Sunday, May 31, 2009

Shopping Bill

Every now and then I get an inquiry on how much things cost in Iqaluit. Understand, I'm kind of immune to how much things cost here. I rarely even pay attention to the price of things unless it's outrageously expensive. For example, there are bags of gluten free pretzels at North Mart that have been there for a couple of months. That would be due to the fact they cost $14 a bag. I like pretzels, but not that much.

Still, in order to give people a better idea of what you can expect when you hit the store, I figured I'd put up yesterday's grocery bill. This cost just under $200. Let me know which item freaks you out the most.

Quaker Oats - $4.99
Country Harvest 12 grain bread - $4.95
French bread - $5.29
Country Harvest tortillas - $4.99
Tostitos chips - $5.99
Poppyseed bagels (5) - $5.99
Bananas ($4.39/kg) - $4.70
Blueberries - $4.39
Cherries ($19.99/kg) - $14.79
Fresh mushrooms - $3.35
Mixed peppers (1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow) - $8.49
Baby spinach - $3.99
Rhubarb ($12.99/kg) - $6.24
Hot house tomatoes (($7.79/kg) - $4.01
Lactancia creamer - $3.79
Low fat sour cream - $3.99
Kraft shredded cheese - $10.59
McCain superfries - $5.99
Lean Cuisine dinner - $5.49
Lean Cuisine dinner - $5.49
My Compliments pizza - $8.99
Delissio pizza - $13.99
Maple Leaf bacon - $8.99
Butterball turkey (4kg) - $29.99
St. Hubert chicken skewers - $17.99

So there you have it. We didn't buy any chicken breasts or ground beef in this lot, which saved us a bit of money. We normally buy a package of 8 chicken breasts for around $30 and a kg of extra lean ground beef normally goes for around $15.

This is hardly the worst in Nunavut. In fact, these are likely the best prices available in Nunavut, and almost certainly we have the best selection. I've seen people from other parts of the territory walk into North Mart (and this was before they added the massive new wall of coolers) and start to weep at the selection.

Anyway, if you wondered what your grocery bill might look like, there you go.

Last Five
1. Drive my car/The word/What you're doing - The Beatles
2. The pretender - Foo Fighters*
3. Not coming home - Maroon 5
4. Oliver's army - Elvis Costello
5. Kalendar - The Pursuit of Happiness

10 comments:

artie said...

What's the matter with seal blubber? People lived on it for milleniums up there.

Matthew & Michele said...

We've been up here to long. Those prices don't seem bad at all.

LOL

Jaime said...

I know I've been here too long because upon moving to Iqaluit, I wanted to dance through the aisles because everything seemed so cheap.

I've been saving many of my receipts from the last year, just waiting until I get enough time to scan and upload them.

Jaime

Clare said...

I'm not going to post a comment on how much better your prices are, but I know when I was down there I dropped a lot of money in a bit of a buying binge because of selection more than anything (juice with wheat grass, I can't get THAT in Arctic Bay)

But I will say that the thought of paying only $30 for a turkey makes me weep.

Anonymous said...

Apparently I've stopped paying attention, too. I had no idea I've been paying $8.49 for those peppers! Now I know why I don't look!

MK in Iqaluit

Unknown said...

The only item I thought was a bit high was your shredded cheddar, other than that, your prices are in line with what we may here in Labrador. And you are right, we don't even look at prices anymore ... what is the sense ... you have to eat. $30.00 for a turkey is a good deal, we had turkeys here before Xmas that were going for $75.00 - NUTS!

little red hen said...

I guess I should stop complaining about the $1.99 I pay for no-name whole wheat bread here in southern Ontario.

Aida said...

i am pretty immune to the prices up here as well and yeah i am one of those people who wept at North Mart due to the selection and you guys have a pretty decent asian food selection as well.

and yes I am weeping too at $30 for the turkey, that is the price here when its on sale. you know when its about 1 month after Thanksgiving, it goes for about $50 here.

WJM said...

How much is a can o'drink?

towniebastard said...

A can of pop depends on how many your buy. A single can is between $2-$2.50. A case with a dozen in it is normally between $13-16 and a cost of 24 is between $22-26.

Price tend to vary on the time of the year it is. When the sealift boats first start unloading stuff it's cheaper because there's so much of it. And at this time of the year you see the price go down because the stock is getting old and they want to clear it out for the new stuff to come in.

But once the boats stop running for the season, a tin of pop can set you back dearly. I think we ordered 22 case of 24 on our last sealift. We have enough to get us through until we leave for Australia and then a little bit for once we get back, so we have it planned out pretty well.