The person who assembled our newspaper left something out.   Since I always check the FOOD BASICS site and the PRICE CHOPPER site — you might as well grab the deals if you’re going to be in the respective communities fortunate enough to have those stores — I figured I might as well check the NO FRILLS site for our missing item.

Big mistake.

Once I finally convinced the website that I wanted to see the grocery flyer in its standard format, I had to tell it which province I was in.   Then I had to tell it what city.    There’s only one NO FRILLS in Cobourg, yet still the damn thing demanded that I qualify that it was “Davids NF” that I wanted.   Home free?   Not quite.   It then and only then produced the “submit” button that got me to what has never been my favourite online grocery advertising.

Six clicks.

As opposed to one click for FOODLAND, also in Cobourg.   But mind you, at ten pages, their flyer keeps you clicking in other ways.    I always thought that their flyer, along with the one for IGA were the biggest environmental disasters.   How many trees give their lives each week so that we can know who has the best deal on Pepperettes or Pampers or papayas?

But now that I’m an online reader — and always was since FOODLAND refuses to include their flyer in distribution to Cobourg businesses OR Port Hope residences; striking me out both ways — I still see the ten pages as a waste.

But at least they don’t get me angry like NO FRILLS does.

So the Gardens are finally coming back.

What the Gardens will look like in 2011

It’s really exciting actually. There will be a gigantic Loblaws, and then the rink, which will be used a sports facility by Ryerson, will be raised, but will still fall under the old Maple Leaf Gardens ceiling.

Where did the money come from, you ask? Well $20 million came from Loblaws, which is more than manageable for the Westons. Another $20 million came from Ryerson students, who had voted to up their student fees to support a new athletic centre. And the last $20 million?

Thanks Ottawa!

It’s great to actually see the government doing something to support cultural capital.

Every once in a while, at job interviews, I’m asked what I think is my biggest flaw. I always say, “impatience.”  There are other contenders, of course, but nothing I’d care to discuss with a prospective employer.

Now, for me personally, I don’t think my impatience is a problem because I mostly feel justified in not wanting to spend a significant percentage of my time waiting. However, I do realize that waiting is part of life; that the world can’t adhere to my schedule (or any other schedule as far as I can tell); and that my impatience can impact others; so in that sense, I do see it as a problem.

For instance, I don’t like standing in lines. No one really does,  but many people just do it because they figure that’s just the way things are. Me, I’d rather leave and not purchase whatever I came in to purchase, than stand in a line for more than a few minutes. I think since  a place of business encourages lots of customers and makes their profits from those customers, it ought to ensure that those customers spend the maximum amount of money in the shortest possible time.

Instead they have one cashier on every day during the lunch rush (I’m looking at you Shopper’s Drug Mart, Hogsback). The line is 15+ people long and when I ask why there aren’t more cashiers on, they tell me (like I’m dense) “D’uh, it’s lunch time – they’re at lunch.”

Oh! Shall I come back when it’s more convenient for you?

Or the other day, we had a completely unnecessary appointment with one of XUP Jr.’s medical specialists. It was just to brief us on the completely unnecessary test they made her do a couple of month ago, the results of which are completely irrelevant. So they made the appointment  – for 11:30.

Fine. We show up 10 minutes early. (Because I always strive to be early for appointments out of respect for the busy people with whom I have an appointment.) XUP Jr. is missing school for this and I’m losing a half day of work.

By 11:45 I’m getting twitchy. By 12:00 I’m getting irritated. By 12:15 I march up to the counter and ask (as nicely as I possibly can) how much longer it’s going to be.

“Ma’am,” she says without even looking at me. “You’ll have to take a seat and wait your turn.”

“My turn,” I point out (not so nicely anymore), “was 45 minutes ago. YOU made the appointment.”

She gives me an evil glare and orders me to go back to the waiting area. I sense some sort of threat implicit in her demeanor.

XUP Jr. says, “Let’s just go. I have to be back at school for 1:00.”  I tell her, very patiently, to hang on a few more minutes. 12:30 comes and goes.  At 12:45,  I go back to the counter. Someone new is there. I ask them if they can give me any idea how much longer because we have to go.  The new guy just shrugs and says I have to wait until the specialist is ready to see us.

At 12:55 we leave.

I deeply resent when people waste my time like this. And without any explanation or apology.  Deeply. When I make an appointment at my doctors’s and they squeeze me in, I expect a good long wait. Not when a specialist makes the appointment to see us.

