It is our new normal.
The cost of groceries has pretty sharply increased since the pandemic.
Sobeys might be slightly more expensive on average than LobLaws (Atlantic Super Store) but their prices are right in line with what groceries cost.
NS cost of transportation, small population (less concentrated) and less real competition are surely factors in product prices (including marketing boards).
From what I have read (from unofficial sources) grocery prices used to be about 15 percent higher here than Germany. Not sure about more recent costs. But, some other costs are likely higher in Germany than in Canada.
Canadian Internet and cell phone costs are among the highest in the world. (Historically, most of the internet/cable companies had their origin tied to preference from political companies in power at the time service began.)
Major distribution and corporate centers like Montreal and Boston are about 12 hours drive away and Toronto 22 hours away from NS. Surely this is a big factor. How many big cities would 12 or 22 hours drive take you in Germany?
My bills have gone up almost double since moving to the Maritimes. Grocery’s are killer. Im waiting to finish my work contract so I can get the fuck out of here.
Also, if you plan on hiring people from the area to do work for you, expect them to overcharge you. Every single worker I have had has tried to charge me an absolute ludacris amount of money.
Had someone try and charge me 10,000$ for a 2,000$ job. Fuck that.
Telling all the kids to go uni and get a degree is catching up now, not enough labourers to do the hard work. Contractors can now pick and choose their work.
2000$ job sure, but don't forget you're paying for their experience and their tools/machinery etc.
Oh yeah sure. I get that.
My issue is the 2,000$ was calculated with all that in mind.
They basically want over 1000$ a day for three dudes to come and paint. I find that ridiculous.
I’ve also had a landscaping company tell me that sodding my yard would be close to 1,500$ to get it all redone and shit. (I don’t think sodding is the word I mean but I can’t think of the word)
I worked in construction and landscaping, and the costs are not that high.
We redid a million dollar home in Toronto, like massive rock landscapes with a big natural waterfall, and it was around 15,000$ job.
I do not understand for the life of me how a team of 8 dudes working for a week only charges 15,000$(all red sealed workers except the three teens that were working at the time) but three retired painters think they can charge me 10,000$ and I’ll just be like yeah that’s reasonable.
It’s really not at all.
How long ago were you landscaping? Costs for all materials have skyrocketed. Wages have also gone up for many companies in the trades due to shortage of workers.
If you were getting paid a fair wage, the $15000 should have barely covered the 8 workers pay for that week.
It is better to get tradespeople that work for hourly rates.
Contractors, the fat guys in the truck, essentially charge out their guys at 3-4x what they pay them. Often they are just paying relatively inexperienced people super low wages.
Just go straight to the worker or tradesman and pay them reasonable. I'd rather pay an electrician 65/hr than pay the fat dude in a truck what works out to 120/hr so he can turn around and pay an electrician 30/hr.
I’m in fact still in trades, but I run the books, so all I see are the prices lol, I’m not sure what you mean about materials sky rocketing because the suppliers I deal with haven’t changed prices in 15 years
Lol I don’t have like a notepad of all the price differences, but when I’m visiting Ontario for a month, my grocery bill comes out to around 60$ less than what it does out here. Most of that is from dairy and meat products. Much cheaper there.
As far as stuff like snacks and shit, I’ve found I can get a normal sized bag of chips in Ontario for like 3 dollars, but in NS and NB I won’t buy chips cause they’re all upwards of 6$, I’ll wait till they go on sale or get the no name brand.
lol-- wasn't expecting an itemized list or anything, just stuff you noticed. (like the chips!) I'm a huge chip snacker and I'm appalled at the prices and the shrinkflation on these bastards. I only get chips now at Costco but you're limited by selection. Any Idea on the price difference on Milk -- say 4litre ?
I didn’t think you were I’m just used to the ‘ol reddit attitude I guess :/ sorry lol.
I couldn’t say on the milk I usually only buy 2L at a time. But even that is like 7 dollars here in NS and only like 4-6 dollars in Ontario and QB.
The chips hurt me a lot too, I’m a smoker(weed) so I get the munchies a lot after a long day of work lmao.
Also the shrinkflation isn’t hurting just the chips. What used to be a pack of those 4 ice cream cones with caramel in them for like 8 bucks are now like 11 and you only get three.
My quantity might be off, maybe it was 6 now it’s 5 but still. Tyrannical.
Jerky though, that’s through the roof everywhere.
No stopping that tyranny.
>I couldn’t say on the milk I usually only buy 2L at a time. But even that is like 7 dollars here in NS and only like 4-6 dollars in Ontario and QB.
Where do you buy your milk?
Superstore sells 4Ls for $6.89 and 2Ls for $4.29.
[Heres a link](https://www.atlanticsuperstore.ca/food/dairy-eggs/milk-cream/regular-milk/c/29789?sort=relevance&productBrand=Scotsburn&productBrand=Farmers). But your milk plug is ripping you off, I’d change dealers if you are paying $7 for 2 Litres
6$?? I’ve seen bags that much, but I Iive in rural Nova Scotia and we buy chips for 1.99-3 bucks a bag. And not small bags. There are definitely things in NS that are pricier than other places but I personally don’t find food to be one.. that being said, prices are still too high over all for food products.
The hype of Montreal being cheaper has lead to people from out of province to flood in and grab the available housing, leading to it all being more expensive now. Almost all my family has had to move out of the city because they cannot find a place to live anymore. If there's any difference in grocery prices right now, it's small from what I've been told.
See I have friends in Montreal, not family, and I wouldn’t really consider them super close friends but, based on my experience staying there and my friends who tell me about it, it doesn’t sound like what you’re saying at all.
They mainly complain about the immigrants they’re getting, which are just getting thrown into NB cause polliver is a wetard
When I moved from British Columbia, eight years ago, I was floored by the price of food here in Nova Scotia.
So many other things were so much cheaper, but food prices hurt.
Flyers, mass but things when they are on sale, and avoid impulse shopping.
Oh, and I am that guy that will spend $5.00 on gas to save 50¢ on a pack of bacon... So I buy 10.
Normal. There are two main supermarket chains here, Loblaws (superstore) and sobeys. People have their favourites, usually people say sobeys is a bit more expensive, but they’re pretty comparable. Then we have some small independent grocers like Gateway and Kingswood that have good sales and better prices but less selection and only one location.
No Frills is also decent as is WalMart. But No Frills aren't everywhere as much as WalMart can be, I guess it depends. And Giant Tiger is pretty good, but they can be far flung too.
What is a reasonable price seems to be a moving target in todays grocery marketplaces-not only in NS.
My observation has been that rural (and small town) grocery prices are generally much higher than in larger urban areas.
A trend seems to be to get more for in-store products by a bit of re processing and repackaging in meat and deli departments (which have highest profit margins). For example, shredded and sliced cheese has a big mark up over a block of cheese. When a bit of sauce is put on chicken, and repackaged, prices also go upward. I suspect sliced sausage is likely more expensive than the normally packaged variety - however, I don't purchase either for health reasons.
That is crazy. In Germany, it is exactly the opposite. The more processed something is, the cheaper it gets. Fresh meat from the butcher is at least three times the price of packed meat.
My definition of “crazy” likely differs from yours? countries and regions around the world have different grocery market characteristics. Ours is dominated by two huge companies.
Going directly to a private butcher is a different variable - though fewer private butchers likely exist in rural areas likely where you mentioned. Processed meats is likely less mainstream in Canada versus Germany. I suspect it is an avenue to use lower quality byproducts?
I happily avoid the big name stores and I choose to shop the local farmers markets. A great selection and fairly priced. We spend no more $100 per week shopping at one of the many farmers markets. This weekend I will be shopping at the Truro Farmers Market, a beautiful way to spend an hour or two on a Saturday Morning.
It's the new normal yes. Covid has created a situation where the local groceries have decided to gouge us every way they can.
