With the skyrocketing cost of living in Canada, people are doing what they can to afford to live. For some, that means cutting down on groceries.
In a recent Reddit thread on r/povertyfinancecanada, one Canadian posed the following question: “How much are you spending on food as a single person?”
The answers it received are both eye-opening and depressing.
The original poster started it off with their experience.
“I spent $145 last month, but I don’t eat breakfast or lunch,” reads the post. “My diet consists of whatever vegetables are on sale and bulk rice from the superstore. I make stir fry for dinner.”
Others replied with similar stories about skimping on groceries and meals to save money.
“$160 give or take. Eat something small when I wake up and then have a mid sized dinner. Only buy stuff on sale,” reads one comment.
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Many were surprised by this number, saying that $145 worth of groceries would barely last them a week.
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“Im around $400/month I’m literally shook at these comments that are around $150/month. I need to get better at shopping,” added another person.
But people pointed out that spending this little on groceries isn’t necessarily healthy.
“They’re starving. op literally said no breakfast, no lunch, and then rice for dinner,” replied one person.
“The $150 a month people just aren’t eating dude. I’m sure if your not up North you can get under $400 but anything below about $200-$250 is near impossible without skipping meals or food banks,” another commenter chimed in.
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This is not the case for other single people who responded to the thread.
One person said they spend over $800 a month. “I’m tired of it, but I need my 7-10 a day & lean protein,” they explained.
A single woman who says she’s also neurodivergent shared that she spends $100 a week because she tends to buy pre-made sandwiches and salads.
“I also use services like OddBunch to buy boxes of veggies for super cheap. It helps a lot. Also farmer’s markets in the summertime,” she commented.
Another single person said they spend $350 a month because there’s a lot of food they can’t eat because of previous antibiotic use.
“So have to stick mostly to whole, fresh food. Fresh veggies are expensive,” they explained.
Others shared ways to find cheap meals.
“No frills, food basics are or can be a bit cheaper. lots of cheap meals out there still. I eat perogies with sour cream… does a couple meals for a few bucks, baked potatoes with some veggies I cook often and call it a meal,” shared one person.
Another Canadian shared their monthly budget for a couple, specifying that they’ve stopped shopping at Loblaw-owned stores like No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart.
“$600 between two of us. That’s our max budget,” they explained. “We stick to Food Basics and FreshCo since the latter gives us credit card points. Doing this has helped us save over $200 a month. We go to a local butcher shop for fresh cheap meat.”
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Many Canadians are done with trying to penny-pinch and are instead taking on the big grocery corporations.
The online community called Loblaws Is Out of Control started as a place to share memes and complain about the grocery chain’s soaring prices.
Now, the online community, which has over 74,000 members, is boycotting Loblaw stores throughout May.
How much do you spend on groceries a month, and how are you saving money? Email us at [email protected].