Most Canadians skipping meals, can't afford food anymore

DesRicardo said:

At some point, when you keep cutting you hit bone. Ultimately wages are not keeping up with inflation and in order to have a healthy (literal and figuratively) society, the issue needs to be address. Talking to use like we are living through a great depression is not a solution.

"You know, if you cut up a potato and pour milk on it, it's taste just like meat." OK boomer.

and you're position that everyone is eating out is not fully true. Restaurants are seeing a decline in business as well.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/restaurants-struggling-financially-9.7086668

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Um. So I didn't say "everyone is eating out" anywhere. My math on food costs are sound. A single person, with a decently set up kitchen, can make meals costing $3-10, average 5, with minimal shopping effort. And I eat well.

And while we certainly are not in a great depression, we are heading for tougher times. So whining about it and expecting the Govts to save you isn't a solution. What is is smart shopping, smart thinking. Restaurant food is not healthy food. It's over salted, they all use too much processed food supply as well.

I eat fish 3 times a week, chicken twice, red meat twice. All good cuts as well. Eat fresh salad, lots of rice, some potato. Lots of fresh fruit. No meal takes me more than 30 minutes unless I'm doing a roasted bird or the like. Use my slow cooker to make batches of soups, stews, pasta sauces etc.

People who are struggling a bit need to understand that take out is a treat and not daily.

SaulGoodman777 said:

Let's not pretend that voting matters. We need not examine how SkidMark came into office. He wasn't elected, he was selected. It's all politricks and if you think we can vote our way out of this mess you'd be wrong about that. Look at all of the shenanigans JT pulled to keep himself in office. The system is designed to favor who ever is in power. Canada is a fucking global joke and we are going to be paying for this for a long time....

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We are still a top ten economy depending on which metrics used. At first top 15. You really don't know how good it is here. And if your assertion about who is in power wins then I guess Harper should have won. And Mulroney.

All politicians have a best before date. The fact is the Conservatives have made bad leadership choices. And run into outside forces beyond their control. Thems the breaks.

Butler1000 said:

We are still a top ten economy depending on which metrics used. At first top 15. You really don't know how good it is here. And if your assertion about who is in power wins then I guess Harper should have won. And Mulroney.

All politicians have a best before date. The fact is the Conservatives have made bad leadership choices. And run into outside forces beyond their control. Thems the breaks.

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You're right, great system, lets not change a thing.

Butler1000 said:

Um. So I didn't say "everyone is eating out" anywhere. My math on food costs are sound. A single person, with a decently set up kitchen, can make meals costing $3-10, average 5, with minimal shopping effort. And I eat well.

And while we certainly are not in a great depression, we are heading for tougher times. So whining about it and expecting the Govts to save you isn't a solution. What is is smart shopping, smart thinking. Restaurant food is not healthy food. It's over salted, they all use too much processed food supply as well.

I eat fish 3 times a week, chicken twice, red meat twice. All good cuts as well. Eat fresh salad, lots of rice, some potato. Lots of fresh fruit. No meal takes me more than 30 minutes unless I'm doing a roasted bird or the like. Use my slow cooker to make batches of soups, stews, pasta sauces etc.

People who are struggling a bit need to understand that take out is a treat and not daily.

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Yeah but you're old and washed up. The math on food works for YOU today, but you didn't live like this.

We have a country of young people that will have to penny pinch. Not because they want to save money, but because they have no choice.

What kind of country is that? This is what the Boomers have left for us.

DesRicardo said:

Yeah but you're old and washed up. The math on food works for YOU today, but you didn't live like this.

We have a country of young people that will have to penny pinch. Not because they want to save money, but because they have no choice.

What kind of country is that? This is what the Boomers have left for us.

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It never ceases to amaze me the way liberals can look around and be like 'what? I don't see anything wrong here'

SaulGoodman777 said:

It never ceases to amaze me the way liberals can look around and be like 'what? I don't see anything wrong here'

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Canada wants to attract young professionals from around the world, but oh yeah, you can't eat out and have to limit yourself to one meat meal a day.

No wonder we can't get these positions filled and only get LMIA scammers immigrating.

Mr Deeds said:

I spend about $60 a week on groceries and eat very well. I buy red meat from a butcher never from a supermarket, I shop at Asian markets where the produce is much less expensive, I eat a lot of beans and legumes and keep a large variety of spices because with spices you can have the same thing and taste totally different two or three days in a row if you like. Times are tough right now in Canada however having lived in different parts of South America and seeing how people in really poor countries live and eat I got a real good education on how to eat pretty well without too much sacrifice

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I stop buying cheap ultra-processed meals like frozen dinners and eat a lot of those. Instead, I switched to buying expensive, healthier food (Wild caught Salmon, gras fed beef from a butcher), but I eat one or two meals per day and in smaller portions. Cost the same as when I was buying large amounts of the frozen dinners and canned meals like Chef Boyardee, I used to eat 5-7X a day. I don't snack on chips or other junk food. If I need a snack, it will be a small amount of almonds or celery and carrot sticks with homemade hummus. I also, exercise 30 mins per day and I lost 32 pounds.

