It’s peach season in British Columbia, and loads of the delicious fruit grown in the Okanagan Valley are piled up outside a market on Vancouver’s Davie Street. Grab three for a snack this week, and at $8.80 a kilo, you’re looking at $4.39 for your fresh fruit fix.
The price of fresh fruit rose 11.8 percent in July from a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada. Other products were even higher, such as eggs (15.8%) and bakery products (13.6%). Given the high prices of almost all other living expenses, more than half of Canadians respond to a recent Angus Reid Institute survey they said they are struggling to cover costs.
- How has inflation and the high cost of living affected you? Tell us your story in an email to ask@cbc.ca or join us live in the comments below.
Tracy Frimpong, a registered dietitian in Toronto, says there are ways to make nutritious choices while trying to make ends meet.
The important thing, he told CBC News, is to make choices “that work for you and that you also enjoy.”
CBC News followers on Instagram shared some ways they’re cutting their grocery bills while still putting nutritious meals on the table.
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Reach for canned foods
One supporter said canned food is the way to overcome supermarket sticker shock: it lasts much longer than fresh produce and there’s often less waste.
Frimpong says it’s a myth that canned foods are less healthy than fresh, describing canned fish in particular as “one of the healthiest foods around.”
While many canned goods can be preserved with sodium or sugar, a concern for people with certain dietary restrictions, she says there are usually options to meet those needs, including products stored in water only.
She also recommends buying in bulk.
“A good pantry helps you make healthier choices,” she said. “That way you’re not tempted to go out and get food.”
Overcoming the high cost of beef
Rita Rhammaz, an Instagram follower in Halifax, has teamed up with a group of four or five families to buy beef in bulk—a whole cow, in fact—from a local butcher.
She says the last time they ordered beef it cost about $1,600, or $400 per family. Discover the cuts they love, from steaks to ground beef, individually wrapped and delivered to their doors.
She knows $400 sounds like a lot to pay upfront, but she says her freezer is stocked for “at least four months.” His family of five eats beef three times a week, even more so during barbecue season.
She figures it comes out to about $5.50 a pound, or $12.10 a kilo, much cheaper than it costs in most stores.
LOOK | The family sees food costs nearly double:
Combat high grocery costs due to inflation
Tamara Kuly, a mother of two in Winnipeg, explains how her family’s grocery costs have nearly doubled and how they’ve had to adjust their habits to stay on budget.
Chasing offers
Some people chase these deals by going from store to store, but Alison Stewart of Strathroy, Ont., recommends an app called Flashfood.
Alerts users to discounted items for quick sale at select grocery stores across the country, from $5 boxes of produce to packages of meat, milk and baked goods that are on sale for half price or less
“This year, I’ve already saved over $275,” Stewart said.
The Flashfood app shows clearance food items at a grocery store in Strathroy, Ont., on sale at a significantly reduced price on Wednesday. (flash food)
Quality can be “hit and miss,” he said, especially when it comes to items that ripen quickly, but he says it just takes some simple planning to use those items quickly.
Frimpong says produce near the end of its shelf life “still has its nutritional value,” but reminds people not to buy anything they won’t eat.
Cut back on meals to cut costs
Susan Praseuth of Burnaby, BC, suggests cutting out one meal each day.
She said she has always been a bargain shopper, but over the past year she became interested in the potential health benefits of intermittent fasting, such as eating only during a certain period of the day or week and reducing your intake of calories
Praseuth says this may not work for everyone, but she says not only does she feel better, but she saves $100 to $200 a month on groceries.
Frimpong says people considering cutting out meals to reduce spending should make sure what they’re eating is “optimized” for their nutritional needs. .
“That way, you feel full throughout the day and you don’t feel like you have to sacrifice,” she said.
LISTEN | Grocery chains make a lot of money from high food prices:
Day 68:56 As grocery prices continue to rise, food industry giants are posting record profits
Canadians paid 9.7% more for groceries in April compared to a year earlier, Canada’s highest food inflation rate in 41 years. There are many reasons: economy-wide inflation, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. But while consumers struggle, giant food companies are taking advantage. According to an Oxfam report, the pandemic resulted in the creation of 62 new food billionaires worldwide. Phoebe Stephens, a postdoctoral fellow in global development studies at the University of Toronto, tells us why she thinks high levels of corporate concentration in Canada’s food supply chain are a big part of the problem.