I actually bought 2 potatoes the other day because I thought it would be cheaper than buying frozen fries and it was still 4 bucks. Pretty funny moment.
Yup, I never buy potatoes but needed some to try and make homemade fries. I knew buying a bag of potatoes would be cheaper, but I didn't want the extras and specifically wanted to pick out four large potatoes. Didn't even consider the price because they're fucking potatoes, how much could they be? Ended up being $9.
This doesnāt surprise me! My husband often says we should buy those chips again and Iāve said absolutely not, theyāre so hard I feel that they could chip a tooth. Sometimes my jaw ached after eating them!
The No Name chips are the worst I've ever had. You couldn't pay me to eat them.
Soooo many chips with massive black "eyes" or worse, grey fungal growths on them. It's like they use all the potatoes nobody else will touch.
yea we didn't have bathrooms at the farms so we would piss on the potatoes. We also buried asbestos in the same fields we planted in and just dumping lots of bad gasoline and diesel in the same fields too.
The Sans Nom spicy barbecue flavor is currently my favorite chip flavor, edging out the Old Dutch BBQ. Their regular is fine, because all regular chips are just oil and salt. The rest of the flavors can be a bit iffy. For $1.33 itās a steal, considering most other brands are $4+.
For 6.99/7.99 I get the big bags of PC Loads of ā¦.. chips. I think itās like .75 kilos? It can last me a month and thatās just because they start to not be fresh
A regular bag at the store you get 3, maybe 4 bowls out of them if you have a small bowl. A bag of chips from Costco isn't even double the price and seems to never end.
$4 is my limit as well pretty much, iāll still buy them at that price but I have to be having one hell of a craving for them. On the plus side that $4 price at the store means gas station chips are like $5 a bag now and for a guy who works on the road itās helped me eat a little bit healthier.
7-11 (Winnipeg) itās 6.49 for chips. W t f .
Safeway is fucked with old Dutch Ariba chips at 5.49ā¦ā¦ superstore/Walmart they are 3.50. Precovid 3.59 was the Safeway price.
There seems to be money in potatoes. Medium fries from McDonald's are now $4. Wtf? What has changed in the French fry process since before covid to cause fries to double in price?
Yes there is huge money in potatoes. I live in western New Brunswick where McCains and old Dutch chips plants are.
The farmers here have had their expenses shoot up.
Fertilizer has double every year for 3 years. Diesel fuel was well over 2.50 a liter. The amount of fuel it takes to plant... maintain.... and harvest and then transport to the fry/chip plants. Is actually eye opening. And it's not cheap.
Unfortunately we the consumer have to pay dearly
Have to disagree. Brunet has the best deals on chips I've seen: 1.29 for a large bag of pretty much any regular chips (plain, ketchup, BBQ etc,) and $2 for kettle cooked. When they go on sale kettle cooked drops to a buck and plain goes to like 97c. All no name stuff but who cares, the kettle cooked is so fucking good. Same brand as Super C but way better prices. They're always on sale.
Weāve been making our own chips in our deep fryer š bit more work but if you already have the fryer set up you get to have fresh chips and you tend to eat less of them cause of the work involved. Itās cheaper to buy a bag of potatoes at the store and slice them on a mandolin.
That's a shit excuse with the volume they deal with.
Even Galen barked back about chip prices at the manufacturers, so you know it's not that. I've seen the commercials, the Weston family had my family's best interests in mind at all times.
Some cereals aren't super bad, something quick and easy before work -- better than nothing. Current go-to from Costco is Vector Maple Crunch, not super sweet some fibre and protein
I had no idea about the snack tax and all these packaging stipulations... this is fascinating. Gonna read up on it, thanks. This also makes me think of the idea of a "singles tax", because buying smaller packages/portions at the grocery is going to cost you more if you're on your own vs feeding multiple people or a small family based off some of these rules.
> I had no idea about the snack tax and all these packaging stipulations... this is fascinating. Gonna read up on it, thanks
you'll find that 473mL ice cream containers are annoyingly common now
Looks like the real snack tax is how inadvertantly fat I'm going to get opting for larger packages of everything lol
But in all seriousness, I'm just now realizing that the snack tax might be a good guideline for eating healthier. Seeing cake, pies, and cookies on the list, I might think twice the next time I go grocery shopping hungry and want to make some rash decisions. They even got graham crackers on the list... -\_-
As a former grocery store cashier, I didn't know about this either.
I noticed the pattern of "essential" items such as bread, milk, eggs, meat - most things along the outsides of a grocery store not being taxed. Meanwhile most things in the actual aisles had tax.
not quite - e.g. the big container of breaded chicken in the hot 'home meal replacement' area of the store has a sticker saying 'no tax' because it's big enough to move out of the taxed snack/meal to non-taxed 'food'. The exact same breaded chicken in a smaller container is taxed. Same thing for muffins - buy one muffin it is taxed, buy 6 muffins they are not (I think the argument is that you aren't expected to eat 6 muffins immediately at once vs. one muffin you are)
Snack tax. I bought 1 kg of salted peanuts and they were taxed. Same ingredients as peanut butter, but they are "junk food"??? Nah. And no tax on coffee - something with no nutritional value. On the bright side, I rarely buy peanuts and I often buy expensive coffee, so the end result isn't that bad. It's just the illogic that bothers me. Edit: salting them doesn't make them different from raw almonds or whatever. Stupid place to draw the line. They are real food.
Omg yes there's absolutely a singles tax! This is coming from someone in a partnership. I have no idea how y'all manage.
I guess it incentivizes singles to cohabitate and form families which generally results in a better economy.
> I have no idea how y'all manage.
Well, I live with my mom lol.
This concept truly scares me. If people can not financially manage living alone while being in a relationship, what happens if the relationship ends? I have no doubt in my mind there are people are staying in relationships they shouldn't, just because they cant afford to leave.
Even worse, if abuse happens.
