dbd33

There are very few food items we can't get. Last week the usual shop ran out of Rollos so I had to go to another one, I don't think that would happen in the UK. Jellied eels and 99s aren't commonly sold. It's these changes in lifestyle that make being abroad so exotic and, for that excitement, I can live with buying my own Flake and shoving it in the cone.

JamesM

Everyone is affected by it.

Unless of course they are able to magically make the additional sku's appear.

There is nights when I think about fire bombing the local Sobeys because I can't find Sausage Tonight or indeed good quality sausage.

Over time it makes one passive aggressive. You start to eat, look and behave like those around you.

Don't get me started on the lack of places to buy good clothing. I now look like something from Guildford High Street in 1993. Not the cosmopolitan sophisticated trend setter I used to be when I waltzed down Carnaby street.

It's a simple folk existence. Lack of choice + higher prices = Simple Folk Existence

Hurlabrick

Times are definitely changing in the UK as regards the weekly 'one-shop'. Many people are now doing 2 - 3 shops (we certainly are now).

• Lidl / Aldi (no-frills German stores) for most things (especially veg which IMHO is superior to anything else).
• A top-up at your local Tesco / Sainsbury's / Morrisons for the specialty goods / favourite brands that Aldi / Lidl don't have.
• Specialty shopping for your luxury items - for us it is meat, our local butcher reports booming repeat business in the last two years as people move away from vacuum packed meats.

We anticipate and would be quite happy with a similar arrangement in Canada, but time will tell.

BristolUK

True enough. Sometimes not even a speciality store, just a different supermarket.

The two main players here are Sobeys and Superstore. Sobeys baguettes and crusty rolls are streets ahead of Superstore whose crusty bread is about as far from crusty as you can get but Superstore's speciality bread selection is way better.

President's Choice does a very good Stuffing mix that Sobeys doesn't and their extra old cheese is acceptable while Sobeys isn't.

Superstore does proper jam doughnuts while Sobeys only sells the pre-packed dry ones. Sobeys eclairs knock spots off those at Superstore and I just discovered these which might very well be the best cookies on the planet.



The wine selection at Superstore - while not great - is better than that at Sobeys. (although it's catching up)

Perhaps it's too long ago but I can't remember a single product at Tesco or Sainsbury where I had a major preference for one over the other.

There's a decent rosé at Superstore (Tisdale) if you don't mind White Zinfandel but, to be fair, it's relatively recently that they've been allowed to stock wine and the choice has extended considerably since then. They now have some that are also in the liquor stores whereas originally it was all different stuff that possibly wasn't good enough.

And now Sobeys has it as well, I expect both to get better.

It's a better selection than I remember in Quebec and we can, at least, do it in NB while other provinces can't.

FromUKtoBC

I guess if i go to a foreign country, i expect things to be different, hence the RECCE visit etc

I expect food to be different.

Seems that there are some people in this thread who are reluctant to let go of the fact that they are no longer in UK and have chosen to live in a foreign country - Canada, which is different.

there's nothing wrong with missing things in one's homeland, but.....

when i go on holiday to other European countries, - food, lifestyle, language, clothing etc are different to the UK.

If we think about my original post, are people in this thread saying that if you had known the food was so different in Canada to UK, you would reconsider....?

JamesM

Moving countries isn't going on holiday you will have to deal with the everyday adjustments permanently.

Best to use the recce to make sure you are aware of what these adjustments are.

That's the biggest problem when people move to Canada is they think it's a holiday and that by taking their kids on a permanent holiday it is somehow good for them.

cxx

We had an expectation that things would be different, but we didn't expect that things would be such poor quality and so expensive. The biggest problem we found was the poor quality of the fresh food at the grocery stores. It's not so bad in the summer when the local farms set up stalls but the rest of the year it's a case of hunting for specialist places. So much supermarket stuff seems to have been frozen then left to defrost on the shelves.

Piff Poff

Sometimes it's just the difficulty of finding the ingredient or substitute to be able to make the food you want to make or being able to buy a bra that fits and doesn't go out of shape during the 1st wash.

bats

This.

It's so bloody true I'm still gobsmacked by the terrible quality of produce sold here. I miss markets, corner shops, greengrocers.

dbd33

As ever, it depends where you live. If you live in Market Square in Toronto you can always have fresh high quality produce and you can fetch it in a barrow. If you choose to live in the country or a small town then you have to factor in the time and trouble of going to town or live with the local stuff. I'm reconciled to shopping requiring a 90 minute trip each way.

BristolUK

Could you be a bit more specific please.

I do find that strawberries pretty much have to be eaten within 24 hours of buying when they're $1.99lb, but they're good for 48 hrs @ when they cost more.

And peaches are very often hit and miss. And with few exceptions spuds are mainly Russet, white, yellow or reds.

But Blueberries, Blackberries, giant seedless water melons that are actually seedless are a plus aren't they? Corn at a fraction of the price.

Gala, fuji, red/golden delicious apples, Broccoli, Cauli, Green beans, Sprouts, lettuce, carrots, plum/vine/steak tomatoes....they're standard here and the UK aren't they?

rivingtonpike

Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't find things here particularly expensive. As far as recce's go, if you want to investigate, check out the supermarket sure, but I would suggest you concentrate on the big stuff. Cost of housing, schooling, medical facilities, leisure pursuits relevant to your family etc. From my experience the little stuff just is what it is. You're paid in dollars, you live in Canada; the relative price of baked beans in Toronto or Tiverton, is really not that important. Will you have a better quality of life if/when you move? Will you be happier? If having Rolo's available on every corner is your measure of whether it's worth the move or not then......

Yorkiechef

..........and don't forget the availability of work!

cxx

Where to start with the poor quality produce? The grapes we bought which were 50% rotten within 24 hours, or the supposedly fresh spinach which had obviously been frozen so was soggy and yellow the next day, or the potatoes which lasted 3 days before sprouting and rotting. All from different Superstores in the last 6 weeks.

rivingtonpike

If you're throwing away 50% of your fresh produce bought at Superstore, logic would suggest you could buy better quality stuff from another source and be no worse off?