Life in Retirement: Giving us our daily bread pays off
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Did you buy a loaf of bread at any time between 2001 and 2021? Maybe you made some French Toast on a quiet Sunday morning, or put together a peanut butter sandwich for your child’s lunch, or stuffed a festive turkey. If so, you should add your name to the Canadian Packaged Bread Class Action Settlement before December 12, because someone was stealing from your family’s dinner table.
Yup, there was ‘alleged’ industry-wide price fixing of packaged bread, which meant Canadians paid more for every loaf they bought over many years – some estimates say by at least $1.50 more per loaf. That certainly adds up for a family who bought bread every week. Don’t get your hopes up, though, you’re not going to get the couple of grand that might be owed to you – you’ll be lucky if you get $50. But you’ll get satisfaction from the knowledge that the cheaters had to pay.
There were times during those years when I was raising my daughter on my own that I had to choose very carefully on grocery trips, so I could tend all the other costs of living. Not being gouged for something as basic as bread would have been helpful. A few years ago, I waited in the cashier line of a dollar store as a young mother was counting out coins from her purse.
Her daughter was sitting on the counter, gazing at the can of soup and the little bead craft that were laid out beside her. The counting done, the mom discreetly set the craft aside and handed over her coins for the soup.
That’s how much $1.50 can mean to a family – the difference between lunch and an activity, or just lunch. This story, by the way, is why little old ladies get involved when they see an injustice. I didn’t that day and I’ve carried regret ever since.
Do the bread thieves carry regret? It reminds me of the drama a single loaf of bread caused Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.
Bread is a big deal, especially in these days of buckling food inflation and a massive rise in the number of people relying on the Food Bank.
I’ve added my name to the bread settlement and I look forward to seeing how much of my lost money they will cough up. I’m not holding my breath for much, of course, but I can’t stand by knowing my hard-earned dollars lined their pockets.
I know which side my bread is buttered on.
Visit Sandy’s website at LifeInRetirement.ca
