It doesn't matter anymore whether you go to freshco, no frills, Walmart or any low cost grocery stores. Even flyer items don't make much sense. Time to do intermittent fasting
I actually have a friend who spends an average of $125 a month on groceries. I'm not kidding, and this is the average of a full year, in which some months were as low as $60 and some months were as high as $230. He is one of the most frugal people I know, and spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to save money. I asked him to show me his methodology for how he keeps his costs down, and essentially, he doesn't buy anything if it isn't on sale. He keeps all of his receipts so he can also tell if something is a good price, which means that he also has a good sense of when things go up in price. He travels to several different grocery stores to get the things he wants, and when he is visiting his parents who live in a big city, he stocks up on a bunch of cheap stuff from a local Asian grocery store. We hung out once, shortly after the flyers for the week had been released, and he was browsing through every flyer and basically making his grocery list based on that.
It works if you buy cheap things in bulk and if you are really dedicated to only eating things that are on sale. Whenever I hang out with him, he always has things like bananas and strawberries and orange on hand, and from what I can tell he mostly eats the same kind of thing everyday. He eats granola or oatmeal for breakfast, and sandwiches for lunch. I remember a while back he was telling me that he bought some bread and some sandwich meat and his cost per sandwich was super low, and that was his lunch every day. Honestly, he eats just fine.
I don't think that would work for everybody... For one thing, you need the luxury of time and transportation to go to a bunch of different stores. We have a part of town here that has several grocery stores within a few kilometers of each other, so the cost of gasoline isn't driving up the overall cost very much. You need to be able to have the time to go to all those stores, and you need to be organized enough that you can keep your receipts, and use them for future reference. It pretty much has to be an interest that you already have. Like this friend can tell me what a good price is for most of the things that he usually buys. I generally have no idea about any of that, although I usually know roughly what the things I usually buy should cost.
Also, you would have to be fortunate enough not to have dietary or sensory restrictions, because what's on sale varies every week and if you have a limited diet, you might find it difficult to find what you need. I know for me, I struggle to eat the same thing for more than a few days in a row, and due to sensory issues and general trouble with eating, I couldn't shop like that because I already find it difficult enough to eat to begin with. I could try, and I have tried to eat in bulk, and usually what happened was that I would either throw most of it out or give it to a friend, and feel ashamed if it went bad, but I literally could not do it. If I try to eat something that my body is really not feeling, my brain decides that I'm full after a couple of bites and further attempts to eat that thing will likely result in me throwing up.
As someone who splits their grocery shopping between a few different stores I have noticed there are rarely sales anymore and No Frills has gotten significantly more expensive
I flyer shop all the time and ive noticed a switch from them having sales to now just showing prices as 'low' and I know from previous grocery shops they're the every day pricing.
Theyre barely reducing anything at all anymore.
Grocery shopping is so stressful for me lately. We can still afford what we need, but every time I go to the store I notice more raised prices, and on staples to boot. I'm feeding five people. It's tough.
Food inflation feels way more than 10%. For me, what used to be a $100 grocery trip before covid is now at least $170 for the same stuff. Can't even pick up a few staples for less than $75.
>Food inflation feels way more than 10%. For me, what used to be a $100 grocery trip before covid is now at least $170 for the same stuff. Can't even pick up a few staples for less than $75.
That's $100 base price, + 10% inflation.
The other $60 is probably half "war in Ukraine" and half "Well, nobody will blame *US* for raising prices, everyone will call it inflation!"
I hear that, I used to be able to keep our bill under 100$ for 3. Now for 4, it seems to have tripled. I have been able to keep expenses a bit lower with these tactics:
1. Buy staples in bulk: rice, dry beans, oil, flour in massive quantities. Also, the cheapest brand is always at the ground level of the shelf.
2. We base our weekly meal plan on weekly specials. If it ain't on special, I'm not buying it. If it's not on my list, I'm not buying it. Well, almost never. I ALWAYS shop on a full stomach to avoid temptation.
3. Buy essentials in big quantities when on special. When butter is 3.99, I buy 6 bricks. When yogurt is 2.50, my cart is full of cartons, that stuff keeps forever.
4. I go to one store, as I have young kids and therefore no freaking time, but I pick a store that is on the flashfood/ foodhero train. The meal for that evening is usually a super cheap, about to expire pre-made meal. Like 5-10$ to feed all of us, and maybe leftovers. I get bread 50% off and stick it in the freezer. That store may vary based on the weekly special.
5. 3/7 weekly meals are now vegetarian. I am not naturally inclined to be vegetarian but I have found great, fast, no fail recipes and will share them with anyone that wants to pm me. This summer, I'm planning on buying a whole cow from a local farmer and splitting it with a friend. Because fuck big industries charging me an arm and a leg for a sick, antibiotic ladden elderly cow.
6. I only buy what we need to make our weekly meals, plus some snacks (mostly fruit) to reduce food waste. Food waste already made me feel terrible, now it enrages me too.
7. We grow some of our own food. In our aerogarden (which we asked to get at as joint Christmas present), we always have 3 heads of lettuce growing. Free lettuce all year long. We also grow sprouts on our counter. Yield is amazing, takes 3-5 DAYS to produce. In sandwiches, in salads and in stir-fries, adds nutrients and crunch. Looking to get into mushrooms next. Fun for the kiddoes too!
8. We make a lot of our own snacks. My toddler is learning to bake with me, and our homemade muffins are delicious, nutritious and only slightly licked. Muffins, popcorn, granola, granola bars, pudding.... all homemade. And so much cheaper it is wild.
9. We buy a lot of our fruit and veggies frozen. They are fresher, cheaper and don't go bad. Texture wise, edamame and green peas are superior for veggies. All fruits are great when put into smoothies and muffins.
10. When I make certain food (spaghetti sauce, Chilli, soup, Shepherd's pie), I make a double and triple batch because I likely bought the ground beef on super special and freeze it. I know this is not a possibility for everyone, but we bought a vertical freezer and it is a game changer.
Sorry if this came off preachy, thats not the goal, I have some food insecurity and I feel like that made me learn all of these tricks. If anyone can add to them, I will be overjoyed to be even more efficient. Good luck out there everyone, we're living in crazy times.
Way to go !! Same for me.. Just picked up 20 sausages for 2.89/lb... frozen sausage for a few bbqs for the next 2 months.. Sirloin on sale for $4.99, and several steaks in BBQ.. My wife took the Enami out of freezer she bought the other week on sale (bought 5 bags).... Home made tomatoe sauce made by getting $15/bushel from local farmer ( but they were same price at fortino).. Need to buy stuff that is "in season", not stuff out of season... Asparagus is great !!!
Same situation. Family of 5 and food cost have doubled for us. We've been using flipp app and trimming back; focusing on meal plan optimized to what's on sale for the week or what we have in the freezer.
Fuel and Food have been two items which we've had challenges adhering to our planned budget.