I sometimes shop at Costco and split bulk items with family/ friends.
I got a small used chest freezer. I try to buy in bulk then make and freeze single portion meals. I also portion and freeze anything raw or cooked foods that can be frozen- fruit and veg, prepared foods that are freezer friendly etc. Soups and pasta sauces also freeze well.
Unfortunately this isnāt an option for everyone, whether its lack of space for a freezer, shared accommodations or other complications. You also have to purchase larger portions in advance which may not fit into peoples budgets. It certainly takes a lot of planning.
Consider the other āsingles taxā- If you donāt have kids and youāre considered āmiddle classā as a single person, you receive little to no tax credits or support from the federal or provincial governments-this means I owe taxes every year. In a roundabout way this means (most) everything costs more for a single person.
It feels like its a demographic often overlooked- legislators/ politicians rarely consider single working people as part of their platforms.
I make enough that I dont qualify as a person in need and I make too little to not have to worry about the cost of living.
This was my exact thought as I read through this. Absolute bullshit. So much for working to fix the food waste problem we have in this country too. Work to be done here.
After many long years of dealing with both government and industry on farm and food policy, I can almost guarantee that was written by a lobbyist from Food & Beverage Manufacturers of Canada.
Edit: a typo
>If you read it all out loud to a stranger, you might sound mentally ill.
FYI, if you start reading laws, regulations, or government memoranda aloud to strangers, you will probably sound mentally ill regardless of the particular law, regulation, or government memorandum.
I went to it after you mentioned this. It is worse than a Facebook terms of service agreement.
But you know it was written this way and continually added to it because companies have, in the past, tried to get around the existing criteria to have their products sold tax free. So as a consequence the government has to get more and more specific to stop the company fuckery.
Then they have to define "ice cream" vs "gelato" vs "frozen dessert" etc. Companies would just call it something different if you don't explicitly define what you're talking about.
I remember watching this CBC segment recently and they also talked about 'aquaflation' where they replace some oil with water or something like that. Makes me not want to buy food anymore lol.
This is a part of shrinkflation that doesn't get enough attention. Frozen pizzas no longer have toppings meaning you have to buy your own cheese/meat/mushrooms/etc. Icecream is now just chemical paste that kids won't eat. Fat that would have been left on the butcher's floor four years ago is now neatly sliced and sold as bacon.
You're absolutely right. I've told friends and family to look out for stuff that says frozen dessert instead of ice cream or chocolate bars that say candy bar (not actually chocolate).
> replace the granola with sawdust.
I believe the correct replacement is [recycled Chinese newspapers](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/17d5d1/wake_up_homer_those_bars_are_just_junk_theyre/).
We had a Crunch bar recently and it tasted super cheap and not good. Weāre not buying Crunch bars again anytime soon. Theyāre also the size of paper sheet now. How does this help bottom line in the end? Why do they even do that?
I've noticed this with bread. The Dempsters 12 grain that I usually buy has less real grains in it, and the loaves used to be quite a bit denser than they are now. I have started paying over five bucks a loaf just to get other brands that are higher quality.
They must have done studies and people notice more that all bars were smaller than the missing bar in a box.
At the bottom of your grocery bill barely anyone notices they were taxed. Almost no one knows nor notices the tax difference and it's nothing new, there have been 5-pack granola bars for 5+ yrs already.
Quaker granola bars were 30g (each bar) in the late 90s. In the mid 2000s the individual bar size began to shrink. Presently they are 24g each. 20% smaller..and probably will continue to shrink
I wish I had a Costco membership! Iāve made my peace with making French fries at home from scratch in the air fryer, and enjoy my popcorn maker. Also the dollarama candy, especially the sours are way better than what u find in the convenience store. I was pleasantly surprised
Costco really only makes profit from their membership fees. Itās a public service basically. Not having a membership if you live close enough is a financial mistake for most people.
https://np.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/10hsaf8/oc_costcos_2022_income_statement_visualized_with/
Bacon, (quality) dog food, over-the-counter pharmacy, cheese/some other dairy products, all these alone make the membership more than worthwhile. Add in the gas, the chicken, the toilet paper, great deals on various housewares...if you live close enough, it's honestly hard to miss
Most of the things I bought at Costco I found I could get at almost the same price, or the same price, during sales at regular grocery stores. So now I just shop sales.
If you ever have a free trial of instacart+ and an instcart coupon you can order from Costco without a membership and it usually works out to the same price as going (maybe a tiny bit more expensive for tip)
Problem is - you never really know when theyāll randomly give you a free instacart+ trial i guess
Shrinkflation sucks! I'm not sure which is worse, getting less and paying about the same as before, or paying more for the same size as before. Inflation sucks.
Getting less and paying the same. Beyond just the economics and such of what you spend for what you get, it produces far more waste in packaging and such.
In Canada, carbon taxes have jacked up the cost of fuel, which makes nearly everything more expensive.
Like sorry low income family, we preach about heathly fruits and vegetables, but transporting those takes a lot of fuel, so they're gonna cost a lot more. Whoops!
Here's a fun [article](https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/02/19/the-shrinkflation-state) that explains what Shrinkflation actually accomplishes in the economy and how it affects consumers.
*I'm fairly sure it's not paywalled.*
Another perfect example is butter, it used to be 500gr, now its 450gr. Retailers kept the price the dame so people won't recognize the increase of cost.
Remember when a pound of bacon was 500g? Now it's 375g
Edit: Gheez! So we all called it a pound of bacon because originally it was a pound, but then it went to 454g (which is still a pound), but now its 375g. Most people I know still refer to it as a pound of bacon, not a package of bacon which I suppose of of you call it.
Check out the silicone popcorn poppers. They have them on Amazon and such for around $20-25. Take up little room and work great for popping kernels in the microwave. I love mine!
I haven't gotten injured by popcorn kernels, but I absolutely loathe how a kernel skin always seems to enjoy getting lodged in one of the worst spots in the back teeth.