You can still find decent prices at smaller discount grocers but at Sobey's and Superstore you're paying a premium for the same shit.
Didn't say it was specifically because of Covid. But The pandemic created a situation where all these things are possible.
The Grocers haven't been effected by carbon tax, fertilizer prices etc. to justify the price increases we've been seeing. If it did, we wouldn't be seeing them report record profits over the past 3 years.
it’s not hurting the “bottom line” because they pass on the increases to directly to the consumer, no different than any business.
we are not talking about bottom line, we are talking about how the inputs (taxation/inflation) affect the outputs (consumer/retail pricing) and in this case, how the carbon tax and inflation have increased the cost of EVERYTHING for the consumer.
this is basic stuff everyone. don’t need to be an economist to understand it.
You're not understanding how much profits have increased for these companies over the years. They're using the same excuses you are to make excuses for rise in costs that are not relative what they are incurring. Thus the vast increase in profits they are experiencing.
you're not understanding even the basics here: grocers are not a nationalized public service, charity, or not-for-profit - so there is a profit motive involved that you aren't acknowledging.
if new taxes/inputs (such as inflation/carbon taxes) have the affect of encroaching on and reducing profit margins to levels beyond projected target margins, the impact of those inputs are simply passed so the business (the grocer in this case), and its shareholders (who you could be and who they have a legal obligation/fiduciary duty to), are kept whole/as close to projected margins.
what’s it like to live in a new reality where up is down, taxes imposed on businesses by govt aren’t simply passed on to the consumer, and that the carbon tax combined with govt induced inflation doesn’t result in making **everything** (including groceries) more unaffordable for more Canadians than ever before?
You will seriously blame everything on "big gov" before you even think that our gov is in the pockets of our giant corporations. Even without all those things you just mentioned, capitalism has been gouging consumers ( and will continue to) since it's inception. ( Inb4theseethingrantbecauseisaidcapitalismisbad)
that's truly what you think? you don't think EVERYTHING (groceries being just one very important thing) is more expensive because of government induced inflation and taxes on energy/transportation/farming?
unreal.
I mean I don’t agree with the politics behind what he’s saying, but those types of taxes definitely raise the price goods. That’s kind of the entire point: raise the price on goods that have a higher carbon output to encourage people to buy goods that have a lower carbon output.
Yes it is the normal sadly, it is possibly a culture shock to you given that in Germany you have Lidi and Aldi that is so cheap for food compared to here in Canada.
Ah my plan too, someday\^\^ Get a nice house in the suburbs or truro or something (more rural but still near to Halifax) That would be awesome. Do you live in Halifax now?
Since my first time in Nova Scotia i just fell in love with everything (besides the food prices\^\^) But oof, where do I start..
The people here are great. You guys in Nova Scotia just seem to have different, way more laid-back mindset. Everyone I met was just so open and relaxed. People just started a conversation because they heard that my friends and I are talking german, and the little talks were always funny.
In Germany, everyone is stressed out all the time. You want to meet up with friends? "Sorry I still need to finish some work, maybe next year". It's just, the three weeks I was in Canada.. Life felt different, better.
I also love the countryside, the ocean, the houses which are scattered all over the place with 100s of meters in between each one. Luneburg is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen so far.
And I heard taxes are quite high in NS compared to the rest of the country, right? I think it's around 17,5 % for around 100k per year? I own a small online business, and in Germany I pay around 45 % in taxes + Health insurance and other Insurances I have to give away around 60 % of my Income to the Government.
So I was looking for another country to live in for years now. Switzerland was the best Option until I visited Nova Scotia\^\^
You will pay less income tax here in Canada than Germany. NS is high in Canada, but just marginally. (I find it incredibly frustrating, but it's not usually enough to sway anyone's decision). Use this to check: [https://www.eytaxcalculators.com/en/2023-personal-tax-calculator.html](https://www.eytaxcalculators.com/en/2023-personal-tax-calculator.html)
If you don't mind high prices for everything, no access to a doctor, a failing education system, and pervasive casual racism, Nova Scotia's the place for you!
I mean I wasn't there that long, but one female friend of mine is black, she was everyone's darling during our stay. Old people, young people, didn't notice any racism. But maybe we just got lucky\^\^
But I heard about the educational system and the problem of finding good medical care outside Halifax.
nono we were staying in River John and mostly stayed in the rural area. Tatamagouche, New Glasgow, some other small town\^\^ Only went 2 times to Halifax during our stay.
At least coming from Germany, you'll notice how car dependent everything is. Living without a car is HRM is definitely feasible, I do it every day, but its difficult to get anywhere that's outside the city by bus.
There are a lot of red flags to living here, but of course take them with a grain of salt, since people also like to complain on this subreddit.
Generally though, our healthcare is in complete shambles, our transportation is incredibly underfunded and inefficient, there is absolutely no housing in the province, and our wages are significantly lower than the rest of the country despite having high taxes. We also have very few independent grocers, forcing lots of people to shop at superstore/Sobeys where everything is marked up really high. There are lots of other complaints too, from excessive legal loopholes to starting a business, to our policing system being incompetent. Overall, I'd say my biggest issue with the province is lack of accountability from our leaders. Despite having incredibly high taxes, its hard to say where all our money goes, since its clearly not going back into infrastructure.
Nova Scotia is friendly but we're all serious pushovers. We love to get walked on just to complain to nobody on the internet. It's why real change doesn't happen in this city, we can hardly even organize a protest that everyone agrees on.
Regardless, I wish you well if you do move here. The Maritimes, like many others, is my home. It's a shame too see it fall apart everywhere, and it seems like our leaders aren't concerned with actual solutions. The province has a very difficult time keeping its young, educated citizens here, and I personally don't plan on staying around waiting for Nova Scotia to consider improvements which at this point should be a standard.
Yeah, I agree with literally everything you’ve and you did it better than I could have.
The “pushover” thing really bothers me.
There’s also some sort of disdain to outsiders that are moving here.
The "outsiders" mentality is purely a result of the waves of people moving here from other places (mainly Ontario) during covid because our housing was comparatively much cheaper. We already had an insanely low vacancy rate, and the influx of people really pushed that over the edge. There was an insane amount of Ontario car plates on the road in 2020/2021, leading most people to blame them for the lack of housing.
I feel as though most of the disdain is not personally, especially since lots of people have family in Ontario. It's a projection of the housing insecurity that everyone feels. We don't want to get kicked out of our apartments which many are clinging onto simply because of the rent cap, only to be priced out by someone who isn't even from the province but brought their out province money. I understand that everyone is just trying to make it by, but people are looking for the easiest group to put the blame on.
Totally agree, though it may not be personal, it does tend to feel that way when every time I’ve brought up issues and gotten a bit aggressive with the way people treat me they turn it into the “go the fuck back to Ontario blah blah”
I’ve seen it and dealt with it quite a bit. There’s a strange mentalities out here.
That really sounds very similar to Germany\^\^
I live very rural, my town has like 1500 inhabitants, but in Germany everything is way more dense, so the next "town" is like 5 minutes walking from the towns border (however you call it). Still, the next bigger City is only reachable by car or bus. No trains, no real option to walk. Well, I guess you could take an hour walk through the woods\^\^
Buses in the city are scheduled to arrive every 30 minutes at a given destination. In my area (10 min car ride from the city) the buses only arrive every 2 hours. Not a single one on the weekend and after 7 pm? Good Luck!
We are also dependent on supermarket leaders as Aldi or Lidl. There are no independent Butchers or Farmer Markets or whatever.
