Local families, charities and independent grocers struggle as food costs rise: Andrew Coppolino

In November, Bashar Al-hendi was working hard to protect his customers from pandemic-induced price hikes at Ammar's Halal Butcher Shop and Specialty Grocery Store in Kitchener. 

Despite his best efforts, three months later he says he has no choice but to raise those prices.

"Costs for us have gone up 10 per cent to 15 per cent, so we've had to raise our prices," Al-hendi said. "Some new stock of existing products coming in is as much as 25 per cent more expensive."

There's high inflation in virtually every sector of the economy that we haven't seen for three decades. It's especially harmful for people who struggle to pay for their housing and put food on the table.

According to a recent Angus Reid poll, rising food costs have forced some consumers to make decisions about what food they will buy and what food they will leave behind at the grocery store.

In the poll, 46 per cent of people said they're switching to cheaper brands, while 36 per cent said they're cutting back on meat.

The fact that 21 per cent of people polled said they are buying fewer fresh fruits and vegetables is alarming, over the potential impact the high prices could have on nutritious eating. 

5, 6, 7, 8 per cent

Canada's Food Price Report 2022 indicates that baked goods, dairy products, produce, meats and seafood have jumped in price by five per cent to seven per cent. The cost of dining out at a restaurant has increased by eight per cent.

Project lead on the report, professor Sylvain Charlebois of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said even higher inflation is possible. 

"I'd say we're on the verge of seeing something unusual," Charlebois said. "I don't think we're done yet with inflation. I think it is going to go higher."

A trip to the store

This past week, I tried to shop frugally using Canada's Food Guide. I bought 22 items online, selected "no name" items in many cases and did comparisons of price-per-kilogram: the items, representing a balanced selection of the foods listed in the food guide, came to a curious total of $99.99.

Doing a calculation using the percentage increases and those items, I estimated that the cost would have been just under $90 earlier in 2021.

But I also located a grocery-store receipt from May 5, 2021, with items I purchased for celebratory Cinco de Mayo tacos. The total cost, including some Mexican beer, was $41.65 (before taxes). 

This past week, I visited the same grocery store and did a price comparison of the same items: the total came to $48.58. That represents a 16 per cent increase from nine months ago.

Impact on food charities

If individuals feel the pain of sticker shock with groceries, so too, do organizations dedicated to making sure people who suffer food insecurity have access to fresh, healthy meals. 

At Food4Kids Waterloo Region, food co-ordinator Chris White says inflation has added a burden to the one that started with COVID-19. 

"Over the past several months, we've definitely seen a large increase in the prices of food, particularly produce in the last two to three months," White said. "A lot of items are up 20 per cent to 25 per cent. At the beginning of February, we noticed dairy prices going up eight per cent to 12 per cent."

The pressure on the bottom line has forced the Kitchener-based organization to re-consider how they source the healthy foods to put in kids' school knapsacks.

"One thing that we've tried to do is buy in bulk and re-pack, rather than purchasing pre-packaged foods. We can at least control the serving sizes," he said, although that has a cost, too. "It just means that we're reliant on volunteers to help us re-package from bulk down to single servings."

In light of higher prices, organizations have revised their budgets accordingly, says Dianne McLeod, executive director of the Cambridge Food Bank.

Food banks remain dedicated to getting food to people who need it, so that means improvising and adjusting their delivery programs too, McLeod says.

"We're seeing people are needing to visit us more regularly, so we've increased the number of times people can visit the food bank," she said.

They have also increased the amount of food that goes into each hamper and have started a mobile farmers' market.

"It helps people from all walks of life get access to fresh fruit and vegetables well below retail costs," she said.

To do that, however, McLeod says they've increased the amount of money they're spending on food and especially expensive items and nutrient-dense foods.

This year, she says the Cambridge Food Bank spent more than they have ever spent on food — and more than budgeted for. 

"For next year's budget, we're anticipating increasing our food expenses. We budgeted $60,000 for this year and we're looking at between $90,000 to $110,000 for April 1," McLeod said.

At The Food Bank of Waterloo Region, executive director Wendi Campbell cites the food price report that a family of four will have to spend an additional $900 for food this year — and that could mean less food on the table.

Campbell says the food bank has been monitoring supply lines and pricing trends, especially for protein-rich food sources like meats and eggs, given the last two years.

"This is the highest increase in prices since the food price report's inception 12 years ago," Campbell said. "Recently, we had to react quickly, but we've planned and have been proactive about our food procurement strategies, and that has helped."

'Costs keep going up'

A few months into 2022, grocery prices are continuing on the theoretical upward trajectory that Charlebois has suggested.

"It's important for consumers to understand that food prices have been going up for some time, and there's no turning back. Our relationship with food is changing, and so will our food budgets," he wrote in the report.

That's something that Al-hendi at Ammar's sees happening in real-time at his specialty grocery store. His view is more pragmatic and less philosophical. 

"Costs keep going up every month, it seems." 

Everything seems to be getting more expensive. Food, gas and housing prices are on the rise while paycheques are slow to keep pace.

The CBC News series Priced Out explains why you're paying more at the register and how Canadians are coping with the high cost of everything.