Canadian Retail Thread

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

what brand of $1.98 bread are y'all eating?

maybe it costs more in BC but the bread at Superstore in BC is usually $3.98 or buy 2 for $5.50 kind of thing usually. Sometimes it will go on sale for $2.98

I don't buy the instore baked bread, I never liked it, I do like the Save-On Foods bakery bread though but its well over $3 usually.

My wife has been baking our bread (sourdough mostly) since 2019. It's cheap and relatively easy. Nothing beats fresh bread either.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

what brand of $1.98 bread are y'all eating?

maybe it costs more in BC but the bread at Superstore in BC is usually $3.98 or buy 2 for $5.50 kind of thing usually. Sometimes it will go on sale for $2.98

I don't buy the instore baked bread, I never liked it, I do like the Save-On Foods bakery bread though but its well over $3 usually.

This one: $2.79



We switched to Save On Foods delivery during the pandemic and never looked back. I seldom ever set foot in a supermarket anymore.

I like the Country Harvest bread posted above but I never buy it because... my kids won't eat it

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

My wife has been baking our bread (sourdough mostly) since 2019. It's cheap and relatively easy. Nothing beats fresh bread either.

I got into breadmaking in 2020 when it briefly became a fad at the start of the pandemic and have been baking all my own bread since (including wraps, crackers, buns, etc). Last year I bought a hand crank flour mill and have been buying wheat grains to make my own flour instead of buying flour. It only takes a few minutes to grind a cup of flour and its a great arm workout. Buying grains costs about half as much as buying flour, and it means all my bread is now whole grain.

I used to think the whole "we can help solve hunger by going back to scratch cooking and home canning/milling/processing/etc" line of thinking was hippie nonsense but I'm starting to think it has merit.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I got into breadmaking in 2020 when it briefly became a fad at the start of the pandemic and have been baking all my own bread since (including wraps, crackers, buns, etc). Last year I bought a hand crank flour mill and have been buying wheat grains to make my own flour instead of buying flour. It only takes a few minutes to grind a cup of flour and its a great arm workout. Buying grains costs about half as much as buying flour, and it means all my bread is now whole grain.

I used to think the whole "we can help solve hunger by going back to scratch cooking and home canning/milling/processing/etc" line of thinking was hippie nonsense but I'm starting to think it has merit.

That's interesting, I grind my own grains to make beer, because it's also significantly cheaper and fun. She gets organic flour in 50lb bags from an organic place not too far away.

My wife also does some canning and we freeze a lot of fresh produce when it's cheap and local.

For us it started more from trying to get away from processed foods and overly sprayed fruits and vegetables, and the best way to enjoy those year round.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I got into breadmaking in 2020 when it briefly became a fad at the start of the pandemic and have been baking all my own bread since (including wraps, crackers, buns, etc). Last year I bought a hand crank flour mill and have been buying wheat grains to make my own flour instead of buying flour. It only takes a few minutes to grind a cup of flour and its a great arm workout. Buying grains costs about half as much as buying flour, and it means all my bread is now whole grain.

I used to think the whole "we can help solve hunger by going back to scratch cooking and home canning/milling/processing/etc" line of thinking was hippie nonsense but I'm starting to think it has merit.

I also have a mill for home brewing. Once by hand was enough, I have a drill attached to it now. Of course I was doing 10-20 lbs at a time

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jonny24

I also have a mill for home brewing. Once by hand was enough, I have a drill attached to it now. Of course I was doing 10-20 lbs at a time

Man up!

Actually I trained my son to do it.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I got into breadmaking in 2020 when it briefly became a fad at the start of the pandemic and have been baking all my own bread since (including wraps, crackers, buns, etc). Last year I bought a hand crank flour mill and have been buying wheat grains to make my own flour instead of buying flour. It only takes a few minutes to grind a cup of flour and its a great arm workout. Buying grains costs about half as much as buying flour, and it means all my bread is now whole grain.

I used to think the whole "we can help solve hunger by going back to scratch cooking and home canning/milling/processing/etc" line of thinking was hippie nonsense but I'm starting to think it has merit.

Also good practice for the upcoming zombie apocalypse!