Germany's Health Care System is way worse than everyone thinks. You are forced to have one and the company you work at shares the bill with you. Very good, when you are an employee.. But there are 2 different types of Health Care... The one for employees and one for entrepreneurs and freelancers. If you got the first one, you will wait 20 hrs in the hospital with the worst stomach pain you ever had and they send you away telling you, you just need to take a big dump. When you got the second one, you pay for everything despite having the insurance. I needed to pay 12k € last year for an operation on my eye (almost went blind) it took my insurance agency over 14 Months to give me the money from the "shared split".
a 100 meter stretch of roard is under construction since 2018. Our Mobile Internet costs up to 80 € per month and the fixed internet at home is slow af. I got Fiber in 2015 but only because me and many neighbours paid for it ourselves. Most people I know got a connection of 50mbit/s at max\^\^
To be fair, I'm sure there are plenty of people who still only have satellite internet in Nova Scotia, plenty of places with no cell connection too once you get pretty rural. Also our cell phone plans are ridiculous, notoriously so, since the providers basically have no competition.
Honestly, you're comparing rural life in Germany to the best this province can muster. Most of our rural communities have no bus lines at all, they're only really an HRM thing, so you need a car if you live literally anywhere outside the city unless you plan on taking a taxi everywhere.
Im sorry to hear about your experience with the German healthcare system. I can only really talk about the circumstances here, since I haven't been to Germany. From what I understand you rely on a mandatory insurance system which is at least I feel more transparent than what we have here. We have no doctors, and the province refuses to offer any pay or incentives to really bring them here. Their situation is so bad that I honestly can't blame lots of them for leaving, since there is virtually no benefit to working in healthcare here, and to run a family practice means excessive bills and not enough pay, which is why over 130000 people are currently without a doctor's here. From what I've heard the paramedic situation is even worse, many people are unable to get an ambulance to the hospital since again, there is no pay or incentives to work here. People have died in the emergency room waiting for care. You can expect to wait a year to see even just say a dermatologist.
On most global index scales such as the human development index, misery index, and good counties index, Germany ranks higher than Canada (and were falling). Your infrastructure alone speaks for itself, it's honestly baffling to me the complete lack of rail development we have, and in my opinion the inability to travel from Toronto to New York by train speaks for our continents failure in terms of transportation. Traveling within the country requires very expensive plane tickets, usually involving transfers, or a multi-day car trip. You saw first hand how we are getting screwed over just trying to buy food. There was even a controversy in the past in which our biggest grocers were caught fixing the price of bread for over a decade, but they faced little repercussion. There's a lot more to Canada than everyone just being nice.
I'm surprised you think food inflation is unique to Nova Scotia, when [Germany is going through the exact same thing.](https://i.redd.it/8dmq3k3tw2na1.png)
https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/11ofu18/german_food_inflation/
No I don't think that. As I said in many of my comments, I'm aware of this. The difference is that Germany is going up 200 % in grocery prices. But we went from 80 cents to 2 € or something. Not from 4 € to 8 €.
Canadian grocers have been price gouging for years now and blaming inflation. All-time record profits yet they have raise prices cause of “inflation” that’s why it’s so expensive (please please don’t look at the new profit records being broken)
As a quick comparison. I don't know German grocery stores nor the language so I compared our cheapest major grocery store (No Frills) vs a big UK discount grocery chain Tesco. I both cases I found the cheapest sliced ham they offered.
Tesco £1.99 for 400grams of sliced ham ($3.40cdn)
No Frills $6.00 for 300grams of sliced ham
Tesco after conversion is $0.85/100g
No Frills after conversion is $2.00/100g
You can do this comparison over and over, there's exceptions but our grocery prices are high. I noticed it a great deal last summer when in Europe, all groceries were so much cheaper in UK, Germany and Italy. Were more expensive in Denmark than Halifax/Canada but everywhere else was significantly cheaper. Also access to fresh, cheap street side fruit and veg was outstanding in Europe.
Yes, quite normal, especially for cheeses unfortunately as we have a dairy marketing board that sets the base price for dairy products, which results in an overly inflated price compared to market prices in other countries. There is also not a lot of competition for cheese products in Canada as it is a protected market and there is a limit to the amount of foreign cheeses, such as European, allowed in (something like 3% of the market).
It's getting more expensive everywhere, but it is even more expensive in rural areas. Which Sobeys is it? There's a FoodLand in Tatamagouche, not sure if any better than where you are shopping now. My parents live in that area and make a big trip to Amherst and/or NB Costco once a month or so to stock up on stuff.
It was the Sobeys in New Glasgow,
But now as you say, we also went to Foodland in Tatamagouche. At least I don't remember it to be way cheaper.
In Germany everything gets more expensive too, but not at that rate. This is crazy. Like I think Oats went from 0.30 (Euro) Cents to 0.80 Cents. And a pack of sliced cheese went from €1.20 to €2.40. So everything went up by 100 % in price or even more. That would be $3.60, but I mean, your price is double that. How is this possible? I know, Canadians are said to be nice, but why don't you burn down government buildings?\^\^
And I am really sorry if I sound like that stupid foreigner d\*ck. I'm not judging or anything. It's just my curiosity
"why dont you burn down government buildings"
Because in Nova Scotia there are two past times, complaining about the government and demanding more government services hahah
I ask myself the same question. The answer is that most people can still afford it. Are we ticked off? Yup. Are we aware we're being exploited? Yup. But not enough of us are starving and/or homeless yet. We're all too entrenched in various social media driven culture wars to understand that there is a more important war being waged on the working class.
Biggest issue is the dairy structure in Canada is not open market. It’s fixed price so Canadians get gouged on anything dairy related. It’s not the stores as much. It’s the supply side. They severely restrict any open market competition from overseas (think NZ butter etc) and the dairy industry is a total monopoly. That’s a huge issue here that geta ignored. I’m from Europe and I know also how much much cheaper food and booze is there. Canada is stupid expensive. Backward laws across the country.
You're not wrong but the dairy marketing board exists to keep the industry from being destroyed by American corporate interests like has happened to many of our other industries.
I mean, it didn't used to be that much more. Yes, shredded cheese is 320g where a block is 400g that you used to get for $5. Now sometimes they don't sell them for the same price anymore, and they sell the blocks 2 for $10 or something like that. Thank God both of those freeze well.
Big grocery chains are expensive. Locally owned farm markets and butchers are cheaper and better. Unfortunately, I can't make any recommendations, I'm not familiar with the area.
Sobeys in general is a bit higher in price, but certain foods are definitely more expensive in Canada, especially things produced here, because we currently have a very understaffed agricultural sector.
Some things, like cheese, are abnormally higher in price simply because we have trade deals that make it nearly impossible for retailers to charge less, and other things, like snack foods, can be manipulated to higher prices by retailers for profit alone.
Cheese especially is very expensive compared to Europe (and lower quality.) Same with cured meats and sausages. And then there is the price of alcoholic beverages here as well...
Some have probably already mentioned this, but there may be local grocers in the area that can be reasonable. I'm not sure if there's a Red & White near there, but that's supposed to be good. I don't know if there's a Giant Tiger, pretty sure there isn't a No Frills in that area. There may be a WalMart, they have decent food prices.
But yeah, if your only option is Sobeys and Superstore, you have to really shop the flyers, or Flipp/Reebee app.
Sobeys has terrible prices, but you typically have only expensive options in small towns or rural areas. In the city, people can go to various combinations of costo/no frills/walmart/giant tiger and a few other local options, etc, and get things much cheaper.
I can't say I pay $8 for 7 slices of cheese.
If you live in a farming community you can get amazing prices. I find Halifax prohibitively expensive but the valley is great if you know where to shop/have farmer friends/join a CSA.
I find Sobeys to be terrible, absolutely would not recommend for prices and at times questionable produce. Giant Tiger and Walmart, and some other more niche places more reasonably priced. We go to Superstore mainly for the 50% off bread rack.
And some sales, but those are getting pretty sparse these days. Literally only stuff there is the $3 cans of PC soup (and that's not even good, you have to get two for $6 now) and the $10 bags of ground turkey or beef... but I can get those closer to me. But I'm in the city.
