Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Canadians continue to feel the pressure of inflation as the rising cost of food is forcing many to rethink their shopping choices as a way to cut back on spending.
On Wednesday, Canada’s inflation rate hit 7.7 per cent, its highest level in nearly 40 years in May, fuelled by soaring gas prices.
Nonetheless, there are still ways consumers can shop strategically and look for wiggle room within their budgets.
Checking for sales and discounted items is a no-brainer when shopping, however what can be overlooked is checking for unit pricing.
Personal finance expert Kerry Taylor says shoppers should look at unit pricing, which measures the amount of product per item, since shrinkflation is happening as inflation rates spike.
“Shrinkflation is when you're buying an item for the same price but at a smaller portion size,” Taylor told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Wednesday.
By comparing unit pricing, shoppers are able to pinpoint where they might be spending more on groceries so in turn they can search for options that carry more product and last longer to avoid extra spending.
Taylor says checking for unit pricing between brands is especially important since some normally affordable brands might actually be more expensive depending on the quantity of product.
“It's really sneaky because you can't really tell. So you need to be on the lookout for shrinkflation because you could be overspending money on an item and not even realize it,” she said.
Non-perishable items have an extended shelf life so Taylor recommends stocking up on any products a household uses the most if the price is right.
Additionally, checking for sales doesn’t necessarily mean having to switch grocery stores.
Canadian food retailer Loblaws reported earlier this month that their discounted stores including No Frills and Maxi saw an increase in customers. However, Taylor says it’s important to only visit stores that are accessible since spending time and money on travelling to the next grocery store could end up costing you more.
“Ask yourself, is this a good use of time to save a dollar here and there? Or is it more worth your time to figure out how to use the ingredients you have in-house to the best of your ability,” she said.
While nearly all food prices in stores have shot up, Canadians are still recommended to look for alternative items for their meals. Taylor says she was shocked to find the eight-pack of canned lentil soup she often buys went from $9 to $14.99 at her local grocery store.
“These are all the base ingredients that we use to build meals when we're on a very, very tight budget and they have all gone up, so it's frustrating,” she said.
Among the products that spiked in price the most included fresh fruits and vegetables. Pasta saw an increase of 19.6 per cent from April 2021, according to statistics Canada.
As an alternative, Taylor says she switched to purchasing a bag of lentils to make at home. A ritual she is now practicing more often as she says cutting back on packaged foods and take-out could help soothe costs.
“It's always a hard one but there's lots of fun recipes out there that include ingredients like cans of tomatoes, beans, so you can make something quick and nutritious.”
Unlike inflation, food waste is something Canadians can control and can use to avoid the repeated cycle of over-spending on food for it to only end up in the compost.
“Canadians waste just over $1,000 a year per household which is about $92 a month, $21 a week or $3 a day,” Taylor said.
To avoid food waste, Taylor recommends gathering any leftover ingredients from meals into one bowl and taking one day of the week to use all those ingredients in a simple recipe that can be paired with any carbohydrate.
“Think, can you possibly expand this tossed away food with rice or a wrap? Can you add a sauce to it to make it more delicious? Maybe you can make it in an omelette or a stir fry?” she said.
Lastly, Taylor says Canadians do not have to completely cut off all products they deemed necessary.
“If buying certain products at the grocery store means a lot to you and enhances your life and makes you happy then you should go for those items and look at where you can cut elsewhere in your life,” she said.
In order to keep any items deemed essential, Taylor recommends looking at other expenses that hold less value which could be streaming services, old automated credit payments or the frequency of online shopping.
“There’s an opportunity cost to every dollar we spend and we just have to make these tough decisions but look at your budget, look at what you can cut or add.”
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.