Buying Canadian groceries, eBrandon discussion (2025)

saltnpepper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 488
saltnpepper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 488
Buying Canadian groceries
Feb 4 at 2:43 PM
Has anyone noticed if any stores are marking Canadian products with a red maple leaf or sign saying canadian. I was at Westend Sobeys yesterday and didn't see anything.
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CraigR.
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 81
CraigR.
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 81
No stickers that I've noticed
Feb 18 at 7:10 PM
saltnpepper said "Has anyone noticed if any stores are marking Canadian products with a red maple leaf or sign saying canadian. I was at Westend Sobeys yesterday and didn't see anything. "
Labels themselves are easy to read though, if it's that important to you.
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Blueberry
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 9
Blueberry
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 9
Maple Leaf stickers
Feb 18 at 7:49 PM
saltnpepper said "Has anyone noticed if any stores are marking Canadian products with a red maple leaf or sign saying canadian. I was at Westend Sobeys yesterday and didn't see anything. "
I haven’t seen any but I like that idea!

Edited by Blueberry, 2025-02-18 19:50:45
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kevin89
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 210
kevin89
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 210
Sobeys
Feb 18 at 8:23 PM
West end Sobeys has stickers on the shelves in the freezer aisle next to prices. You still need to keep an eye on the product labels themselves though. I bought some compliments frozen veggies that had a sticker next to them and the bag said "product of China" on the back hah
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hisluvmonkey
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1420
hisluvmonkey
Joined: Oct 2009
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CO-OP
Feb 19 at 2:04 PM
I’ve always found CO-OP to be very good about identifying where products are from.
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B4
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 66
B4
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 66
check out the Sobeys/Safeway flyers
Feb 19 at 7:48 PM
I’m just checking out the newest flyer from Sobeys and now see that there is a Canadian flag shown beside Canadian items in the flyer. I like it!
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B4
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 66
B4
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 66
Co-op is doing it too
Feb 19 at 8:05 PM
Just noticed that the Co-op flyer has Canadian items identified as well! Buy Canadian whenever I can.
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Bluebell
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1217
Bluebell
Joined: Jul 2012
See Also
converting bell receiver to a PVR, eBrandon discussion Jesus is coming 18th Street and Park Ave, eBrandon discussion
Posts: 1217
...
Feb 21 at 2:04 PM
No I haven't noticed any labels marking Canadian but to be honest I also don't trust them. I took the time to read the labels myself and put many US products back on the shelf.
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Adam

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Adam
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Produce
Feb 21 at 3:00 PM
One thing that's a bit of a judgement call are something like Strawberries. Driscolls for example are a California company, but they do some of their growing in Mexico. Some I bought this week were labelled "Mexican grown" on signage, but when you look on the package it's clear that Driscolls itself is California even if they got the berries from a Mexican farm of theirs. Wherever possible I'd like to be cutting USA out completely, which this time of the year might mean going more frozen. eg the PC frozen strawberries in our freezer right now are labelled as being product of Peru.

West Coast/BC berries are usually ready about a month before prairie ones. Be interesting to see if things get a little more competitive for those in June before all of the locally grown prairie ones are avail for a few weeks.

Was reading that blueberries could get complicated. Tons grown in Canada, but BC growers at least (not sure about further East) get a lot of the plants themselves from the other side of the border.

Our ace in the hole are Canadian (and even Manitoban) greenhouse grown veggies. The mini cucumbers that are everywhere these days at good prices are as much of a staple as bananas for us now. Maybe at least this will lead to more of a market for local greenhouse setups.
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crownyboy
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 169
crownyboy
Joined: May 2010
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Peanuts
Feb 22 at 4:33 PM
What are the peanut eaters doing about the boycott? Lots of products containing peanuts from the US on the shelves.
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Adam

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Adam
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Peanuts
Feb 22 at 8:56 PM
crownyboy said "What are the peanut eaters doing about the boycott? Lots of products containing peanuts from the US on the shelves. "
Guessing these guys are about to be that much more in demand:
https://picardpeanuts.com/about-us/

As far as products that contain, guess we'll have to see where supply chains fall. US definitely aren't the only grower even if they've been the most convenient (Google saying they only grow 5% of the world's peanuts).
Side note, a type of Almond tree that's just starting to make its way into Canada is gonna open up a lot of potential for our own almond production too. Assuming it'll take a few years for any plantings to really start producing if anyone decides to get into them commercially!
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saltnpepper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 488
saltnpepper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 488
Carrotts
Feb 23 at 2:45 PM
Walmart carrotts are product of Canada
Sobeys carrotts are product of USA
You would think it would be reversed.
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Bluebell
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1217
Bluebell
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Posts: 1217
...
Feb 23 at 7:31 PM
saltnpepper said "Walmart carrotts are product of Canada
Sobeys carrotts are product of USA
You would think it would be reversed. "
I've seen bags of produce in the exact same bin, one labeled product of Canada, another labeled product of USA. The outer package otherwise appears the same.