[MolsonExport]

To borrow from Lio, we could call it Galenflation. Because at BlawLobs, prices are not the only thing going up.







How much did Galen make during this period?

From the Management Information Circular for Loblaw Companies Limited it shows Galen’s related holdings to Loblaws went from $7.9B to $12.5B between 2021 and 2022.

His Loblaw-related equities position gained $4.5B in a year!





On a conference call in 2017, he spoke of Ontario’s minimum wage hikes by suggesting it would cost Loblaws $190 million in expenses and he would meet the minimum wage hikes by reducing manual bookkeepers and installing self-checkouts.

During the pandemic Weston recognized the people working at his stores were vital and facing increased risk, so he increased worker pay by $2/hour. When Covid Cases ebbed in July of 2020, Galen decided that the pay bump wasn’t needed anymore, and he took it away… but the pandemic wasn’t over. Canada experienced the most severe waves of the pandemic immediately after Galen took away Loblaws workers’ COVID pay.

He didn’t give it back.

Well, at least he must have paid lots of income tax into the government coffers, eh? Not so fast!

Loblaw defeats the tax man

Galen’s $735 million in dividend income is his share of $4.3 billion in after-tax profits that Loblaws made from 2019 through 2021. Any company that earns that much money is always looking for a way to keep it, and the tax man is always looking for a way to keep them from keeping it.

Loblaw’s innovation was to set up a bank in Barbados and use it to manage the investment capital from their non-Canadian subsidiaries.

Wholly owned Loblaw subsidiary “Glenhuron Bank” did a brisk business in money management, generating so much revenue from 2000 through 2013 that, if it had been earned in Canada, Loblaw would have owed hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The CRA took Loblaw to court and said: “Wait a minute, you aren’t running a bank… you’re running a tax dodge! That money is being managed in Barbados specifically to avoid Canadian taxation!”

[casper]

Loblaws is overly aggressive on both sides of the equation.

Among food processors they are regarded as a risky and overly aggressive company to work with. Constantly pushing suppliers to reduce costs and refusing to accept price increases.

Many suppliers have decided there is no point in counting on them as a supply chain.

Sobeys, Costco and the independents are much more supplier friendly.

[casper]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Also good practice for the upcoming zombie apocalypse!

Has to be garlic bread. Yes, you can do that in a bread maker.

The store bread that comes from a factory is designed so that it can be transported great distances and still be "good" a week after you purchase it in store. That is the "wonder" in Wonder bread.

The store baked procedure s mostly pre-formed, raised and frozen. It is then put into an oven in store and baked. Tim Hortons does the same thing with their donuts. For Tims the slogan "Always fresh all day" weans reheated in a weird convection/microwave oven combo multiple times during the day. Better but not great.

The true independent bakers are hard to find these days. But I would pick that over the other two.

[urbandreamer]

Cheap processed bread is gross. Take a piece of Wonder Bread etc and watch it triple in size in a bowl of water. Imagine what it does in your stomach. I used to work for a large commercial bakery - nasty shit. I enjoyed dumping the burnt loaves in the garbage, where all of it belongs.

Unfortunately, I pay a premium for gluten-free bread, so I mostly eat tortillas.

To beat inflation, do what the smart people here do: grind your own flour, get a bread maker and enjoy simple ingredients, less sugar and vegetable oil etc.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

My wife has been baking our bread (sourdough mostly) since 2019. It's cheap and relatively easy. Nothing beats fresh bread either.

awesome Sourdough bread is the best

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I got into breadmaking in 2020 when it briefly became a fad at the start of the pandemic and have been baking all my own bread since (including wraps, crackers, buns, etc).

you sound like husband material (political differences aside)

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

That's interesting, I grind my own grains to make beer, because it's also significantly cheaper and fun. She gets organic flour in 50lb bags from an organic place not too far away.

My wife also does some canning and we freeze a lot of fresh produce when it's cheap and local.

For us it started more from trying to get away from processed foods and overly sprayed fruits and vegetables, and the best way to enjoy those year round.

Do you guys feel healthier with these changes?

From a fast food perspective, I never eat McDonald's because I feel like absolute garbage within 30 minutes of consumption. However eating A&W (1/month) I feel perfectly fine.

