How Much Does Cheese Cost in Canada?
Short answer: on October 19, 2026, a 400 g block of No Name medium cheddar at Real Canadian Superstore in British Columbia cost $5.99 at the regular online list price, which is $1.50 per 100 g.
Cheese is the item where package prices lie the most. Blocks, shreds and slices come in so many sizes that the sticker price tells you almost nothing. Per 100 g tells you everything.
The prices we verified in BC
Real Canadian Superstore, regular price, October 19, 2026: No Name medium cheddar block, 400 g, $5.99 ($1.50 per 100 g).
Save-On-Foods, online listing, October 19, 2026: Balderson medium cheddar block, 280 g, on sale at $11.06, down from $12.29. Even on sale, that is $3.95 per 100 g, about 2.6 times the per-gram price of the store brand block. Balderson is a premium aged cheddar and the quality difference is real, but you should know you are paying for it.
FreshCo flyer, October 15 to 21, 2026: Compliments shredded cheese, 226 to 320 g, $5. At 320 g that is $1.56 per 100 g, about the same as the block. At 226 g it is $2.21 per 100 g, much more. Same deal, very different value depending on which bag you pick up.
What is a good deal on cheese?
Our guidance: at or below $5 for a 400 g block of basic cheddar (about $1.25 per 100 g) is a deal worth buying extra on, and cheese freezes acceptably for cooking, grating and sauces. At the regular price around $1.50 per 100 g for store brand, you are paying the going rate.
For premium and aged cheeses, judge by occasion, not by the block price. The per 100 g number will tell you whether a sale is genuinely good: a premium block under $3 per 100 g is a real sale.
Why cheese prices move
Cheese is a dairy product under supply management in Canada, so its base cost follows the same scheduled dairy pricing as milk and butter. On top of that base, aging is money: a cheddar aged a year or more ties up a producer's cash for that whole time, which is a big part of why premium blocks cost what they do per gram.
Format adds the rest of the spread. Shredding, slicing and packaging cost money and shorten shelf life, so convenience formats carry higher per 100 g prices than blocks. You are paying for the labour with every bag of shreds.
How to pay less for cheese
Buy blocks and grate them yourself. It takes two minutes, tastes better because there are no anti-caking coatings, and in the examples above it can cut the per 100 g price dramatically.
Always compare per 100 g. Canadian shelf labels show the unit price. In cheese, the biggest package with the highest sticker is often the cheapest cheese in the case.
Freeze sale blocks for cooking. The texture changes slightly after freezing, so use thawed cheese for cooking and grating rather than cheese boards, and the saving costs you nothing you will notice.
Per-unit traps are everywhere once you start looking. Grocery Spending Tracker itemizes your receipts so you can see your real cost per item over time. Start free, no credit card required.