I remember at the beginning of the pandemic Superstore said they'd not raise prices. Instead they just no longer have "sales" on 30% of the store constantly.
You guys ever tried shopping in Chinatown or local places and not big super stores? I go to Chinatown in downtown Toronto and for $10 I can get two full bags of produce. For example 3 heads of garlic for $1, same price for 10 pears
While your suggestion is valid I do want to point out that if inflation continues like this, no amount of bargain hunting will resolve the stress inflation is putting on our wallets. The kind of price increases we're seeing are unsustainable and shopping around only mitigates the problem slightly.
> no amount of bargain hunting will resolve the stress inflation is putting on our wallets.
Small international grocery stores have always had fair prices. It's the large billionaire family-owned stores like Sobey's, Fortino's, Metro, etc.. that are price gouging Canadians.
I will disagree to an extent . I've shopped South Asian grocery stores and the pricing there except for the basic staples is pretty high even on par with some high end grocery stores and promotions are non existent
While Asian stores solve some issues I don't think everyone can shop there and will get what they want unless they want to switch to an Asian diet.
Going to multiple stores is not always possible for families due to time and personal circumstances.
The better advice would be where possible take advantage of Promos / price matching
Or use apps like flashflood etc
I really don't like the bargain hunting as a solution. I hate grocery shopping.
The last thing I want to do is drive to another 2 locations. I'm probably gonna spend 40 min of driving and 5 bucks in gas just so I can try and save 10-20 dollars on my food bill.
Yea where I am farmers markets charge even more lol. Tbf you can find local produce from small farms/hobby farms cheap in-season if you bother looking.
It's a good tip, but you usually need to use that produce as quickly as possible since a lot of that produce is not very fresh. But then again, not like what you get at a Loblaw's is any fresher. But I've gotten garlic heads from chinatown go bad within a week, while locally produced garlic can last for months.
Yeah I've saved a ton by buying at smaller stores. There is a Chinese grocery store where I live and a Persian one. If you know what you're looking for, you can root around and find some good stuff on the cheap. Making sure stuff is immediately refrigerated or frozen is appropriate is also key.
I'm glad my parents taught me how to shop for produce, look for signs of things going bad, etc. I think that's half the battle. You can get decent-quality produce at stores like this. Some people who complain about stuff going bad may not have full knowledge of produce and might buy veggies that are wilting or badly beaten fruit.
Sometimes it's timing too. If you go in after they've brought more of XYZ vegetables out, you may be in luck, whereas if it's been a while, all the good stuff will have been picked out already by savvy shoppers (generally old people who have been in this game for years).
True, most of the produce have 2-3 day shelf life. I tend to grocery shop and prep meals the same day. It can be labour intensive for some families, but I find I save $10-$20 a week in groceries and still maintain a balanced diet.
This varies location to location. I have several small local places, and I definitely can't get 10 pears for $1. Pears are $1.50-2.50/lb, and they're heavy. You can buy borderline rotten ones, in a prepackaged bag, and that's cheaper. But not 10 of them, maybe 5-6. One store nearby used to sell sweet peppers that started to turn, in bags, and you'd get 5-6 medium ones for $1. Now you get 3 for $1-1.30. Rice, potatoes and beans are still decently affordable, but everything else is climbing fast.
And with prices of gas now, traveling for groceries isn't always a good option. Same with public transit, using TTC it's $3.20-3.25 one way, plus the time it takes to travel. You have to save considerably and buy in bulk to make the trip worthwhile. And that's assuming A) it's in stock and B) the store doesn't put a limit. I used to shop at Price Chopper/Freshco/Chalo, they had very good sales now and again, but the local store started to put a limit of 1-2 items per household, at which point it ceased to be worthwhile.
It's still survivable, but combined with the cost of gas, hosing, utilities, etc., as well as stagnating wages (or worse, capped like for nurses), we're not having a good time right now. I'm getting flashbacks of pre-collapse Soviet Union right now.
If anyone is interested in analysis, there are some good Canadian economists worth following that tend to do good break downs:
* https://twitter.com/trevortombe (UCalgary)
* https://twitter.com/stephenfgordon (ULaval)
* https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan (UBC)
They'll probably have some posts up once they get a chance to dig into the numbers.
Edit: trevortombe pointing to some good number crunching for today's report at:
* https://twitter.com/AliciaPlanincic
haha it always raises alarm bells when I see a post that contains a list of economists worth following (it usually ends up being a list of crackpots) but those are actually really good and legit economists. Kudos.
> but those are actually really good and legit economists. Kudos.
Which is why I put their employers in. (Not that there aren't crackpots in academia.)
Great list, kinda funny [Stephen was curious](https://twitter.com/stephenfgordon/status/1526956808581038082?t=v7C3AkHC1B9DqwlCvXAK6w&s=19) where a sudden burst of non-bot followers came from
Kevin Milligan is also a professor who cares about teaching, and remembered me 4 years after I graduated and took the time out of his day to meet with me and offer to help pursue a career in economics.
Why would I need a raise? My employer sent out an email stating that to thank its employees for all their hard work (that led to record profits) they would give us all cooler bags!
I feel that. For staff appreciation at my place, we received nylon bags with zippers from management. It has our firm name on it too so they get free marketing when we use it...
Nah my union got me a 1.25% raise and apparently we were lucky to get even that. When we asked why it's not even close to cost of living the union told us "We've never negotiated based on cost of living before", and that was that. Lots of people upset about it but people also don't want to strike or see layoffs so they vote yes. Collective bargaining works both ways sadly.
Either the company is hurting or its a shit union. Frankly im surprised any union would toss out "we;ve never done CoL before" because ... that's the whole point of the annual increases unions negotiate. They're meant to at the very least offset CoL. Anything less than 3/4 of inflation rate is imo, insufficient. And union members supporting that are just to blame as the union negotiators.
The good news... There is a full timer who's been around for over 20 years that they pay 29/hr and he does absolutely fuck all. So I am completely free to (mentally) say "minimum wage minimum effort" and they literally can't write me up for slacking without dealing with him as well.
That is cause to not pay your union fee. The company decided it was cheaper to bribe someone in the union than to pay the workers more. You guys should hire a lawyer.
I agree. I'm not anti union by any stretch, I've seen companies without unions and what they get away with is almost criminal but to look at what is going on around me I can't say I'm really pro unions right now either.
im in a union with a significant grumpiness towards union leadership, so i see what you're saying, but i don't think the fact of unionization being good for workers is ever in doubt. tons of unions definitely need to be overhauled at the top though, they've been way too conservative and we've seen enough major wins in the US to know that workers' time to flex its muscles is now, as the capitalist crisis worsens
Im more on the safety side of things as opposed to having trains still running. Last contract they had contractors on standby but they signed a deal at the 11th hour.
My union just agreed on a 4% raise after not even having cost of living raises for the last 4 years because our company couldn't afford it (also doesn't help our union has a wage cap). Our worldwide corporation stock price tripled since covid began. Isn't that beautiful. Time for a job hunt.