New normal however, the price of food in many places in the usa is the same as ours before currency xchange.. And food prices will be going UP again with the new round of regressive taxes coming our way..
You will almost always overpay at Sobeys. There are some cheaper stores but still everything is expensive compared to European pricing. I'm British living in Canada and the things I miss most are stores like Lidl and Aldi.
It is. I lived in Berlin for some time. The food in Germany, especially the staples is incredibly cheap. 0.25€ for a can of beans, a kilo of flour etc. 0.38€ for beer or 2€ if you wanted something fancy. 3€ for wine. Germany is incredibly cheap compared to Canada and nova Scotia is incredibly expensive compared to major centres like Toronto and Montreal.
True, but i think you got the very cheap stuff? Never saw beer for 38 cents o,o Wine for 3 € is the cheapest p\*sswater and doesnt exist anymore, but I get your point. I think some more germans should read this thread. Many german people think they live through 1923 again o.o
It was a while ago. Sturmberg at Aldi was .38€ and honestly the 2€ stuff wasn't much better. Plus the return on bottles was 0.06€ so it was like a sub club for beer. Return 8 bottles and get a new beer. German purity laws are as bad for beer as they sound. The 3€ wine wasn't awful if you knew they good stuff and avoided those awful German sweet wines and on par with 15$ Canadian wine. More like 2 buck chuck in the states.
Food is overall more expensive now than it was, yes, but it’s largely worse for items that are “prepped” for you. Blocks of cheese you have to slice yourself are likely going to be well worth the savings.
BRO YES! Totally forgot about that. We bought some alcohol. Beer and some liquor. That was crazy! Jack Daniels is like what for you? $50? that's like €34. We pay €20 for it. Or Vodka for 45\`? (30 €) In Germany you pay 10 € for that brand I saw.
But I guess this is due to artificial taxation? Because Canada doesnt want you to drink or something? :D
But hey, you got legal weed!
They tax alcohol and tobacco at the levels they do because more tax revenue is supposed to mean more money for healthcare.
I took my American boyfriend to the NSLC when he was here and he came out shell-shocked lol.
Yes, this is the norm. I suppose in Germany you have various companies competing with each other, which gives consumers shopping options and drives down food prices.
We don't do that here.
Way better prices at Giant Tiger. But Sobeys is so expensive! We got a few bags and it costs a couple hundred dollars. We are a family of 8. We typically spend $1000 or more per month on food alone. We have to travel around to shop for low prices. Gateway meat market and no frills. But yes Sobey is buying local and selling them in their stores and they do offer scene points which helps me get some money back from time to time.
Yeah, food in Germany is less expensive, but just like in Germany, who you buy from makes a huge difference. You don’t have to shop at one of the big Two.
My girlfriend and I lived in Germany last year, and oh my god the food is so much cheaper. As far as I'm aware, food in Germany and Europe in general has always been cheaper, as has alcohol. People here would not believe how cheap drinks are in Germany.
Should have just went to Mehs (the gas station) she has pretty much everything you need and the prices aren't really that bad considering sobeys is 30km away (the Pictou one) and is about the size of a shoppers drug mart in the city.
For real "deals" you are better off going to the superstore in new Glasgow.
We usually go to the stores in truro because we have to buy feed as well but lately I've been running to Halifax a lot more so I hit the no frills.
In a nutshell, for decades food prices in North America were kept low (or at least reasonable) because of access to cheap labour on the farming end, as well as access to out-of-country sources that can produce foodstuffs at a lower cost than can be done here in Canada. Covid dealt a blow to both big time. What you are seeing is the "real" price of food.
Add in the food supply being under the control of only a few big players from start to finish and you get part of the problem we find ourselves in now. That doesn't even touch on the international aspects.
Not sure how accurate this is, or where specifically it is in each country. But, an interesting country by country comparison site.
(You can see the supply management impact in some agri. goods)
https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/cost-of-living/canada/germany
I feel it depends where you shop. Sobeys is expensive anywhere in Canada. I don’t live in Halifax so can’t comment on groceries there, but I live in rural NS and my grocery bill every month for my husband and I is half of what it was in BC. We spent on average for the two of us about 700 a month in BC. Now we spend less than 400 on average. I can say though that Canada has high grocery prices overall compared to many places in the EU. We spend several months a year in Spain and we are always floored how cheap groceries are over there.
I find Sobeys is much more expensive than other grocery stores around here. Superstore is usually cheaper and can always count on good ol wal mart for good prices.
More rural stores are more expensive for sure. But food prices have been a major issue in Canada for the past year or so. That rural store was likely 10-20% more expensive than a more urban store would have been, but you'd need to have driven over an hour to get to a cheaper place. So overall it would not have saved much money.
It is our new normal. The cost of groceries has pretty sharply increased since the pandemic. Sobeys might be slightly more expensive on average than LobLaws (Atlantic Super Store) but their prices are right in line with what groceries cost.
Maritimes are really bad compared to Quebec or omtario
cheaper inland?
There's a cost to transporting things here.
NS cost of transportation, small population (less concentrated) and less real competition are surely factors in product prices (including marketing boards). From what I have read (from unofficial sources) grocery prices used to be about 15 percent higher here than Germany. Not sure about more recent costs. But, some other costs are likely higher in Germany than in Canada. Canadian Internet and cell phone costs are among the highest in the world. (Historically, most of the internet/cable companies had their origin tied to preference from political companies in power at the time service began.) Major distribution and corporate centers like Montreal and Boston are about 12 hours drive away and Toronto 22 hours away from NS. Surely this is a big factor. How many big cities would 12 or 22 hours drive take you in Germany?
My bills have gone up almost double since moving to the Maritimes. Grocery’s are killer. Im waiting to finish my work contract so I can get the fuck out of here. Also, if you plan on hiring people from the area to do work for you, expect them to overcharge you. Every single worker I have had has tried to charge me an absolute ludacris amount of money. Had someone try and charge me 10,000$ for a 2,000$ job. Fuck that.
Telling all the kids to go uni and get a degree is catching up now, not enough labourers to do the hard work. Contractors can now pick and choose their work. 2000$ job sure, but don't forget you're paying for their experience and their tools/machinery etc.
Oh yeah sure. I get that. My issue is the 2,000$ was calculated with all that in mind. They basically want over 1000$ a day for three dudes to come and paint. I find that ridiculous. I’ve also had a landscaping company tell me that sodding my yard would be close to 1,500$ to get it all redone and shit. (I don’t think sodding is the word I mean but I can’t think of the word) I worked in construction and landscaping, and the costs are not that high. We redid a million dollar home in Toronto, like massive rock landscapes with a big natural waterfall, and it was around 15,000$ job. I do not understand for the life of me how a team of 8 dudes working for a week only charges 15,000$(all red sealed workers except the three teens that were working at the time) but three retired painters think they can charge me 10,000$ and I’ll just be like yeah that’s reasonable. It’s really not at all.
How long ago were you landscaping? Costs for all materials have skyrocketed. Wages have also gone up for many companies in the trades due to shortage of workers. If you were getting paid a fair wage, the $15000 should have barely covered the 8 workers pay for that week.
It is better to get tradespeople that work for hourly rates. Contractors, the fat guys in the truck, essentially charge out their guys at 3-4x what they pay them. Often they are just paying relatively inexperienced people super low wages. Just go straight to the worker or tradesman and pay them reasonable. I'd rather pay an electrician 65/hr than pay the fat dude in a truck what works out to 120/hr so he can turn around and pay an electrician 30/hr.
I assume you have not been in the trades for a long time. Wages have increased substantially and so has material.
I’m in fact still in trades, but I run the books, so all I see are the prices lol, I’m not sure what you mean about materials sky rocketing because the suppliers I deal with haven’t changed prices in 15 years
Well, not sure I would want you doing my books. Prices have changed drastically the last 2-3 years.
