British Expats

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-   Canada (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/)
-   -   Price comparison (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/price-comparison-833807/)

Steve_ May 13th 2014 6:27 am

Price comparison
 
So I went around the supermarket and got some prices, I have to admit I thought candy would be easier to compare but anyway:

.............................................. Loblaw's ......Tesco.com...Notes

200g own brand instant coffee...$2.98...........$3.60
1 litre own brand orange juice*..88 cents.......96 cents
McVitie's choc. digestives (300g)$3.48..........$3.09..........Adjusted for weight
Aero* (95g)..............................$2.29.......... $2.05.........Adjusted for weight
Toffifee* (123g)........................$2.58.......... $3.41.........Adjusted for weight
Maltesers* (165g).....................$2.99...........$2.52.. ......Adjusted for weight
Back bacon rashers (250g).........$5.99...........$3.70
1 litre skimmed milk..................$1.96...........$1.85....... .Adjusted for size
1 dozen Grade A large eggs........$2.67...........$4.81.........UK are free range
1 loaf wholewheat bread (675g)..$2.98...........$1.56........Adjusted for weight

Exchange rate used was £1 = £1.85

Stuff marked with an asterisk is subject to GST/HST in Canada and VAT in the UK. Adjusted means I took the Canadian weight and worked out the UK price proportionately.

Couldn't really find anything to directly compare on the eggs, back bacon is obviously more exotic here. Also on the milk if you buy it in large quantities the savings seemed to be significantly more in the UK.

Not sure it tells me a lot other than bread is more expensive here by a fair distance. But the EU has the CAP to subsidize production so not terribly surprising - and Canada used to have the wheat board which forced prices up. Some candy might be a bit more expensive (because it's imported presumably) but you pay less tax on it so...

JamesM May 13th 2014 6:33 am

Re: Price comparison
 

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 11259080)
So I went around the supermarket and got some prices, I have to admit I thought candy would be easier to compare but anyway:

.............................................. Loblaw's ......Tesco.com...Notes

200g own brand instant coffee...$2.98...........$3.60
1 litre own brand orange juice*..88 cents.......96 cents
McVitie's choc. digestives (300g)$3.48..........$3.09..........Adjusted for weight
Aero* (95g)..............................$2.29.......... $2.05.........Adjusted for weight
Toffifee* (123g)........................$2.58.......... $3.41.........Adjusted for weight
Maltesers* (165g).....................$2.99...........$2.52.. ......Adjusted for weight
Back bacon rashers (250g).........$5.99...........$3.70
1 litre skimmed milk..................$1.96...........$1.85....... .Adjusted for size
1 dozen Grade A large eggs........$2.67...........$4.81.........UK are free range
1 loaf wholewheat bread (675g)..$2.98...........$1.56........Adjusted for weight

Exchange rate used was £1 = £1.85

Stuff marked with an asterisk is subject to GST/HST in Canada and VAT in the UK. Adjusted means I took the Canadian weight and worked out the UK price proportionately.

Couldn't really find anything to directly compare on the eggs, back bacon is obviously more exotic here. Also on the milk if you buy it in large quantities the savings seemed to be significantly more in the UK.

Not sure it tells me a lot other than bread is more expensive here by a fair distance. But the EU has the CAP to subsidize production so not terribly surprising - and Canada used to have the wheat board which forced prices up. Some candy might be a bit more expensive (because it's imported presumably) but you pay less tax on it so...

Mixed bag of results.

Loblaw's charge more in Toronto than they do outside of the city.

It will be $2 to the pound again soon.

Steve_ May 13th 2014 6:36 am

Re: Price comparison
 
It's obviously not statistically significant and the exchange rate and shop prices vary all the time but I do think we're getting ripped off on bread. I assume because people are used to paying more here because of the defunct wheat board. So now I think it was a good idea to get rid of it.

scrubbedexpat091 May 13th 2014 9:57 am

Re: Price comparison
 
1.96 for 1 liter of skim milk at Loblaws is pretty cheap, I got some today at Wal-Mart for 2.87, never seen milk under 2 dollars before in Canada.....

Jericho79 May 13th 2014 10:05 am

Re: Price comparison
 
1 gallon of milk is approx $8 in NS.
It's $5 in AB.

Would be interesting to see how fruit n veg compares not just between UK / Canada, but between Provinces also.

Novocastrian May 13th 2014 10:11 am

Re: Price comparison
 
FFS. Who cares?

woodworm May 13th 2014 11:12 am

Re: Price comparison
 

Originally Posted by Jericho79 (Post 11259353)
1 gallon of milk is approx $8 in NS.
It's $5 in AB.

Would be interesting to see how fruit n veg compares not just between UK / Canada, but between Provinces also.

