Shopping with Care

I'm the first to admit that I'm pretty fortunate. Both DW and I have good jobs and a roof over our heads, with not one but two vehicles, even though we're now both working from home.

(We've all but given our CR-V to Kid 1.)

When we go shopping, I'm notorious for not looking at the price tag in the grocery stores. If I saw something that I wanted, I simply put it in the cart. We're not rich by any stretch of the imagination but we're comfortable enough that we can afford most things that we want.

But lately, I've been paying attention when I go to the stores. Not by looking at the price sticker, particularly, but looking at where the item is from.

I wrote about this, last week, and how I've started using an app that helps me determine if something is a product of Canada, made in Canada, or not from Canada. But I was using that app at stores where I already shopped, and it helped me determine whether I put the item in my cart or back on the shelf.

Last weekend, DW and I were doing our weekly grocery run, and I had noted that we were getting low on bar soap and that I was getting to the end of my tube of toothpaste (yes, we have our own preferences in toothpaste so have our own tubes). But when we went to pick up our usual brand, we discovered that it was made in the U.S.. Same with our second preference.

Apparently, Irish Spring soap is made in Canada but I prefer unscented soaps, or at least soaps with a mild scent. And because both Crest and Colgate are American companies, we needed to find alternatives to our toothpaste.

We also discovered that the cat food that we usually buy is a product of the U.S.A. so it's also now off our list.

Luckily, there are stores near the Barrhaven Costco that offer a solution to our shopping dilemma.

Natural Food Pantry has at least five locations throughout the Ottawa area and offers lots of Canadian products, including soaps and toothpaste. We bought a bar of olive-oil soap as well as a pumice soap from Woodbridge (Ontario) company The Soap Works. These soaps also come without packaging, though there are tiny, brown-paper bags that they supply for you to carry their soaps home.

For toothpaste, we found Green Beaver, from Hawkesbury, about 90 minutes east of Ottawa. They make all sorts of personal-care products from natural ingredients. I grew up on Crest so this will be something new for me. DW chose a mint toothpaste but I decided to go for something completely different and picked the Zesty Orange.

I still have a few days' worth of my current tube of paste so I'll start the Green Beaver one later this week.

Natural Food Pantry has lots of other Canadian products, from food, beverages, and more. We also needed cocoa powder, and found the Camino brand on their shelves. It's organic and fair-trade, and we already love their chocolate.

Sure, these products cost a bit more, but as I said, I'm fortunate to not have to look at stickers very closely. And, with all of the American services and subscriptions that we've recently cancelled, we're still ahead of the game.

For cat food, we're lucky that there's a pet store next door to Natural Food Pantry. Ren's Pets is a Canadian company that has many Canadian-made items for your pets. We found Go! Solutions cat food, which is available in lots of flavours and formulae for any type or age of cat.

Now, here, DW and I did pay attention to the price. It's about double the cost of the generic food that we were buying at Costco but the ingredients are better and more specific to our cats' needs. At least there was a 10-percent discount on the bag and, because we signed up for Ren's rewards program, we'll save $10 on our next bag.

Most importantly, though, we're supporting a Canadian business, which is something that I feel is worth the extra cost.

And, judging by how Cece started chewing through the bag after we got it home, and the other two cats started sniffing and rubbing up against the bag, we think they'll like the grain-free salmon food.

Ren's also has a Canadian-made kitty litter, by Odourlock, which DW researched and found highly rated. And while we've been buying Canadian cat litter at Costco for years, it's the dustiest litter we've ever used, even though it boasts being 'dust-free.'

Odourlock is also supposed to be dust-free so we'll pick some up as soon as our current supply runs out.

Shopping Canadian hasn't been the challenge we thought it would be, and we've found the experience to be quite liberating. It takes a little care but as soon as we find the products that we need, it's easy enough.

Where do you shop Canadian?