BristolUK

I imagine quite a few people will think you must be starving and/or going without.

Back when we were 2 plus 2 teens at school (2005-2009) we were spending around $400 a month, including wine and all the household stuff. The kids were naturally responsible for eating most of that.

We ate well enough. As part of one of her lessons, the eldest had to report what she had for dinner each evening and the teacher was always saying she had a good balance and was eating better than most of the other kids.

Steve_

Well Safeway is owned by Sobey's now. Save-on-foods imx appear to have good prices on a few staple things at the back of the store and they make you walk past everything else to get to them. Loss-leader strategy.

Steve_

You get flyers for British supermarkets in Canada?

Steve_

The purpose of the exercise is to have a like-for-like comparison. I'm sure there are places in both countries that are cheaper or more expensive, but the logical way to go about it (it seemed to me) was to compare retail prices from the two largest supermarket chains. Which has the overall lowest price on any given thing isn't relevant in drawing a comparison, what I'm trying to establish is whether one jurisdiction is overtly more expensive than the other.

Actually thinking about it, The Economist uses the price of a Big Mac for comparing cost of living. However that would require me to go into a McDonald's...

Does anyone know how much a Big Mac costs in Canada and the UK?

Former Lancastrian

Does anyone know how much a Big Mac costs in Canada and the UK?

IIRC the Big Mac combo in Canadian dollars e.g. $7.99 was in pounds in the UK i.e. nearly 8 quid. Chances are that has now changed. While I agree comparison prices are useful to newcomers after being here for years the prices become less relevant as you are now used to the Canadian way of life. Think airfares within Canada
Don't like the prices then shop in the US or go back home. Ive seen prices in the US WalMarts more expensive than the Canadian ones.
Expecting things to change well good luck in that although I have noticed some products are not as expensive as they used to be.

BristolUK

Do they have flyers?

My comment that the offers in the UK aren't as good nor of the same numbers in Canada is based on an awareness of the differences at the time I moved. Also the same observation from my mother when she visited and she's not told me that Sainsburys and Tesco, for example, have since become comparable.

Of course that doesn't mean they haven't improved on offers. Indeed, over on the MBTTUK forum, I have seen people post that they do more offers than they used to.

But I do look from time to time out of curiosity. Just looking at Sainsburys...there's no flyer advertised. The website is advertising offers. 18 of them.
The best deal is a BOGOF. On crisps. There's one BOGOF.

The others are mainly £2 instead of £2.40 to £2.50. Up to 20% off. There's one with a third off. Most are about 10% off.

The new Superstore flyer has about 18 offers on its front page alone including Steak @$6.88 instead of $12.19; half price ice cream; a third off bread; 40% off packs of pop; bog paper/kitchen roll $9.97 instead of $15.99; Scallops a third off.

On the back page there are another 16 including cheese@ $5.79 instead of $7.19; more than half off Fruit drink; crab legs @ $9.99 instead of $18.99.

In between those two pages there are another 14 pages of grocery and household items with 10% to 30% off.

That is a massive difference in the number of products available for much less than normal, so I'm not seeing a great change.

Of course, it's just Sainsburys but I doubt Tesco are doing much different.

Of course I'm not saying that the prices in Canada are cheaper. I'm just saying that it appears one can buy a wide selection of food in Canada's grocery stores for much less than normally charged. Much less so in the UK.

Scribble

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp

printer

But isn't that the same as per the OP's comparison. If you use his $1.85 to the pound exchange rate then the above costs per month are identical although your selection is technically improved.
We are probably spending around $800 per month inclusive of chocolate.

bats

Look, it's simple. My mum says it's more expensive here than there. My mum is always right.

MrFloyd

BOGOFs and half price offers are much rarer than they used to be in the UK. I remember seeing this change over 5 years ago. Instead they tend to have "offers" like 2 for £2.50 on items that cost £1.30 each. Amazing what people will buy just because the supermarket tells them they are getting a deal.

christmasoompa

They obviously are if Sainsburys only have 18 offers on their website (really?!). There are 3230 offers on the Tesco's grocery site today, which is quite a difference!

BristolUK

I see they have Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney pies (and all the others) for half price.

BristolUK

I've seen that site before. It was way off.

Just checked it again. Still way off.

One bedroom apartment $683 or downtown @ $733

My duplex rents for $640 2 bed and $540 for 1 bed. That's upstairs plus attic and balcony and downstairs plus basement and deck. About 10 minutes walk from downtown and there are plenty of good places for less. I check the paper and kijiji from time to time and most rents are lower than mine.

dbd33

If I want a quality scallion, a box of camembert or a couple of pounds of raclet. I hop in the car and drive for an hour and a half to the St. Lawrence Market, then I drive back again and eat it. That uses a little over 7 (US) gallons of petrol which has some price I can't calculate but, say, $25. Most people in Canada have to travel further than that so their travel costs would be higher (or equivalent if they have, say, a 2CV fourgonnette and all bloody day to get there).

In the UK a great number of people can propel themselves to Waitrose using shank's pony, a bicycle, or a bus. It doesn't matter that the groceries might be five pee more in the UK if the cost of hacking across the tundra through relentless blizzards to fetch them in Canada exceeds the value of the goods themselves.

In our case the price of food is, anyway, irrelevant. The difference in the price of wine between the two countries would finance dragging wheelbarrow loads of lamb home each week, nevermind considering the price of beer and spirits.

BristolUK

We have a great store just up the road.

In the worst of winter it never feels like it's just up the road.