Someone Found A $9 Tub Of Cooked Rice At A Zehrs In Ontario & Say They Were 'Gobsmacked'

You can get a massive bag of rice for the same price.

​Jasmine rice at Zehrs. Right: A supermarket aisle.

Jasmine rice at Zehrs. Right: A supermarket aisle.

Writer

Grocery prices in Ontario have become quite a conversation starter, mainly because household staples continue to be increasingly expensive.

Most recently, Ali Gothard-Huang, a woman living in Ontario, found a tub of plain cooked rice sold at Zehrs for $9.48 and it's not even that big.

The Zehrs, located at 180 Holiday Inn Dr. in the Cambridge area, had a 50% off tag on the tub of rice, which caught the attention of Gothard-Huang.

She told Narcity, "it was not an item I was interested in buying. I just saw it and was gobsmacked."

"I was shocked, offended, and amused all at once," the shopper added. "Shocked that anyone would think that's an acceptable price for cooked rice, when you can buy a huge bag for that price. Offended that when people are unable to afford food, the most marked up items are dry rice and pasta, canned foods, peanut butter, hot dogs, eggs, milk, bread, veggies. All the things that people can't just not buy. And then this tub of cold cooked rice was so ridiculous, I just started laughing and immediately had to share it."

Someone posted the picture of the plain cooked rice to Reddit, and people are quite concerned about it.

"4 of those, and you could buy a rice cooker and (hopefully) a bag of rice," one person said.

from ontario

The cooked Jasmine rice shown in the picture is around 0.63 kilograms and cost a whopping $9.48. However, when looking at Zehrs' online website, you can buy bigger bags of jasmine rice for a fraction of the cost.

Two kilograms of Rooster Jasmine rice can cost the buyer $6.99. However, if you were looking to buy something that'll last you a long time, then 8 kilograms of the same brand costs $25.99, which would save you a lot of money if you buy rice often—especially if it's the pre-cooked option.

"People are saying it's a labour cost, but it's not," Gothard-Huang said. She said her husband did some calculations and said, "you can buy precooked rice from Dollarama for $1 for 150 grams. So 636 grams should be $4.24."

Last week, someone found a salad sold at Sobeys that cost $42. The salad is a "Caesar Salad Party Size" from 274 Highland Road West in Kitchener, Ontario.

So, yes, prices are becoming increasingly expensive, but there are ways to save a few bucks when grocery shopping. You can check out some tips from fellow Ontarians here.

This article's right-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

  • Writer

    Mira Nabulsi (she/her) was a Writer for Narcity Media with over five years of journalism experience. Before joining the team, she worked at Xtalks and Discovery Channel. Mira graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) with a Master of Journalism and completed her undergraduate degree from York University. But, now she loves to eat and taste all the different cuisines and culinary experiences the world has to offer.

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