And there’s no way I’ll wait more than 10 minutes without a good explanation at the dentist’s or hairstylists or anywhere else where I’m paying for a certain time slot. Get organized, ya’ll!

I hate – HATE – going to spend my money somewhere and then being made to feel like I’m imposing on them and that I’d better behave and adhere to the designated herding area if they’re going to let me buy something from their one surly cashier because they don’t want to blow their profits on actually hiring staff to help customers.

I don’t like going to meetings or training sessions on time only to have to sit there for 15 minutes twiddling my thumbs waiting for the stragglers to show up before they’ll start the meeting. A couple of weeks ago I went to a training thing where I was the only one on time. Half the people never showed up at all. The rest showed up 10-20 minutes late — and we waited those 20 minutes to begin. And then, one guy showed up 45 minutes late and the instructor actually started all over again for his benefit.

I had to leave the room.

In some ways, impatience serves me well (as I tell the job interviewers). It makes me the opposite of whatever a procrastinator is. (A concrastinator?) If there’s something that needs to be done, I get it done as quickly and efficiently as I possibly can. If other people are involved, I hound them mercilessly until they surrender their part of the project. On weekends or holidays I always have to get all the chores done and out of the way before I can relax.

Oh ya, I’m a barrel of laughs.

So, apparently, he tried Lays Baked chips at Subway on his way down here this weekend, so it became his goal to find a bag of them in human size and eat them up.

Our attempts at getting a bag were foiled at Shopper’s Drug Mart and at Wal-Mart, but Loblaws had not one, but THREE different kinds of these chips. Not to mention the rest of the aisle, which was crowded with fancy flavours like southwestern ranch, babyback ribs, wasabi and others.

While analyzing the various chip options with excitement in his face, he pauses and says in his typical “smart” voice:

“WOW! The chip industry has expanded so much!!”

I don’t know why, but I found this really funny.

Side note: He also decided to open up a Snuggle church. And, while talking about people who go into a coma and lose weight (yes, we find many interesting topics of conversation), he makes the following random statement: “It’s wrong to sexually abuse children who are in a coma”. I had to giggle, and clarify that it’s wrong to sexually abuse children, period.

The end.

My wife tried to get two keys cut this week at a local hardware store.   The first one went well, but for some reason, the sales clerk put the second key in the cutter upsidedown.   Fortunately, we were less than a mile away when we noticed.

Life in Northumberland.    There’s nothing like it.

The Canadian Loblaw grocery group operates stores under at least ten banners that I am aware of, and many of their larger ones include a photo finishing kiosk.

Today we went to the one in our area — Your Independent Grocer or “The Yig” as locals call it, to pick up a small order of personal photos.

I paid cash, which is unusual for me; and when I got home, I discovered I was holding pictures that in fact were our pictures, but they were an order the company had lost back in mid-July and subsequently reprinted.

We phoned to (a) report the error and (b) ensure that our correct order was indeed still there.    We said we would drive back to pick up the right pictures and get a $3.11 refund on the wrong ones since the current order is smaller.

No can do.

There are over 40 people working on the afternoon shift at that grocery store, but the manager on duty, who is fully responsible for those 40 staff members and an appropriately large facility does not have the authority to issue to issue a $3 refund.

The refund and the pickup of our correct pictures now has to wait until Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday in Canada.

The envelope clearly indicates that the pictures were ordered in July and the cash receipt clearly indicates that it’s that order that I just paid for.

But they can’t refund $3.

And they want my continued grocery business.

Okay, they can have it.   If they promise to get out of the photography business.

We’ve graduated from a wordpress.com hosted site to our very own.

Click here to be redirected.

Yes, Mats Sundin officially retired today. As most are saying, about a year overdue, but as the rest of Leaf world reflects on his past, I wanted to take a look at the place where his career as a leaf started, Maple Leaf Gardens.

I attended my first NHL hockey game at the Gardens (Leafs vs. Blackhawks) when I was about 8 years old. I got autographs from my favorite players at that very same game in a side corridor where most of the players came to the rink through (Clark, Leeman, and a few others that I can’t recall). I remember going to the last game between the Leafs and Canadiens that was ever played at MLG too. Rocket Richard dropped the puck. Mats was on a line with Steve Thomas, Cujo was on his game, and no disrespect to Burkie’s Dog House, but the dogs were second to none. I was at an age where I was very embarrassed when my dad sang the anthem out loud but back then it seemed like there was still an air of respect and history in attending a leaf game. It was old school.

