Grocery shopping
 

Now I know this is going to sound very very strange...but I absolutely hate grocery shopping like most people do...but I thought I'd ask...

Anyone that has now moved to Canada from the UK...are you as sad as I was when I moved to the UK from Canada...I absolutely adored going to the grocery store when I first arrived. It was like I was a kid in a candy shop. Loved looking at all the different foods...labels...stuff like that. Guessing if things were something I knew but by a different name!! Took me ages to realise treacle was molasses!

It took me months to get bored with shopping...now I'm bored again and can't wait to get back to Canada to do the same thing all over again!

Am I the only sicko here?? :D

Re: Grocery shopping
 

Funny.... took me ages to realize thar treacle was molasses too! Only the other way around! Spent ages looking for molasses here in Oz only to find out it's called treacle. (If you do a search on this forum you'll find the great "Golden Syrup vs Maple Syrup" debate with a few "treacle vs molasses" bits thrown in.) :D

I hated food shopping in Canada and I still hate it..LOL

Siren

Re: Grocery shopping
 

No! I'll admit to that too. Do it everywhere we go.

Last month in Canada I even picked up the offer flyers at thet door to *take them home and read them in detail* - how sad is that?!

Lol at your treacle :) I had a friend go to Canada and marvel at the "raisin jelly" on the shelves...until he figured out it was just french for grape...hehe ;)

Biiiiink

Re: Grocery shopping
 

When I moved to Canada, a friend of mine introduced me to the concept of Canadian Super Store. I spent a whole Saturday there once and that was spent just trying to find the exit. I never went back!

And then there was Loblaws and Overwaitea (full of over-sized people??) - I just love those names.


Cheers.

Re: Grocery shopping
 

No... :o.

But this is actually one area in life that makes me homesick. I think lack of familiar foods makes a lot of expats homesick, or maybe just exaggerates their homesickness -- well it does for me.

I like to eat and cook a variety of ethnic foods and I was totally spoiled for choice in Victoria - Thrifty Foods, Chinatown, Moss Street Market, the Italian Deli on Blanchard, the Market on Yates, Sakura... I could get anything I every needed or wanted (and I mean quality, authentic ingredients, not 'Old El Paso Burrito Cook-In Sauce' type crap) all within a short walk from my front door. I definitely took it for granted as it was a real culture shock for me when I first moved here (to the UK) when I could not find a lot of stuff that, to me, was just basic food but I suspect I would have experienced the same shock had I moved to a lot of other places in Canada.

I have definitely enjoyed learning more about British food and like you I loved exploring the shops - finding all the new foods like 'spotted dick' and 'faggots' was fun :scared: :D, but I still heavily rely on 'care packages' sent by friends back in Victoria.

Re: Grocery shopping
 

So I am unique and perhaps a bit odd! :p

Re: Grocery shopping
 

We were more captivated by the price difference during our visit to a Canadian Safeway- Then our Canadian friends told us that they're quite pricy- wow!

Darren

Re: Grocery shopping
 

Yeah, we were impressed by the lower prices when we were over last year and it's sad that we're used to getting ripped off in this Country. Mind you, the 200 different varieties of breakfast cereal was a bit intimidating :scared: Some of which just appeared to be sweets floating in a bowl of milk - Gag!

Re: Grocery shopping
 

I do really miss Sainsburys though, I would rather have that anyday!!!

Re: Grocery shopping
 

Yes Safeway is a bit pricier...but the service there is generally great. I just got back from Tescos...and boy my grocery bill has certainly increased in the last few years. Hadn't really thought about it too much till lately...it was such a gradual increase.

Re: Grocery shopping
 

Its one of the Canadian food groups - Candy.

After all its important to start the day with a proper healthy breakfast.

Joking aside for a moment - we no longer buy boxed breakfast cereals now we have moved to Canada.

Mrs G

Re: Grocery shopping
 

Do supermarket have self scanning facilities in Canada? Sainsbury's do it here. You scan and pack your bags as you go and then you go to the till, give your scanner and pay. I will really miss that!!!

Re: Grocery shopping
 

most of the better ones have self scanning....

But its self scan at the till... nothing as fancy as the scan as you go stuff

Re: Grocery shopping
 

I don't blame you. It's really disgusting, those breakfast "cereals." Many of them existed when I was a kid (ie about 25-30 years ago) so that garbage is not a new phenomena in Canada, unfortunately. Thankfully (looking back) my parents only allowed me and my siblings access to that stuff once in a while - regular breakfasts were something like whole wheat toast with peanut butter and mushed up banana. I'm always amazed at the sheer volume of this crap there is though... it means somebody's - a lot of bodies are - buying this crap. Scarey thought :eek:.

Re: Grocery shopping
 

there may be hundreds of boxes of cereal but what happened to all the different washing powders??? now you will think i am mad but i like to try out all the different kinds of washing power/tablets/pod things with liquid in etc etc in all the different scents - lavender,riceflower,etc etc (well having a big family i spend a lot of time doing laundry!!) when we visited a canadian co-op it seemed to be tide. tide or tide??? and not any sight of fabric conditioner/softener in a multitude of different other nice scents.