I thought I’d share some of the differences I see between Canadian grocery stores and British supermarkets. A few years ago, my uncle & my cousin came from the UK to Canada for a visit, and I took them to Longos. (To be clear, I also took them to Niagara Falls, the Gretzky Winery, the CN Tower, and Niagara On The Lake.)
I was surprised by how impressed my cousin was with the produce department – she liked how little packaging we used in Canada, which confused me to no end, as I think our major grocers use an appalling amount of plastic. Until I arrived here. OMG – everything is wrapped in plastic! I don’t just mean little boxes of berries, or English cucumbers; it’s also things like bell peppers, celery stalks, turnips, you name it.
I do try to shop at some of the local grocers instead, as they seem to use much less packaging (although the cynic in me wonders if their produce arrives in the same pre-portioned plastic bags and they just removed them before displaying), but sometimes Tesco is my only choice.
This was my most recent purchase – how annoying. That is a single bulb of garlic. And yes, I do realise that by buying this garlic, I am rewarding their bad behaviour. But I needed garlic, and Wm. Shearer’s was all out.