Food Inflation
A few days ago Dollarama increased prices on some of its items. The mini Toblerone chocolate bars I often buy went from $0.82 + tax ($0.95 total) to $1.00 + tax ($1.15 total). Most other chocolate bars jumped from $0.82 to $0.87. The mini bags of chips jumped from $0.50 + tax ($0.55 total) to $0.63 + tax ($0.70) .
These are tiny increases, but for some reason they sting a lot. This is probably because junk food has been my methodone, especially during this pandemic, and double-especially during the winter months. I have little motivation to go outside these days, so taking a short walk to Dollarama was some incentive to move my body. That means I was buying junk food several times a week, which means I notice these particular price increases more acutely. I will be reminded of them every time I buy junk food now.
I am not defending my bad junk-food habits. I know that going to the store more frequently increases my COVID exposure. I know that it hastens my diabetes diagnosis. I know that chocolate is deeply unethical. I know that I am already obese and that junk food doesn't help. But I am an eater, and this is what I was using to cope.
I also admit that these price increases are not the ones I should be freaking out over. The killer inflation is in rent, of course, but I am not feeling that one yet. I am feeling the price increases in other food goods. Potatoes that used to cost $2.50 a bag now cost $4.00. Bags of beans have jumped in price from a minimum of $1 up to $4 for 2kg of product. The price of other vegetables at the Farmer's Market has also jumped, although I learned the hard way that prices at grocery stores have jumped even more. Already I have resigned myself to spending $10 more per week on groceries, and now even that will be insufficient.
Meanwhile I am unemployed, and even when I have been employed my pay has been relatively stable for the past twenty years. I made a bit more money in 2020 and 2021, but it feels that any spending power I gained from that additional money has been eaten away. Furthermore life is getting expensive in other ways. Unless I can get (and keep!) some kind of employment that will pay my bills, I can expect my savings to evaporate much more quickly than it took to accumulate them.
Update: Union Burger used to sell ice cream cones for $1.05 with tax. Today I saw they bumped up the price to $2. That is a real blow.