Canada

Her books and clothes are bought locally, often from thrift stores. She takes a pass on the $6 baskets of blueberries. And as much as she’d like to get behind the Buy Local movement and avoid anything from the United States, she said spending extra isn’t something she can afford.

It's not blueberry season in our hemisphere. She can buy frozen blueberries from canada for far cheaper. As mentioned at the bottom of the article, just buy seasonal. Butternut squash is good, kinda awkward to cut, but easy to cook with just a few spices in the oven. Apples are kinda expensive lately, but keep really well.

I think we're collectively very spoiled right now and the fact that not getting fresh foreign blueberries is a major complaint is kinda sad.

Newfoundland-based music teacher Claire Bates said the hardest part of buying local has been losing some of her favourite routines.

“There’s so much happening in the world, and I just want to drink the coffee that I love,” said Ms. Bates, a Starbucks fan.

I get it, but I've given up my things like this too and it's not hard. I have a guilty pleasure of buying dairy queen, and since tariffs I've completely cut them out of my life.

I got kind of pissed off today when I was out. There was a lineup around McDonalds. Lineup around Starbucks. Meanwhile across the road A&W (who do have decent coffee) and Tims are basically empty. You can get better food at A&W and decent coffee, and A&W Canada is canadian owned.

Starbucks really exemplifies the problem perfectly I think. You don't need it, you can avoid it easily, and yet you go every day. I buy a $50 bag of locally roasted espresso that provides 4 cups a day of coffee for over a month. Compare that to a $2.75 for a cup of coffee from starbucks, that's a huge savings. I do not understand people's coffee habits in this day and age.

But frankly I'm finding this "it's not affordable" despite making zero efforts to change habits super frustrating to hear about.

I'm also finding the "I need people to tell me what to buy and why" frustrating too. You need to get off social media and make your own decisions.

No one is forcing you. Just do what you can. Just saying "it's unaffordable” does not absolve you though.

Real Canadian Superstore prices for my hummus since this started:

Swapping from Peru-made lemon juice for my hummus to malt vinegar - cost down from $2.79 to $1.50
No Name Chickpeas to Unico equivalent - $1.50 to $2
Using canola oil and not olive oil as suggested by nearly every recipe - no name olive oil costs $12 for 750 mL whereas canola oil costs $8.29 for 3 L getting you more for less with hardly a change in the recipe
Tahini - found a good recipe from Diabetes Canada that completely removes this ingredient, saving me a solid $10 for a jar
To finish things off, while both Canadian, swapping from sandwich bread to sliced French bread for dipping - $1.97 to $1.25

Cost of hummus ingredients goes from $28.26 to $13.04 with the added bonus that one of those ingredients lasts three times as long.

People need to learn substitutions in their recipes, that alone saved a tonne. I pay more for Canola oil personally cause I get Canola Harvest and not the no name brand since they're unionized, but even with that in mind you're paying less than olive oil for like, double the amount.

ive had zero problems with it. in fact every canadian item ive bought over previous american purchases are far cheaper.

my wife keeps a list, and price compares everything, its her talent.

we have saved a shit load of money so far because the items we buy are cheaper, we also buy less overall, and find ways to recycle or upcycle things we own, and as far as groceries go we save our leftovers and meal prep, allowing us to have healthier, cheaper meals, that we cook to taste. we bake our own bread, make our own pasta, we make our own broth from bones and vegetables to can for various uses.

its been extremely rewarding so far.

you just gotta get creative with it. i find the joy it brings far outweighs the minute increase in difficulty while shopping.

If you can't afford to buy Canadian, just don't buy American! You can get almost everything cheaper - depending what it is, of course - from China, South America, etc. than from the States.

Bullshit. I smell fake news and manipulation…

I was commenting on this over on Reddit. It is affordable, you just need to also change your habits.

Buy less unnecessary crap. Buy more fruits and vegetables locally if possible. I've eliminated American products, and instead buy mostly Canadian. It's actually saving me money.

Examples Microsoft office cost me 10$ a month. Got an open sourced non-american and it's free. Bought a bag of Canadian onions, technically cost more but per onion was cheaper. Cut them up and froze most. Netflix, cancelled. Movies for free from my local library.

It's about changing habits. Come on. Our grandparents generation waited in line for hours to get a ration of flower. We can do this.

I absolutely get not being able to afford things. I only expect my fellow Canadians to do what they can within reason. But the important thing is knowing about it. Seeing the signs, becoming knowledgeable about what things should change, what habits you should look around for alternatives, the awareness campaign is what leads to incremental action.

Almost all American imports are luxury items, so it's easy to go without.. this article is nonsense.

Has she tried living in America? That's FAR less affordable.

small44 , it's not just GenZ. Retired Boomers living on a pension, immigrants trying to earn a basic living,, working class folks of all ages, creeds, colours et alia, are all having a hard time. My lucky find is that Dollarama, a Canadian company, has a lot of in-house brands and a lot of non-American imports. and i has enabled us -- creaky old boomers who worked in social good professions rather than for profits -- to find almost everything we need either from Canada or at least not from the US, and still afford to eat relatively healthy and pay the cat's vet bills.

Giant Tiger is also a good Canadian company to patronise. If I can't get it there, I won't wear it.

My first thought: who owns the newspaper? Is it some US hedgefund?

I found both. Some items are more expensive, others are actually cheaper. Buying produce and veg in season is key. Bulk if you can. Watch for sales especially with clothing and anything that is household items (TP, shampoo etc.). Not buying American is the first goal. Canadian is the next. Lots of cheaper stuff can be had by non-USA products. Shopping is a skill like everything else. I am sure they all are ok with paying Starbucks drink 2x a day

I think it depends which province you’re in, I’m in Quebec and food is very cheap compared to in Alberta - went visiting family and I could not believe how expensive everything was and this was before trump was even president again.

Gen Z was a mistake