Grocery shopping is one of these grown-up chores I’ve never complained about. Most of the time, I see supermarkets as a chance to explore cultures through food, try new products, and get dinner inspiration. And even if I’m not in the mood to wax ecstatic about my local grocery store—let’s face it, in Ottawa, nine times out of ten, I’m filling up the fridge, not delving into culinary traditions—, it’s a quick task that doesn’t bother me. With my flexible freelancer schedule, four supermarkets within walking distance, and reasonable expectations, I can get everything I need for three or four days in less than an hour, including travel time.
Well, that was before.
The other day, I almost started crying between the produce department and the dairy aisle.
And this is how grocery shopping went from “easy peasy” to “are you fucking kidding me?”
Remember the derecho storm?
It had been a stressful week. Remember the May 21 derecho storm that wreaked havoc across Ottawa? I wrote about it the day after, thankful we were among the few lucky ones who still had power, and not yet fully aware of how destructive it had been.
I realized it quickly enough. Naively, I was thinking it would be a weird Victoria Day long weekend with cleanup and damage assessment underway but that everything would be back to normal on Tuesday. Mind you, I also thought we would be fine after a two-week lockdown to “flatten the COVID-19 curve”—I guess I’m a glass-half-full person.
Nine days. That’s how long it took for things to go back to “normal-ish.” Schools were closed, there were hour-long lineups at the pumps because many gas stations were without power or supply, supermarkets were either closed or packed… yes, it was a chaotic week. I took a walk to Merivale Road last Sunday night to see if the power was back on. No such luck. The atmosphere was eerie… this is normally a busy thoroughfare with dozens of stores and businesses.
Virus or rare weather event, it’s hard to demand accountability from Mother Nature—and she would have every right to demand accountability from us in the first place. So once again, we adapted to unexpected circumstances and just sucked it up.
Remember when shelves were full, not bare?
So yes, I can’t claim my local supermarket is fully responsible for making me cry. I probably would have cried out of frustration and mental exhaustion at one point
Still, going grocery shopping has become stressful and time-consuming. There’s always a fifty-fifty chance I won’t find what I need because the shelves are empty. It’s not like Canada is running out of food and some supermarkets are better stocked than others—I know. But look at the pictures I took last over the past few weeks and you will understand why I’m frustrated.
We cook all our meals and we use common ingredients—rice, pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach, zucchini, eggs, etc. Our grocery list is pretty basic and there’s only so much substitution you make. Broccoli for cauliflower or water for stock? Sure. Chips instead of yogurt? Yeah, no (sorry, Mark).
Please, please, don’t tell me to bake my own bread, make my own yogurt and grow my own food. Good for you if you do, but I don’t have the energy to pick up off-grid living skills right now.
Why are shelves empty? I have no idea. I suspect it’s the mix of issues we keep on reading about in the news. And lately, anything on sale has been flying off the shelves, quite understandably because…
Remember when food was affordable?
According to the latest Consumer Price Index from Statistics Canada, food prices are up 8.7 per cent compared to last year. Gains are “broad-based, with consumers paying more for nearly everything at the grocery store.” Over the past year, the price of pasta has risen nearly 20 per cent, fresh fruit by 10 per cent and coffee by around 14 per cent.
It sucks. There’s no other way to put it. And it’s compounded by the fact that, as I’ve just explained, finding what you need is tricky in the first place, so I can’t compare prices and shop where it’s cheaper like I used to do. At one point, you just give up and buy overpriced produce, dairy, and more because you fucking need food.
We’re not the worst off. I have no idea how most people can fill up the fridge these days.
Please, please don’t tell me that rice and beans are a filling meal—I’ve spent time in Central America and I live with a Chinese. Don’t tell me some people are starving in the world right now and that Ukrainians have it worse—really, is it the new standard?