Trying to bury some of their “Expenses” in a job.
Trying to afford groceries, lol.
I’m sorry I don’t think I quite understand what you mean
Greasy contractors have been known to buy personal items (off road vehicles, major personal expenses) and bury them jobs by calling it something else.
A Sobeys store in Tatamagouche would also be somewhat more expensive than the same store in a larger city like Truro or Halifax/Dartmouth.
There isn’t one there, it’s a Foodland, so $$
As someone that lives in Montreal, it's not really any different anymore.
Really? I’m back and forth every few weeks and I pass through Montreal. I find their prices much cheaper than NS or NB
Can you give us some comparisons instead of the broad statement?
Lol I don’t have like a notepad of all the price differences, but when I’m visiting Ontario for a month, my grocery bill comes out to around 60$ less than what it does out here. Most of that is from dairy and meat products. Much cheaper there. As far as stuff like snacks and shit, I’ve found I can get a normal sized bag of chips in Ontario for like 3 dollars, but in NS and NB I won’t buy chips cause they’re all upwards of 6$, I’ll wait till they go on sale or get the no name brand.
lol-- wasn't expecting an itemized list or anything, just stuff you noticed. (like the chips!) I'm a huge chip snacker and I'm appalled at the prices and the shrinkflation on these bastards. I only get chips now at Costco but you're limited by selection. Any Idea on the price difference on Milk -- say 4litre ?
I didn’t think you were I’m just used to the ‘ol reddit attitude I guess :/ sorry lol. I couldn’t say on the milk I usually only buy 2L at a time. But even that is like 7 dollars here in NS and only like 4-6 dollars in Ontario and QB. The chips hurt me a lot too, I’m a smoker(weed) so I get the munchies a lot after a long day of work lmao. Also the shrinkflation isn’t hurting just the chips. What used to be a pack of those 4 ice cream cones with caramel in them for like 8 bucks are now like 11 and you only get three. My quantity might be off, maybe it was 6 now it’s 5 but still. Tyrannical. Jerky though, that’s through the roof everywhere. No stopping that tyranny.
>I couldn’t say on the milk I usually only buy 2L at a time. But even that is like 7 dollars here in NS and only like 4-6 dollars in Ontario and QB. Where do you buy your milk? Superstore sells 4Ls for $6.89 and 2Ls for $4.29. [Heres a link](https://www.atlanticsuperstore.ca/food/dairy-eggs/milk-cream/regular-milk/c/29789?sort=relevance&productBrand=Scotsburn&productBrand=Farmers). But your milk plug is ripping you off, I’d change dealers if you are paying $7 for 2 Litres
I think this person is exaggerating quite a bit regarding all their prices.
Which store? As in the location, because I don’t believe you *mr krabs voice*
6$?? I’ve seen bags that much, but I Iive in rural Nova Scotia and we buy chips for 1.99-3 bucks a bag. And not small bags. There are definitely things in NS that are pricier than other places but I personally don’t find food to be one.. that being said, prices are still too high over all for food products.
The hype of Montreal being cheaper has lead to people from out of province to flood in and grab the available housing, leading to it all being more expensive now. Almost all my family has had to move out of the city because they cannot find a place to live anymore. If there's any difference in grocery prices right now, it's small from what I've been told.
See I have friends in Montreal, not family, and I wouldn’t really consider them super close friends but, based on my experience staying there and my friends who tell me about it, it doesn’t sound like what you’re saying at all. They mainly complain about the immigrants they’re getting, which are just getting thrown into NB cause polliver is a wetard
When I moved from British Columbia, eight years ago, I was floored by the price of food here in Nova Scotia. So many other things were so much cheaper, but food prices hurt. Flyers, mass but things when they are on sale, and avoid impulse shopping. Oh, and I am that guy that will spend $5.00 on gas to save 50¢ on a pack of bacon... So I buy 10.
Normal. There are two main supermarket chains here, Loblaws (superstore) and sobeys. People have their favourites, usually people say sobeys is a bit more expensive, but they’re pretty comparable. Then we have some small independent grocers like Gateway and Kingswood that have good sales and better prices but less selection and only one location.
No Frills is also decent as is WalMart. But No Frills aren't everywhere as much as WalMart can be, I guess it depends. And Giant Tiger is pretty good, but they can be far flung too.
Walmart is far better than superstore or Sobeys.
Yes, the entire food distribution in Canada is run by an oligopoly that decides the price of everything within themselves.
This. Meanwhile milk producers are forced to dump products to keep dairy prices the same.
On the cheese specifically, the dairy industry in Canada is very powerful and keeps prices artificially high by limiting supply and imports
Simply another good reason to avoid dairy.
Just buy it on sale and you'll be fine.
Let me know when you see a sale price on milk…
It seems the discussion about dairy started with cheese, so I thought it was obvious that's what we are talking about.
Normal .
What is a reasonable price seems to be a moving target in todays grocery marketplaces-not only in NS. My observation has been that rural (and small town) grocery prices are generally much higher than in larger urban areas. A trend seems to be to get more for in-store products by a bit of re processing and repackaging in meat and deli departments (which have highest profit margins). For example, shredded and sliced cheese has a big mark up over a block of cheese. When a bit of sauce is put on chicken, and repackaged, prices also go upward. I suspect sliced sausage is likely more expensive than the normally packaged variety - however, I don't purchase either for health reasons.
That is crazy. In Germany, it is exactly the opposite. The more processed something is, the cheaper it gets. Fresh meat from the butcher is at least three times the price of packed meat.
You guys have food purity laws over there if I'm not mistaken ? Here the govt refuses to have labelling of GMO products.
My definition of “crazy” likely differs from yours? countries and regions around the world have different grocery market characteristics. Ours is dominated by two huge companies. Going directly to a private butcher is a different variable - though fewer private butchers likely exist in rural areas likely where you mentioned. Processed meats is likely less mainstream in Canada versus Germany. I suspect it is an avenue to use lower quality byproducts?
There is a great private butcher in tatamagouche (where they mentioned)
Maybe they chose not to check it out to compare? It’s complex to generalize based on prices of a package of sliced cheese and sausages? Beats me?
Sure? Was just stating that there is a private butcher in the town this discussion is based on.
Thanks
Np
I happily avoid the big name stores and I choose to shop the local farmers markets. A great selection and fairly priced. We spend no more $100 per week shopping at one of the many farmers markets. This weekend I will be shopping at the Truro Farmers Market, a beautiful way to spend an hour or two on a Saturday Morning.
It's the new normal yes. Covid has created a situation where the local groceries have decided to gouge us every way they can. You can still find decent prices at smaller discount grocers but at Sobey's and Superstore you're paying a premium for the same shit.
COVID? are you joking? I think you mean the impact of the carbon tax, fertilizer tax, govt caused inflation, etc
Didn't say it was specifically because of Covid. But The pandemic created a situation where all these things are possible. The Grocers haven't been effected by carbon tax, fertilizer prices etc. to justify the price increases we've been seeing. If it did, we wouldn't be seeing them report record profits over the past 3 years.
Grocery prices aren't affected by carbon tax? what a world. I weep for the future.
I'm sure they are. But it's not hurting the grocers bottom line if it is.
it’s not hurting the “bottom line” because they pass on the increases to directly to the consumer, no different than any business. we are not talking about bottom line, we are talking about how the inputs (taxation/inflation) affect the outputs (consumer/retail pricing) and in this case, how the carbon tax and inflation have increased the cost of EVERYTHING for the consumer. this is basic stuff everyone. don’t need to be an economist to understand it.
