What US treats do Canadians like?
March 5, 2024 7:10 AM   Subscribe

I am sending a small care package from the US to a friend in Manitoba, and wanted to add on some treats that are hard to find up there if at all.

I'm thinking small inexpensive non-perishable things like candies, snacks/chips, condiments, sauces, canned beverages, etc. Just some little treats that someone outside of Winnipeg likely wouldn't be able to find otherwise.

Suggestions for other non-food items that would be fun trinkets from the US would be welcome as well! I am located in Florida if that helps.
posted by angry.polymath to Grab Bag (20 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
The US has all the fun Oreo flavours. Basically anything regional to you will be welcome (I speak as someone who gets food care packages from my mom and my best friend). You could send them American Froot Loops as they are more vibrantly coloured than ours. Honestly, you guys have amazing variety for treats so really you can't go wrong!
posted by Kitteh at 7:15 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


Stuff from trader joe’s! I like the peanut butter ones pretzels, but we don’t get any of that.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 7:20 AM on March 5, 2024 [15 favorites]


Respectfully I disagree with Kitteh. You can go wrong. Due to corn subsidies, things like American candy are often worse than the Canadian counterparts due to the high fructose corn syrup. All of my Canadian Halloween candies were extremely popular with Americans for this reason. Avoid all high fructose corn syrup items.

To be honest I lived in Washington state for seven years and when I went back to Canada I didn’t miss any grocery items. Just buy Florida local treats. Other options are buying hot sauce or novelties from Trader Joes.
posted by shock muppet at 7:22 AM on March 5, 2024 [6 favorites]


Best answer: Trader Joe's snacks!!! Basically find out what texture or flavour profile they like (crunchy, crispy, creamy, dark / milk / white chocolate, nuts, gummies, caramel, cinnamon, citrusy, sweet, sour, salty, spicy, umami...) and get a few TJ brand packaged snacks in that wheelhouse. Like personally, I like crispy salty umami treats so I'd love interesting chip or cracker flavours.

I love the Trader Joe's canned Greek chickpeas with cumin and parsley, too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:36 AM on March 5, 2024 [3 favorites]


+1 anything generally popular or unique to Trader Joes. I always make a stop when in the states at TJs to stock up. Now I really want some of their ginger snaps...
posted by cgg at 7:38 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


Another vote for Trader Joe's. We pine especially for the dark chocolate mint "UFOs" and the dried peaches. (Also the frozen veggie gyoza, but those are not so easy to ship.)
posted by heatherlogan at 7:51 AM on March 5, 2024


I know everyone here is going to say trader joes, but at a higher level I can say that apart from Trader Joes, the only time I have ever heard of anyone wishing they could get treats shipped up to Canada from the U.S. it was cigarettes. As Shock Muppet correctly notes, because of the way your farm subsidies are set up most American candy tastes like high fructose corn syrup, shareholder dividends and food coloring. I'd stick with TJs.
posted by mhoye at 8:03 AM on March 5, 2024 [4 favorites]


My mom (in Manitoba) always buys a particular soap at Trader Joe's when she's in the US - I think it's the lemon one, triple milled whatever. It's their favorite. Also popular with them from TJ's: the giant multicolored raisins.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:03 AM on March 5, 2024


They sell Trader Joe's snacks at the Walmarts near me in Canada. I don't know how the selection compare, because its usually just one two sided rack of them, with things like toasted corn on it, and I never buy the candy, just the nuts, but I feel I should step in here to let you know that Trader Joe's may be more available in Canada than some of the earlier posters are suggesting. Try checking Walmart.ca to see what the selection is.

Me, I'd want Cocoa Puffs, the cereal I loved as a kid, because we can never get them here, but Apple Jacks are now available in limited edition for about six months of every year, so the only thing I can think of that we can't get in Canada is the chocolate cereal. There are probably lots more products that people who love candy and snacks more than I do would know of.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:18 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: It is Girl Scout cookie season. Girl Guide cookies are great and all but... You can even get them shipped to you direct nowadays if you don't want to find a stand.

