If you live in Canada, you've probably noticed your regular grocery run is making a heftier dent in the ol' bank account. Inflation is driving Canadian food expenses through our snowy, maple syrup covered roofs— and one Canadian woman's unexpected solution recently went viral.
Brandi Dustin (@kade1613) lives in rural British Columbia about 45 minutes away from the nearest grocery store. However, she also happens to live next to the United States border... and can you guess what she does?
The TikTok starts with Brandi saying, "Everybody keeps talking about grocery prices in Canada and I wanted to make a video on that. [...] The closest grocery store [in the US] is 15 minutes. So that is usually where I do most of my grocery shopping. Even with the crappy exchange!"
Part I: Brandi shows what she purchased in the United States for $85.04 USD.
What I'm calling, "Brandi's USA Grocery Haul" includes two packs of hot dog buns for $6, two packs of Tillamook Cheese for $6, Mexican sour cream for $2.79 and fresh salsa for $2.50.
Brandi continues, "Two things of children's pain reliever. I saved a ton on that, that was two for $5 dollars. I think I saved a total of $3.39 on EACH."
"Two large, full fat cottage cheese: two for six dollars today. I believe each one of those tubs are $8.99 in Canada. Hamburger helper was two for $3. Two packs of 10 pack of waffles were $3. Doritos were on sale — we're gonna be doing tacos in a bag and those were two for $7 for the large bag. A large bag of Chex Mix was two for $7 as well."
Onto the produce: "Two big huge things of romaine lettuce were two for $3. Peppers were $2 or $3 today. It was $2.75 for my tomatoes, $1 for both of the limes and $1 if not less, for my jalapeños."
Brandi acknowledges the huge price difference as she goes through the meat she purchased: "I got a pack of pork chops here for $4.76. The meat prices down there [in the US] are insanely cheap. A big thing of ground beef for $6.90 and pork sausage for $3.74."
Part II: After walking us through the last of her purchases including alcohol, Brandi calculates what it would cost to do the same haul at a Canadian grocery store
Again, do NOT question Brandi's research ethics because she ensures the viewers that she adds the closest comparable brand and price for the items in her cart. "This is hard to do with some stuff," she notes but here are some of her swaps:
So, according to her calculations, to go into her local Canadian grocery store and buy all this stuff, she would be paying $146 CAD. "Keep in mind," she says, "I paid $85 USD and it went through [conversion rate] at $117 CAD. That's $117 CAD to $160 CAD. So, it is STILL worth it to go to the US and shop."
Our hero signs off by saying, "Good luck to everybody out there and let me know how you think I did, if you think I'm crazy for going over there or if I did a good job, if I got some good deals — let me know what you think!"
Of the over 2500 comments, there were some people who didn't quite buy it. Look, I get it — Brandi's final hypothesis is a bit of a hard pill to swallow for a lot of Canadians who pride themselves on simply not being American. And now we need them for our own groceries? For a little SNACK?!
Many comments debated the legitimacy of Brandi's claim, wondering if she had factored in the charge of duty at the border or the price of gas.
This person, however, added to Brandi's findings:
![Comment reads: "Factor in the gas you would have spent to go on the 40 minute [drive] versus the 15 minute and that's lower again."](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2023-09/12/21/asset/0ab90dfe1f54/sub-buzz-2321-1694553332-1.jpg)
Considering the MUCH cheaper price of gas in the States, all of a sudden I'm feeling stupid for NOT buying my groceries in the US....
However, a lot of the comments also remind us that only a minority of Canadians have such easy access to the US!
In fact, the comments prove it's not even applicable to all that many Americans either.
Whether you do your groceries at the market down the street from your house or you drive across the US border, there's one thing Brandi got exactly right in her video— "we're all just trying to make it" right now.