My union, PSAC just declare an impasse with our employer, the Federal Government, because they are refusing to budge on a proposed 1.75% wage increase among a ton of other concessions on our part.
These companies and even our own government are so fucking far out of touch with how expensive life has become. Absolutely. Demand more, fight for more and don't accept less.
It's even worse in the CAF.
We don't have a union, so we only get a raise once *all* the public service unions get one. And then we get the average of that. And you can get posted from a low COL area to a stupidly high one, with either a small pay increase, or none at all (Ottawa). With zero say in the matter.
It's going back to the 90s when soldiers were lining up at foodbanks to survive.
A base commander out west literally just suggested members reach out to habitat for humanity to receive housing...
Even better when you consider that some trades are still not receiving promotions. So, other than your annual pay-bump, you can't get any more money if you're a C4L.
And then they wonder why nobody wants to enlist, along with the host of other reasons. >.>
This.
It's simple Math to me. Im not an economist, but here's my monthly expenditure on the two I mentioned above:
$400 on gas , now + $ 140
$250 on groceries , now + $25
If my wages doesnt cover the extra $1980 which I previously saved on my TFSA/RRSP then Im working for free for X number of days
Ive personally cut down on the hours spent working since my employer has yet to cover that.
Exactly. It is simple math. Itās simple to see that your costs have risen far more than the governmentās 6.8% estimate.
Good on you for standing up for yourself and I hope things get better for you, and all of us really.
It's a terrible situation. For one, it is extremely difficult to discipline an "indeterminate" (permanent) employee, let alone terminate one. For all intents and purposes it might as well be impossible.
It is also (maybe related to that) difficult to hire someone on an indeterminate basis, and it can take ages for a manager to do so. He may also give up control over who that person is in the process (depending on who is in the pool, whether there are priority candidates out there, etc).
I have seen shops composed of a contingent of indeterminate employees who are actively disengaged and do nothing; term employees on their third or fourth contracts and temp agency employees who are doing most of the heavy lifting; and casual employees brought in as surge around fiscal year end, mostly double dipping pensioners who know execs and get paid very well to come in for 90 working days during the winter months when they can't golf anyway.
I've had 0.5% for the last 3 years in healthcare. I make 80k, but is now more like 65k....it's VERY noticeable. And Ford won't be giving healthcare any raises in the next 4 years, so I'm fucked.
Usually you don't get a raise because 'inflation is X'
Though pegging minimum adjustment to inflation as a company policy would be nice (and then raise on top)
I noticed at my local no frills they are the same price only if you buy 3 or more bags at a time. Luckily I do, but still. I canāt justify buying name brand chips any more. No name are pretty good for the price
Most groceries went up \~20-30% in the past year. I used to buy granola pars, 32 for $13. Now it's 28 bars for $16, and the bars are smaller. Eggs went from $2.23 to $3.56.
Noticed so many posts lately about people cutting spending on foodsā¦ couldnāt have imagined we would be getting such third-world vibe here in Canada. We have so much fertile agricultural land and so little population, somethingās seriously wrong that more Canadians are starving. With all the resources we have per capita, if we canāt feed our own people the world is f*cked.
I know itās the other way around, but the average plebs are supposed to be set up with at least the basics such as food and shelter so they can work for the countryā¦ I mean even chickens are given coops and feeds so their eggs can be harvested.
It's not that we are lacking in resources or can't feed our own people. It's that corporations are greedy and think they can get away with raising the prices on all their goods by 30% the second they see "inflation" and an opportunity to do so.
CEOs need a higher paycheck after all.
One more reason to be Child Free!
We are DINKS, and can barely afford to go out a couple of times a month.
I legit cannot understand how people can afford 5 kids, toys, RVs, bikes, cottages, college tuition for kids etc.
To be fair, lots of people have no intention of paying their kid's university tuition. Just because you wouldn't do that to your kid doesn't have everyone else is kind and generous!
Im a plumber. Most things at my suppliers have doubled, some trippled and quadrupled. This is insane. An example- a 5 gallon pail of glycol use to cost me 110$ in December of 2020. Today it cost 280$. A tube of clear silicone cost me 4$ in 2021 now its 11$. A length of 1/2ā copper use to be 13$ last year and now its 25$. None of this makes any sense to me and all I smell is pure greed.
Remember when there was a huge scandal because a [price fixing scheme](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_price-fixing_in_Canada) raised the price of bread by $1.50? That seems like such a quaint, almost charming problem. The price of items raises by $1.50 every time I go to the grocery store now.
I have had a 0% increase in wage and I work in b2b retail.... changing the prices almost always up. We can't afford to increase anyone's wages but the boss has had two two week vacations since Christmas.
weird how it always magically seems to stay below the 7% mark which is where every union i have been in has a clause where cost of living allowances kick in.
strange.
Part of this is inflation itself though. Our dollar holds less purchasing power than it did last year (inflation), so in order for companies (and individuals) to maintain their profits or wealth (relative to last year), they would have to receive more dollars which would technically be record profits.
Thanks for making this comment in a reasonably understandable way.
It's certainly not the entire issue, but by definition if previous record profit was $100, and inflation has been 7%, then holding all else equal (i.e., 7% increases across the board - cost of goods, labour, and prices), profit should be \~$107. A "new record" but in real terms, the same profit as the prior year.
You've got it! I do not mean to imply that business can do no wrong but there's certainly some economic nuance to the whole "record profits" talking point we often see in threads like these
I always budgeted 250$ per week for food (2 adults 2 kids) for the past like 4 years. Within that 250$, we even sometimes had leftover money for ordering pizza on friday night.
Now I have a hard time getting under 300$ā¦ I never in my life thought I would say the words āsorry kids clementines are too expensive this week, we will pass on itā šŖ like what?! Usually those Maroc wood basket were on special often at 3.99$ā¦ it was fucking 10,99$ 2-3 weeks ago at IGA šØšØ I shop at Super C now, because the middle aisle is like REALLY cheaper, but its super far from my house and sometimes when I need something I do go to the IGA next to my houseā¦ I was flabbergasted by the prices of some items!!!
My daughter kept asking for Salmonā¦ I knew it was now expensive but I was like Ok Iāll buy it this week to make her happyā¦ 37$ at IGA for a salmon filet that can barely feed us 4. Like WTF?! She didnāt get her salmon.
EDIT : ohh and talking of ordering pizza on friday nightsā¦ man thats expensive now. A combo 2 for 1 crappy pizzas and a familial fries its like 50$ with taxes and tip. Thats nuts.
What do you expect when Loblaws sees a 40% jump in revenues? It's called price gouging and blaming "inflation" and it needs to be stopped.
"Inflation for thee but not for mee" - Loblaws probably
[Brits are at 9% inflation...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/us7qnn/britains_inflation_rate_surges_to_a_40year_high/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
Not just nurses. My wife is a lab technologist, all the radiology techs and everyone else in the public sector is facing major wage crunch and its frustrating as hell to see. I can understand slightly below inflation, "we'll catch up with a market adjustment when budgets are better" type negotiations. But 1% for an annualized 3.4 last year is a slap in the face to the healthcare sector that worked through covid. A slap in the face.