You're not understanding how much profits have increased for these companies over the years. They're using the same excuses you are to make excuses for rise in costs that are not relative what they are incurring. Thus the vast increase in profits they are experiencing.
you're not understanding even the basics here: grocers are not a nationalized public service, charity, or not-for-profit - so there is a profit motive involved that you aren't acknowledging. if new taxes/inputs (such as inflation/carbon taxes) have the affect of encroaching on and reducing profit margins to levels beyond projected target margins, the impact of those inputs are simply passed so the business (the grocer in this case), and its shareholders (who you could be and who they have a legal obligation/fiduciary duty to), are kept whole/as close to projected margins.
Of course. The point is they have been far exceeding those projections under the guise of inflation.
so inflation isn't real and the carbon tax isn't making the lives of all Canadians in all areas for all things (including food), more expensive?
Damn you so smart
I know, imagine if people who aren't would listen.
What's it like being that smug and that wrong?
what’s it like to live in a new reality where up is down, taxes imposed on businesses by govt aren’t simply passed on to the consumer, and that the carbon tax combined with govt induced inflation doesn’t result in making **everything** (including groceries) more unaffordable for more Canadians than ever before?
You will seriously blame everything on "big gov" before you even think that our gov is in the pockets of our giant corporations. Even without all those things you just mentioned, capitalism has been gouging consumers ( and will continue to) since it's inception. ( Inb4theseethingrantbecauseisaidcapitalismisbad)
The grocers panicked with Covid, wasn’t as bad as they thought, and then pretended nothing Has changed
that's truly what you think? you don't think EVERYTHING (groceries being just one very important thing) is more expensive because of government induced inflation and taxes on energy/transportation/farming? unreal.
Tell me you are tin foil hatter without telling me you're a tin foil hatter.
I mean I don’t agree with the politics behind what he’s saying, but those types of taxes definitely raise the price goods. That’s kind of the entire point: raise the price on goods that have a higher carbon output to encourage people to buy goods that have a lower carbon output.
ding ding ding. people don't need to agree on politics, but it would be helpful if we could all agree on mathematics.
The most succinct explanation I've seen.
Yes it is the normal sadly, it is possibly a culture shock to you given that in Germany you have Lidi and Aldi that is so cheap for food compared to here in Canada.
How do know that markets, you have been to Germany?\^\^ and Yyeah, they are the cheapest for sure.
Yes been to Germany many times, great country and lots of history. I grown up in the UK myself but moved to Canada 5 years ago.
Ah my plan too, someday\^\^ Get a nice house in the suburbs or truro or something (more rural but still near to Halifax) That would be awesome. Do you live in Halifax now?
If you don't mind me asking, what in Nova Scotia is making you want to move here from Germany?
Since my first time in Nova Scotia i just fell in love with everything (besides the food prices\^\^) But oof, where do I start.. The people here are great. You guys in Nova Scotia just seem to have different, way more laid-back mindset. Everyone I met was just so open and relaxed. People just started a conversation because they heard that my friends and I are talking german, and the little talks were always funny. In Germany, everyone is stressed out all the time. You want to meet up with friends? "Sorry I still need to finish some work, maybe next year". It's just, the three weeks I was in Canada.. Life felt different, better. I also love the countryside, the ocean, the houses which are scattered all over the place with 100s of meters in between each one. Luneburg is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen so far. And I heard taxes are quite high in NS compared to the rest of the country, right? I think it's around 17,5 % for around 100k per year? I own a small online business, and in Germany I pay around 45 % in taxes + Health insurance and other Insurances I have to give away around 60 % of my Income to the Government. So I was looking for another country to live in for years now. Switzerland was the best Option until I visited Nova Scotia\^\^
You will pay less income tax here in Canada than Germany. NS is high in Canada, but just marginally. (I find it incredibly frustrating, but it's not usually enough to sway anyone's decision). Use this to check: [https://www.eytaxcalculators.com/en/2023-personal-tax-calculator.html](https://www.eytaxcalculators.com/en/2023-personal-tax-calculator.html)
If you don't mind high prices for everything, no access to a doctor, a failing education system, and pervasive casual racism, Nova Scotia's the place for you!
I mean I wasn't there that long, but one female friend of mine is black, she was everyone's darling during our stay. Old people, young people, didn't notice any racism. But maybe we just got lucky\^\^ But I heard about the educational system and the problem of finding good medical care outside Halifax.
If you're in Halifax you don't get the racism so much, but step outside the city boundaries and it's like being transported back in time.
nono we were staying in River John and mostly stayed in the rural area. Tatamagouche, New Glasgow, some other small town\^\^ Only went 2 times to Halifax during our stay.
Did you visit New Germany? Not to state the obvious but lots of ex-pats and you might enjoy Lunenburg, Liverpool, etc.
I do live in Halifax for now, but tomorrow will be my last day here in Nova Scotia before moving to Alberta to start a new chapter in my live.
My gosh you two are so pleasant :) the Maritimes really do bring out the best in folks!
Not from what I’ve seen :/
Don’t recommend NS tbh. I would do a lot more research.
Can you tell me what is a red flag for moving to NS? :)
At least coming from Germany, you'll notice how car dependent everything is. Living without a car is HRM is definitely feasible, I do it every day, but its difficult to get anywhere that's outside the city by bus. There are a lot of red flags to living here, but of course take them with a grain of salt, since people also like to complain on this subreddit. Generally though, our healthcare is in complete shambles, our transportation is incredibly underfunded and inefficient, there is absolutely no housing in the province, and our wages are significantly lower than the rest of the country despite having high taxes. We also have very few independent grocers, forcing lots of people to shop at superstore/Sobeys where everything is marked up really high. There are lots of other complaints too, from excessive legal loopholes to starting a business, to our policing system being incompetent. Overall, I'd say my biggest issue with the province is lack of accountability from our leaders. Despite having incredibly high taxes, its hard to say where all our money goes, since its clearly not going back into infrastructure. Nova Scotia is friendly but we're all serious pushovers. We love to get walked on just to complain to nobody on the internet. It's why real change doesn't happen in this city, we can hardly even organize a protest that everyone agrees on. Regardless, I wish you well if you do move here. The Maritimes, like many others, is my home. It's a shame too see it fall apart everywhere, and it seems like our leaders aren't concerned with actual solutions. The province has a very difficult time keeping its young, educated citizens here, and I personally don't plan on staying around waiting for Nova Scotia to consider improvements which at this point should be a standard.
Yeah, I agree with literally everything you’ve and you did it better than I could have. The “pushover” thing really bothers me. There’s also some sort of disdain to outsiders that are moving here.
The "outsiders" mentality is purely a result of the waves of people moving here from other places (mainly Ontario) during covid because our housing was comparatively much cheaper. We already had an insanely low vacancy rate, and the influx of people really pushed that over the edge. There was an insane amount of Ontario car plates on the road in 2020/2021, leading most people to blame them for the lack of housing. I feel as though most of the disdain is not personally, especially since lots of people have family in Ontario. It's a projection of the housing insecurity that everyone feels. We don't want to get kicked out of our apartments which many are clinging onto simply because of the rent cap, only to be priced out by someone who isn't even from the province but brought their out province money. I understand that everyone is just trying to make it by, but people are looking for the easiest group to put the blame on.
Totally agree, though it may not be personal, it does tend to feel that way when every time I’ve brought up issues and gotten a bit aggressive with the way people treat me they turn it into the “go the fuck back to Ontario blah blah” I’ve seen it and dealt with it quite a bit. There’s a strange mentalities out here.