I find you need to read labels each time and read them carefully.
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B.MacIntosh
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 98
B.MacIntosh
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 98
Yes, read labels
Feb 24 at 10:14 AM
I bought asparagus recently that was advertised as product of Mexico but when I was preparing it and looked at the tag it was originally from Mexico but distributed by Altar produce of California.
I was surprised to find that there were sweet potatoes that were grown in Canada. Shopping may take a little longer but it's quite an education.
I'm currently trying to get my head around the fact that I will have to just do without some things. When you stop to think about it, we are quite spoiled with the abundance of choices we still have.
The peanut butter is a staple for me but I wonder if some types of hummus might be an acceptable substitute? Might be worth a try.
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Exhausted
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1692
Exhausted
Joined: Nov 2010
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Remember who you are hurting
Feb 27 at 1:16 PM
If everyone doesn’t buy US groceries. Who are you hurting? The workers who work on these farms.

You want to do something. Complain to google maps for changing names. Like calling our parks state parks from provincial parks.

Changing Gulf of Mexico to gulf of America.

Every Canadian should drown the White House in emails and letters to trump what we think of him.

And copy those letters to everyone including Governors and Senators.

Stop traveling to USA. I know this hurts states near us but personally I wouldn’t want to travel with all that is going on. Not safe.
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Emracoad
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 277
Emracoad
Joined: Jan 2012
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Re: google park labels
Feb 27 at 10:17 PM
Exhausted said "If everyone doesn’t buy US groceries. Who are you hurting? The workers who work on these farms.

You want to do something. Complain to google maps for changing names. Like calling our parks state parks from provincial parks.

Changing Gulf of Mexico to gulf of America.

Every Canadian should drown the White House in emails and letters to trump what we think of him.

And copy those letters to everyone including Governors and Senators.

Stop traveling to USA. I know this hurts states near us but personally I wouldn’t want to travel with all that is going on. Not safe. "
I noticed the provincial/state park labels years ago so it's not a new thing. This story confirms that it was already an issue and google says they are working on fixing it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/why-are-provincial-parks-listed-as-state-parks-on-google-maps-1.7466824
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Abbysmum
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Abbysmum
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Um
Feb 27 at 11:23 PM
Exhausted said "If everyone doesn’t buy US groceries. Who are you hurting? The workers who work on these farms.

You want to do something. Complain to google maps for changing names. Like calling our parks state parks from provincial parks.

Changing Gulf of Mexico to gulf of America.

Every Canadian should drown the White House in emails and letters to trump what we think of him.

And copy those letters to everyone including Governors and Senators.

Stop traveling to USA. I know this hurts states near us but personally I wouldn’t want to travel with all that is going on. Not safe. "
You mean the people who overwhelmingly voted for Trump?

Sounds kinda like a FAFO moment. :shrug:
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Mr E Of The Century
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 94
Mr E Of The Century
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 94
From what
Feb 28 at 9:50 AM
Bluebell said "I've seen bags of produce in the exact same bin, one labeled product of Canada, another labeled product of USA. The outer package otherwise appears the same.

I find you need to read labels each time and read them carefully. "
I've found out from one of my jobs is that if there is a shortage of one product that may very well be produced in Canada, the very same product is sent from the U.S. plant to help get the stock supply back up, and this also goes vice versa, where we may send supply to them to help out.This may be true for several products, as some producers may only have one big processing plant, or limited numbers of them in either country to help keep shipping and production costs minimal to help keep product pricing down. It's going to be a bit of a struggle to keep supply chains separate sometimes. I know that for the company I work for, the dry stock is Canadian made, but the wet meat product is from a plant in the U.S, but sold in Canada as keeping the ingredients separated in production facility is expensive due to quality controls, so there is only that one plant in use in the U.S.
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Mac72
Joined: Jul 2020
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Mac72
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Re Exhausted National parks
Feb 28 at 10:26 AM
Looks like someone watching and listening to Canada

https://dailyhive.com/canada/google-removing-state-parks-labels-canada
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Adam

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Adam
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Buy Canada
Feb 28 at 12:24 PM
Exhausted said "If everyone doesn’t buy US groceries. Who are you hurting? The workers who work on these farms.