DesRicardo said:

Yeah but you're old and washed up. The math on food works for YOU today, but you didn't live like this.

We have a country of young people that will have to penny pinch. Not because they want to save money, but because they have no choice.

What kind of country is that? This is what the Boomers have left for us.

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Lol, ya, because the massive inflation of the 1970's didn't occur. Nor did the 1980's recession, nor did the 1990's recession. I didn't have to live in a shitty house with 3 roomies. I didn't have some years with nothing but part time jobs. I didn't have a year where I had 6 T4's so I could work massively to put together a down payment. And did that(4 jobs) for 2 1/2 years.

I didn't live on cheap sandwiches, cereal, and Raman noodles for long periods.

Dude, life isn't easy. That's it. But I never gave up. I walked for hours and days, physical copies of resume in hand, cold calling for a job. And took some shitty ones. Had 8 months unemployed. Had to move back home. And still Somehow, got ahead.

And here you are, on an escort board, complaining you don't have enough money? Can't afford to dine out? Seriously?

glamphotographer said:

Most Canadians are obese and need to skip meals, easier on the pocketbook and the vital organs.

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68% of adults are considered to be overweight and 33% are medically obese. Are food prices really an issue?

Also

In Canada, 46.5% of all food produced is wasted annually, amounting to approximately 35.5 million tonnes of food. This represents a staggering $58 billion in avoidable food waste, according to a 2024 report by Second Harvest. Of this, 41.7% is avoidable and could be redirected to support people in need, while 63% of the food thrown away by households is still edible.

SaulGoodman777 said:

It never ceases to amaze me the way liberals can look around and be like 'what? I don't see anything wrong here'

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Of course there are things wrong. There were things wrong every decade since I started working. Recessions, wars, bad government, bad businesses, bad bosses, changes to the economy and job market. Changes to marketable skills, social norms.

That's the world.

Cripes I'm the one that since 2015 on this board warning that shit was going to get worse, and dismissed as an "accelerationist" and right winger.

You need to travel a bit, talk to people who come here from bad places, and understand, for the most part, all the problems are FIRST WORLD problems.

DesRicardo said:

SILENCE YOU PEASANTS!!!!

Carney spent over $772K on in-flight catering and accommodations last year, records show

Data from Global Affairs Canada includes accommodations on a half-dozen trips and catering costs on nine, with more to be counted.

nationalpost.com

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As much as you'd like that to be true, it's not Carney doing the orders. In a previous life I used to do military airlifts for politicians, heads of state. All they did was request certain foods they wanted or didn't want. It was some random steward that did the order. Also did several lifts for Mulroney and family, if you think he was fiscally responsible as a Con, it would be another case of Cons conning Cons.

Is this thread the ultimate in congintive dissonance?
Yes, there is food insecurity in Canada.
And we are talking about it on review board for folks with the funds to be able to at least from time to time partake in 'hired experiences'.

Butler1000 said:

Of course there are things wrong. There were things wrong every decade since I started working. Recessions, wars, bad government, bad businesses, bad bosses, changes to the economy and job market. Changes to marketable skills, social norms.

That's the world.

Cripes I'm the one that since 2015 on this board warning that shit was going to get worse, and dismissed as an "accelerationist" and right winger.

You need to travel a bit, talk to people who come here from bad places, and understand, for the most part, all the problems are FIRST WORLD problems.

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Mass homelessness is NOT a first world problem amigo

Butler1000 said:

My 2 person household, probably, with regular grocery, Costco every three months, and a few special stores about the same, spends about 100 avg per week. But we eat well. Good fish, good cuts of meat. Treats.

Eating at home will save you at a 3-1 ratio. That is the usual food cost markup in most restaurants. My meals generally cost $5-10 in ingredients.

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Same. I gave up eating out a few years back. It's cheaper and better for your health.

I believe it, prices are just going to keep going up too

Butler1000 said:

Lol, ya, because the massive inflation of the 1970's didn't occur. Nor did the 1980's recession, nor did the 1990's recession. I didn't have to live in a shitty house with 3 roomies. I didn't have some years with nothing but part time jobs. I didn't have a year where I had 6 T4's so I could work massively to put together a down payment. And did that(4 jobs) for 2 1/2 years.

