How are you dealing with rising food prices?
The University of Guelph Food Institute predicted last month that the average Canadian household will spend $345 more on food in 2016 than last year, and many people have already noticed the difference. Are the rising food prices affecting how you spend your money?
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Happy Saturday and welcome to CBC Forum, our new attempt to encourage a different kind of conversation on our website.
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Today, we are discussing the rising costs of food prices. A weak loonie and drought in California have helped prices rise — prices for lettuce, apples, oranges, pasta and meat have all spiked in the last year, according to reports.We've covered the issue extensively. You can read one of our latest articles on the topic from CBC's Justin Li.
Restaurants either have to eat the higher costs and pay the difference out of their own pockets, or charge more and risk losing patrons. -
Now we want to hear from you.What are you doing about the rising prices? Do you grin and bear it? Have you changed your grocery shopping habits or has it affected your spending elsewhere? Have you noticed a difference?
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I have converted the upstairs washroom into a micro garden. The bathtub is for the carrots, peas and tomatoes while the toilet bowl is for the more hardy vegetables. -
What rising food prices? Stats Can said inflation in December was only 1.6%!! ie. if you believe this joke.
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Eat more Canadian produced vegetables & fruits and less US-produced imported veggies.
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It's not just food prices, it's the combination of everything rising in price along with inflation the causes hardship year after year after year.
The solution: stop wanting fresh (usually picked too early anyway and tastes like cardboard) produce. There is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables and fruit. Canadian farmers should produce produce in season and then preserve it. Free us from imported food that has been sprayed with who-knows-what. -
Having been through a few recessions, we've fund the easiest way to save money on food is to change our expectations. Grapes are unaffordable? They're off the menu; likewise beef. I try to vary our menu by using different cooking styles and flavourings. (It helps that we both love cabbage and lentils). There are things I miss, but if they come on sale I will pick them up and enjoy every bit of them - having something only occasionally makes it a treat - bonus!
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I'm dealing with it by spending more on groceries. That has to be the stupidest question I've ever read.
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Eat local winter goods. Cabbage, and look for Canadian apples. I think this entire argument is a farce. People can vote with their dollars. The only ones who have a right to complain are the people in the North without choice. -
My wife and I are seniors and live on a fixed income. Eating healthy has always been a priority for us. My wife is vegetarian and I eat very little meat so the dramatic rise in meat prices as had no impact on us. Getting a variety of good quality vegetables and fruit is a whole different story. It is difficult when prices for fruit and vegetables had doubled. To counter this we buy only what is in season and stock our freezer so we can have what we require when any particular fruit or vegetable are not in season. We eat and enjoy a lot of legumes and these are still a cheap source of protein. We make our own whole grain bread and desserts and never eat processed foods. This saves a bundle.
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Staying on our budget has been a challenge, we've managed by buying mostly whole foods, relying less on packaged food, taking a list to the grocery store and sticking with it. Planning meals ahead of time has helped a lot. We are lucky to have a few stores in our neighbourhood so we can comparison shop, always looking for the sales and buying some items only when they are on sale. We are mostly vegetarian and rely very little on meat. We use up what is on hand first and when getting to the end of the month and we are a bit short we think hard about what to prepare. Just checked prices on the menu of a restaurant that we go to once in awhile and their prices have increased quite a bit. Eating more simple meals has helped to and making enough for two meals also helps. I also found out we have a winter farmers market that is pretty easy to get to and look forward to visiting the farmer's markets the rest of the year. The produce is so fresh, lasts about 4 times as long as store bought produce.
Buy local food, it is there if you hunt for it. Request this from your grocer, even the larger stores have people you can ask about this.
Always looking for ides that other people have come up with.
Love this forum idea. Thank you. -
I have cut back on some of the more exotic prepared sauces etc. I have cut back - more than ever - on imported produce. I have been growing and freezing my own veggies for years, so was already less dependent on imports. I continue to purchase Canadian / local root veggies, cabbage, etc to supplement my own. I also supplemented my veggies with locally-grown produce in the summer and froze them as well. I have been vegetarian for decades, so the increased meat prices don't affect me.
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I have no idea what CBC is talking about. I buy always on sale and I have not seen any increase in food prices. I don't understand why CBC wants to make a story out of nothing
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I am sure the garden is many people's new best friend. Some could say that having two people working in the household is no longer profitable as having one person tend to the food and have a part time job. We rush to make money and spend much of it on food instead of seed, soil and tools.
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Thanks for your comments, insights and personal anecdotes. Keep them coming. Here's one from forum commenter, Kim Heffernan.
We have to get back to the way our grandparents dealt with life. Grow what u can, preserve it and unfortunately fresh fruit in the winter is becoming a luxury.
What do you think?
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The question should be: how are poor people dealing with rising food prices. For most of us it's a marginal increase in our grocery budget.
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After helping the Banks, the insurance companies, and the Utilities companies keep their big profits With what is.left We eat NO NAME hot dogs and chips.
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my boyfriend and I are both students so we try to eat quite cheaply. My boyfriend loves meat so we usually buy it on sale or from Gateway/Chops and freeze it and try to do at least 1-2 vegetarian meals a week. We also keep an extensive pantry so when pasta and pasta sauce go on sale for a dollar, we stock up.
It also helps to add more beans/lentils to your diet. I buy dried beans and rehydrate them in my slow cooker to get more bang for my buck
As for veggies and fruit, we generally buy frozen vegetables and we buy fruit that's only in season or on sale! We spend about $250-275 a month on groceries total. -
I have stopped buying fruits and vegetables that are marked product of U.S.A. as they are 30-40% more expensive than they were last year. With respect to other food items, I have no brand loyalty and simply look for the lowest price.