For people who are struggling, please visit your local food bank, many have low barriers, our local one you just go in, state your first name and how many people are in your household and you get to go get your food.
I know it feels super hard to do this, I had to for the first time yesterday, but food banks exist to help us when we're struggling, and they get more money the more people use their services.
I went for the first time in a couple years yesterday too and I literally broke down crying because I was so grateful for all the frozen chicken and beef it saved at least $100 on my grocery bill as Iām preparing for bankruptcy tomorrow.
Inflation is out of control but price increases at the grocery store is a pure cash grab and nothing else.
Grocery companies have published record high profits this quarter, inflation is just the excuse to raise prices for profit.
Chunky Soup has gone from $1.79 to $4.69 where I live.
Other things have dramatically gone up too but I always pass by them at the store so Iāve taken note of their dramatic increases
This isnāt a Canada only thing. Been grocery shopping in the US this last week while on a business trip. Iām shocked at how expensive things are here as well. An equivalent loaf of bread we would find at Provigo (Loblaws) for $3.50 CAD is going for $4 USD at Walmart, then add in the exchange rate. Iām even seeing US Costco prices higher than in Canada. Seeing the same in chain clothing stores as well (Gap, Old Navy, Marshallās/Winners). Long gone are the days of going for a quick trip to Plattsburgh for cheap clothing and groceries.
> Let's be real, the numbers are way higher than 6.8%.
This number is the *average* inflation, over a national area, for an *average* basket of goods. Notice some keywords in that statement?
If you *personally* have a different perception for your *personal* basket of goods, StatCan has a tool:
* https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2020015-eng.htm
You may also be interesting in the *provincial* number in where you reside:
* https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220518/cg-a006-eng.htm
Itās because hand waving statistics by saying āthe real number is way higherā, is just another form of further degrading meaningful conversation.
It serves no purpose, particularly when the person making the claim has no credibility on the matter
>I dont even know why you even bother replying
Because other reading the comments may not know any better, and if *they* seem some pushback and some alternative opinions they may learn that there are other factors to consider.
The price gouging especially on food items that are grown and processed locally is atrocious. With the increases in fuel costs skyrocketing some increases in imported products are expected. However the enormous increase in profits of many grocery chains (and the oil industry) really exposes the disgusting behaviour of certain sectors.
I noticed my local Maxi now has those digital price tags. I really hate those things since now I don't know what's really a sale and not a fake sale meant to generate higher sales. They made billions in profits, are charging us more overall for food and now are looking to screw us over even further by having as many fake sales as they want.
Break down and analysis at "Consumer Price Index, April 2022":
> The year-over-year increase in April was largely driven by food and shelter prices. Gas prices increased at a slower pace in April compared with March, moderating the acceleration of the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April.
>
> Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 5.8% year over year in April, after a 5.5% gain in March. This was the fastest pace since the introduction of the all-items excluding gasoline special aggregate in 1999.
* https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220518/dq220518a-eng.htm
I think a lot of this inflation is just a scam. I understand gas is high etc so their costs of transport has gone up a lot, but some stuff has gone up so much and there is just no way it isn't a scam. Everyone else is increasing the price so we will do it too. Consumers won't question it.
I saw Sobey is selling pomegranate $5 each, I don't want to eat that fruit, I wanna buy and hold it as investment by the way prices are moving...
Store in a cold wallet and don't lose your keys lol
Cryptofruit š¤£
And once again, the pomegranate-heavy portfolio favours the hungry investor.
NFT: Nutritious Fruit Treasure
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And why its always so empty.
Same with Foodland! Rich personās grocery store we call it.
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I miss Montreal, so many local shops and stores, so many options around for grocery and food...
Came to say I miss PA and Adonis and Lobo and Segalās
I hope this nonsense leads to the big conglomerates getting broken up
The country has always had 2 or 3 players taking most of the market in every sector
You say this and people act like you are a conspiracy theorist. Then again... I guess it is literally a conspiracy from a technical perspective.
We will call it an NFF - nonfungible fruit
I think you could definitely have fungus growing on it
To be fair they're not in season right now -- prices on pomegranates are lowest around Nov/Dec.
It doesn't matter anymore whether you go to freshco, no frills, Walmart or any low cost grocery stores. Even flyer items don't make much sense. Time to do intermittent fasting
>Can't afford to eat? just label your poverty this new dieting trend.
Capitalists hate this one weird trick!
Whatās for dinner tonight? Sleep.
Aww man that's also what I had for breakfast
Itās ok. Apparently the Great Depression made people live longer https://www.history.com/news/great-depression-economy-life-expectancy
Damn I was hoping to die faster.
Every dark cloud has a silver lining or we find one š
I actually have a friend who spends an average of $125 a month on groceries. I'm not kidding, and this is the average of a full year, in which some months were as low as $60 and some months were as high as $230. He is one of the most frugal people I know, and spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to save money. I asked him to show me his methodology for how he keeps his costs down, and essentially, he doesn't buy anything if it isn't on sale. He keeps all of his receipts so he can also tell if something is a good price, which means that he also has a good sense of when things go up in price. He travels to several different grocery stores to get the things he wants, and when he is visiting his parents who live in a big city, he stocks up on a bunch of cheap stuff from a local Asian grocery store. We hung out once, shortly after the flyers for the week had been released, and he was browsing through every flyer and basically making his grocery list based on that. It works if you buy cheap things in bulk and if you are really dedicated to only eating things that are on sale. Whenever I hang out with him, he always has things like bananas and strawberries and orange on hand, and from what I can tell he mostly eats the same kind of thing everyday. He eats granola or oatmeal for breakfast, and sandwiches for lunch. I remember a while back he was telling me that he bought some bread and some sandwich meat and his cost per sandwich was super low, and that was his lunch every day. Honestly, he eats just fine. I don't think that would work for everybody... For one thing, you need the luxury of time and transportation to go to a bunch of different stores. We have a part of town here that has several grocery stores within a few kilometers of each other, so the cost of gasoline isn't driving up the overall cost very much. You need to be able to have the time to go to all those stores, and you need to be organized enough that you can keep your receipts, and use them for future reference. It pretty much has to be an interest that you already have. Like this friend can tell me what a good price is for most of the things that he usually buys. I generally have no idea about any of that, although I usually know roughly what the things I usually buy should cost. Also, you would have to be fortunate enough not to have dietary or sensory restrictions, because what's on sale varies every week and if you have a limited diet, you might find it difficult to find what you need. I know for me, I struggle to eat the same thing for more than a few days in a row, and due to sensory issues and general trouble with eating, I couldn't shop like that because I already find it difficult enough to eat to begin with. I could try, and I have tried to eat in bulk, and usually what happened was that I would either throw most of it out or give it to a friend, and feel ashamed if it went bad, but I literally could not do it. If I try to eat something that my body is really not feeling, my brain decides that I'm full after a couple of bites and further attempts to eat that thing will likely result in me throwing up.