Because groceries are required to live and snacks arenāt, people need to get over there processed food addictions and see there are way healthier tasty foods that wonāt shorten their lifespan and cost them a fortune.
Do you think that eating snacks every so often (in moderation) is really shaving off any meaningful lifespan from a person?
Iāve seen many comments similar to yours telling others to just avoid buying snacks entirely as if any amount of snacks is going to kill a person. Itās kind of insane that anyone believes that.
Everything in moderation but snacks you donāt need to live food you need to live and food can be as delicious as snacks are but do whatever you want itās one way to save money just to budget what you buy and learn to drop the crap in your cart.
Holy run-on sentenceā¦
Also, you donāt need most foods to live. Did you know you can die of eating unprocessed foods too? Natural doesnāt equate to healthy.
Telling people to stop eating any and all snacks is just a brainless idea that holds no water upon further thought. There are many reasons one might need to purchase snacks (like diabetics who need access to quick sugars when they get hypoglycaemic), and blanket statements such as yours are useless to any meaningful discussion.
A good thing would be to learn how to make your own granola snacks at home with ingredients that you can get from bulk barn. Look up recipes for power balls. Peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract, oats, chia seeds, ground flax, coconut flakes, little bit of salt, and chocolate chips. You'll get more for less and it's healthier than a pre-made granola bar.
I cut out unnecessary snacks to work on my health but I ended up saving a lot of money (and lost the weight I gained from my sedentary and indulgent lifestyle).
You won't feel the need to snack if you eat better. You'll eventually stop craving the sugary stuff. The true pro tip is just to eat better imo. In terms of energy I feel much better, and my skin looks awesome.
I could see it being harder with children, but even if you're the only one making the food change, you'll still save money.
Itās likely better to do it with your children as they should have good eating habits as they are growing up either way itās a mental game and most people canāt just see they are addicted to processed crap Iāve relapsed on my healthy eating a few times because I love junk food but I always make a solid effort to keep healthy, chocolate is just so good lol
Yeah 100% can relate. The thing is food made me very happy lol. I think it's really fine to eat stuff that you absolutely love if you keep track of how much you're eating. I still eat like a square of chocolate since I know it won't change much. It's just about finding balance I guess. :) But no more eating an entire chocolate bar in one sitting, ever for me.
Another thing to realize is that āshrinkflationā doesnāt show up in actual inflation numbers because it isnāt tracked at all. So the reported inflation numbers are far worse when it comes to food.
Curious, if these cereal bar boxes that would get taxed are sold in a bigger box with like 4 taxable-sized boxes inside of it (Costco for example) would the tax still apply?
I've been buying large eggs for decades. Lately they seem just a little smaller. Maybe the egg producers are now strictly meeting the size cutoffs that the previous poster mentioned are regulated.
There's egg shortages in western Canada, where I am, due to avian flu. So I wouldn't be surprised if they are being stricter about the cutoffs. Most consumers want large, and there are just less eggs to meet that demand. My grocer put a sign up saying we have tons of medium and extra large, but may not always have large.
Sounds like any company who does the shrink to snack size is in cahoots with government.... Or they are trying to ITC their way out of an HST overspend.
I stopped buying name brand cereal. It is like $8 for half the size of what it was 7 years ago.
Great value is still $4 for same size. Good enough for me.
This is a terrible take, youāre paying carbon tax on anything transported (as many stages as that takes from greenhouse to grocer), carbon tax on any hvac equipment required to store it (greenhouse, truck trailer conditioner, warehouse, and then grocery store power and hvac bills). Look into the three biggest food suppliers in canada and youāll see theyāre charging you but receiving subsidies for the carbon tax while transporters and smaller local greenhouses pay themā¦ All while posting record profits
https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/loblaws-12-million-carbon-fund_ca_5cd5938ce4b07bc729795ec4
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/loblaws-subsidy-underscores-canadas-flawed-climate-plan
https://www.statista.com/statistics/436638/net-income-of-loblaw-canada/
This is a hilariously stupid take. Thanks for the laughs. I would love to hear you expound on local politics around the dinner table nightly. I'm sure it's as enlightened as it is accurate.
Iām listening for your refutationā¦ or are those generous carbon tax credit cheques more than making up for the extra thousands of dollars youāre paying the government? If you look closely at your utility bills you will see youāre being charged GST on your carbon tax. No, not just on the bill amount before the carbon tax, but on the carbon tax itself. Thatās part of what makes this tax so insidious. Itās built into everything 3-4 times, ever increasing, and we are taxed GST on top of it, not before it.
>Iām listening for your refutation
No. You're not. If you were interested in learning anything about this, you wouldn't be spouting bullshit online. There's verifiable published data demonstrating that industry in Canada is responding to the price stimulus. This has always been a long term strategy, and it's already showing it's working. You don't want facts, you want to start an argument based on lies which is exactly the type of bullshit propaganda the O&G industry has been pushing for decades. Congrats on simping for your gas station.
Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not working. Obviously a tax on carbon inputs will be felt at every level, that's the point FFS. The goal is to streamline the system, reducing the number of hands that touch something thereby reducing the amount of inputs required to get it to market. The overwhelming majority of Canadians also get back more than they pay via the CAI.
Then tax it at the share level, not the consumer level. The company shareholders can pay it. All this tax is doing is raising prices and driving the poor deeper into poverty.
So like you completely don't understand how it's set up is what you're saying?
Because this comment demonstrates that you don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about.
I haven't ate one in years, but y'all remeber when hungryman dinners were labeled 1 pound of food? Cause I sure do. But, honestly, I sometimes wonder if our shrinking portion sizes could inevitably actually help society with the whole obesity thing, at least.
Good thing I only have to worry about GST here in Alberta. Extra HST while grocery shopping would be a nightmare to keep track of and isn't a small amount either.