Inspired by an article that my sister sent me today from the Toronto Star showcasing some old pictures of Maple Leaf Gardens, I did some digging. Here is a limited MOLSTAR communications video called “The Passion Returns” featuring the 92-93 Leafs. Very epic. Even has credits at the beginning, “Starring: Cliff Fletcher, Pat Burns, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark (the beard of a god), Felix Potvin, and the ‘rest of the Leafs’”. As well, I found some pics from the past, present and future.

Great shots of MLG at the start and end of this clip

Built in 1931 – Notice the lack of downtown…..

Andre the Giant at MLG

Wendel Clark killing people (Notice Marty McSorely getting beaten as an Oiler. Wendel went on to beat Marty mercilessly on every team that Marty ever played for. Marty had nowhere to run.)

After the last game was played but before they ripped out the seats

Present

MLG Escalator

Harrold Ballard's Box

Lights that used to illuminate the rink

More from the Toronto Star

The Future – Loblaws planning to build a facility with Ryerson University that is part sports complex and part grocery store….classy.

We have been in TO for 8 months now. Already! And over the course of these past months, we’ve noticed some things that are different. Some better, some worse, some just different. Here’s a list.

Gas: Haven’t posted this in a while but for the first time in months, gas hit 90 cents today. Someone tell me what it is in Montreal?

Winter: Omg, winter is mild over here. Ya, there’s snow but nowhere near what we were tortured with in Montreal… Not as cold, nowhere near as icy, there were some storms and it was funny to hear everyone complain about the weather, but all in all, these winters I can live with.

Movie theaters: Guzzo has more comfy seats, but there’s so much more legroom here.

Loblaws: In Montreal they sell wine at the grocery store, here they have a small kiosk but for the good stuff you have to go to the liquor store called LCBO. Here they have a lot more Indian / East Asian products. Everything else is pretty much the same. Oh – and they’re open til 11pm here, which is cool.

Driving: I’ve said this before – TO has the most courteous drivers I’ve ever seen. Still getting used to it. All those years of drving in Mtl trained us to be like army drill sargeants in ‘Nam on the road. Much less stressful now… And I’ll say it again – people actually do full stops here. Fascinating.

Turn right on red. No contest.

Roads: No bumps, potholes are all but nonexistent, smooth rides are the norm. I definitely don’t miss the Mtl roads…more like off-roads…

Traffic: I’ll take Decarie any day of the week! Traffic here is ridiculous. What would normally be a 20-30 minute drive downtown turns into a 2 hour road trip to work. I’ve never done it, but have seen it from the train. Utterly ridiculous.

Customer service: People are really nice here. Not used to that yet either. It’s very pleasant to interact with people. They smile, they’re helpful, they don’t give you “the look” like they’re doing you a favour. It’s refreshing. I might become a people-person yet! Who knew?!

Restos: Well, the only restos we’ve been to have counterparts in Montreal so I can’t judge fairly… the food has been the same (Keg, Jack Astors, etc.) so far. They have a lot more Indian / East Asian restaurants simply due to the population.

Drive-thru: They have drive thrus everywhere… Coffee, fast food, banks, it’s crazy. You’d think they’d want to get out of their cars after the long commutes…guess not.

Sports: Montrealers are true fans. There’s nothing like the buzz in the air when the Habs are winning.

That’s all folks!

Deep thought of the day:
Intelligent doesn’t have to mean educated. And Creative doesn’t have to mean talented.

I love grocery shopping. Maybe it’s the foraging for new and interesting things to cook and eat that I find appealing. Or maybe it’s that I can spend 150 bucks and feel really good about it. Probably both.

I don’t usually make a list, because if I’m only looking for things on my list, I might miss something new and interesting. A list is good if you’re in a hurry, but I like to take my time. I’ve starting going grocery shopping early Sunday mornings because I have lots of time then and also because there’s almost no one else in the store then.

A lot of people hate grocery shopping.

There’s a great business opportunity for those of us who like it. There are already grocery shopping services, but the market is wide open —  from the basic service where the customer goes online and makes their grocery list and the service just picks the stuff up and delivers; to the full-service service where they create weekly meal plans, do the grocery shopping, do all the preparatory work for the meals, (chopping veggies, dicing meats, peeling spuds, etc.) and then drop everything off in handy little boxes with instructions on how to prepare the dishes.

