Canada

Her books and clothes are bought locally, often from thrift stores. She takes a pass on the $6 baskets of blueberries. And as much as she’d like to get behind the Buy Local movement and avoid anything from the United States, she said spending extra isn’t something she can afford.

It's not blueberry season in our hemisphere. She can buy frozen blueberries from canada for far cheaper. As mentioned at the bottom of the article, just buy seasonal. Butternut squash is good, kinda awkward to cut, but easy to cook with just a few spices in the oven. Apples are kinda expensive lately, but keep really well.

I think we're collectively very spoiled right now and the fact that not getting fresh foreign blueberries is a major complaint is kinda sad.

Newfoundland-based music teacher Claire Bates said the hardest part of buying local has been losing some of her favourite routines.

“There’s so much happening in the world, and I just want to drink the coffee that I love,” said Ms. Bates, a Starbucks fan.

I get it, but I've given up my things like this too and it's not hard. I have a guilty pleasure of buying dairy queen, and since tariffs I've completely cut them out of my life.

I got kind of pissed off today when I was out. There was a lineup around McDonalds. Lineup around Starbucks. Meanwhile across the road A&W (who do have decent coffee) and Tims are basically empty. You can get better food at A&W and decent coffee, and A&W Canada is canadian owned.

Starbucks really exemplifies the problem perfectly I think. You don't need it, you can avoid it easily, and yet you go every day. I buy a $50 bag of locally roasted espresso that provides 4 cups a day of coffee for over a month. Compare that to a $2.75 for a cup of coffee from starbucks, that's a huge savings. I do not understand people's coffee habits in this day and age.

But frankly I'm finding this "it's not affordable" despite making zero efforts to change habits super frustrating to hear about.

I'm also finding the "I need people to tell me what to buy and why" frustrating too. You need to get off social media and make your own decisions.