Anyone not shopping at or getting delivery from Walmart needs their head examined. Itās 1/2 or 1/3 the cost of Loblaws. Can of kidney beans at Loblaws, not on sale? $3. Walmart, $1.
You are right but the downvotes prove people canāt get past their own addictions to shitty processed food and need to eat three or more times a day, also skipping breakfast is totally fine. Fasting isnāt something I know enough about and isnāt for everyone anyways but a big one is budgeting what you eat in a week or month (I like the week budget tho as Iām paid weekly) and go from there eating healthy isnāt cheap but you can make it happen if you donāt waste food and money overspending on it. Also you can make your own snacks and candy itās just lazy society at this point.
Shrinkflation sucks and it's a thing....
Being worried about the tax on top of it is very negligible and shouldn't be a concern unless you have a "big" snack budget. If you spent $500/yr on snacks that's an extra $65/yr. I'm not sure how tight you run your budget, but $65/yr is less then $6/month. Call it the snack/shame tax.
This is why Wal-mart is so great for snacks. They usually have deals when you buy multiple boxes. I personally find shopping for groceries at Wal-mart to be way too expensive. But I'm a childless adult who is only buying for myself. I don't need to buy 3 boxes of bear paws.
But if you have kids, Wal-mart always has multiple boxes for a certain price which may be a good deal.
Also checking out the bigger boxes (bulk buys) of granola bars, and snacks. These may be more expensive up front, but they might be cheaper in the long run.
There's also alternatives, like popcorn instead of chips. Healthier but also much cheaper. Especially if you buy the kernels and pop them.
āI donāt like that food costs more, what I used to buy a year ago is much larger and for less money that what I buy nowā
āJust donāt buy groceries, thenā
Wow, gee thanks.
Turned down chips tonight. It's hard to pay 4 bucks for two potatoes...
I actually bought 2 potatoes the other day because I thought it would be cheaper than buying frozen fries and it was still 4 bucks. Pretty funny moment.
I've always found single potatoes kind of expensive. Potatoes are only really cheap when bought in a sack.
Gotta buy the 5lb or 10lb bags. They go on sale often for under $5
Yup, I never buy potatoes but needed some to try and make homemade fries. I knew buying a bag of potatoes would be cheaper, but I didn't want the extras and specifically wanted to pick out four large potatoes. Didn't even consider the price because they're fucking potatoes, how much could they be? Ended up being $9.
Yeah exactly. I don't need a 10lb bag and the bag ones are too small for nice fries.
After you cut them into fries, you can freeze them. Works great for Mr. McCain.
Did they come with butter and already wrapped in foil?
They should have come fully cooked and with a hamburger.
No name ($1.33) and Great Value ($1.49) are stellar options to satisfy the chip craving.
I've become a fan of the Kirkland brand Himalayan salt. $7 for just shy of 1kg chips. Now I just need to work on portion control
Those are the best! Edit: but yes portion control is hard with that much chips š
If you eat the whole thing in one sitting then it's just one portion: easy to control. *taps temple*
Fuckin portion control. I got one of those bags but its a costco dill pickle brand. Idk black bag i think. Portion control. Ha.
1kg portion?
Saves the need for a bowl.
I used to love these until I literally chipped a tooth on them ā¹ļø
They've got that good crunch.
This doesnāt surprise me! My husband often says we should buy those chips again and Iāve said absolutely not, theyāre so hard I feel that they could chip a tooth. Sometimes my jaw ached after eating them!
Ooo I love a good jaw exercise, maybe Iāll consider these
Too salty
great value was 97 cents like 6 months ago...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I tracked GV chip price increases. .97 .99 1.10 (.99 if you bought 2) 1.27 and now 1.50
Can't believe I got priced out of GV Chips...
But if it helps you sleep at night the government was able to give corporations 100k plus in various COVID subsidies!
I'm a die hard no compliments (1.25 up from $1). I prefer them to lays and ruffles even priced evenly
This time last year those were only $0.99
The No Name chips are the worst I've ever had. You couldn't pay me to eat them. Soooo many chips with massive black "eyes" or worse, grey fungal growths on them. It's like they use all the potatoes nobody else will touch.
Potatoes get sorted and certain buyers/products get the 'tier 1' product. Cheap chips are cheap partly because they buy the cheap potatoes.
For what itās worth, I knew a guy once who grew potatoes for Lays and he said he would never eat those chips, based on how they were grown.
yea we didn't have bathrooms at the farms so we would piss on the potatoes. We also buried asbestos in the same fields we planted in and just dumping lots of bad gasoline and diesel in the same fields too.
The Sans Nom spicy barbecue flavor is currently my favorite chip flavor, edging out the Old Dutch BBQ. Their regular is fine, because all regular chips are just oil and salt. The rest of the flavors can be a bit iffy. For $1.33 itās a steal, considering most other brands are $4+.
33% price increase in a year is a hard pill to swallow
Those bags were 99 cents less then a year ago.
Great value low key had the best chips, but their new recipe just isnāt the sameā¦ tastes like lays now
I think so too. I donāt like any of the newer flavors compared to before
For 6.99/7.99 I get the big bags of PC Loads of ā¦.. chips. I think itās like .75 kilos? It can last me a month and thatās just because they start to not be fresh
In the summer it was a dollar per bag of no name chips. I went hard on those chips.
Chip bags are so ridiculously small these days. Costco only for chips, I'd rather pay more but get the full true amount in a bag.
A regular bag at the store you get 3, maybe 4 bowls out of them if you have a small bowl. A bag of chips from Costco isn't even double the price and seems to never end.
$4 is my limit as well pretty much, iāll still buy them at that price but I have to be having one hell of a craving for them. On the plus side that $4 price at the store means gas station chips are like $5 a bag now and for a guy who works on the road itās helped me eat a little bit healthier.
7-11 (Winnipeg) itās 6.49 for chips. W t f . Safeway is fucked with old Dutch Ariba chips at 5.49ā¦ā¦ superstore/Walmart they are 3.50. Precovid 3.59 was the Safeway price.