Anyway, I can’t say I blame people for not wanting to do their own grocery shopping. The stores certainly go out of their way to make the experience as unpleasant as possible.

But I like grocery shopping so much that I can overlook the snarky teenaged cashiers because I reckon they’d rather be anywhere than at work at 7:00 am on a Sunday. And I can deal with the grocery aisles being interrupted by half a dozen aisles of housewares, furniture, electronics and clothing. Because sometimes when you’ve just stocked up on those bags of coffee they had on sale and you realize you don’t have a cappuccino maker, it’s handy that you can pick one up right there in your grocery store. Or maybe you want to get the extra Airmiles for buying 20 bags of dog food and you don’t yet have a dog. Or you’ve been thinking about getting a new sofa anyway and there’s still room in your cart.[1]

And I can deal with people blocking the aisles while they chat about the verities of life. And while I do get irritated standing in a 20-person queue when there are only 2 cash registers open, I get around that now by shopping at odd hours. And I can even happily deal with them charging 5 cents for grocery bags.[2]

What I absolutely cannot deal with, however, is when grocery stores renege on the one small, simple thing I ask of them and that is that they actually stock GROCERIES.

Oh, I know they’re too busy trying to be all things to all people and I don’t expect much.[3] But when I’ve planned on making lasagna for lunch and they have no lasagna pasta, I get really pissed off. Of course asking one of the young, gangly stockboys gets you either the dismissive, “If it’s not on the shelf we don’t have any.” Or, he might actually walk over to the empty shelf, look at it and then say, “Naw, I don’t think we have any.”

If you ask a manager, he will offer to call another store “because they might have some”. I want to tell him, “No thank you. I’m quite sure there are other grocery stores all over the place that have something as basic as lasagna pasta, but I’ve actually been foolish enough to choose this grocery store to shop in today. I will endeavor not to make the same mistake in the future.”

I can never manage anything quite that concise, though, so I usually just mumble something about how convenient that would be and change my lunch menu.

Seriously, on any given grocery shopping excursion I end up leaving without at least 30% of the stuff I need because the items are “out-of-stock” or “back-ordered” or whatever. It’s a freakin’ GROCERY store, why the hell can’t they plan ahead well enough to keep GROCERIES on their shelves?  Have I ever walked into Chapters and been told they’re all out of non-fiction today?

I think not.

[1] And that’s not even impossible given the size of the grocery carts in some stores. You need a boom and hoist to get down there to retrieve your groceries sometimes.

 [2] Even though I’m not at all convinced that stores are doing this for the benefit of mother earth, I’ve been bringing my own bags for a long time anyway. Although I have read that the cotton bags are actually more environmentally unfriendly than the plastic bags because they’re made overseas, which means cotton has to be shipped over, the bags have to be shipped back and then they’re not recyclable in this country whereas the plastic bags are made here and recycled here.

[3] Yes, I have some unusual grocery needs, but I’m happy to go to natural food stores or other specialty shops for things like that. I only go to grocery stores for staples anyway.

What I will be starting on this blog is a feature I will call ‘Brand Wars’.
This is the first entry of this new series.

I’m a huge fan of soft goat’s cheese. I use it in many recipes, and have become an expert of sorts when it comes to  adding goat’s cheese to nearly any meal.

Today’s brand war focuses on soft Goat Cheese logs

The brands being compared in the category are Costco’s Woolwich Dairy logs versus President’s Choice’s logs.

President’s Choice
The President’s PC Soft Unripened Goat’s Milk cheese logs are available in two sizes, a small 140g for $4.99, or a large 300g, for between $6.99 and $8.99 depending on the store, and the sales price. The larger one is definitely the better buy. The PC goat’s cheese tastes exactly how goat’s cheese should. A smooth creamy texture with a light, tangy taste with a smooth finish, and slices easily while maintaining its shape when heated or browned in an oven/broiler.

Woolwich Dairy
The Woolwich Dairy goat’s cheese log from Costco is huge. It’s nearly double the size of PC’s 300g version. The cost of the Woolwich Dairy is around $8.00, although I do not know the exact price. The Woolwich Dairy goat’s cheese has all the right texture goat’s cheese should have. My drawback of this cheese is that it is much too salty. You get a great deal more for your money with this cheese at Costco, but, the flavour is not worth it. Goat’s cheese is supposed to have a tangy feel to it, but not overly salty. The Woolwich Dairy goat’s cheese is very salty and due to this, they lose in this brand war.