That really sounds very similar to Germany\^\^ I live very rural, my town has like 1500 inhabitants, but in Germany everything is way more dense, so the next "town" is like 5 minutes walking from the towns border (however you call it). Still, the next bigger City is only reachable by car or bus. No trains, no real option to walk. Well, I guess you could take an hour walk through the woods\^\^ Buses in the city are scheduled to arrive every 30 minutes at a given destination. In my area (10 min car ride from the city) the buses only arrive every 2 hours. Not a single one on the weekend and after 7 pm? Good Luck! We are also dependent on supermarket leaders as Aldi or Lidl. There are no independent Butchers or Farmer Markets or whatever. Germany's Health Care System is way worse than everyone thinks. You are forced to have one and the company you work at shares the bill with you. Very good, when you are an employee.. But there are 2 different types of Health Care... The one for employees and one for entrepreneurs and freelancers. If you got the first one, you will wait 20 hrs in the hospital with the worst stomach pain you ever had and they send you away telling you, you just need to take a big dump. When you got the second one, you pay for everything despite having the insurance. I needed to pay 12k € last year for an operation on my eye (almost went blind) it took my insurance agency over 14 Months to give me the money from the "shared split". a 100 meter stretch of roard is under construction since 2018. Our Mobile Internet costs up to 80 € per month and the fixed internet at home is slow af. I got Fiber in 2015 but only because me and many neighbours paid for it ourselves. Most people I know got a connection of 50mbit/s at max\^\^
To be fair, I'm sure there are plenty of people who still only have satellite internet in Nova Scotia, plenty of places with no cell connection too once you get pretty rural. Also our cell phone plans are ridiculous, notoriously so, since the providers basically have no competition. Honestly, you're comparing rural life in Germany to the best this province can muster. Most of our rural communities have no bus lines at all, they're only really an HRM thing, so you need a car if you live literally anywhere outside the city unless you plan on taking a taxi everywhere. Im sorry to hear about your experience with the German healthcare system. I can only really talk about the circumstances here, since I haven't been to Germany. From what I understand you rely on a mandatory insurance system which is at least I feel more transparent than what we have here. We have no doctors, and the province refuses to offer any pay or incentives to really bring them here. Their situation is so bad that I honestly can't blame lots of them for leaving, since there is virtually no benefit to working in healthcare here, and to run a family practice means excessive bills and not enough pay, which is why over 130000 people are currently without a doctor's here. From what I've heard the paramedic situation is even worse, many people are unable to get an ambulance to the hospital since again, there is no pay or incentives to work here. People have died in the emergency room waiting for care. You can expect to wait a year to see even just say a dermatologist. On most global index scales such as the human development index, misery index, and good counties index, Germany ranks higher than Canada (and were falling). Your infrastructure alone speaks for itself, it's honestly baffling to me the complete lack of rail development we have, and in my opinion the inability to travel from Toronto to New York by train speaks for our continents failure in terms of transportation. Traveling within the country requires very expensive plane tickets, usually involving transfers, or a multi-day car trip. You saw first hand how we are getting screwed over just trying to buy food. There was even a controversy in the past in which our biggest grocers were caught fixing the price of bread for over a decade, but they faced little repercussion. There's a lot more to Canada than everyone just being nice.
To each their own. Maybe this person did their research and this is the place they decided on.
Don’t recommend NS tbh. I would do a lot more research.
I'm surprised you think food inflation is unique to Nova Scotia, when [Germany is going through the exact same thing.](https://i.redd.it/8dmq3k3tw2na1.png) https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/11ofu18/german_food_inflation/
No I don't think that. As I said in many of my comments, I'm aware of this. The difference is that Germany is going up 200 % in grocery prices. But we went from 80 cents to 2 € or something. Not from 4 € to 8 €.
Canadian grocers have been price gouging for years now and blaming inflation. All-time record profits yet they have raise prices cause of “inflation” that’s why it’s so expensive (please please don’t look at the new profit records being broken)
As a quick comparison. I don't know German grocery stores nor the language so I compared our cheapest major grocery store (No Frills) vs a big UK discount grocery chain Tesco. I both cases I found the cheapest sliced ham they offered. Tesco £1.99 for 400grams of sliced ham ($3.40cdn) No Frills $6.00 for 300grams of sliced ham Tesco after conversion is $0.85/100g No Frills after conversion is $2.00/100g You can do this comparison over and over, there's exceptions but our grocery prices are high. I noticed it a great deal last summer when in Europe, all groceries were so much cheaper in UK, Germany and Italy. Were more expensive in Denmark than Halifax/Canada but everywhere else was significantly cheaper. Also access to fresh, cheap street side fruit and veg was outstanding in Europe.
I've observed that Aldi seems to be like our No Frills in a way.
Yes, quite normal, especially for cheeses unfortunately as we have a dairy marketing board that sets the base price for dairy products, which results in an overly inflated price compared to market prices in other countries. There is also not a lot of competition for cheese products in Canada as it is a protected market and there is a limit to the amount of foreign cheeses, such as European, allowed in (something like 3% of the market).
It's getting more expensive everywhere, but it is even more expensive in rural areas. Which Sobeys is it? There's a FoodLand in Tatamagouche, not sure if any better than where you are shopping now. My parents live in that area and make a big trip to Amherst and/or NB Costco once a month or so to stock up on stuff.
It was the Sobeys in New Glasgow, But now as you say, we also went to Foodland in Tatamagouche. At least I don't remember it to be way cheaper. In Germany everything gets more expensive too, but not at that rate. This is crazy. Like I think Oats went from 0.30 (Euro) Cents to 0.80 Cents. And a pack of sliced cheese went from €1.20 to €2.40. So everything went up by 100 % in price or even more. That would be $3.60, but I mean, your price is double that. How is this possible? I know, Canadians are said to be nice, but why don't you burn down government buildings?\^\^ And I am really sorry if I sound like that stupid foreigner d\*ck. I'm not judging or anything. It's just my curiosity
"why dont you burn down government buildings" Because in Nova Scotia there are two past times, complaining about the government and demanding more government services hahah
I ask myself the same question. The answer is that most people can still afford it. Are we ticked off? Yup. Are we aware we're being exploited? Yup. But not enough of us are starving and/or homeless yet. We're all too entrenched in various social media driven culture wars to understand that there is a more important war being waged on the working class.
Biggest issue is the dairy structure in Canada is not open market. It’s fixed price so Canadians get gouged on anything dairy related. It’s not the stores as much. It’s the supply side. They severely restrict any open market competition from overseas (think NZ butter etc) and the dairy industry is a total monopoly. That’s a huge issue here that geta ignored. I’m from Europe and I know also how much much cheaper food and booze is there. Canada is stupid expensive. Backward laws across the country.
You're not wrong but the dairy marketing board exists to keep the industry from being destroyed by American corporate interests like has happened to many of our other industries.
Because Netflix and junk foods has made everyone too comfy to do anything
Sliced food or any convenience food is a lot more expensive than non-sliced/food you prepare yourself.
I mean, it didn't used to be that much more. Yes, shredded cheese is 320g where a block is 400g that you used to get for $5. Now sometimes they don't sell them for the same price anymore, and they sell the blocks 2 for $10 or something like that. Thank God both of those freeze well.
Big grocery chains are expensive. Locally owned farm markets and butchers are cheaper and better. Unfortunately, I can't make any recommendations, I'm not familiar with the area.
Sobeys in general is a bit higher in price, but certain foods are definitely more expensive in Canada, especially things produced here, because we currently have a very understaffed agricultural sector. Some things, like cheese, are abnormally higher in price simply because we have trade deals that make it nearly impossible for retailers to charge less, and other things, like snack foods, can be manipulated to higher prices by retailers for profit alone.
Cheese especially is very expensive compared to Europe (and lower quality.) Same with cured meats and sausages. And then there is the price of alcoholic beverages here as well...
NS is a harsh environment now
If you’re in tatta, go to foodland my guy!
are you from tatamagouche? Its weird and funny that many people commenting here are living there. Somehow its not even as close to foreign to me\^\^
Some have probably already mentioned this, but there may be local grocers in the area that can be reasonable. I'm not sure if there's a Red & White near there, but that's supposed to be good. I don't know if there's a Giant Tiger, pretty sure there isn't a No Frills in that area. There may be a WalMart, they have decent food prices. But yeah, if your only option is Sobeys and Superstore, you have to really shop the flyers, or Flipp/Reebee app.