You want to do something. Complain to google maps for changing names. Like calling our parks state parks from provincial parks.

Changing Gulf of Mexico to gulf of America.

Every Canadian should drown the White House in emails and letters to trump what we think of him.

And copy those letters to everyone including Governors and Senators.

Stop traveling to USA. I know this hurts states near us but personally I wouldn’t want to travel with all that is going on. Not safe. "
What we need to avoid is infighting about the best way to resist. While we're fighting, tariffs are put in place, stay there for a long time and slowly bleed this country out because we aren't focused on how to push back.

I'm sure you mean well by suggesting people in stead flood trump with emails and such, but the guy pretty much only speaks dollars and cents. By all means send emails too, but he'll probably take those emails as a sign that the pressure he's putting on the country is working and that we're one step closer to capitulating. He needs to hear the message from the businesspeople he respects, people who themselves in majority are going to speak dollars and cents. He needs to see it show up in reports that show how the US economy is doing from month to month, year to year. Its unfortunate if workers in the USA get caught in the crossfire, but what he's trying to do to this country unsolicited is a heck of a lot more awful.

There are direct examples that it works too. Eg the Kentucky Senator that broke from his party to make sure its known how much the change in market for their alcohol is going to effect their state. It's on Trump, the aggressor knowing that that impact is happening, to own it... not the victim that's trying to fight back.

I have zero doubt that the holiday cancellations are going to add up on tourist destinations. When you travel to somewhere like a Florida and chat with folks there, you sure run into a lot of Canadians during normal times. Thats a lot less spending if we find better places to go.

One that's a trickier one still is something like a USA-owned coffee shop located in Canada. Havent given them a nickel since this tariff fight and might not ever again. Its unfortunate if long-term that effects available positions for work on this side of the border, but I'll still be buying drinks... it'll just be from somewhere else that will also need to hire folks to make those drinks.
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PrimeConvoy

Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 508
PrimeConvoy
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Posts: 508
IInteresting
Feb 28 at 3:12 PM
Adam said "
What we need to avoid is infighting about the best way to resist. While we're fighting, tariffs are put in place, stay there for a long time and slowly bleed this country out because we aren't focused on how to push back.

I'm sure you mean well by suggesting people in stead flood trump with emails and such, but the guy pretty much only speaks dollars and cents. By all means send emails too, but he'll probably take those emails as a sign that the pressure he's putting on the country is working and that we're one step closer to capitulating. He needs to hear the message from the businesspeople he respects, people who themselves in majority are going to speak dollars and cents. He needs to see it show up in reports that show how the US economy is doing from month to month, year to year. Its unfortunate if workers in the USA get caught in the crossfire, but what he's trying to do to this country unsolicited is a heck of a lot more awful.

There are direct examples that it works too. Eg the Kentucky Senator that broke from his party to make sure its known how much the change in market for their alcohol is going to effect their state. It's on Trump, the aggressor knowing that that impact is happening, to own it... not the victim that's trying to fight back.

I have zero doubt that the holiday cancellations are going to add up on tourist destinations. When you travel to somewhere like a Florida and chat with folks there, you sure run into a lot of Canadians during normal times. Thats a lot less spending if we find better places to go.

One that's a trickier one still is something like a USA-owned coffee shop located in Canada. Havent given them a nickel since this tariff fight and might not ever again. Its unfortunate if long-term that effects available positions for work on this side of the border, but I'll still be buying drinks... it'll just be from somewhere else that will also need to hire folks to make those drinks.
"
It's interesting that you mention the coffee shop. I am very close to someone that works there, and things haven't slowed down one bit there. If people were really serious, a business like that would see a decline, but I guess people in Brandon draw the lone at their morning coffee run.
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Adam

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Adam
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Canadian-owned
Mar 5 at 7:15 AM
Came across this one yesterday with some good info on Canadian-owned brands.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/abbyzinman/canadian-products-are-better
Handful on the list that are relevant to Brandon. Forgot that A & W makes the grade. Its been a while now since we've ordered from Amazon. Going to think twice before hitting the order button on if there's a better option. Princess Auto for example has a lot of own-brand stuff that's actually decent that wasn't always top of mind for me
At the same time not the time to forget locally owned independents in various industries that won't show up on wider lists like this that have a national focus.
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F.R.E.E.D.O.M.
Joined: Sep 2015
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F.R.E.E.D.O.M.
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Canadian Products App - CanMade
Mar 5 at 7:30 AM
Canadian Products App - CanMade

This app lets you scan products and it will tell you where it is made.