History should have taught us that a frustrated, hungry population does not remain civil. This week, 61% of Canadians reported that inflation has had a noticeable impact on their personal financial situation—and I suspect the other 39% are high as a kite.
It’s easy to blame the pandemic and the war in Ukraine for everything but don’t worry, plenty of corporations are profiteering as usual because such situations incentivize amorality.
People are not angry enough.
Fearmongering has convinced us that the only alternative to capitalism is bread lines and mass poverty but hey since we’re going down this road, maybe it could be an opportunity to change an inherently unsustainable and exploitative system? (Psst! Another world is possible…)
C’est vrai qu’on en chie un peu.
Bonne nouvelle cependant : pas de pénurie de papier cul en vue.
Effectivement. Au pire, j’ai plein de prospectus des candidats, entre les élections en France et en Ontario.
Ah non ! J’ai le trou de balle trop sensible pour utiliser du matériel aussi grossier.
Oui, tu as raison. Bon, je fais un p’tit feu dès que j’ai froid.
And it’s not by reelecting Dougie that it will improve. Despite the numerous studies by urbanists and civil engineers, this dumbass think that adding more roads will help fight climate change because cars won’t idle¹ as much. Friggin’ moron.
¹: It’s false, adding more lanes and roads in a congested area will INCREASE travel time and thus idling. It has even a name and it’s called the Braess’ paradox. Katy highway extension in Texas is one of the most known example of it.
Trust me, I did NOT vote for him. And really, I don’t think idling is even relevant when it comes to climate change… typical “let’s get rid of plastic straw and bam, done with global warming” move.
Technically, only 17% of the population voted for him and his minions. And he played it as if he had full support of said population.
What could be more efficient to fight climate change would be to tax SUV and even forbid them in downtown areas, reserve lanes for public transit AND for bicycles, etc.
But it won’t be popular.
On my part, I overtly mock people with SUV who complain about gas prices.
I have to admit most people who use SUVs in Ottawa seem to have a legit reason to (mostly contractors, as far as I can see). Actually, I see more sports cars or fancy convertibles than SUVs… or am I so used to SUVs that I don’t see them anymore??
How much does a fillup cost for your truck? Like, currently vs. last year?
Feng fills up twice a month on average (Toyota Corolla, 2018 model). Currently, it’s about $200/month (vs. $100 last year).
Habitually, i don’t fuel from empty tank (I can put 1000 L of fuel), but I put more than $1000 on one fill sometimes, which didn’t happened before this year. To give you an idea, last month, i used around 5000 L to do around 15000 km. So, basically, I went from 5 to 6000 fuel bill to around 8-9000 now per month.
Ouch… I hope you’re collecting reward points???
Oups, it’s closer to 7000 now.
In fact, yes. 1 cent for every 3,785 L of fuel I buy, plus 1 free shower, valid for 10 days in the network I use for each fill over 200 L.
You lost me at the free shower. Wouldn’t it work with regular credit cards to collect miles, for instance, instead of showers?
Ah, there is a trick, here. With the network fuel card, I pay between 10 and 20 cents per liter less than the regular price I would pay if I used a crédit card. So on a fill, it’s between 100 and 200 dollars less.
Good point, it’s worth it, then. Is fuel an out-of-pocket expense for you or is it paid by the company? I can’t quite figure out your status… self-employed or not?
I’m self employed and I own my truck, but I’m subcontracting for a trucking company which take care of finding freight. And I’m using their fleet card for fuel because I can then profit from their reduction (which is interesting for the company because the more trucks they have, the more they can negociate interesting prices).
So I pay the fuel, but it’s directly deducted from what they pay me once a month.
Makes sense! Could you have the same status in France or is it a North American thing?
The status of owner operator as I have in Canada doesn’t exist in France. If you want to operate a truck as a carrier, you need a ”licence communautaire”, there isn’t an intermediary status like mine. But a French carrier with one truck can subcontract to another one, like my father did.