Molson,
Galen Weston may be one of the biggest POS in Canada.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by casper

The true independent bakers are hard to find these days. But I would pick that over the other two.

One of the reasons I love Quebec. Good bread is insanely overpriced in the rest of Canada, but herein Montreal I can walk to a dozen bakeries within 15 minutes of my home and get a loaf of artisanal sourdough (pain au levain, not the actually sour San Francisco-style bread) for only a couple of dollars more than a loaf of weird factory bread. Not to mention the cheap croissants.

There is certainly lots of good bread in other parts of the country but it's often very expensive. And the affordable family-run bakeries owned by European immigrants seem to be disappearing very quickly.

Also, incidentally, I find that grocery prices here haven't gone up nearly as much as in other parts of Canada. I'm not sure if it's just Montreal of if the same is true elsewhere in Quebec, but I don't see the same price gouging as I do elsewhere. When I was in Halifax in November and Vancouver/Victoria in July, it seemed like groceries were anywhere from 20 to 40 percent more expensive than in Montreal.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by jonny24

I also have a mill for home brewing. Once by hand was enough, I have a drill attached to it now. Of course I was doing 10-20 lbs at a time

Wowzers... I would use a drill if I was doing that much! Its never more than a pound or two at a time with bread if you mill as needed.

[Wigs]

Kilgore, one of the many reasons I think Montréal (overall) is the best city in Canada. So much excellent bread/desserts and good food. Things still done the century plus old ways.

[SpongeG]

We probably throw more bread away than gets eaten, or it ends up in the freezer after having toast for two breakfasts and then gets thrown out about 8 months later when we need space in the freezer. Horrible waste I know.

What about bacon prices across Canada, in the last year the prices have shot up. The no name brand used to be usually in the $4 range, but now it goes on sale for $7. Brand name bacon is well over $8 now.

and pop has gotten really expensive, you used to be able to pick up a 12 pack case a few years ago for about $3.99 at most stores, a 12 pack of cans is now close to $8. The 6 pack of plastic bottles is usually $6, sale price of $4 or so. Even just over the border the prices are really high, at Target the sale price of a 12 pack was $6.99 US. The current flyer shows three cases for $15, the old sale price was usually 3 for $10. I drink far too much pepsi zero but we have that sodastream so its a little better. I wonder or ask because again when I moved out east pop prices were eaily $1-$2 cheaper for the same thing. We didn't even have 12 pack cases at the time, only 6 packs.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

....
What about bacon prices across Canada, in the last year the prices have shot up. The no name brand used to be usually in the $4 range, but now it goes on sale for $7. Brand name bacon is well over $8 now.

....

Saw Schneiders double smoked "butcher cut" bacon at Loblaws the other day at $13.69 for 500g!

[Coldrsx]

Holt staying in Calgary
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ho...lease-renewal-at-the-core-850934528.html

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Holt staying in Calgary
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ho...lease-renewal-at-the-core-850934528.html

not a shocker for anyone that knows the crazy wealth that's in Calgary.

I recall when the renovation to The Core was completed with revamped Devonian Gardens, the gigantic skylight, new food court, and newly renovated Holt Renfrew store. Office vacancy was like under 5% downtown (or so it seemed compared to 30-31?% currently). City/Downtown/Beltline felt bustling!
The staff were some of the most attractive females I've seen in Calgary, they played Aussie band Cut Copy (I listened to them a lot at the time) on the store speakers, and Men's jeans were approximately $249.99-$400
I felt like I was in some wealthy American city for a minute, instead of Canada.

I never shopped there, for obvious reasons.

the song that was playing
• Video Link

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Wigs

you sound like husband material (political differences aside)

Thanks for the compliment! I'm already taken ;p I'd like to think my husband agrees.

Originally Posted by Wigs

Do you guys feel healthier with these changes?

From a fast food perspective, I never eat McDonald's because I feel like absolute garbage within 30 minutes of consumption. However eating A&W (1/month) I feel perfectly fine.

Definitely - for me it started as a fun hobby but the health aspects (along with the financial ones) are what keeps it going.