These are the tax-free groceries you probably didn't realize you can get in Canada

Fruits and vegetables

Fresh, frozen, canned and vacuum-sealed fruits and vegetables are tax-free in Canada.

Mixed, cut vegetables that are packaged and promoted as a "stir-fry" or "chop suey mix" and mixed vegetable sprouts are also zero-rated.

Meat and fish

Fresh meat, poultry and fish are considered "basic groceries" and exempt from GST and HST in Canada.

Dairy

Most milk products are tax-free at grocery stores in Canada.

Unflavoured milk (which includes whole, skimmed and partly skimmed milk) is zero-rated when sold in single servings, multiples of single servings or containers with a quantity exceeding a single serving.

Flavoured milk is tax-exempt when sold in pre-packaged multiples of single servings or containers exceeding a single serving.

A beverage of less than 600 millilitres is generally considered to be a single serving by the federal government.

Eggs

You don't pay GST or HST when you buy eggs at grocery stores in Canada.

Bread

Bread products without a sweetened filling or coating are tax-free.

That includes bagels, English muffins, scones, tea biscuits, croissants and bread rolls.

Tortilla, taco shells and soft pretzels are also zero-rated bread items, which means you don't pay GST or HST on those products.

Dough

Doughs of all kinds, including puff pastry and cookie doughs, are tax-free.

Also, pie shells, vol-au-vent, and phyllo leaves are considered "basic groceries" and are exempt from tax.

Crackers

All crackers except for graham crackers are tax-free. That includes:

• soda crackers
• salted crackers
• table water crackers
• cream crackers
• rice crackers
• crispbread
• snacking crackers (including vegetable, bacon or cheese flavoured crackers)
• wheat thins
• toasts
• bread sticks
• rusks
• unsweetened rice cakes

Savoury pies

Savoury and meat pies are tax-free, which means you don't pay GST or HST when you buy them at grocery stores in Canada.

Salad

A package that contains the ingredients for a salad is tax-free only when those ingredients aren't mixed.

For example, if a package contains lettuce, croutons and dressing in separate containers that you have to mix yourself, then it's a basic grocery and zero-rated.

All salads that come in cans or in containers that are vacuum sealed are tax-free as well.

Frozen pizza

Frozen pizza requires a significant amount of additional preparation before it can be eaten, and it's not likely to be cooked or served on the provided cardboard trays.

So, frozen pizzas are not considered "prepared food" and are tax-free.

Frozen sandwiches

Frozen sandwiches are tax-free because you have to do additional preparation before they can be eaten.

Coffee beans

Coffee beans are considered "basic groceries," which means you don't pay GST or HST.

Breakfast cereal

All breakfast cereals are zero-rated as basic groceries.

Cereal and muffin bars

Cereal bars and muffin bars usually have ingredients that are similar to granola bars (like a mixture of cereals and honey or syrup).

But the ingredients in cereal bars and muffin bars are processed to a greater extent.

The bars can have a muffin-like texture or a fruit filling in a baked crust. Bars made from commercial cereals and other ingredients, such as fruit, are also included.

These cereal bars and muffin bars are only tax-free when you buy boxes containing six or more bars.

Baking ingredients

These baking ingredients are zero-rated and therefore tax-free:

• bulk industrial chocolate
• chocolate chips
• baker's chocolate
• liquid chocolate icing
• edible cake decorations packaged and sold as cake decorations
• fondue chocolate
• chocolate spread
• Angelica and cocktail cherries

Condiments

Condiments like ketchup, mustard and relish are zero-rated grocery items.

Nuts and seeds

Unsalted nuts or unsalted seeds are zero-rated except when they're a snack mixture like trail mix.

Mixtures of nuts are tax-free when they're in their natural state, which means they're not seasoned, roasted or shelled.

Popcorn

Unpopped popcorn kernels, including microwave popcorn kernels, are tax-free whether salted or not.

That's because the kernels are not considered to be popcorn before popping.

Fruit juice

Fruit juices and fruit-flavoured beverages with 25% or more by volume of a natural fruit juice are tax-free when sold in pre-packaged multiples of single servings and a container with a quantity exceeding a single serving.

That doesn't include milk-based fruit beverages.

Also, frozen fruit juice beverage concentrates are zero-rated if the percentage of natural fruit juice in the concentrate is 25% or more by volume.

Iced tea

Iced tea beverages sold in pre-packaged multiples of single servings or containers with a quantity exceeding a single serving are zero-rated.

Syrups, crystals and powders for beverages

Syrups, crystals, powders and flavourings for making beverages that aren't fruit-flavoured are tax-free in Canada.

That includes non-fruit-flavoured products that you add to water to make a drink, like instant coffee, flavoured coffees or teas.

But lemon and other fruit-flavoured iced tea powders, crystals or concentrates are considered teas and are therefore tax-free.

Bottled water

Plain bottled water that's sold in a manufacturer's package of two or more single-serving bottles or in a bottle that exceeds a single serving is zero-rated.

Cooking wine

Cooking wines (including de-alcoholized cooking wines) that are sold and marketed as condiments, and normally purchased in grocery stores, are tax-free.

Meal replacements and nutritional supplements

Meal replacement products, nutritional supplements and formulated liquid diet products are considered to be basic groceries.

That means there is no GST or HST applied to those items.

Also, energy bars and protein bars that qualify as meal replacements or nutritional supplements are tax-free except when sold from vending machines.