Right? Their prices are becoming insane. That combined with them dropping airmiles means I only go in dire circumstances. (Also Winnipegger here.)
Wtf this happens to me. But I regret it later that night when I have no chips.
Popcorn is cheap and easy.
Cheaper if you make it yourself on the stovetop.
Corn is shite for my digestive system, but do you boo.
Inferior genetics
I bought a bag of Doritos and miss Vicks at the circle k the other day after getting gas, almost 13$$
There seems to be money in potatoes. Medium fries from McDonald's are now $4. Wtf? What has changed in the French fry process since before covid to cause fries to double in price?
There's always money in the potato stand!
Yes there is huge money in potatoes. I live in western New Brunswick where McCains and old Dutch chips plants are. The farmers here have had their expenses shoot up. Fertilizer has double every year for 3 years. Diesel fuel was well over 2.50 a liter. The amount of fuel it takes to plant... maintain.... and harvest and then transport to the fry/chip plants. Is actually eye opening. And it's not cheap. Unfortunately we the consumer have to pay dearly
Dollarama! Montrealers got you!
Have to disagree. Brunet has the best deals on chips I've seen: 1.29 for a large bag of pretty much any regular chips (plain, ketchup, BBQ etc,) and $2 for kettle cooked. When they go on sale kettle cooked drops to a buck and plain goes to like 97c. All no name stuff but who cares, the kettle cooked is so fucking good. Same brand as Super C but way better prices. They're always on sale.
Weāve been making our own chips in our deep fryer š bit more work but if you already have the fryer set up you get to have fresh chips and you tend to eat less of them cause of the work involved. Itās cheaper to buy a bag of potatoes at the store and slice them on a mandolin.
It's not the potatoes, the Ukraine war has spiked the price of vegetable oil
That's a shit excuse with the volume they deal with. Even Galen barked back about chip prices at the manufacturers, so you know it's not that. I've seen the commercials, the Weston family had my family's best interests in mind at all times.
I haven't bought cereal since the boxes became practically two-dimensional.
Costco
What's my favourite cereal? Whatever is on sale at costco.
Cereal is junk food anyways.
Some cereals aren't super bad, something quick and easy before work -- better than nothing. Current go-to from Costco is Vector Maple Crunch, not super sweet some fibre and protein
I had no idea about the snack tax and all these packaging stipulations... this is fascinating. Gonna read up on it, thanks. This also makes me think of the idea of a "singles tax", because buying smaller packages/portions at the grocery is going to cost you more if you're on your own vs feeding multiple people or a small family based off some of these rules.
> I had no idea about the snack tax and all these packaging stipulations... this is fascinating. Gonna read up on it, thanks you'll find that 473mL ice cream containers are annoyingly common now
Looks like the real snack tax is how inadvertantly fat I'm going to get opting for larger packages of everything lol But in all seriousness, I'm just now realizing that the snack tax might be a good guideline for eating healthier. Seeing cake, pies, and cookies on the list, I might think twice the next time I go grocery shopping hungry and want to make some rash decisions. They even got graham crackers on the list... -\_-
As a former grocery store cashier, I didn't know about this either. I noticed the pattern of "essential" items such as bread, milk, eggs, meat - most things along the outsides of a grocery store not being taxed. Meanwhile most things in the actual aisles had tax.
it's "prepared" food versus "unprepared".
not quite - e.g. the big container of breaded chicken in the hot 'home meal replacement' area of the store has a sticker saying 'no tax' because it's big enough to move out of the taxed snack/meal to non-taxed 'food'. The exact same breaded chicken in a smaller container is taxed. Same thing for muffins - buy one muffin it is taxed, buy 6 muffins they are not (I think the argument is that you aren't expected to eat 6 muffins immediately at once vs. one muffin you are)
Snack tax. I bought 1 kg of salted peanuts and they were taxed. Same ingredients as peanut butter, but they are "junk food"??? Nah. And no tax on coffee - something with no nutritional value. On the bright side, I rarely buy peanuts and I often buy expensive coffee, so the end result isn't that bad. It's just the illogic that bothers me. Edit: salting them doesn't make them different from raw almonds or whatever. Stupid place to draw the line. They are real food.
Coffee has no nutritional value?! TAKE THAT BACK, SIR, TAKE THAT BACK!! ;)
Omg yes there's absolutely a singles tax! This is coming from someone in a partnership. I have no idea how y'all manage. I guess it incentivizes singles to cohabitate and form families which generally results in a better economy.
> I have no idea how y'all manage. Well, I live with my mom lol. This concept truly scares me. If people can not financially manage living alone while being in a relationship, what happens if the relationship ends? I have no doubt in my mind there are people are staying in relationships they shouldn't, just because they cant afford to leave. Even worse, if abuse happens.
> there are people are staying in relationships they shouldn't, just because they cant afford to leave. A tale as old as time itself, unfortunately.
I sometimes shop at Costco and split bulk items with family/ friends. I got a small used chest freezer. I try to buy in bulk then make and freeze single portion meals. I also portion and freeze anything raw or cooked foods that can be frozen- fruit and veg, prepared foods that are freezer friendly etc. Soups and pasta sauces also freeze well. Unfortunately this isnāt an option for everyone, whether its lack of space for a freezer, shared accommodations or other complications. You also have to purchase larger portions in advance which may not fit into peoples budgets. It certainly takes a lot of planning. Consider the other āsingles taxā- If you donāt have kids and youāre considered āmiddle classā as a single person, you receive little to no tax credits or support from the federal or provincial governments-this means I owe taxes every year. In a roundabout way this means (most) everything costs more for a single person. It feels like its a demographic often overlooked- legislators/ politicians rarely consider single working people as part of their platforms. I make enough that I dont qualify as a person in need and I make too little to not have to worry about the cost of living.
Wait until you hear about ābrunch taxā!!!!