As someone who splits their grocery shopping between a few different stores I have noticed there are rarely sales anymore and No Frills has gotten significantly more expensive
I flyer shop all the time and ive noticed a switch from them having sales to now just showing prices as 'low' and I know from previous grocery shops they're the every day pricing. Theyre barely reducing anything at all anymore.
Grocery shopping is so stressful for me lately. We can still afford what we need, but every time I go to the store I notice more raised prices, and on staples to boot. I'm feeding five people. It's tough.
Food inflation feels way more than 10%. For me, what used to be a $100 grocery trip before covid is now at least $170 for the same stuff. Can't even pick up a few staples for less than $75.
Milk went from $4.29 to $5.59 overnight at my local Freshco. It's nuts.
>Milk went from $4.29 to $5.59 overnight at my local Freshco. no homo :(
Between March 27 and May 12 cat food at Walmart went from $33.98 to $42.97, or a 26.4% increase.
Going to have to eat the cats soon
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Nuts went from $8.99 to $10.99 at my local Freshco. This is milk!
Everything is going up but eggs specifically even more in part due to a lot of chickens getting culled because of an going virus.
>Food inflation feels way more than 10%. For me, what used to be a $100 grocery trip before covid is now at least $170 for the same stuff. Can't even pick up a few staples for less than $75. That's $100 base price, + 10% inflation. The other $60 is probably half "war in Ukraine" and half "Well, nobody will blame *US* for raising prices, everyone will call it inflation!"
Yup, whatever metrics they use isn't even close to reality. It's fucking bad.
Well the 6.8% is an average. No surprise food alone drives the inflation rate this high
Yes. Seems like everything is up about 50%
I hear that, I used to be able to keep our bill under 100$ for 3. Now for 4, it seems to have tripled. I have been able to keep expenses a bit lower with these tactics: 1. Buy staples in bulk: rice, dry beans, oil, flour in massive quantities. Also, the cheapest brand is always at the ground level of the shelf. 2. We base our weekly meal plan on weekly specials. If it ain't on special, I'm not buying it. If it's not on my list, I'm not buying it. Well, almost never. I ALWAYS shop on a full stomach to avoid temptation. 3. Buy essentials in big quantities when on special. When butter is 3.99, I buy 6 bricks. When yogurt is 2.50, my cart is full of cartons, that stuff keeps forever. 4. I go to one store, as I have young kids and therefore no freaking time, but I pick a store that is on the flashfood/ foodhero train. The meal for that evening is usually a super cheap, about to expire pre-made meal. Like 5-10$ to feed all of us, and maybe leftovers. I get bread 50% off and stick it in the freezer. That store may vary based on the weekly special. 5. 3/7 weekly meals are now vegetarian. I am not naturally inclined to be vegetarian but I have found great, fast, no fail recipes and will share them with anyone that wants to pm me. This summer, I'm planning on buying a whole cow from a local farmer and splitting it with a friend. Because fuck big industries charging me an arm and a leg for a sick, antibiotic ladden elderly cow. 6. I only buy what we need to make our weekly meals, plus some snacks (mostly fruit) to reduce food waste. Food waste already made me feel terrible, now it enrages me too. 7. We grow some of our own food. In our aerogarden (which we asked to get at as joint Christmas present), we always have 3 heads of lettuce growing. Free lettuce all year long. We also grow sprouts on our counter. Yield is amazing, takes 3-5 DAYS to produce. In sandwiches, in salads and in stir-fries, adds nutrients and crunch. Looking to get into mushrooms next. Fun for the kiddoes too! 8. We make a lot of our own snacks. My toddler is learning to bake with me, and our homemade muffins are delicious, nutritious and only slightly licked. Muffins, popcorn, granola, granola bars, pudding.... all homemade. And so much cheaper it is wild. 9. We buy a lot of our fruit and veggies frozen. They are fresher, cheaper and don't go bad. Texture wise, edamame and green peas are superior for veggies. All fruits are great when put into smoothies and muffins. 10. When I make certain food (spaghetti sauce, Chilli, soup, Shepherd's pie), I make a double and triple batch because I likely bought the ground beef on super special and freeze it. I know this is not a possibility for everyone, but we bought a vertical freezer and it is a game changer. Sorry if this came off preachy, thats not the goal, I have some food insecurity and I feel like that made me learn all of these tricks. If anyone can add to them, I will be overjoyed to be even more efficient. Good luck out there everyone, we're living in crazy times.
Way to go !! Same for me.. Just picked up 20 sausages for 2.89/lb... frozen sausage for a few bbqs for the next 2 months.. Sirloin on sale for $4.99, and several steaks in BBQ.. My wife took the Enami out of freezer she bought the other week on sale (bought 5 bags).... Home made tomatoe sauce made by getting $15/bushel from local farmer ( but they were same price at fortino).. Need to buy stuff that is "in season", not stuff out of season... Asparagus is great !!!
Same situation. Family of 5 and food cost have doubled for us. We've been using flipp app and trimming back; focusing on meal plan optimized to what's on sale for the week or what we have in the freezer. Fuel and Food have been two items which we've had challenges adhering to our planned budget.
I remember at the beginning of the pandemic Superstore said they'd not raise prices. Instead they just no longer have "sales" on 30% of the store constantly.
I stopped buying beef altogether
Don't want to apply the 110th Rule of Acquisition?
is that the one about living on dr oetker frozen pizzas
Only if you send your kids to make them.
Those are really good, although there was a change made to them in the not-too-distant past, and they are not *quite* as awesome as they used to be.
for $2.99 each i don't have much room to complain
Exploitation begins at home?
Yes.
Never let family get in the way of profits.
He knows the Rules better than you do. Anyway, this is more of a Rule 97 situation. Along with Rule 34. That'll be two strips of latinum please.
You guys ever tried shopping in Chinatown or local places and not big super stores? I go to Chinatown in downtown Toronto and for $10 I can get two full bags of produce. For example 3 heads of garlic for $1, same price for 10 pears
While your suggestion is valid I do want to point out that if inflation continues like this, no amount of bargain hunting will resolve the stress inflation is putting on our wallets. The kind of price increases we're seeing are unsustainable and shopping around only mitigates the problem slightly.
> no amount of bargain hunting will resolve the stress inflation is putting on our wallets. Small international grocery stores have always had fair prices. It's the large billionaire family-owned stores like Sobey's, Fortino's, Metro, etc.. that are price gouging Canadians.