1 gallon of milk is $5.19 at Costco in Halifax and $5.87 at Giant Tiger in Bridgewater and yes I paid $2.40 for a liter of milk last week in a little country store because I didn't want to drive to town, but if you shop around you don't have to pay $8 for a gallon, if anyone cares ;)

Aviator May 13th 2014 12:43 pm

Re: Price comparison
 

Originally Posted by JamesM (Post 11259086)
It will be $2 to the pound again soon.

Selfishly I hope not :) $1.50 is a dream when buying.

MikeUK May 13th 2014 8:47 pm

Re: Price comparison
 
Should have thrown in some cheese, wine and beer.... :)

MikeUK May 13th 2014 9:25 pm

Re: Price comparison
 
A couple of pointer that I’ve noticed here
Is that broad band and comms stuff is cheaper and often seems more reliable
Rogers at 150mbs is around $100 and the equivalent from Virgin is £32
Mobile phones full package for a month, 1000 texts, 100mins, 250mb data, vodaphone is about £10
My previous package form Rogers ran in around $35

Not done a full year yet, and still working on the numbers but based so far, my leaky poorly insulated, badly plumbed rental with UK fuel prices seems cheaper than my almost air tight, above code insulated, state of the art Canadian forced air system, and I put that down simply to climate conditions and that you just need to heat for so much longer and so much harder in Canada

And the old baggage car insurance
Old soupped up classic mini (same car in both countries)
Canada approx. $1000 full no claims
UK without any no claims bonus £850 I’d estimate about £250-£300 with full no claims

colchar May 14th 2014 3:59 am

Re: Price comparison
 

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 11259080)
So I went around the supermarket and got some prices, I have to admit I thought candy would be easier to compare but anyway:

.............................................. Loblaw's ......Tesco.com...Notes

200g own brand instant coffee...$2.98...........$3.60
1 litre own brand orange juice*..88 cents.......96 cents
McVitie's choc. digestives (300g)$3.48..........$3.09..........Adjusted for weight
Aero* (95g)..............................$2.29.......... $2.05.........Adjusted for weight
Toffifee* (123g)........................$2.58.......... $3.41.........Adjusted for weight
Maltesers* (165g).....................$2.99...........$2.52.. ......Adjusted for weight
Back bacon rashers (250g).........$5.99...........$3.70
1 litre skimmed milk..................$1.96...........$1.85....... .Adjusted for size
1 dozen Grade A large eggs........$2.67...........$4.81.........UK are free range
1 loaf wholewheat bread (675g)..$2.98...........$1.56........Adjusted for weight

Exchange rate used was £1 = £1.85

Stuff marked with an asterisk is subject to GST/HST in Canada and VAT in the UK. Adjusted means I took the Canadian weight and worked out the UK price proportionately.

Couldn't really find anything to directly compare on the eggs, back bacon is obviously more exotic here. Also on the milk if you buy it in large quantities the savings seemed to be significantly more in the UK.

Not sure it tells me a lot other than bread is more expensive here by a fair distance. But the EU has the CAP to subsidize production so not terribly surprising - and Canada used to have the wheat board which forced prices up. Some candy might be a bit more expensive (because it's imported presumably) but you pay less tax on it so...



Loblaws can be expensive. All of those items are available for lwoer prices at other supermarkets.

And for something like milk it is cheaper to buy the bags than a 1 liter carton so it would help to compare the bags against a similar sized jug in the UK.

Finally, one has to take salaries into account to determine how much of one's weekly wage those groceries would take up.

SchnookoLoly May 14th 2014 4:03 am

Re: Price comparison
 
I'm just going on memory but I think the last time I was in Longos, a 4L package of 3 milk bags was $5.99... so 1L would be $1.49, making it cheaper than Tesco. (Each bag is 1.33L.) That was for the 1% Natrel Pur Filter stuff.

The bags are also cheaper if purchased at Costco.

colchar May 14th 2014 4:14 am

Re: Price comparison
 

Originally Posted by Jsmth321 (Post 11259340)
1.96 for 1 liter of skim milk at Loblaws is pretty cheap, I got some today at Wal-Mart for 2.87, never seen milk under 2 dollars before in Canada.....


If you buy the bags you get 4 liters for $3.97 so, essentially, a buck a liter.

colchar May 14th 2014 4:17 am

Re: Price comparison
 

Originally Posted by MikeUK (Post 11259775)
And the old baggage car insurance
Old soupped up classic mini (same car in both countries)
Canada approx. $1000 full no claims
UK without any no claims bonus £850 I’d estimate about £250-£300 with full no claims


That £850 works out to $1550 Canadian. And, as I mentioned above, salaries have to be taken into account to determine what percentage of your salary those prices eat up.

dbd33 May 14th 2014 4:28 am

Re: Price comparison
 
How much is a pint of jellied eels now in the UK?


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