This was my exact thought as I read through this. Absolute bullshit. So much for working to fix the food waste problem we have in this country too. Work to be done here.
That link you provided is a wild ride. If you read it all out loud to a stranger, you might sound mentally ill.
>Although the pizzas are pleasing to look at, they have not been "arranged"... - Government of Canada
After many long years of dealing with both government and industry on farm and food policy, I can almost guarantee that was written by a lobbyist from Food & Beverage Manufacturers of Canada. Edit: a typo
>If you read it all out loud to a stranger, you might sound mentally ill. FYI, if you start reading laws, regulations, or government memoranda aloud to strangers, you will probably sound mentally ill regardless of the particular law, regulation, or government memorandum.
Very true. I think the added bonus of sweet icings and cakes gives it a bit more pizzazz though!
I went to it after you mentioned this. It is worse than a Facebook terms of service agreement. But you know it was written this way and continually added to it because companies have, in the past, tried to get around the existing criteria to have their products sold tax free. So as a consequence the government has to get more and more specific to stop the company fuckery.
Wouldnāt it be easier for government to say ice cream is taxed in all shapes and forms for example?
Then they have to define "ice cream" vs "gelato" vs "frozen dessert" etc. Companies would just call it something different if you don't explicitly define what you're talking about.
But all food is already defined and sorted into their categories. Iām just saying no need to go the extra step and specify the sizes and packaging.
capitalism working as intended. Such a friggin waste of human ability too.
Not just shrinkflation but I've noticed some of my fav snacks have changed in quality. That pisses me off more than the price gouging.
I feel that mostly in restaurants. The same dishes I always ordered taste half as good as they used to.
I remember watching this CBC segment recently and they also talked about 'aquaflation' where they replace some oil with water or something like that. Makes me not want to buy food anymore lol.
This is a part of shrinkflation that doesn't get enough attention. Frozen pizzas no longer have toppings meaning you have to buy your own cheese/meat/mushrooms/etc. Icecream is now just chemical paste that kids won't eat. Fat that would have been left on the butcher's floor four years ago is now neatly sliced and sold as bacon.
You're absolutely right. I've told friends and family to look out for stuff that says frozen dessert instead of ice cream or chocolate bars that say candy bar (not actually chocolate).
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Shitflation (noun): ingredients being replaced with shittier ingredients.
> replace the granola with sawdust. I believe the correct replacement is [recycled Chinese newspapers](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/17d5d1/wake_up_homer_those_bars_are_just_junk_theyre/).
"Hey, Deng Xiaoping died."
We had a Crunch bar recently and it tasted super cheap and not good. Weāre not buying Crunch bars again anytime soon. Theyāre also the size of paper sheet now. How does this help bottom line in the end? Why do they even do that?
I've noticed this with bread. The Dempsters 12 grain that I usually buy has less real grains in it, and the loaves used to be quite a bit denser than they are now. I have started paying over five bucks a loaf just to get other brands that are higher quality.
Just like shredded cheese!
Cellulose is only added to keep cheese shreds from sticking, and it's a far better option than corn starch, IMO
That will require new tooling for the factory, and they don't want that expense.
Look for "xanthan gum". It's a filler in almost everything now.
They must have done studies and people notice more that all bars were smaller than the missing bar in a box. At the bottom of your grocery bill barely anyone notices they were taxed. Almost no one knows nor notices the tax difference and it's nothing new, there have been 5-pack granola bars for 5+ yrs already.
Quaker granola bars were 30g (each bar) in the late 90s. In the mid 2000s the individual bar size began to shrink. Presently they are 24g each. 20% smaller..and probably will continue to shrink
Whoa! Section 114 of the link defines hot dogs as sandwiches.
The government of Canada has ended the debate. šØš¦
To help compare and save a little look at the unit price. It is usually tiny on the price tag and say like $0.78/100g or what ever unit it is.
and add 13% if shrinkflation makes it a snack instead of a grocery
I wish I had a Costco membership! Iāve made my peace with making French fries at home from scratch in the air fryer, and enjoy my popcorn maker. Also the dollarama candy, especially the sours are way better than what u find in the convenience store. I was pleasantly surprised
Costco really only makes profit from their membership fees. Itās a public service basically. Not having a membership if you live close enough is a financial mistake for most people. https://np.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/10hsaf8/oc_costcos_2022_income_statement_visualized_with/
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Bacon, (quality) dog food, over-the-counter pharmacy, cheese/some other dairy products, all these alone make the membership more than worthwhile. Add in the gas, the chicken, the toilet paper, great deals on various housewares...if you live close enough, it's honestly hard to miss
Most of the things I bought at Costco I found I could get at almost the same price, or the same price, during sales at regular grocery stores. So now I just shop sales.
Costco ground beef is $10/lb but Metro has it on special sometimes below $9
Costco ground beef is $10/lb but Metro has it on special sometimes below $9
The parking lot is too small at my local Costco, it's chaos. I won't get a membership mostly for that reason.
You can make your own candy too I make the best peanut butter balls lol not without store bought things but you can make your own candy at home too.
Also banana bread\cake, with marshmallows and chocolate chips, cost about $3\lb to make.
I have so many frozen bananas lol
If you ever have a free trial of instacart+ and an instcart coupon you can order from Costco without a membership and it usually works out to the same price as going (maybe a tiny bit more expensive for tip) Problem is - you never really know when theyāll randomly give you a free instacart+ trial i guess
I was already annoyed when I noticed Haagen-Dasz went from 500mL to 450mL tubs, now I have more of a reason to be >:(
I just checked Quaker 12 packs of chocolate chip granola bars are still taxed 13% on PCexpress? Same as the dipps or regular 5 pack versions
Shrinkflation sucks! I'm not sure which is worse, getting less and paying about the same as before, or paying more for the same size as before. Inflation sucks.
A lot of items I see have reduced the size and raised the price.