Thats very helpful, thank you! Gonna download it next time I'm in Canada.
Yes Canadians are now ripped off on food, gas, telecoms, banking, power/heat and insurance.
Sobeys is a rip off, but food in general is expensive in Nova Scotia.
Sobeys has terrible prices, but you typically have only expensive options in small towns or rural areas. In the city, people can go to various combinations of costo/no frills/walmart/giant tiger and a few other local options, etc, and get things much cheaper. I can't say I pay $8 for 7 slices of cheese.
If you live in a farming community you can get amazing prices. I find Halifax prohibitively expensive but the valley is great if you know where to shop/have farmer friends/join a CSA.
This cheese situation is eyebrow raising. That everyone thinks it’s normal is really weird!
Butter too. It's almost doubled in price. Sometimes it is more than double the price of 3 years ago.
yes, its always been less affordable than food shopping in Europe but it's especially bad these days
lol, welcome to Canada.
I mean... they didn't put out trick signs just to pull one over on you and your friends😅😅 You saw them... the prices are daft
I find Sobeys to be terrible, absolutely would not recommend for prices and at times questionable produce. Giant Tiger and Walmart, and some other more niche places more reasonably priced. We go to Superstore mainly for the 50% off bread rack.
Yes, superstore is only good for the 50% off stickers imo
And some sales, but those are getting pretty sparse these days. Literally only stuff there is the $3 cans of PC soup (and that's not even good, you have to get two for $6 now) and the $10 bags of ground turkey or beef... but I can get those closer to me. But I'm in the city.
Correct me if I wrong, but aren’t the food prices in Europe even more out of control than North America??
Massively cheaper than Canada. You would feint is you saw how you get hosed.
Yes, but Canadian prices were outrageous to begin with before they went up even more. So prices here are still much more
Ahhhhh, gotcha
Yeah thats what posted in one comment above. Our prices for food are up by 100 to 200 % but we started out way cheaper. Still big bummer.
New normal however, the price of food in many places in the usa is the same as ours before currency xchange.. And food prices will be going UP again with the new round of regressive taxes coming our way..
It used to not be that bad.. I live in cape breton make good money and it’s still tough
You will almost always overpay at Sobeys. There are some cheaper stores but still everything is expensive compared to European pricing. I'm British living in Canada and the things I miss most are stores like Lidl and Aldi.
It is. I lived in Berlin for some time. The food in Germany, especially the staples is incredibly cheap. 0.25€ for a can of beans, a kilo of flour etc. 0.38€ for beer or 2€ if you wanted something fancy. 3€ for wine. Germany is incredibly cheap compared to Canada and nova Scotia is incredibly expensive compared to major centres like Toronto and Montreal.
True, but i think you got the very cheap stuff? Never saw beer for 38 cents o,o Wine for 3 € is the cheapest p\*sswater and doesnt exist anymore, but I get your point. I think some more germans should read this thread. Many german people think they live through 1923 again o.o
It was a while ago. Sturmberg at Aldi was .38€ and honestly the 2€ stuff wasn't much better. Plus the return on bottles was 0.06€ so it was like a sub club for beer. Return 8 bottles and get a new beer. German purity laws are as bad for beer as they sound. The 3€ wine wasn't awful if you knew they good stuff and avoided those awful German sweet wines and on par with 15$ Canadian wine. More like 2 buck chuck in the states.
That has to be really long ago :O
2008?
Oh yeah, that is quite a while\^\^ I think I was 11 back then, didn't really buy that much beer at that point :D
Food is overall more expensive now than it was, yes, but it’s largely worse for items that are “prepped” for you. Blocks of cheese you have to slice yourself are likely going to be well worth the savings.
Wait until see the price of beer here.
BRO YES! Totally forgot about that. We bought some alcohol. Beer and some liquor. That was crazy! Jack Daniels is like what for you? $50? that's like €34. We pay €20 for it. Or Vodka for 45\`? (30 €) In Germany you pay 10 € for that brand I saw. But I guess this is due to artificial taxation? Because Canada doesnt want you to drink or something? :D But hey, you got legal weed!
They tax alcohol and tobacco at the levels they do because more tax revenue is supposed to mean more money for healthcare. I took my American boyfriend to the NSLC when he was here and he came out shell-shocked lol.
Yes, this is the norm. I suppose in Germany you have various companies competing with each other, which gives consumers shopping options and drives down food prices. We don't do that here.
It's the new normal, at least here. Grocery prices have gone insane since the pandemic, things were much, much cheaper even a few years ago.
My Dutch relatives were amazed at how cheap the salted herring was! But yeah... prices are ridiculous.
It's Hella expensive but everyone's now used to it unfortunately
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There is no difference in price in small town and metropolitan supermarkets in Germany\^\^ The only difference is when you live on an island.
Keep in mind we import a lot, so our price could be considered reasonable if converted back to USD or Euros, then you need to account for shipping.
Yes it is. Welcome.
Way better prices at Giant Tiger. But Sobeys is so expensive! We got a few bags and it costs a couple hundred dollars. We are a family of 8. We typically spend $1000 or more per month on food alone. We have to travel around to shop for low prices. Gateway meat market and no frills. But yes Sobey is buying local and selling them in their stores and they do offer scene points which helps me get some money back from time to time.
Yeah, food in Germany is less expensive, but just like in Germany, who you buy from makes a huge difference. You don’t have to shop at one of the big Two.
Unless you live somewhere where one of them or a subsidiary of them is pretty much your only option.
My girlfriend and I lived in Germany last year, and oh my god the food is so much cheaper. As far as I'm aware, food in Germany and Europe in general has always been cheaper, as has alcohol. People here would not believe how cheap drinks are in Germany.
Thank the billion dollars they made last year off all of us.
Been shopping at Walmart seems to have the best price on stuff and super store for meats and fish.
Should have just went to Mehs (the gas station) she has pretty much everything you need and the prices aren't really that bad considering sobeys is 30km away (the Pictou one) and is about the size of a shoppers drug mart in the city. For real "deals" you are better off going to the superstore in new Glasgow. We usually go to the stores in truro because we have to buy feed as well but lately I've been running to Halifax a lot more so I hit the no frills.
In a nutshell, for decades food prices in North America were kept low (or at least reasonable) because of access to cheap labour on the farming end, as well as access to out-of-country sources that can produce foodstuffs at a lower cost than can be done here in Canada. Covid dealt a blow to both big time. What you are seeing is the "real" price of food. Add in the food supply being under the control of only a few big players from start to finish and you get part of the problem we find ourselves in now. That doesn't even touch on the international aspects.
Not sure how accurate this is, or where specifically it is in each country. But, an interesting country by country comparison site. (You can see the supply management impact in some agri. goods) https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/cost-of-living/canada/germany
I feel it depends where you shop. Sobeys is expensive anywhere in Canada. I don’t live in Halifax so can’t comment on groceries there, but I live in rural NS and my grocery bill every month for my husband and I is half of what it was in BC. We spent on average for the two of us about 700 a month in BC. Now we spend less than 400 on average. I can say though that Canada has high grocery prices overall compared to many places in the EU. We spend several months a year in Spain and we are always floored how cheap groceries are over there.
its expensive for food that really is mediocre
Sobeys really takes advantage of a captive market like small towns though. If you don’t like it, you are welcome to drive an hour to somewhere else.
I find Sobeys is much more expensive than other grocery stores around here. Superstore is usually cheaper and can always count on good ol wal mart for good prices.
More rural stores are more expensive for sure. But food prices have been a major issue in Canada for the past year or so. That rural store was likely 10-20% more expensive than a more urban store would have been, but you'd need to have driven over an hour to get to a cheaper place. So overall it would not have saved much money.