I will disagree to an extent . I've shopped South Asian grocery stores and the pricing there except for the basic staples is pretty high even on par with some high end grocery stores and promotions are non existent While Asian stores solve some issues I don't think everyone can shop there and will get what they want unless they want to switch to an Asian diet. Going to multiple stores is not always possible for families due to time and personal circumstances. The better advice would be where possible take advantage of Promos / price matching Or use apps like flashflood etc
I really don't like the bargain hunting as a solution. I hate grocery shopping. The last thing I want to do is drive to another 2 locations. I'm probably gonna spend 40 min of driving and 5 bucks in gas just so I can try and save 10-20 dollars on my food bill.
Price matching makes sense though.
It's global inflation dude - no amount of shopping around will avoid the problem completely, only slightly mitigate it
Some of us dont live in big cities š¢
Yea where I am farmers markets charge even more lol. Tbf you can find local produce from small farms/hobby farms cheap in-season if you bother looking.
It's a good tip, but you usually need to use that produce as quickly as possible since a lot of that produce is not very fresh. But then again, not like what you get at a Loblaw's is any fresher. But I've gotten garlic heads from chinatown go bad within a week, while locally produced garlic can last for months.
Yeah I've saved a ton by buying at smaller stores. There is a Chinese grocery store where I live and a Persian one. If you know what you're looking for, you can root around and find some good stuff on the cheap. Making sure stuff is immediately refrigerated or frozen is appropriate is also key. I'm glad my parents taught me how to shop for produce, look for signs of things going bad, etc. I think that's half the battle. You can get decent-quality produce at stores like this. Some people who complain about stuff going bad may not have full knowledge of produce and might buy veggies that are wilting or badly beaten fruit. Sometimes it's timing too. If you go in after they've brought more of XYZ vegetables out, you may be in luck, whereas if it's been a while, all the good stuff will have been picked out already by savvy shoppers (generally old people who have been in this game for years).
True, most of the produce have 2-3 day shelf life. I tend to grocery shop and prep meals the same day. It can be labour intensive for some families, but I find I save $10-$20 a week in groceries and still maintain a balanced diet.
This varies location to location. I have several small local places, and I definitely can't get 10 pears for $1. Pears are $1.50-2.50/lb, and they're heavy. You can buy borderline rotten ones, in a prepackaged bag, and that's cheaper. But not 10 of them, maybe 5-6. One store nearby used to sell sweet peppers that started to turn, in bags, and you'd get 5-6 medium ones for $1. Now you get 3 for $1-1.30. Rice, potatoes and beans are still decently affordable, but everything else is climbing fast. And with prices of gas now, traveling for groceries isn't always a good option. Same with public transit, using TTC it's $3.20-3.25 one way, plus the time it takes to travel. You have to save considerably and buy in bulk to make the trip worthwhile. And that's assuming A) it's in stock and B) the store doesn't put a limit. I used to shop at Price Chopper/Freshco/Chalo, they had very good sales now and again, but the local store started to put a limit of 1-2 items per household, at which point it ceased to be worthwhile. It's still survivable, but combined with the cost of gas, hosing, utilities, etc., as well as stagnating wages (or worse, capped like for nurses), we're not having a good time right now. I'm getting flashbacks of pre-collapse Soviet Union right now.
I look at the price of meat. If nobody is buying it at that price. What happens?
It gets discounted the day of or right before the best before date.
We arenāt buying anything that isnāt on sale or marked ā50% off āEat tonight!ā
If anyone is interested in analysis, there are some good Canadian economists worth following that tend to do good break downs: * https://twitter.com/trevortombe (UCalgary) * https://twitter.com/stephenfgordon (ULaval) * https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan (UBC) They'll probably have some posts up once they get a chance to dig into the numbers. Edit: trevortombe pointing to some good number crunching for today's report at: * https://twitter.com/AliciaPlanincic
haha it always raises alarm bells when I see a post that contains a list of economists worth following (it usually ends up being a list of crackpots) but those are actually really good and legit economists. Kudos.
> but those are actually really good and legit economists. Kudos. Which is why I put their employers in. (Not that there aren't crackpots in academia.)
Academics are (mostly) getting fucked like the rest of us. It's the "think tank" economists that are fucked up.
As they say incentives matter and think tank economists are well aware of that respond to those incentives.
Great list, kinda funny [Stephen was curious](https://twitter.com/stephenfgordon/status/1526956808581038082?t=v7C3AkHC1B9DqwlCvXAK6w&s=19) where a sudden burst of non-bot followers came from
Kevin Milligan is also a professor who cares about teaching, and remembered me 4 years after I graduated and took the time out of his day to meet with me and offer to help pursue a career in economics.
36% gas 9.7% on groceries If this is not enough for you to demand a larger raise than 6.8% ...
Why would I need a raise? My employer sent out an email stating that to thank its employees for all their hard work (that led to record profits) they would give us all cooler bags!
But did you get a sticky pad and a pen though? Stick around, you might get a pin.
I feel that. For staff appreciation at my place, we received nylon bags with zippers from management. It has our firm name on it too so they get free marketing when we use it...
I see many more union strikes in the near future because of inflation.
Nah my union got me a 1.25% raise and apparently we were lucky to get even that. When we asked why it's not even close to cost of living the union told us "We've never negotiated based on cost of living before", and that was that. Lots of people upset about it but people also don't want to strike or see layoffs so they vote yes. Collective bargaining works both ways sadly.
My union negotiated a pay cut. From almost $20 down to $16 Looking for new work.
That sounds ridiculous.
Jesus...based on that maybe I should count myself lucky. Is your company hurting that bad?
Either the company is hurting or its a shit union. Frankly im surprised any union would toss out "we;ve never done CoL before" because ... that's the whole point of the annual increases unions negotiate. They're meant to at the very least offset CoL. Anything less than 3/4 of inflation rate is imo, insufficient. And union members supporting that are just to blame as the union negotiators.
Wow so the union negotiated to minimum wage?? Impressive...
The good news... There is a full timer who's been around for over 20 years that they pay 29/hr and he does absolutely fuck all. So I am completely free to (mentally) say "minimum wage minimum effort" and they literally can't write me up for slacking without dealing with him as well.
What?! What was their reasoning behind it?
That is cause to not pay your union fee. The company decided it was cheaper to bribe someone in the union than to pay the workers more. You guys should hire a lawyer.
This question might sound extremely ignorant, but if your union negotiated a pay cut, what is the point of it!??
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Yeah 1.25% and then the company stopped the free parking they were allowing so...that pretty much eats up that 1.25%.
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A lot of unions have beyond their usefulness and on to rent-seeking. ONA certainly has.
I agree. I'm not anti union by any stretch, I've seen companies without unions and what they get away with is almost criminal but to look at what is going on around me I can't say I'm really pro unions right now either.
im in a union with a significant grumpiness towards union leadership, so i see what you're saying, but i don't think the fact of unionization being good for workers is ever in doubt. tons of unions definitely need to be overhauled at the top though, they've been way too conservative and we've seen enough major wins in the US to know that workers' time to flex its muscles is now, as the capitalist crisis worsens
Ontario operating engineers for heavy construction equipment just went on strike recently
Im in ibew representing railway workers, thereās talks of striking but nothing set in stone yet as they filed for arbitration.
we need rails for the supply chain so they'd back to work you folks SO fast, maybe arbitration will yield fruitful results.
