  • Order total CA $156.60

So it’s pretty expensive, but it’s OK when you’re hungry, stressed out, and can’t go out. Later I found out that Uber had recently bought Cornershop, but you can still order groceries directly from Cornershop.

Cornershop

Cornershop also delivers groceries within 1–2 hours. You can order groceries from various supermarkets: Walmart, Costco, Longos, Metro, etc. You also get three free deliveries after registration. For some reason, they also gave me a $20 discount, maybe because I had added some items to my basket but didn’t order them right away. Even though Cornershop charges a 10% service fee on every order, it’s still cheaper than Uber Eats.

Here’s a summary of our first order:

  • Walmart $79.40
  • Cornershop service $7.90
  • Delivery Fee Free
  • Estimated taxes: $4.04
    • Product taxes $3.01
    • Service fee taxes $1.03
  • Credits applied -$20.00
  • Total $71.38

We later ordered groceries from Cornershop a few more times. I also shared a referral link with my husband, and after we placed an order from his account, I got $20 off my next order.

Please note that if some items are out of stock, they will suggest a replacement.

Walmart

Another service that we tried was Walmart delivery. The downside is that you have to place your order a few days before the actual delivery date. But even after you place your order, you can still manage your basket. For example, the delivery was set for noon, but I could change items in my basket until 10 pm the previous day. Walmart doesn’t charge a service fee; the standard delivery costs $7.97, but you can get same-day delivery for $10. Unfortunately, if some items are out of stock, you can’t choose the replacement; they choose it for you. But if you don’t like it, you can always return it.

Here’s a summary of our first order:

  • Items Subtotal: $130.77
  • Delivery fee : $7.97
  • HST @ 13%: $2.20
  • Total: $140.94

Instacart

The last but not least grocery delivery service that I want to mention is Instacart. My referral link will give you a $10 discount on your first order. I also used a referral link when I signed up, but I didn’t order items from my basket right away… and I got $20 off the next day :) The delivery costs around 5% of the order total. I liked that they contacted me in their chat about items that were out of stock; that way, it was easier for me to find a replacement. As I previously mentioned, Uber Eats and Cornershop do the same thing, but Instacart representatives contact you directly in live chat, which is nice.

Summary:

  • Item Subtotal: $93.62
  • Sales Tax: $0.00
  • Tip: $4.68
  • Service Fee: $4.68
  • Bags Fee: $0.30
  • Retailer Coupon Discount: -$20.00
  • Total: $83.89

All the products were carefully packed, the delivery person left the bags right by the door, knocked, and left.

Food delivery

Apart from cooking our own meals, we also wanted to try various local restaurant deliveries, especially given that Toronto is famous for its variety of cuisines from all over the world.

We mostly used Uber Eats and DoorDash during our quarantine.

Uber Eats

To be honest, Uber Eats has a much wider variety of restaurants than DoorDash. They also have different discounts and personalized offers, for example, the “order one, get one free” deal. Although it has to be the same meal to use this option, when we ordered from a Thai restaurant, we left a comment asking the restaurant to make one meal spicier than the other. Please note that the listed price of a meal is usually lower than what it actually costs. For example, say you want to order Massaman Curry: the price is $21, but you have to add meat/seafood and rice to the order, and pay for them separately. In the end, the “order one, get one free” deal only applies to the Massaman Curry ($21) and not to the add-ons. There are also various fees added to the order, like taxes, tips, and service fees.

Here is an example of our first order:

  • Massaman Curry CA $21

  • Shrimp CA $4.00

  • Jasmine Rice CA $0.00 (usually it’s not free, though)

  • Tax CA $3.93

  • Service Fee CA $4.20

  • Delivery Fee $0.99

  • Tips CA $5.11

  • Total CA $39.23

So, although the curry costs $21, we had to pay $39.23 in total. We later noticed that we could modify the tip, but I advise you to leave good tips because there’s a pandemic going on, and delivery people are our heroes.

Useful tip. You can get a free one-month trial of Uber Eats (Eats Pass) and get free delivery plus 5% off orders over $15. I eventually subscribed to Eats Pass for a month.

DoorDash

Doordash is an Uber Eats competitor. It seemed to me that it has fewer restaurant options, but there are promotions, and delivery is often cheaper. DoorDash also has a subscription with some discounts. As a new user, you ’ll get some bonuses — free delivery and some other discounts.

Here is my first order from DoorDash:

  • Subtotal $30.58
  • Tax $4.42
  • Delivery Fee Free
  • Service Fee $3.36
  • Discount -$5.00
  • Tip $2.00
  • Total $35.36

Alcohol delivery

You can also order alcohol in Toronto. We used Runner, the delivery usually took around two hours after the order was placed. To receive your first order, you have to show your ID so they can make sure you’re over 19 years old. The delivery person from Runner was literally the only person we saw during our 14 days of quarantine. Once they’ve confirmed your ID, for every following delivery they just leave the package by the door, knock, and leave.

We ordered twelve bottles of beer and two bottles of wine for our first delivery.

  • Item total $86.58
  • Delivery Fee $9.99
  • Tax $4.24
  • Tip $5.00
  • Total 103.87

Other deliveries

I’m sure everyone knows about weed legalization in Canada. We were exhausted and devastated because of our situation, so we couldn’t help but take advantage of it. Most delivery services require you to stop by the shop to show your ID, but some of them accept IDs during the first delivery, for example, OCS (so it looks like we saw two people during our quarantine: from Runner and OCS). Delivery was not that fast; it took 2–3 days. We ordered a PAX vaporizer and some pods with high levels of CBD extract to finally relax and get some sleep. The PAX cost $46.50, and one pod costs around $50 on average (but it lasts about half a year).

  • Subtotal $96.45, including $11.00 tax
  • Delivery Fee $0.00

And, of course, Amazon. Amazon.ca is not as great as Amazon.com, but you can still order almost anything with fast delivery. For example, cleaning supplies. I subscribed to Amazon Prime to get one-day delivery, which is also free for the first month.

What we really missed during the quarantine was our PlayStation! We had sold ours just before the trip in order to buy a new one here after arriving. But again, we couldn’t do it because we weren’t sure if they would let us stay here… and to be honest, where can you even order a PlayStation 5?! They’re still not available anywhere. Of course, quarantine is a great time to read about everything you need to get done after it ends (banks, mobile provider contracts, renting an apartment), but to be honest, we didn’t do much research since we were under terrible stress. Once a day, we went out to the balcony for a “walk,” and several times a week, we worked out.

All in all, you can survive a 14-day quarantine, but it’s pretty easy to go a little crazy. Perhaps the most unusual feeling is realizing that you’ve been in a completely new country and city for two weeks but haven’t seen anything except the view from your window. I really appreciated the people walking their dogs; I usually spent a few hours a day watching them 🐶.

P.S. We paid for everything using our Russian Tinkoff bank, card, which lets you hold a CAD balance. Once the quarantine was over, our spending on groceries went down, since we were no longer obligated to order everything, and so we could spend less on delivery fees. Also, takeout places usually give you great discounts.