The cost of healthy eating keeps going up, warns food advocate, and things need to change

The cost of a healthy basket of food has been increasing yearly and one food affordability advocate is calling for a long-term solution.

According to data released by the provincial government, the cost to buy a nutritious basket for food to feed a family of four in 2023 costs an average of $333 per week, an eight per cent increase from the previous year — outpacing inflation, notes Food First N.L. CEO Josh Smee.

"Food prices are … growing way faster than prices overall, and so food is becoming a bigger part of the crisis in people's finances," he told CBC News.

The N.L. Nutritious Food Basket data — from the Finance Department's Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency — annually calculates how much it costs for people to follow the recommended diet from the Canada Food Guide.

According to the latest report, those shopping for nutritious food in eastern Newfoundland spend the least in the province, at $317 a week for a household of four people. In central Newfoundland the cost is $344 a week and on the island's west coast it's $363. People on the Northern Peninsula area would spend $388.

The report calculates a household of four people on Labrador's north coast of Labrador would spend $509 a week on nutritious food, whereas people in the central-west region would spend $359. The food basket on the south coast is calculated at $427.

Smee pointed out the amounts show a discrepancy across the province when it comes to buying healthy food.

"Consistently across the province, food prices are higher the more rural, the more northern you get. But that includes heading west from St. John's," said Smee.

According to past Nutritious Food Basket reports, the cost across the province has been steadily increasing. A decade ago, households in the eastern region were spending $237. In central Newfoundland, the amount was $249, and in western Newfoundland it was $250. In central-west Labrador, the amount was calculated at $243.

"What we're seeing there is that this is a long term problem that's not just a matter of pandemic-era kind of cost inflation. This is a bigger deal and it's something that we have to deal with as a long term policy problem," said Smee.

He said those prices reflect how the supply chain works in N.L., with a lot of food arriving in St. John's before being distributed, which increases cost.

"You can really see that in the numbers."

Income support gaps

Smee said the basic income support doesn't cover the cost of the recommended healthy food.

"It's no wonder that folks who rely on income support are very likely to be food-insecure," he added.

He said there are people using all their available government benefits but if they buy food based on the recommended healthy diet, they would spend more than half of their income on food.

"Because it's penny wise, pound foolish, right? If you don't give people enough money to afford food, those costs don't disappear. They just get paid by the health-care system."

While Smee said families can take action to curb the rising cost of food, like using shop discounts and growing their food, the government has a role to play in solving food insecurity in the long term.

"I think fundamentally this isn't something that can be solved at the household level. It's a public policy."

Accessing food has to be thought of in terms of a human rights issue, he said.

"But we're not treating it that way and we're not developing policies that would provide access to something that is such a basic right."

He said N.L. has the country's highest rate of severe food insecurity, with one in four families in the province considered food-insecure. 

This time of year is also difficult for many families who are getting ready to send their children back to school, which comes with additional expenses, he added.

"We know people compromise on their food budgets when there are other expenses," said Smee.

There is reason to be optimistic, Smee said, pointing to a government commitment to enrol universal school meals for students up to Grade 9.

But the food retail sector is "very monopoly heavy," he said, and income support and wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of food.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.