Read more about it here: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/2025/02/14/touchscreen-on-pulse-of-buy-canadian-surge

I have down loaded the app, but haven't been shopping yet to try it. I am sure it is a lot faster than reading the packaging.
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Kdat
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 25
Kdat
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 25
shopping Canadian?
Friday at 6:22 AM
Funny about shopping Canadian…you are buying Canadian made products but from a store where all the profits go to Americans…Walmart?! Why not shop where all the profits are Canadian/Local even like Coop? Just doesn’t seem to make sense, otherwise you might as well keep buying American products.
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Adam

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Adam
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Import tariffs
Sunday at 9:45 AM
For anyone that doesn’t have, this is the list of what has import tariffs now in our first wave response. A bit of a tedious browse scrolling through all the pages but the search box is handy. Interested how soon upped prices get noticed on these items…
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/03/list-of-products-from-the-united-states-subject-to-25-per-cent-tariffs-effective-march-4-2025.html
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Oh Canada
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Oh Canada
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tariffs on American dairy 250%
Sunday at 3:49 PM
Suggest people educate yourself on the statement by the Trumps people and Trump himself on US dairy at 250% need to watch these two videos. Canada imports three times more dairy than the USA does to our country. Also look at Canadas system to reduce over production to supply it countries needs vs the usa that over produces. Also the whole industry in the USA relies on illegal immigrants to do the jobs that no American citizen would do. Who will do the work if he deports these people that keep American dairy alive?

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/why-is-trump-going-after-canadian-dairy-hanomansing-tonight/vi-AA1AuokA?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ASTS&cvid=1f5815c77ed4465ef0eec4105bc7434a&ei=18&fbclid=IwY2xjawI63g1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRTeIWT2w5-Vo6-IIwNlasFHOYDMVHGO43Xvf86iM-BkEgQT06iUMaLOIg_aem_MD_WuKKhn0XIuTm4xGZUkQ

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Adam

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Adam
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Dairy
Monday at 12:13 AM
Oh Canada said "Suggest people educate yourself on the statement by the Trumps people and Trump himself on US dairy at 250% need to watch these two videos. Canada imports three times more dairy than the USA does to our country. Also look at Canadas system to reduce over production to supply it countries needs vs the usa that over produces. Also the whole industry in the USA relies on illegal immigrants to do the jobs that no American citizen would do. Who will do the work if he deports these people that keep American dairy alive?

"
I'm concerned with their dairy not meeting our health standards. They've taken what looks like a scary turn when it comes to epidemics, pandemics, science and fact. Don't think one could trust that the product we'd be getting would be safe from say bird flu. Then can get into their top Health Secretary's stance on pasteurization.

The Donald can run around like a bull in a china shop and make changes in his own country, but over these next four years he's going to find out how important trust is in international relations and that you can't always overcome lack of it by shaking your fist. No thanks to USA dairy 1000 times, I expect my gov to fight hard for that position.
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B.MacIntosh
Joined: May 2015
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B.MacIntosh
Joined: May 2015
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CBC link on maple washing
Tuesday at 7:49 AM
My nephew sent me this article this morning. It shows that you really have to do some research yourself. I find it almost impossible to find where some things are from including packaged goods like dried beans and legumes for instance. In that case we might be better off to try to find ways of buying direct from the producer. There must be some farmers in the Brandon area who sell this type of thing. I know Adagio Acres near Lundar sell things direct.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7477488?utm_source=snews&utm_medium=referral
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Abbysmum
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Abbysmum
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Bean & Lentils
Tuesday at 4:25 PM
B.MacIntosh said "My nephew sent me this article this morning. It shows that you really have to do some research yourself. I find it almost impossible to find where some things are from including packaged goods like dried beans and legumes for instance. In that case we might be better off to try to find ways of buying direct from the producer. There must be some farmers in the Brandon area who sell this type of thing. I know Adagio Acres near Lundar sell things direct.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7477488?utm_source=snews&utm_medium=referral "
Pulses generally, I would assume are pretty much always going to be a Product of Canada. We are the largest exporter in the world for these products, producing about 50% of the world supply. Saskatchewan specifically produces the most lentils, about 90% of Canada's supply.

I'm a vegetarian and eat lots of pulses, and I think everything I buy pretty much says product of Canada.

If you eat soy (tofu etc), certain brands are Products of Canada made from Canadian soybeans (I always buy the Sunrise brand for this reason). I find I can't eat the US-made ones, either something in their soybeans (maybe the GMO ones? the Sunrise brand touts itself as using non-GMO beans) or something in their processing makes my body unhappy.
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Buying Canadian groceries, eBrandon discussion (2025)

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