Canada trip

Check out this site for more info

Be Aware

Might give you some more info on bringing food into Canada

You are crossing borders, after all.

Check the sites recommended in the stickies at the top of this page.

Those things which can pick up insects easily, and you've named them, will be taboo.

Now, just stop and think a minute more. Canada has good healthy food up here too.

& some real ethnic yummy meals in our eateries too. IMHO, you try locally prepared food once a week, as part of your travel experience.

;)

Poutine, muk tuk, prairie oysters, duck duck goose, maple sirp, dandelion wine, Saskatoon pie, chokecherry jelly, blueberries, kinikinik, 5.5% beer, rye whiskey, moose roast, baked lake trout, smoked salmon, venison, crabapple butter, flattened muskrat (Hwy 1 style), McDonalds, no need to starve in Canada, eh?

Trust me, I have no problem eating different things. We do typically go out once and try the local food. But for the rest of the week, we always packed pre-made food so it is less cooking and more time to enjoy site seeing and just camping in general. O well, we are still looking towards Canada and what she has to offer.

Make sure you check what food you can take across the border both ways. You may obtain fruit, vegetables, or meat in Canada that you cannot take back to the U.S. If you still have some of your U.S. sourced meat on board when you return to the U.S. you may have to prove country of origin, which will be tough to do if it is from an old fashioned mom and pop butcher shop.

It doesn't mean you can't take these items across the border but does mean if you are asked about these items you must declare them and the agents may take these items from you if there are restrictions on any of the items.

The only thing I've had confiscated was California oranges when we were crossing into the USA. Although on our last day trip in to Alaska, the US agent told me to not leave the peelings in Alaska and he let me keep my oranges. We cross with dog food, lunch meats, frozen meats, veggies, fruits, canned goods ... everything. If asked, we tell what we have.

Crossing back into Canada I don't recall that we've ever been asked about food we've purchased in the USA and still have with us.

Canadians travelling to the US face similar restrictions regarding what food may cross the border. For sure NO citrus fruit at all.

Friends tried crossing to the US with prepackaged homemade frozen meals. That food ended up in the garbage before crossing.

dtzackus wrote:
no fruits or veggies.

If you read the Canadian document referenced above, you will discover that you are permitted up to:

15 packages or less up to 250 kilograms of fresh fruits and vegetables per person (excluding potatoes)

British Columbia has restrictions on "stone fruits" and potatoes, but everything else should be fine

We're headed to Canada in a couple of weeks and my wife has begun buying sealed packages of meats and chicken that we can freeze without repackaging so proof of origin will be a non-issue.

I've never been asked about food going into Canada. Just alcohol and weapons.
Take what you want. Tell them what you have at the border entry, but only if they ask. Be prepared to give it up if they demand it. In that case, stop at the next Safeway and restock.

Repeat the procedure returning to the US, but they WILL ask about food there.

Annoying as this stuff can be, it's not that big a deal!

obgraham wrote:
I've never been asked about food going into Canada. Just alcohol and weapons.
Take what you want. Tell them what you have at the border entry, but only if they ask. Be prepared to give it up if they demand it. In that case, stop at the next Safeway and restock.

Repeat the procedure returning to the US, but they WILL ask about food there.

Annoying as this stuff can be, it's not that big a deal!

Agree with this advise, and yes it's pretty much the same requirements into the USA.

Only once of the 15 - 20 times I crossed into the US with the trailer was I asked if I had fresh meat or veggies. And never was I asked what food I had when I returned to Canada...

Just bring it with you and take the chance, just don't lie if they do ask.