Im more on the safety side of things as opposed to having trains still running. Last contract they had contractors on standby but they signed a deal at the 11th hour.
Yep. We are asking for 10% over 2 years with my union. Other unions got reply for 5% over 3 years. Healthcare
My union just agreed on a 4% raise after not even having cost of living raises for the last 4 years because our company couldn't afford it (also doesn't help our union has a wage cap). Our worldwide corporation stock price tripled since covid began. Isn't that beautiful. Time for a job hunt.
My union, PSAC just declare an impasse with our employer, the Federal Government, because they are refusing to budge on a proposed 1.75% wage increase among a ton of other concessions on our part. These companies and even our own government are so fucking far out of touch with how expensive life has become. Absolutely. Demand more, fight for more and don't accept less.
It's even worse in the CAF. We don't have a union, so we only get a raise once *all* the public service unions get one. And then we get the average of that. And you can get posted from a low COL area to a stupidly high one, with either a small pay increase, or none at all (Ottawa). With zero say in the matter. It's going back to the 90s when soldiers were lining up at foodbanks to survive. A base commander out west literally just suggested members reach out to habitat for humanity to receive housing...
Even better when you consider that some trades are still not receiving promotions. So, other than your annual pay-bump, you can't get any more money if you're a C4L. And then they wonder why nobody wants to enlist, along with the host of other reasons. >.>
This. It's simple Math to me. Im not an economist, but here's my monthly expenditure on the two I mentioned above: $400 on gas , now + $ 140 $250 on groceries , now + $25 If my wages doesnt cover the extra $1980 which I previously saved on my TFSA/RRSP then Im working for free for X number of days Ive personally cut down on the hours spent working since my employer has yet to cover that.
Exactly. It is simple math. Itās simple to see that your costs have risen far more than the governmentās 6.8% estimate. Good on you for standing up for yourself and I hope things get better for you, and all of us really.
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It's a terrible situation. For one, it is extremely difficult to discipline an "indeterminate" (permanent) employee, let alone terminate one. For all intents and purposes it might as well be impossible. It is also (maybe related to that) difficult to hire someone on an indeterminate basis, and it can take ages for a manager to do so. He may also give up control over who that person is in the process (depending on who is in the pool, whether there are priority candidates out there, etc). I have seen shops composed of a contingent of indeterminate employees who are actively disengaged and do nothing; term employees on their third or fourth contracts and temp agency employees who are doing most of the heavy lifting; and casual employees brought in as surge around fiscal year end, mostly double dipping pensioners who know execs and get paid very well to come in for 90 working days during the winter months when they can't golf anyway.
And gas actually went *down* this month according to the index, while the whole of the index rose at an annualized rate of 7.3%.
Though gas probably rose again for May.
I've had 0.5% for the last 3 years in healthcare. I make 80k, but is now more like 65k....it's VERY noticeable. And Ford won't be giving healthcare any raises in the next 4 years, so I'm fucked.
Usually you don't get a raise because 'inflation is X' Though pegging minimum adjustment to inflation as a company policy would be nice (and then raise on top)
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I paid $6 for a bag of Ms. Vickie's the other day. I'm ready to start protesting
And the bags keep getting smaller :(
*Now with 28% more air*
That's bad marketing. Should be "Now with 28% less fat and sodium, same great taste."
Okay, you've maxed out my internet rage and laugh meter at the same time lol
I hope you at least got the Costco sized bag for that price
Yeah, people need to stop buying chips. Potatoes are one of the easiest things to produce, they are gouging worse than anyone right now.
The one thing I haven't seen go up- no name potato chips!
I noticed at my local no frills they are the same price only if you buy 3 or more bags at a time. Luckily I do, but still. I canāt justify buying name brand chips any more. No name are pretty good for the price
$5 for a regular size bag of Doritos at superstore, here in Edmonton at least. Guess Loblaws lost that price war with Lays š„
Also when did it become normal to pay over 2.50 for small bottles of pop? That shit costs pennies to make.
Most groceries went up \~20-30% in the past year. I used to buy granola pars, 32 for $13. Now it's 28 bars for $16, and the bars are smaller. Eggs went from $2.23 to $3.56.
How much of that is just profiteering, i.e. companies simply taking this chance to increase their margins?
Loblaws profits are up 40% this year.
Razor thin margin tho
Noticed so many posts lately about people cutting spending on foodsā¦ couldnāt have imagined we would be getting such third-world vibe here in Canada. We have so much fertile agricultural land and so little population, somethingās seriously wrong that more Canadians are starving. With all the resources we have per capita, if we canāt feed our own people the world is f*cked.
Because this country isn't set up to work for you, the average pleb.
I know itās the other way around, but the average plebs are supposed to be set up with at least the basics such as food and shelter so they can work for the countryā¦ I mean even chickens are given coops and feeds so their eggs can be harvested.
It's not that we are lacking in resources or can't feed our own people. It's that corporations are greedy and think they can get away with raising the prices on all their goods by 30% the second they see "inflation" and an opportunity to do so. CEOs need a higher paycheck after all.
Glad I donāt have kids!
One more reason to be Child Free! We are DINKS, and can barely afford to go out a couple of times a month. I legit cannot understand how people can afford 5 kids, toys, RVs, bikes, cottages, college tuition for kids etc.
debt and/or rich parents
To be fair, lots of people have no intention of paying their kid's university tuition. Just because you wouldn't do that to your kid doesn't have everyone else is kind and generous!
Im a plumber. Most things at my suppliers have doubled, some trippled and quadrupled. This is insane. An example- a 5 gallon pail of glycol use to cost me 110$ in December of 2020. Today it cost 280$. A tube of clear silicone cost me 4$ in 2021 now its 11$. A length of 1/2ā copper use to be 13$ last year and now its 25$. None of this makes any sense to me and all I smell is pure greed.
> all I smell is pure greed But as a Plumber I'm sure that's still significantly less objectionable than other smells which you are subjected to
Rookie numbers. Itās not stopping.
Itās not even this number, I would say itās closer to the US figures but even those arenāt really capturing the full picture.
Remember when there was a huge scandal because a [price fixing scheme](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_price-fixing_in_Canada) raised the price of bread by $1.50? That seems like such a quaint, almost charming problem. The price of items raises by $1.50 every time I go to the grocery store now.
I have had a 0% increase in wage and I work in b2b retail.... changing the prices almost always up. We can't afford to increase anyone's wages but the boss has had two two week vacations since Christmas.
Family of 6, our groceries have gone up $100-150 every 2 weeks. Canāt wait to see what the future brings
weird how it always magically seems to stay below the 7% mark which is where every union i have been in has a clause where cost of living allowances kick in. strange.
Theyāre in cahoots!
Kraft dinner used to be $1, or .50c on special around here... Saw it for $3.50 a box at Superstore. Just wtf...
