Canadians & Americans tend to shop in the same stores. However, our everyday shopping habits don’t always match, and quite a few items tend to appear in Canadian carts a lot more than American ones, even though they’re equally available in both countries.
Here are twelve grocery items Canadians buy more often than Americans. Which ones are usually on your list?
Kraft Dinner boxed macaroni and cheese
We Canadians love KD, and apparently more than Americans do. Industry numbers indicate that Canadians buy around 3.2 boxes per person each year, and they eat around 55% more mac and cheese than Americans.
Canadian sales are around 7 million boxes a week. No wonder it’s such a familiar item in the pantry.
Black tea for home brewing
Tea is another thing that we enjoy more than Americans, according to the data. Canadians drink about twice as much tea per capita as Americans, and that means we also buy more boxes of black tea bags & loose tea.
Dry pulses like lentils, beans, and peas
One of the most surprising facts is that Canadians buy a lot more dry pulses than Americans do.
Data shows that Canadians buy around 12kg of dry pulses like lentils each year, while the average American only buys around 4.2kg annually. The figures are similar for chickpeas & split peas.
Regular potato chips of any flavour
Even the way that we snack is different from Americans.
Figures from Euromonitor indicate that Canadians buy around 8.66 pounds of chips every year. However, in America, the figures are only at 6 to 6.6 pounds, so there are likely more family-size packs & multipacks going through Canadian checkouts.
Packaged snack foods and mini meals
That’s not all for snacks. Canadians tend to eat more snacks throughout the day, including things like breakfast bars & quick wraps, and we purchase these more often than Americans do.
It appears that our neighbours to the south usually consume more complete meals than we do over here.
Maple syrup in home kitchens
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Canadians go through maple syrup much more quickly than people in the United States.
Data shows that Americans consume around 5 ounces per person. But Canadians? We consume around 22 ounces & the numbers in Quebec were even higher than that.
Bottled ketchup on fridge doors
The vast majority of Canadian households have a bottle of ketchup in their fridge & around half of us claim it’s our favourite condiment.
Apparently, we love it a lot more than Americans do. Canadian grocery stores tend to sell more ketchup per capita than stores do in the United States.
Yogurt tubs and single-serve cups
Data from the USDA & industry reports found that Canadians consume over twenty pounds of yogurt per person. But the figures for America are much lower.
They only eat around thirteen pounds per person, meaning that shelves & multipacks of the stuff move a lot faster in Canada than they do in the USA.
Doughnuts from grocery bakeries and cafés
It sounds unbelievable, but Canadians eat more doughnuts annually than any other country. Yes, really.
We also have the most doughnut shops per capita in the world, and that’s pretty surprising given how much Americans love their sweet treats. Some studies claim that we eat around one billion doughnuts every year.
Canned and tinned fish
Canadians also love their seafood, and that’s why we eat more canned & tinned fish than Americans do.
Around half of Canadians who buy seafood often buy canned or pickled fish, but the American rate is much lower than that. Americans tend to buy more fish sandwiches. Approximately 90% of all Canadians eat seafood & fish.
Roast and ground coffee for home brewing
As Canadians, we keep our kitchens well-stocked with coffee, even more so than Americans do.
We drink around 2.7 cups per day & consume 6.5 kg of coffee per person each year. However, America only has around 3-4.2 kg per year. That’s quite ironic, given how popular American coffee chains like Starbucks are.
Fresh fruits and salad vegetables
On average, Canadians spend around 21% more on fruits & vegetables than Americans do.
These figures include apples, tomatoes, peppers, bananas & lettuce. We actually consume so much more fruit and vegetables than America that our year-round demand for the stuff is much higher than in America.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.