She buys all her groceries across the U.S. border — and finds big savings

With the average grocery bill rising despite slowing inflation, Canadian shoppers are doing whatever it takes to lower food costs, including, in the case of one B.C. mom, making a run for the U.S. border.

Brandi Dustin lives in Roosville, B.C., which is located just a 15-minute drive to a supermarket in Eureka, Mont. 

Even with the weak Canadian dollar and the gas she spends crossing the border twice a week, Dustin says she saves about $300 a month buying all her food in the United States.

"The dollar is awful. But … I am still saving. I check and see what the sales are in Canada and every time I look I'm like, 'Oh, I know I can save more in the U.S.'"

Dustin says bread, fruit and vegetables are about the same price as in Canada, but milk, cheese, butter and meat are much cheaper.

"We had tons of smoked ribs this summer, which I hadn't had in ages," she said. "Yesterday, I picked up a 3.77 lb pork roast for $3.73 American." That's about $5.12 Cdn. At the nearest grocery store in Canada, pork roasts of equivalent size would cost about $13 Cdn. 

And yes, she can bring a pork roast back across the border, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

In fact, if she really wanted to, Dustin could drive home with 20 kg of chicken wings, 20 kg of apples, 20 kg of cheddar cheese and 20 litres of milk — so long as everything is for personal consumption and is declared at the border. However, Dustin said she's never been asked to pay duty on food.

According to Canadian food economist Mike von Massow there's no "single silver bullet reason" groceries are cheaper in the U.S.

The University of Guelph professor of food, agriculture and resource economics says there are many factors contributing to lower food prices in the U.S., but in his opinion "the big one" is the difference in wages.

"Labour costs are higher here," von Massow said. "People in grocery stores in Canada get paid more than most people in grocery stores in the U.S."

The hourly minimum wage in Canada ranges from $13 to $16.77, whereas in the U.S., the federal minimum wage is $7.25 US per hour and hasn't been raised since 2009. However, 30 states and 48 localities have mandated a higher minimum wage than the federal rate.

Even so, von Massow said overall lower wages in the U.S. bring costs down for supermarkets and many other levers of the food supply chain, such as farming, processing, manufacturing and transportation.

Another reason some food items are cheaper in the U.S. is because the American grocery store industry serves a population nine times bigger than Canada's.