I remember the topic being mentioned during the “Freedom Convoy”–the fact Canadian truckers owned their truck but French truckers wouldn’t be able to stage a similar protest in France because many were not owners.
Seeing that this is now felt along with the whole of Canada, really makes you think that something is very wrong with this whole campaign of the West against Russia. As people die on another front, seems the situation is in a deadlock, and everyone has his agenda. The USA running at the forefront.
With Biden as a retarded president par-excellence, I am to the point of hardly standing him when he goes with ANY statement. No Biden, it is not the fault of Putin, but yours! Don’t get me started on Ford as I am a Canadian subject from that province and still follow closely life there.
That slogan floating: gas is expensive but freedom is priceless! (they came up in Europe with this) is the very dumb resume of this madness. Europe will have a really tough time ahead, but that is something for them to weather.
Because of the fragile balance as capitalism tends to go deep to the bone of profit, the collapse and cracks will appear and remain especially in the part of the society that lives on a thin margin of savings.
6.43$ a gallon in California. I have it easy in NYC due to the public transportation (not the perfect one) that combined with my bike ride, helped me avoid this craziness and definitely kept me healthier.
For a lot of corporations, it is business as usual with crazy profits. This will shift the balances that keep sustainable growth (whatever this means as my belief is: there is no such thing in capitalism, where money is the skyline and the bottom line).
On the bright side, seems Canada will get rid of the covid test requirements to enter, and that seems like e green light for the people who are not yet vaccinated.
I was about to reply that random COVID testing upon entry to Canada was just suspended until July 1, but apparently things are changing again tonight. We’ll see. I’m very pro-vaccine but I do think at this stage of the pandemic, it’s stupid to single out people who didn’t get vaccinated.
I hear you, I’m not comfortable with the idea we’re all pawns in this war between the US and Russia. I can’t possibly defend anything Putin has done but it doesn’t mean I’m standing with the US (and Canada, for that matter) in this 2.0 version of the Cold War.
America removed all the testing requirements, and for US citizens, vaccination status doesn’t really matter anymore when entering the country. At this point, I think Canada should follow as they usually do.
As to the whole craziness in the world, this is just a by-product of capitalism on a global scale. the circles of crashing and coming back are normal. Just that you can not afford an increased percentage of growth continuously. While laughing at the crypto layers of finance and the forces of the market here in the US, I will have to wait and see how bad things will go.
There is no defense for a brutal blow (Putin vs Ukraine). But maybe all the players have failed, it takes a while until everyone comes to his/her senses. but until then the common people will pay the price.
Putin isn’t doing anything outside the history books. was listening to STING famous song Russians. There is so much more wisdom there than all of the players in this deadly circus have together combined.
I like your idea of starting a revolution, as seems we are on the wrong lane of evolution. But didn’t you ever feel like a pawn (literally) in the big chess game of COVID for the last two years? With a jester-like Trudeau, I am appalled to see it all over again in England (BoJo vs the Brits).
How deep Ukraine is in the hole, we will see, but with a neighbor like Russia, nothing seems bright.
The most appalling thing is the stupidity which reigns with most of the leaders right now. While we will pay to watch the tragedy of a Slavic nation.
Canada did lift a few remaining restrictions, however, it looks like we’re still stuck with the stupid ArriveCAN app. Damn.
I’m also wondering how bad things will go. Americans are usually left to fend for themselves, can’t expect much from the governments. Meanwhile, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer… and somehow, it’s okay. I just don’t get it.
So, what’s your personal strategy to get through this mess? And what would you do if you were the US president? (Not being sarcastic, genuinely curious)
ugghhhhhhhh what grocery shopping? I’m not a fan either. I’m glad my partner and kid does it,
I used to like it, really. These days? Absolutely not. Where do you/do they shop usually? Like, which supermarkets?
Mostly Costco, some at Foodland and Independent. Depending on what we need.
Yes, same as us (except Costco). We’re flexible.