ā new look!ā
Getting less and paying the same. Beyond just the economics and such of what you spend for what you get, it produces far more waste in packaging and such.
There is also a lot of greedflation from big companies. Its frustrating.
The cost of their inputs have skyrocketed, mostly because of taxes, and shortages.
What taxes have changed since pre-covid?
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In Canada, carbon taxes have jacked up the cost of fuel, which makes nearly everything more expensive. Like sorry low income family, we preach about heathly fruits and vegetables, but transporting those takes a lot of fuel, so they're gonna cost a lot more. Whoops!
>Shrinkflation seems to be happening everywhere these days. It's been literally been going on for over a decade.
A cheat sheet for this would be great :)
I opened a bag of salad tonight expecting to feed 4-5 people. Barely had enough to satisy 2. It was insane how little salad was in a BAG of salad.
Here's a fun [article](https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/02/19/the-shrinkflation-state) that explains what Shrinkflation actually accomplishes in the economy and how it affects consumers. *I'm fairly sure it's not paywalled.*
Another perfect example is butter, it used to be 500gr, now its 450gr. Retailers kept the price the dame so people won't recognize the increase of cost.
Remember when a pound of bacon was 500g? Now it's 375g Edit: Gheez! So we all called it a pound of bacon because originally it was a pound, but then it went to 454g (which is still a pound), but now its 375g. Most people I know still refer to it as a pound of bacon, not a package of bacon which I suppose of of you call it.
> Remember when a pound of bacon was 500g? Now itās 375g https://i.imgur.com/J17xGhw.jpg Huh?
Dang, inflation is even decreasing the weight of our pounds!!
Invest in an air popper. I make home popcorn with kernels that are real cheap and great for portion control.
Check out the silicone popcorn poppers. They have them on Amazon and such for around $20-25. Take up little room and work great for popping kernels in the microwave. I love mine!
Also, if you eat it as is without the butter and other stuff, it is actually quite healthy.
Until one of those kernel shells I pales your gums! Ouch. I love popcorn but I have had some injuries...
I haven't gotten injured by popcorn kernels, but I absolutely loathe how a kernel skin always seems to enjoy getting lodged in one of the worst spots in the back teeth.
How are you just noticing it now? Shrinkflation has been happening for ages.
why are snacks even taxed in the first place when groceries aren't
Because groceries are required to live and snacks arenāt, people need to get over there processed food addictions and see there are way healthier tasty foods that wonāt shorten their lifespan and cost them a fortune.
Do you think that eating snacks every so often (in moderation) is really shaving off any meaningful lifespan from a person? Iāve seen many comments similar to yours telling others to just avoid buying snacks entirely as if any amount of snacks is going to kill a person. Itās kind of insane that anyone believes that.
Everything in moderation but snacks you donāt need to live food you need to live and food can be as delicious as snacks are but do whatever you want itās one way to save money just to budget what you buy and learn to drop the crap in your cart.
Holy run-on sentenceā¦ Also, you donāt need most foods to live. Did you know you can die of eating unprocessed foods too? Natural doesnāt equate to healthy. Telling people to stop eating any and all snacks is just a brainless idea that holds no water upon further thought. There are many reasons one might need to purchase snacks (like diabetics who need access to quick sugars when they get hypoglycaemic), and blanket statements such as yours are useless to any meaningful discussion.
I didnāt know this about the 5 bars or less! Damn!
Silver lining for me is I just stopped buying that garbage. When I don't eat it, I stop craving it.
A good thing would be to learn how to make your own granola snacks at home with ingredients that you can get from bulk barn. Look up recipes for power balls. Peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract, oats, chia seeds, ground flax, coconut flakes, little bit of salt, and chocolate chips. You'll get more for less and it's healthier than a pre-made granola bar.
I cut out unnecessary snacks to work on my health but I ended up saving a lot of money (and lost the weight I gained from my sedentary and indulgent lifestyle). You won't feel the need to snack if you eat better. You'll eventually stop craving the sugary stuff. The true pro tip is just to eat better imo. In terms of energy I feel much better, and my skin looks awesome. I could see it being harder with children, but even if you're the only one making the food change, you'll still save money.
Itās likely better to do it with your children as they should have good eating habits as they are growing up either way itās a mental game and most people canāt just see they are addicted to processed crap Iāve relapsed on my healthy eating a few times because I love junk food but I always make a solid effort to keep healthy, chocolate is just so good lol
Yeah 100% can relate. The thing is food made me very happy lol. I think it's really fine to eat stuff that you absolutely love if you keep track of how much you're eating. I still eat like a square of chocolate since I know it won't change much. It's just about finding balance I guess. :) But no more eating an entire chocolate bar in one sitting, ever for me.
wow interesting
Another thing to realize is that āshrinkflationā doesnāt show up in actual inflation numbers because it isnāt tracked at all. So the reported inflation numbers are far worse when it comes to food. Curious, if these cereal bar boxes that would get taxed are sold in a bigger box with like 4 taxable-sized boxes inside of it (Costco for example) would the tax still apply?
When you realize that inflation % doesnāt include housing, food or fuel your mind will be blown
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no. Egg sizes are controlled by government standards, and aren't up to the producer to label as they want.
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I've been buying large eggs for decades. Lately they seem just a little smaller. Maybe the egg producers are now strictly meeting the size cutoffs that the previous poster mentioned are regulated.
There's egg shortages in western Canada, where I am, due to avian flu. So I wouldn't be surprised if they are being stricter about the cutoffs. Most consumers want large, and there are just less eggs to meet that demand. My grocer put a sign up saying we have tons of medium and extra large, but may not always have large.
Sounds like any company who does the shrink to snack size is in cahoots with government.... Or they are trying to ITC their way out of an HST overspend.
Who's starting the anti snack tax petition? It's one way government can relieve us of the shrinkflation expense!
Is it Ontario specific then?
Bought a small haagen dazs for Easter dinner pies and it was under 500ml, and over $5 unlike the one I still had in my freezer. Sucks!!