After trying numerous other brands of goat’s cheese, I always buy President’s Choice, unless I’m in the wrong grocery store and am desperate

If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.

——Lane Kirkland

On this day, Labor Day, I am showing a a painting from the great American folk primitive  painter Ralph Fasanella, depicting the famed Bread and Roses strike that took place at the textile plants in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912.  I thought it fitting that something be shown that is closer to the spirit of this holiday which has faded from the public’s knowledge in recent years.

I was a union member in my first job at a Loblaw’s grocery store when I was sixteen years old and a few years later I was a Teamster at the A&P factory where I was employed for several years.  I was the union steward in my department for the last few years, a position that I took because nobody else wanted the hassle of it and meant that I was protected from being laid off so long as my department was operating.  The hassle came from the fact that there was always an argument to be had, either with company supervisors who tried to twist the rules to their advantage or with co-workers who felt the union didn’t go far enough.  It was a very educational experience.

The image of labor unions over the years has crumbled, perceived now as corrupt and self-serving.  Probably a well deserved image.  But the failings of these unions are the failings of men, the same failings that the company owners possessed that the early unions organized against.  Greed and a lack of empathy for their workers.  It doesn’t take much research to discover that the work conditions of the last 130 or 140 years were deplorable.  Long hours.  Low pay.  Incredibly unsafe conditions.  Dismissal for any reason.  No rights whatsoever.

Today, many view industry as this amiable, father-like figure but don’t realize how much blood was spilled by early union organizers and members to obtain the things we now take for granted as our rights.  Industry did not willingly give up anything to the worker without being forced.  I can imagine what our world would look like without the efforts of our unions.  This very holiday would not exist to have it’s roots forgotten.  The idea of vacations would only exist for the company owners.  The pay scale would be similar to those places on the Earth where many of our jobs have migrated, places that allow the avarice of the companies to override the rights and safety of the workers.  Places where sweatshops still operate, as they once did here.  Places where unschooled children toil in dirty, dank conditions, as they once did here.  Places where the health and safety of the workers is secondary to the profit they provide, as it once was here.

You may despise the unions now for their corruption but make no mistake about it- without them our country would look much different.  And not in a good way…

I will be posting more on Ralph Fasanella in a later post but for more info, check out this book from my friend Paul D’Ambrosio, who is perhaps the foremost authority on Fasanella and his work, Ralph Fasanella’s America.

What do baby carrots, chlorine, carcinogens and cancer all have in common? According to this chain email, chlorine is used as a preservative on baby carrots to preserve them; Chlorine is a known carcinogen; and carcinogens cause cancer.

This is unconfirmed. And a quick search (which I am too lazy to do now) on google could give some indication as to whether it is true or not.

And if you don’t know “IGA, METRO and LOBLAWS” are grocery chains.

The following is information from a farmer who grows and packages carrots for IGA, METRO, LOBLAWS, etc

The small cocktail (baby) carrots you buy in small plastic bags are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots – most people probably know this already.

What you may not know and should know is the following:

Once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them. (this is the same chlorine used in your pool).

Since they do not have their skin or natural protective covering, they give them a higher dose of chlorine.

You will notice that once you keep these carrots in your refrigerator for a few days, a white covering will form on the carrots. This is the chlorine which resurfaces. At what cost do we put our health at risk to have esthetically pleasing vegetables?

Chlorine is a very well-known carcinogen, which causes Cancer.. I thought this was worth passing on. Pass it on to as many people as possible in hopes of informing them where these carrots come from and how they are processed.

I used to buy those baby carrots for vegetable dips.

I know that I will never buy them again!!!!

The Grapevine has been running profiles on the new councillors. The latest [July 30-Aug. 12 issue] was on Carl Oldham, manager of Save Easy. He had interesting things to say [not that the others didn't too but we can't get to everything!]

One thing he mentioned was “poor journalism” something we can’t abide either. His comment was in relation to a CBC [beloved by many?] story comparing food costs around Canada where Wolfville [always targeted it seems] was mentioned unfavorably putting Carl’s store in a bad light. We had a post on this a while back, as our regular readers may recall, where we mentioned things missing from the story. As Carl points out, the price of milk and most other products are set by Loblaws and are the same at all Save Easy locations, so those unhappy with the situation should petition Loblaws – which has a lot of explaining to do we think.