If you're looking for more "fun and exciting and odd" and less "is actually good" then my Canadian partner was pretty taken aback at some of the more off-the-wall stuff that you can get at places like Dollar General and such. (As was I. Evidently there are blue raspberry Icee Peeps now?) Easter candy is out so even more weirdness is available.
posted by mrg at 8:34 AM on March 5, 2024 [10 favorites]


Echoing that at the grocery store last week there were like 10 different flavors of peeps.

If you don't mind paying for the shipping, regional soft drinks are fun. Few folks outside of NC like my beloved Sun Drop, but my understanding is that the NC native Cheerwine has a following all over the US these days, where it's treated as fancy instead of what you get at a gas station.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:45 AM on March 5, 2024


The thing that always strikes me most in terms of differences between US and Canada is the sheer variety of flavours that are regularly on offer. Yoghurt isn't going to ship, unfortunately, but whenever I am in the US, I inevitably end up mesmerized by the yoghurt case and all the different flavours and formats.

As a more shippable (though still quite heavy) example, this is Walmart Canada's listings for Mountain Dew. It is a single product that comes in 4 sizes.

This is Walmart USA's listing for Mountain Dew. There are 649 results for that search.

So, is there something you know that they love that might come in weird variations where you are? Different Mountain Dew, odd flavours of Kitkats or Pringles, that sort of thing.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:51 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


"They sell Trader Joe's snacks at the Walmarts near me in Canada."

Are you referring to the "Joe's Tasty Travels" snacks? I can't find anything online that indicates they are affiliated with Trader Joe's. I've never seen any Trader Joe's branded products anywhere in Manitoba, and searching walmart.ca seems to only show the Joe's Tasty Travels line.

(Asking b/c I am yet another Canadian who stocks up on Trader Joe's whenever I find myself within 50 miles of one.)
posted by joelhunt at 9:15 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


I bet they don’t have NECCO wafers in Manitoba.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:19 AM on March 5, 2024 [2 favorites]


A box of chocolates from See's Candies seemed to be a big hit with friends and family when I went last.
posted by nanook at 9:46 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


Definitely Trader Joe's but there's lots of regional potato chips we don't get in Canada.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:23 AM on March 5, 2024


The Girls Scouts Samoa cookies.

Trader Joe's. I like the multi-flavour chocolate covered espresso beans.
posted by lookoutbelow at 11:51 AM on March 5, 2024


For trader Joe's, also their extremely sour jelly beans (packages are tiny so that helps).

Partner is a snack connoisseur, here are their recommendations. For canned beverages, Cheerwine is a cherry soda (arguably the best according to them). Apparently, Freedom Fusion mountain Dew which also does scream America so that's a bonus. For more candies, Zagnut bars and Whatchamacallits.
posted by lookoutbelow at 11:56 AM on March 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


Aldi (not in Canada) have recently upgraded their chocolate across the board. Their low-end Choceur line is remarkable decent, but their very slightly more expensive Moser Roth chocolate is amazing.

Instead: PayDay bars. Unobtainium in Canada.
posted by scruss at 3:46 PM on March 5, 2024


They sell Trader Joe's snacks at the Walmarts near me in Canada.

They really, really don't. (Those are an unrelated product with the word "Joe" in the branding.)

Anyways, agreed that trader joe's snacks (esp. triple gingersnaps, various chocolate stuff such as peanut butter cups) are one of the three things I regularly bring (I currently spend academic breaks in Ontario, other times in the US, so I travel back and forth a lot). The other two aren't really going to help much as ideas for a shipped package though, they are spindrift sparkling water, and (broadly) wine, since LCBO is pretty weak in comparison to what's available near me in the US.

Hopefully you also saw this ongoing thread?
posted by advil at 7:50 AM on March 6, 2024


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