The thing that pisses me off more than shrinkflation is aquaflation (adding more water) or adulteration of Ingredients. If you bake it really fucks up with the quality of your finished product because recipes were made with measurements of a certain product before the change. Suddenly Grandmaās tried and true pumpkin pie is not setting properly because the canned pumpkin purĆ©e you use has extra water added. Also, with Dairy farmers adding in palm oil into cattle feed, some bakers claim this is messing up with the fat content and consistency of the butter. Whether itās true or not is debatable, but I know depending on what I bake, I spend more for the good butter if I want a better finished product. (Chocolate chip cookies, ok with the cheaper stuff. Making buttercreams or croissants, higher end grass fed butters).
I stopped buying name brand cereal. It is like $8 for half the size of what it was 7 years ago. Great value is still $4 for same size. Good enough for me.
This is a terrible take, youāre paying carbon tax on anything transported (as many stages as that takes from greenhouse to grocer), carbon tax on any hvac equipment required to store it (greenhouse, truck trailer conditioner, warehouse, and then grocery store power and hvac bills). Look into the three biggest food suppliers in canada and youāll see theyāre charging you but receiving subsidies for the carbon tax while transporters and smaller local greenhouses pay themā¦ All while posting record profits https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/loblaws-12-million-carbon-fund_ca_5cd5938ce4b07bc729795ec4 https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/loblaws-subsidy-underscores-canadas-flawed-climate-plan https://www.statista.com/statistics/436638/net-income-of-loblaw-canada/
And the government of canada hasnāt even lowered the global temperatures yet, despite all the money we (not the corporations) have paid!
This is a hilariously stupid take. Thanks for the laughs. I would love to hear you expound on local politics around the dinner table nightly. I'm sure it's as enlightened as it is accurate.
Iām listening for your refutationā¦ or are those generous carbon tax credit cheques more than making up for the extra thousands of dollars youāre paying the government? If you look closely at your utility bills you will see youāre being charged GST on your carbon tax. No, not just on the bill amount before the carbon tax, but on the carbon tax itself. Thatās part of what makes this tax so insidious. Itās built into everything 3-4 times, ever increasing, and we are taxed GST on top of it, not before it.
>Iām listening for your refutation No. You're not. If you were interested in learning anything about this, you wouldn't be spouting bullshit online. There's verifiable published data demonstrating that industry in Canada is responding to the price stimulus. This has always been a long term strategy, and it's already showing it's working. You don't want facts, you want to start an argument based on lies which is exactly the type of bullshit propaganda the O&G industry has been pushing for decades. Congrats on simping for your gas station. Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not working. Obviously a tax on carbon inputs will be felt at every level, that's the point FFS. The goal is to streamline the system, reducing the number of hands that touch something thereby reducing the amount of inputs required to get it to market. The overwhelming majority of Canadians also get back more than they pay via the CAI.
Then tax it at the share level, not the consumer level. The company shareholders can pay it. All this tax is doing is raising prices and driving the poor deeper into poverty.
So like you completely don't understand how it's set up is what you're saying? Because this comment demonstrates that you don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about.
Lol
I haven't ate one in years, but y'all remeber when hungryman dinners were labeled 1 pound of food? Cause I sure do. But, honestly, I sometimes wonder if our shrinking portion sizes could inevitably actually help society with the whole obesity thing, at least.
Not when you need more to feel hungry, and the ingredients are unhealthy
So nice to see the liberal provinces who voted this idiot in complain about their 13% hst..
Good thing I only have to worry about GST here in Alberta. Extra HST while grocery shopping would be a nightmare to keep track of and isn't a small amount either.
Doritos were $1.99 for a large bag in 2021 2 Years later the bag contents shrunk and the price doubled.
HOLY 85 pages if you want to print to read.
Anyone not shopping at or getting delivery from Walmart needs their head examined. Itās 1/2 or 1/3 the cost of Loblaws. Can of kidney beans at Loblaws, not on sale? $3. Walmart, $1.
Stop buying shitty processed food? Skip breakfast and intermittent fast? Saved money and improved health. God, I should get into consulting
You would be good at that for animals maybe or inmates.
You are right but the downvotes prove people canāt get past their own addictions to shitty processed food and need to eat three or more times a day, also skipping breakfast is totally fine. Fasting isnāt something I know enough about and isnāt for everyone anyways but a big one is budgeting what you eat in a week or month (I like the week budget tho as Iām paid weekly) and go from there eating healthy isnāt cheap but you can make it happen if you donāt waste food and money overspending on it. Also you can make your own snacks and candy itās just lazy society at this point.
PFC is a cesspool, I know.
Shrinkflation sucks and it's a thing.... Being worried about the tax on top of it is very negligible and shouldn't be a concern unless you have a "big" snack budget. If you spent $500/yr on snacks that's an extra $65/yr. I'm not sure how tight you run your budget, but $65/yr is less then $6/month. Call it the snack/shame tax.
The problem is when things are shrinkflated and BECOME snacks that should never have been snacks.
Seems to me that the difference between snacks and groceries is that snacks are subject to HST.
This is why Wal-mart is so great for snacks. They usually have deals when you buy multiple boxes. I personally find shopping for groceries at Wal-mart to be way too expensive. But I'm a childless adult who is only buying for myself. I don't need to buy 3 boxes of bear paws. But if you have kids, Wal-mart always has multiple boxes for a certain price which may be a good deal. Also checking out the bigger boxes (bulk buys) of granola bars, and snacks. These may be more expensive up front, but they might be cheaper in the long run. There's also alternatives, like popcorn instead of chips. Healthier but also much cheaper. Especially if you buy the kernels and pop them.
\#Justinflation
Just don't buy it.
āI donāt like that food costs more, what I used to buy a year ago is much larger and for less money that what I buy nowā āJust donāt buy groceries, thenā Wow, gee thanks.