The other sensible thing Carl was reported to have said in the article – and he generally makes a lot of sense – was this:

As far as working with council goes, he thinks that actions speak louder than words. ‘Don’t make it too complicated’ he says of town planning. ‘As politicians we spend too much time word smithing’.

Right on Carl! And if the council took this attitude to heart and got the things that count done we would feel secure that our taxes were not going to waste. As it is there are lots of fine words but poor follow through.

If Carl was wrong about anything it was his comment about assessments. He points out that assessments are set by the province, not the town,  implying by this that high taxes were to be blamed on high assessments. This is wrong in two ways. 1) In the past at least the town has meddled with assessments by appealing them, even admitting it at one town meeting. AND 2) assessments shouldn’t affect, in any case, the amount of money required to run the town. We repeat – ad nauseum we suppose- that assessments are only a means of distributing the tax burden [often unfairly - think about deed transfer tax, the increase in commercial rate replacing supposedly the BoT which hasn't come off yet] among residents. No matter what the assessments are – high or low – the council has the power to get its revenue by way of adjusting the rate so don’t blame THAT part on assessments.

At the end of the article Carl points out that council is looking for feedback on the Draft Strategic Plan [all that wordsmithing!] – the deadline for written submissions is Monday Aug. 31st.

Have to commend the Grapevine for this Who’s Who series. Nice to see some town issues being explored.

Tranquillement mais sûrement la chaîne torontoise d’alimentation Loblaw, remplace au Québec ses bannières Loblaws par Maxi.

Signe qu’il y a peut-être trop de bannières d’épicerie au Québec.

After I saw this spiffy new barbecue at Superstore, I began to harbour secret longings that my current barbecues (one at the lake and one at home) would die a quick death. Oh how I want one of these  PC Eco Gas Grills!

It has 42,000 BTUs, plenty for doing pretty much an job on the ‘cue. But what I love is the stylish green powder coated steel frame. There’s a reason why it’s green. This barbecue uses 30 per cent less fuel for the same BTU output as other models. That means you are less likely to run out of propane when you have 18 hungry people over for a barbecue (never happened to you, right?)

I have a feeling these are going to sell out fast so get yours soon.

$479.99 at Superstore and Loblaws

I have a teeny, tiny garden out the back door of our house. It’s reserved for tomatoes and herbs. This year, however, I’m a little worried that our very late spring here on the Prairies is going to put a damper on my herb harvest. No worries though. I have a back-up plan.

That plan is something called PC Edible Gardens. These 12 inch designer pots are pre-planted with a selection of herbs that are ready to harvest right now and will keep your barbecue meals tasty until the snow flies (wow, do I hate to use the word snow at this tome of the year!)

Available in three combinations: Barbecue Favourites, Culinary Classics and Presto Pesto. Get ‘em while they grow!

$24.99 at Superstore and Loblaws

When I was grocery shopping recently, this sign outside the Iroquois Foodland caught my eye. It is encouraging to see grocery stores promoting bring-your-own bags. When Loblaws first came out with bins a few years ago, I bought a few and found them quite handy. The trick is to remember to take them into the store with you. I’ve made many trips back to my car to get the bags or bins I forgot there.

It’s amazing how ingrained the use of plastic bags has become. Yet plastic bags are such an easy item to do without. When I first started using bins, I would occasionally take them into Walmart or other stores if I was planning on picking up items such as cans of cat food, for which bins are convenient. Cashiers really had trouble with this concept. Many wanted to put items into plastic bags and then put the plastic bags into the bin! You don’t want bags? Are you sure? With many stores promoting reusable bags, I don’t hear that any more.

Thank you for contacting us concerning a list of gluten-free PC Products. It was kind of you to take the time to email.

At this time, we do not have such a list.  As our products are made by several different manufacturers, a list would be difficult to compile as it could be susceptible to frequent change.  The health of our consumers is of the utmost importance to us and we want to ensure they are receiving the most up-to-date information for the correct product by the correct maker.

If they have a specific product they would like us to check, they simply need to call us at 1-888-495-5111 with the UPC code (barcode number) and we would be happy to confirm the ingredient information.  We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you will contact us in the future with any other questions or comments.

Regards,

Mélanie Couture

Sr. Customer Relations Representative

Loblaw Companies Ltd.