I didn't live on cheap sandwiches, cereal, and Raman noodles for long periods.

Dude, life isn't easy. That's it. But I never gave up. I walked for hours and days, physical copies of resume in hand, cold calling for a job. And took some shitty ones. Had 8 months unemployed. Had to move back home. And still Somehow, got ahead.

And here you are, on an escort board, complaining you don't have enough money? Can't afford to dine out? Seriously?

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If your life sucked in the 70s, 80s and 90s then that's on you. You had your chances. Don't make it seem like you came from the generation your father and grandfathers were from. They created the pathway for you to succeed. If you squandered your opportunity, that's on you.

And you definitely can't tell my generation to lower our expectation and eat cheese sandwiches for the rest of our lives. We didn't squander our chances.

You drove a gas guzzler your whole damn life. Now you want the younger people to bust our ass so you can get subsidized for EVs. Kiss my ass.

OpXXX said:

In Canada, 46.5% of all food produced is wasted annually, amounting to approximately 35.5 million tonnes of food. This represents a staggering $58 billion in avoidable food waste, according to a 2024 report by Second Harvest. Of this, 41.7% is avoidable and could be redirected to support people in need, while 63% of the food thrown away by households is still edible.

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It may gross out many, but we source a fair chunk of our food from suburban dumpsters.

Day old bakery buns tossed by a local deli still sealed in the bags the bakery drops them off in 12 hour eariler.
One bag does our househild of four adults for about 3 week. A second fridge helps here.
And when I fish our bag out it is not the only bun bag in there.

SDM regularly tosses eggs cartons with one egg cracked. One day it was a bashed up egg box that yeilded 17 dozen good eggs.
Day or two expired milk, oj, fruit juice, cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, yoghurt, bologna, coffee creamers, muffins, coffe cakes.
A few week old past best before granola bars, cookies, often premium breakfast cereals, peanut butter, cheeze whiz, honey, canned tomotes, spagetti sauce etc.

Some of it is not regular enough to be every week, but then there are times you find half a year consumption worth of something being tossed.
One day it was 35 packages of in date bacon tossed mid january when they started packing in in 375g sized, so they tossed all the 500g stuff.
Or 10 bar packs of bath soap when the new package only held 8 bars. I have not bought soap for three years, and have a few years still in stock,

We cook at home, and eat out big maybe 6 times a year, and fast food it on the go between things maybe once every few months.

There are mid week meals we call left over free for all. Clear out the fridge by Wednesday.
We start cooking whole meals again on Thursday-Sun, and Monday and Tueday are mostly organised planned from double recipe sized cooked weekend meals.
Food does not get tossed other than maybe a mid winter cuke that dies 6 hours after it came home from the grocery store in February.

OpXXX said:

As much as you'd like that to be true, it's not Carney doing the orders. In a previous life I used to do military airlifts for politicians, heads of state. All they did was request certain foods they wanted or didn't want. It was some random steward that did the order. Also did several lifts for Mulroney and family, if you think he was fiscally responsible as a Con, it would be another case of Cons conning Cons.

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What do you mean as much as I'd like this to be true? It's true, $772K was spent. I mean goddamn you really think he couldn't keep this under half-a-milli?

If the Prime Minister has no control over his catering budget, then we have major problems a head of us.

DesRicardo said:

If your life sucked in the 70s, 80s and 90s then that's on you. You had your chances. Don't make it seem like you came from the generation your father and grandfathers were from. They created the pathway for you to succeed. If you squandered your opportunity, that's on you.

And you definitely can't tell my generation to lower our expectation and eat cheese sandwiches for the rest of our lives. We didn't squander our chances.

You drove a gas guzzler your whole damn life. Now you want the younger people to bust our ass so you can get subsidized for EVs. Kiss my ass.

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Lol. No. I had hand me down clothes from my older brothers. And we owned a home. We took one trip to California my entire childhood and youth. Never another vacation. I worked starting about 9 years old with a paper route, cutting lawns, shoveling driveways, was a pin boy in a bowling alley at 12.

I watched my dad lose his business in the 90's. Lost the home too. No fault. It was just that rough. And he rebuilt it from scratch while living in my Brother's basement. I had to figure it out, with 2 weeks notice pretty much and did. And in the end the family got better. Because we didn't give up. Didn't blame others, just got on with it.

What you have are FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS.

southpaw said:

They don't have to, they choose to. They can stop this at any time by voting against it. Like you said, Carney is polling at 49%.

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Provincial government impact your day-to-day life far more than the feds do.