If you're thinking of picking up a pre-cut fruit/veggie tray for your guests, you might want to consider buying some produce and making your own platter.

Some basic knife skills will save enough money to buy additional snacks and drinks, as fruit and vegetable trays are selling for ridiculous prices at Canadian grocery stores.

A few days ago, Ottawa resident Nikita Cekay shared a video on TikTok showing fruit/veggie trays retailing for $44.99 at a Metro location in her city.

@nikitacekay

what is going on

♬ original sound - Nikita Cekay

"Am I crazy to think that this is literally so expensive?" she asks as the camera pans to the Celebration brand trays. "New lower price," reads a sticker on the water-logged display shelf.

One 2.7-kilogram veggie tray includes grape tomatoes, cauliflower florets, celery sticks, baby carrots, and sliced cucumbers.

Then Cekay shows the fruit tray, which appears to be 3.7 kilograms in weight.

Inside are strawberries and cubed watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple.

"That's insane!" she says in the video, putting her hand next to one of the trays to contextualize its size.

Canadians flocked to the comments to express their shock at the overpriced trays. They quickly pointed out the lack of dip in the veg tray.

"Imagine you buy a veggie tray, bring it to an event, and no one even eats it because there's no dip!" Cekay said in a follow-up video.

@nikitacekay Replying to @kurokaibyo #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo ♬ original sound - Nikita Cekay

Several compared the pricing to that of the high-end US-based grocery store Erewhon, known for its wildly high prices.

Four months ago, a post on Reddit showed the same Celebration veggie tray priced at $44.99, which angered Canadians.

45 dollars for a veggie tray at Metro
byu/plussizerunner inloblawsisoutofcontrol

"Is that a mistake?? Feel like it should be $14.99, not $44.99," one commenter said on Cekay's video, giving Metro the benefit of the doubt. Many others also suspected a typo.

The poster said she also thought this was a typo but, upon some cross-referencing, found the same prices on Metro's website.

This was verified, with both platters serving 18 to 20 people.

Metro

"It's so frustrating because, as a disabled person, those would be so helpful since I can't cook, But no way could I afford it, wrote TikTok user sharksharkgoose. "I swear they used to be, like, $15? Maybe $20?"

"I am not paying $44 for waterboarded fruits and veggies," said another commenter.

Cekay noted that the trays were swimming in water because the ice used to keep the produce fresh had likely melted when she visited the store around 8 pm. She added that she does not usually buy such trays but resorted to them because she had to attend an event.

Fruit/veggie trays at other Canadian stores

Metro is Canada's third biggest grocery chain, following Loblaw and Sobeys.

We checked Loblaws and Sobeys for fruit and veggie platters with similar serving sizes. All three stores advise shoppers to place orders for such trays online at least 24 hours before pickup, so the trays Cekay saw were likely left over from the day.

At Sobeys, the following platter, allegedly enough for 15 to 20 people, was priced at $53.99.

Sobeys

Although there is a better variety of veggies — stringless snap peas, mini sweet peppers and mini cucumbers, grape tomatoes, heirloom carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli — there's no dip.

A fruit tray of the same serving size is also priced at $53.99. It has the same cubed fruit types as the Metro platter, but the description lists red and green seedless grapes, which are nowhere to be found in the product image.

Sobeys also does not specify how much the trays weigh.

Sobeys

As Canadians gear up to boycott Canada's biggest grocery giant, Loblaws sells "party-size premium fruit platters" for $50 each.

There's no weightage mentioned for this particular tray, but a 48-hour notice is required to prepare it, and it claims to serve 10 people.

We could not find a bigger fruit platter on Loblaws' website, nor could we find a similar veg-only platter.

Loblaws

Similar large platters with more expensive charcuterie-style items like meat, cheese, and olives are priced the same and require a shorter order notice at Loblaws.

Loblaws

Why are produce-based trays so expensive in Canada? Perhaps the industry giants can answer.

Metro, Loblaw, and Sobeys were contacted with questions about their fruit and veg entertainment platters and this story will be updated when they respond.