North Lethbridge Save-On-Foods. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Expect to pay around $700 more for groceries in 2021: report

Dec 31, 2020 | 10:55 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – While some remain cautiously optimistic for a better 2021, your wallet won’t like what is coming when it comes to grocery expenses.

The 2021 Canada’s Food Price Report has been released, conducted by the Universities of Dalhousie, Guelph, Saskatchewan, and B.C.

It projects that, overall, food prices across the country will rise between three-to-five per cent in the new year. Throughout 2020, they report that the cost of groceries went up an average of 2.7 per cent.

The figure for the new year means that families with two adults and two children could pay around $695 more for the same grocery-bought food to an average of $13,907.

That is the highest-projected increase among the 11 Food Price Reports that have been conducted.

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“Families with less means will be significantly challenged in 2021, and many will be left behind,” says Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, project lead and Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. “Immunity to higher food prices requires more cooking, more discipline, and more research. It’s as simple as that.”

The most significant increases will be felt in meat (+4.5 to 6.5 per cent), bakery (+3.5 to 5.5 per cent), and vegetables (+4.5 to 6.5 per cent).

Dr. Simon Somogyi, project co-lead and Arrell Chair in the Business of Food at the University of Guelph, was most surprised by the increase in the price of vegetables and has some advice for consumers.

“Health Canada wants us to eat more vegetables and that’s going to be harder. Hopefully, when the Canadian growing season comes online in summer 2021, prices will soften and more families will have access.”

“When folks go to the grocery store, they should have a look in the frozen food aisle, particularly for peas, broccoli, carrots, and corn. Frozen vegetables are snap frozen just after harvest, so their nutrients are locked in. They can be just as nutritious as fresh vegetables but at a lower price.”

While the report gives a provincial breakdown of food prices with arrows pointing either up or down, it does not specify by how much. In Alberta, prices are expected to go down.

The full 2021 Food Price Report can be found here.

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