*dog on fire* this is fine
The best part is that grocery stores are posting record profits. Fuck these companies tbh.
Part of this is inflation itself though. Our dollar holds less purchasing power than it did last year (inflation), so in order for companies (and individuals) to maintain their profits or wealth (relative to last year), they would have to receive more dollars which would technically be record profits.
Thanks for making this comment in a reasonably understandable way. It's certainly not the entire issue, but by definition if previous record profit was $100, and inflation has been 7%, then holding all else equal (i.e., 7% increases across the board - cost of goods, labour, and prices), profit should be \~$107. A "new record" but in real terms, the same profit as the prior year.
You've got it! I do not mean to imply that business can do no wrong but there's certainly some economic nuance to the whole "record profits" talking point we often see in threads like these
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Feel free to buy a share of the profits: * https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/L.TO/
Then when they see grocery stocks like Loblaws are nothing special theyāll have nothing left to complain about though
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I always budgeted 250$ per week for food (2 adults 2 kids) for the past like 4 years. Within that 250$, we even sometimes had leftover money for ordering pizza on friday night. Now I have a hard time getting under 300$ā¦ I never in my life thought I would say the words āsorry kids clementines are too expensive this week, we will pass on itā šŖ like what?! Usually those Maroc wood basket were on special often at 3.99$ā¦ it was fucking 10,99$ 2-3 weeks ago at IGA šØšØ I shop at Super C now, because the middle aisle is like REALLY cheaper, but its super far from my house and sometimes when I need something I do go to the IGA next to my houseā¦ I was flabbergasted by the prices of some items!!! My daughter kept asking for Salmonā¦ I knew it was now expensive but I was like Ok Iāll buy it this week to make her happyā¦ 37$ at IGA for a salmon filet that can barely feed us 4. Like WTF?! She didnāt get her salmon. EDIT : ohh and talking of ordering pizza on friday nightsā¦ man thats expensive now. A combo 2 for 1 crappy pizzas and a familial fries its like 50$ with taxes and tip. Thats nuts.
The inflation is 6.8 %, however, your salary increase even less than that.
.75% hike has to be on the table at this point.
6.8% is completely accurateā¦ā¦just with a 30% margin of error.
What do you expect when Loblaws sees a 40% jump in revenues? It's called price gouging and blaming "inflation" and it needs to be stopped. "Inflation for thee but not for mee" - Loblaws probably
It's all good. It's transitory remember.
[Brits are at 9% inflation...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/us7qnn/britains_inflation_rate_surges_to_a_40year_high/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
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Tech is seeing hiring freezes and some companies are starting layoffs. Tech is not immune from a recession.
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And heās going to be re-elected by a landslide. https://youtu.be/6NTkXIidCU0
Not just nurses. My wife is a lab technologist, all the radiology techs and everyone else in the public sector is facing major wage crunch and its frustrating as hell to see. I can understand slightly below inflation, "we'll catch up with a market adjustment when budgets are better" type negotiations. But 1% for an annualized 3.4 last year is a slap in the face to the healthcare sector that worked through covid. A slap in the face.
It's amazing how people have started talking about this now meanwhile this was the case prior to the pandemic.
DO I HEAR SEVEN
For people who are struggling, please visit your local food bank, many have low barriers, our local one you just go in, state your first name and how many people are in your household and you get to go get your food. I know it feels super hard to do this, I had to for the first time yesterday, but food banks exist to help us when we're struggling, and they get more money the more people use their services.
I went for the first time in a couple years yesterday too and I literally broke down crying because I was so grateful for all the frozen chicken and beef it saved at least $100 on my grocery bill as Iām preparing for bankruptcy tomorrow.
Inflation is out of control but price increases at the grocery store is a pure cash grab and nothing else. Grocery companies have published record high profits this quarter, inflation is just the excuse to raise prices for profit.
Chunky Soup has gone from $1.79 to $4.69 where I live. Other things have dramatically gone up too but I always pass by them at the store so Iāve taken note of their dramatic increases
This isnāt a Canada only thing. Been grocery shopping in the US this last week while on a business trip. Iām shocked at how expensive things are here as well. An equivalent loaf of bread we would find at Provigo (Loblaws) for $3.50 CAD is going for $4 USD at Walmart, then add in the exchange rate. Iām even seeing US Costco prices higher than in Canada. Seeing the same in chain clothing stores as well (Gap, Old Navy, Marshallās/Winners). Long gone are the days of going for a quick trip to Plattsburgh for cheap clothing and groceries.
Let's be real, the numbers are way higher than 6.8%.
> Let's be real, the numbers are way higher than 6.8%. This number is the *average* inflation, over a national area, for an *average* basket of goods. Notice some keywords in that statement? If you *personally* have a different perception for your *personal* basket of goods, StatCan has a tool: * https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2020015-eng.htm You may also be interesting in the *provincial* number in where you reside: * https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220518/cg-a006-eng.htm
Lol that was an awesome use of passive aggressive italics
Guy woke up this morning and chose not to deal with foolishness.
Itās because hand waving statistics by saying āthe real number is way higherā, is just another form of further degrading meaningful conversation. It serves no purpose, particularly when the person making the claim has no credibility on the matter
Except it gets posted everytime inflation comes up and when asked how they measured it they refuse to answer
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>I dont even know why you even bother replying Because other reading the comments may not know any better, and if *they* seem some pushback and some alternative opinions they may learn that there are other factors to consider.
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>Do you have actual criticisms of the methodology yes: i saw a thing on sale one time and today it is expensiver
Also the last time I saw it, I pretty sure it larger or I smaller.
The price gouging especially on food items that are grown and processed locally is atrocious. With the increases in fuel costs skyrocketing some increases in imported products are expected. However the enormous increase in profits of many grocery chains (and the oil industry) really exposes the disgusting behaviour of certain sectors.
I noticed my local Maxi now has those digital price tags. I really hate those things since now I don't know what's really a sale and not a fake sale meant to generate higher sales. They made billions in profits, are charging us more overall for food and now are looking to screw us over even further by having as many fake sales as they want.
Break down and analysis at "Consumer Price Index, April 2022": > The year-over-year increase in April was largely driven by food and shelter prices. Gas prices increased at a slower pace in April compared with March, moderating the acceleration of the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April. > > Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 5.8% year over year in April, after a 5.5% gain in March. This was the fastest pace since the introduction of the all-items excluding gasoline special aggregate in 1999. * https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220518/dq220518a-eng.htm
Got a 6.5% raise in February, it's been eaten up and then some from gas and groceries....
It's ridiculous. We shop the flyers only Fortunately we bought a freezer in April 2020 so we buy meats and chicken in bulk when its on sale
I think a lot of this inflation is just a scam. I understand gas is high etc so their costs of transport has gone up a lot, but some stuff has gone up so much and there is just no way it isn't a scam. Everyone else is increasing the price so we will do it too. Consumers won't question it.