Grocery costs: change shopping habits to beat inflation, say experts

With the cost of food at a 41-year high, people are being encouraged to change their grocery shopping habits in order to cope with inflation.

Jess Pirnak, a registered dietitian in Greater Vancouver, says with the high cost of food, we can’t afford to just throw money away.

“When we buy food, especially produce, we should look for produce that will actually stay in our fridge a little bit longer than let’s say, lettuce or spinach,” she told CityNews. “So, maybe think about buying cabbage, or more root vegetables like parsnips and beets, that will actually stay in your fridge if you don’t get to it.”

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Pirnak says it may sound cheesy, but sitting down with your family and planning meals for the week is also a great way to cut down on extra spending.

“Meal planning — it sounds really easy, but even if it’s just sitting down with everyone in your house at the beginning of the week, or whatever day that works for your household, and just being like ‘What do we want to eat for dinner this week?'” she said.

Canada’s annual inflation rate slowed to seven per cent in August, largely driven by the price of gasoline falling, but the cost of groceries continued to climb.

In its latest monthly consumer price index (CPI) report, Statistics Canada said grocery prices rose at the fastest rate since 1981, with prices up 10.8 per cent compared with a year ago.

There’s a lot you can do before you head to the grocery store, Pirnak says.

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“If you are using flyers, you can go, ‘Oh, salmon is on sale right now. Let’s have salmon for dinner on Thursday night,’ and just sort of having more control, I think that empowers people when they go grocery shopping,” she explained.

University of Saskatchewan agricultural-biotechnology professor Stuart Smyth co-authoured a survey released Tuesday which shows almost half of Canadians are consciously trying to avoid wasting food.

In addition to not wasting food, Smyth says you should turn away from wasting money at the store, as well.

“Things labeled organic or non-GMO, the price increases 30 to 50 per cent on those products, and the nutrition is the same, the safety is the same, so that’s a really simple way to make some significant money when you’re in a grocery store,” he explained.

Smyth says with inflation this year, more and more people are turning to coupons and flyers to help them beat the cost increases.

“We’re not talking two or three dollars here, … [It might be] 20 or 30 [dollars] on a grocery shopping trip,” he said. “So, that’s some significant savings if you’re looking at spending say, 100 bucks a week on groceries, and you can save 15 or 20 dollars, and then that helps with the inflationary pricing.”

But it’s not just about managing inflation, Smyth says. It’s about the overall health of your household.

“There’s lots of medical evidence that if children don’t receive their proper nutrition, particularly for those first five years, that can have lifelong health impacts,” he said.