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I cannot even begin to imagine how those on social assistance, disability or small pensions are going to eat. To be quite honest, people are going to have no choice but to eat unhealthy, because the alternative is not affordable. I would live on Kraft dinner before I would ever spend $8 on a head of cauliflower. It's a sad day when a combo at McDonalds is cheaper than a healthy meal. I also suspect that, once the Canadian dollar comes up, these absurd food prices will not drop back down to a reasonable price.
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Widowed with two kids in Uni so don't eat much. Lots of peanut butter, bread and apples.
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i have chickens --next step a green house --i make my own pasta -3 cups flour 2 eggs from my chickens a little salt an two hours
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I live in a rural area and grow a garden. There is absolutely no reason that the urban population can't grow food in yards and in community gardens as well. Imagine the difference if everyone in, say Toronto, grew tomatoes and canned enough for two or three months.
Cities are as sustainable as the population choses them to be. As you live in them now, they are totally unsustainable.
I have chickens, buy half a pig from a local farmer and hunt wild meat. We get meat and eggs for well under $1000 annually.
It takes work. We butcher our own meat and wash the crap off eggs. Till and plant and weed and harvest. We don't watch TV. It's amazing how much time you gain by not spending hours looking at a glowing light. -
I grow a huge garden and have a lot of food either in storage or canned we also purchase a lot of fresh things in the winter. But when I saw broccoli at $9.17 a lb I went home without it. I now have jars of sprouting seeds by my kitchen sink and that, along with carrots from my winter storage have become our fresh vegetables. Switched to legumes instead of meat. My family is loving burgers made form black beans, home made ketchup, "cheese" made from potatoes and carrots and lots of sprouts instead of lettuce. Our grocery bill has dropped from $185. a week for a family of six down to $58. a week. And we are eating well.
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Many years ago grocery stores calculated their markup on different zones in the store i.e. bakery, produce, meat, groceries etc. however as the computer advanced they went to line (or single item) pricing. They now price according to what the traffic will bare. Competition within the industry has also declined significantly as they have bought up or ran out the smaller independent wholesalers and grocers. Look at the store ads and the items they are offering. Gone are the major items from each department that people are looking for replaced by high profit fluff. There is no solution other than being a wise consumer and not leaving all your dollars at one store. Cherry pick as the old saying goes.
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We started dealing with high food costs in the past summer. We had a large garden, canned and preserves were done. A lot of home made from scratch meals are cooked. Leftovers used in every way. Staples such as pasta, beans and rice make meals go further. Sadly fresh vegs are not an option.
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I am saving money on gas. I am shopping carefully. If I like an asparagus recipe I decide to not to make it with asparagus @ $12.99. We can't have everything all the time and that includes vegetables. Buy Ontario and stop moaning.
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Here's a personal thought from forum commenter, Louisette Lanteigne. What do you think? What foods would you give up, if any?
We need to go back to common sense. what is the natural foods of winter in Canada? Eat that! it is cheaper and healthier. Oranges are not an Indigenous food for us. Find the natural foods for where you live and enjoy it! Better for the earth. Less gas and oil needed to move. Can your own fresh local fruits when in season. Go back to grandma ways.
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I'm making my own coleslaw from scratch instead of buying it pre-packaged.
I buy oranges and bananas instead of other fresh fruit.
Not much beef anymore and lots more chicken and fish. -
I second a previous commenter; eat lentils and cabbage! Also, eating out is not an option, especially with two teenagers. Brown bag lunches and make meals from scratch.
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Several of you are saying you haven't noticed any change in your grocery bill at all. I'm curious. Exactly how much more/less do you think you are spending per shop? Or has it stayed the same?
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I too am dealing (and have been dealing with) the rising cost of food by paying more at the ruddy grocery store even while I try to buy stuff on sale. And given that I'm a Metro Vancouver resident with the 3rd highest cost of living in the world, it makes utterly no sense to me that the BC government cares more about building a ruddy dam whose need is unproven and that would end up flooding a million hectares of prime food growing land then it is about BC's/Canada's food security nor doing anything whatsoever (other than directly adding to BC's cost of living with "user fee" on top of "user fee") about controlling BC's outrageous and ridiculous cost of living!!!
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There are certain things I only buy if its on sale like cheese. When they go on sale I stock up and freeze it. Also, a lot of grocery stores have that discount cart with overripe fruits and veg on it. I see most people avoid it like tbe plague but its not always all bad. Last week I got two bags of clementines for $1.99 total and there was only two or three that were bad.
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Just imagine what food would cost if agricultural workers were paid a living wage.
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Potatoes cabbage squashes ,you have to flex with what's cheaper,failing that nothing wrong with frozen,
Asian type diets the star of the meal the noodles or rice, meat is just one of the supporting cast.... -
Sprouting is a very cheap way to put delicious greens on the table. Seeds, water, sunlight, and a large glass bottle with holes punched in the to, are all that is needed.p Mung beans are great, alfalfa even better. Crunchy, vitamin filled, and delicious. Youtube videos explain what is a very simple process that takes only minutes.
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People just stop buying.
Let them rotten in the where house and you will see price dropping. Fear mongering that how they work. Look at the gas prices ,oil is 32 per barrel and @ the pump still a dollar almost everywhere.
Just don't buy it. -
We buy less meat than ever before. Depression-era recipes like macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes are cheap. When we DO have meat, we try to buy local and have it stretch ( in a stew or soup, for example). Prices are ridiculous here in B.C. Everything has gone up drastically while wages remain stagnant.